If your topic is mental retardation genetically based such as Williams Syndrome, PKU or Down Syndrome), please post the answers to your four questions here.
Characteristics of Children with Angelman Syndrome:
Children who have Angelman syndrome all share the same distinctiveness such as a stiff, jerky gait, absent speech, excessive laughter and seizures. Because the developmental problems are unidentifiable at birth, this disability is hard to categorize and diagnose. It is most common for specialists to diagnose children between the ages of three and seven years old because the characteristic behaviors become more obvious then. Other common characteristics of Angelman Syndrome include: developmental delay, speech impairment, none or minimal use of words, apparent happy demeanor, short attention span, easily excitable personality, disproportionate growth in head circumference, frequent laughter or smiling, lazy eye or cross eyed, drooling, or flat back of head. (Williams, Phillips, Wagstaff, 2004-2006)
Resources to help teachers serve children with Angelman Syndrome:
Children who suffer from mental retardation often profit from the same teaching methods used to teach individuals with learning disabilities, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism. It is useful and beneficial to “break tasks down into small steps and introduce the task one stop at a time to avoid overwhelming the individual. Once the student has mastered one step, the next is introduced.” As a teacher, it is important to realize that lecturing or verbally giving instructions is not a good means of teaching children with mental retardation. They learn much more effectively by visuals, pictures or graphs. Professionals believe that charts are very useful to map a students’ progression or to provide positive reinforcement. Children with Mental Retardation need instant feedback in order to connect between their answers or behaviors. If a teacher does delay the feedback, it often causes a negative effect in the child’s mind and the point will be lost. Useful Methods for Teaching Mentally Retarded Students (2006) Children with Mental Retardation are a kinesthetic learner which means they love dancing, running, jumping, building, touching or gesturing. They need role play, drama, movement, sports, games or hands on learning in order to best understand the lesson. Armstrong, T. (1994). It is also good to give the child websites such as www.angelman.org. Websites could be very educational and it also helps them understand that they are not the only ones who have this disability.
Strategies to help support a child with Angelman Syndrome:
As a teacher in a general education classroom, I would do my best to make sure each student, including the ones with the disability, got treated equal. It is understandable that children with disabilities need different instructions and more help and it is important that they always get the attention they need and deserve. Being that Children with Angelman Syndrome are more Kinesthetic learners, I would make sure that they are taught mostly through somatic sensations. I would still focus on the other seven learning styles but I would try to make the child feel comfortable with how they learn the best, which is through visuals. There are also many support groups that have been established in order to make the lives of children with Angelman Syndrome better. They were formed for the individuals and their families to provide support, information and contact to other individuals with disabilities. I would also recommend that all children with disabilities get enrolled into an Early Childhood Development program. They are set up like a preschool where children partake in pre-math and pre-reading in order to better prepare them for kindergarten.
_______________________________
Armstrong, T. (1994). Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom. Association for a Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Driscoll, D. J. & Williams, C. A. (2007). Angelman Syndrome. Retrieved November 24, 2007, from http://www.geneclinics.org/profiles/angelman/details.html
New Jersey State Bar Foundation. (1996). Defendants with Mental Retardation: A Guide for Attorneys. Retrieved November 26, 2007 from http://www.njsbf.org/njsbf/publications/mental.cfm.
Useful Methods for Teaching Mentally Retarded Students. (2006). Mental Retardation. Retrieved November 25, 2007, from http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=10365&cn=208
Williams, C., Philips, R., & Wagstaff, J. (2004-2006). Angelman S. Foundation, Inc.Facts About Angelman Syndrome. Retrieved November 10, 2007, from http://www.angelman.org/angel/index.php?id=75
A-Prader Willi Syndrome occurs when children are born without the paternal Chromosome 15. A genetic DNA test can be taken to determine how specifically the chromosome was affected and to determine the risk of passing the syndrome on to future children. The main symptoms include food intake and the great risk of morbid obesity because of it. Between the ages of 1 and 6, children develop a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder involving overpowering cravings for food. B-Developmentally, there is a strong delay in the development of motor skills of about 1-2 years. Strength, coordination, and balance suffer due to lack of muscle tone, hypotonia, but should improve with age as long as the proper physical therapies are followed, and the child should remain actively engaged in physical activities. Hypotonia may affect speech, but severe cases are rare. Feeding problems also occurs,s as well as a delay in speech and oral motor skills. With cognition, the average IQ is about 70. Those with PWS have an excellent long-term memory, and reading abilities, although having a normal IQ is usually accompanied by learning disabilities.a Attention, short-term auditory memory, and abstract thinking are typical weaknesses. Although sex hormone levels are typically low, hormone treatments are usually successful and PWS patients can have children, although genetic counseling should be taken seriously as the risk of passing the syndrome on is significant.
