Glad(chapter 10)

• Learners with difficulty walking and moving have varied educational needs related to physical access, access to or lack of technological aids, manipulation of equipment, classroom and school program participation, limited workstations, proper seating accommodations, and not meeting class schedules due to timely travel.
• These learners may be affected by course requirements not suitable to their abilities, limited time to move between venues, tiredness from transporting to places, inaccessible facilities in comfort rooms, limited pathway space, inaccessible ramps, or lack of unsuitable desks for writing.
• There is a range of inclusive teaching strategies useful in teaching learners with difficulty walking and moving, but these learners have varied needs and difficulties, and not all learners have the same condition.
• It is suggested that teachers perform a confidential discussion with the learners and their parents to completely cover their educational needs.
• An Intended Learning Outcome (ILO) is to make an IEP that matches the educational needs of learners with difficulty walking and moving.
• Some learners in inclusive classrooms may fully access education with minimal accommodations and modifications.
• Parents and even teachers are often confused about the terms accommodation and modification, but the general rule is: if it helps the learner to complete the same work at the same level as his peers, it is an accommodation; if it changes the work or the work is completed at a different level, it is a modification.
• Learners with difficulty walking and moving may require simple to complex specialized instructions and related services with an expanded core curriculum where physical independence, special health care routines, using assistive technologies, communication, self-awareness, social maturation, and mastery of daily living skills are taught.
• The IEP team for learners with difficulty walking and moving consists of varied professionals to assist them in their education and health requirements.
• Physical Therapists (PTs) are licensed professionals who use treatment techniques to help promote mobility, reduce pain, restore function, and prevent further disabilities of learners with difficulty walking and moving.
• Occupational Therapists (OTs) determine the learner's goals in life and help them perform daily activities such as self-help, employment, recreation, communication, and aspects of daily living to reach their goals.
• Other specialists that give related services to these learners include speech-language pathologists (SLPs), adapted physical educators, recreation therapists, school nurses, prosthetics, orientation and mobility specialists, and counselors.
• Environmental Modifications are essential in making the environment more accessible to learners with physical and health impairments.
• Environmental modifications include creating barrier-free buildings, having classrooms located in more accessible building levels, and providing accessible bathrooms.
• Involve learners with arm and dexterity problems in laboratory classes and pair them with abled learners who can carry out procedures.
• Provide a resource room where learners with physical disabilities can go when needed during the school day to work with their school requirements or with the members of their IEP.
• When conversing, make eye contact, smile, and make sure that your head is at or below the eye level of the learner using a wheelchair.
• Adjust desks, chairs, and tables appropriate to the height of learners who use wheelchairs.
• Relocate activities to more spacious areas.
• Make sure that reasonable in-between breaks are given to these learners for travel time purposes.
• This is also applicable to classes in laboratory settings where setting up special workstations is recommended.
• Mobility varies with each person, some can access their devices easily while others cannot.
• Work with learners with physical and health impairments to arrange for the appropriate time for the completion of class assignments.
• Modify response requirements by allowing spoken instead of written ones, or vice versa.
• In grouping activities, let the abled learners move to the location of the learner with physical disabilities and make sure that they have enough space to collaborate.
• Provide adequate floor space for learners who use wheelchairs in the front, on the side, or in the rear of the room so they can park without blocking the flow of traffic.
• Examples of assistive technologies that help learners with limited mobility are: Mouth Stick, Head Wand, scooters, walkers, canes, crutches, and orthotic devices.
• Use simulation and role-playing activities where abled learners are given opportunities to use wheelchairs and other assistive devices to help raise awareness of some barriers their classmates are facing.
• Inclusive Classroom Approaches involve learners with physical disabilities in the regular classroom.
• Observe the learners with physical disabilities in the classroom and ask if any assistance is needed.
• Speech Generating Device is a stand-alone device or software that is installed on tablets or phones, where users who are not able to speak on their own can communicate with others.
• Use accurate and sensitive terminologies in the classroom as learners, with or without disabilities, learn from the teachers' knowledge and attitudes.
• Desks should also be prepared for left-handed learners with or without disabilities.
• Allow learners who have difficulties in writing to record class lectures or to have note-takers.
• Speech Recognition Software is a software that creates text and navigates online by voice commands, usually used by learners with limited mobility.
• Communication aids are used to communicate either in person or online.
• Assistive Technology are both assistive devices (“low tech” and “high tech”) and services that are used to develop, increase, and maintain the mobility and daily performance of learners with physical disabilities.