C-Food should never be used as a reward. Lunches should be held by the bus driver, teacher, or aid until it is allowed to be eaten. During these lunch and snack times, the child should be monitored to make sure he or she eats only what should be eaten. Lunch should not be delayed, and food should be kept out of sight until the proper time. The nurse should make sure to take weekly measurements to monitor weight gain. In the classroom, the child should always be well informed about procedures, changes, and assignments. All given directions should be simple, clear, and concise as possible. Gradually increase the work load over time instead of bombarding the child all at once. Confrontations with the student should be avoided. Maintain a positive attitude and there should be plenty of positive reinforcement of positive behaviors.
Externalizing disorders- socialized aggression
A- An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. It’s an Inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers. Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances. Also has general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. A tendency to develop physical symptoms related to fears associated with personal or school problems
B- Children that display externalizing behaviors have persistence aggression. The pattern of early aggression can lead to bullying in school. Youth who build or join a community of peers who are involved in delinquent act is what socialized aggression consists of. Delinquency consists of the commission by juveniles of illegal acts, which could include crimes such as theft or assault. The children with emotional behavioral disorders are 13 times more likely to be arrested then other students with disabilities. Children with socialized aggression aren’t very social with the other children.
C- Use as few commands as possible to teach and manage behavior. When giving commands, focus on initiating commands rather than terminating commands. Be clear and direct. Repeat the command one time only. Be relatively close to the student when delivering a command. Develop common rules and expectations for all students. Teach them to all students. Provide more intensive levels of support to meet the behavioral, social, and academic needs of students who are not responding to the school wide intervention efforts. Be alert to the students and classroom. Be skilled in managing your classroom.
This blog is designed as a resource tool for teacher candidates learning about special education and students with special needs. Pairs within the class will create their own blogs about specific students with special needs, such as children with ADHD, and then link that blog to this central site.Each blog will contain information about the federal and state definition of the disability group, the general physical, social, cognitive, and emotional developments, as well as useful resources for teachers.
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Angelman Syndrome
Characteristics of Children with Angelman Syndrome:
Children who have Angelman syndrome all share the same distinctiveness such as a stiff, jerky gait, absent speech, excessive laughter and seizures. Because the developmental problems are unidentifiable at birth, this disability is hard to categorize and diagnose. It is most common for specialists to diagnose children between the ages of three and seven years old because the characteristic behaviors become more obvious then. Other common characteristics of Angelman Syndrome include: developmental delay, speech impairment, none or minimal use of words, apparent happy demeanor, short attention span, easily excitable personality, disproportionate growth in head circumference, frequent laughter or smiling, lazy eye or cross eyed, drooling, or flat back of head. (Williams, Phillips, Wagstaff, 2004-2006)
Resources to help teachers serve children with Angelman Syndrome:
Children who suffer from mental retardation often profit from the same teaching methods used to teach individuals with learning disabilities, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism. It is useful and beneficial to “break tasks down into small steps and introduce the task one stop at a time to avoid overwhelming the individual. Once the student has mastered one step, the next is introduced.” As a teacher, it is important to realize that lecturing or verbally giving instructions is not a good means of teaching children with mental retardation. They learn much more effectively by visuals, pictures or graphs. Professionals believe that charts are very useful to map a students’ progression or to provide positive reinforcement. Children with Mental Retardation need instant feedback in order to connect between their answers or behaviors. If a teacher does delay the feedback, it often causes a negative effect in the child’s mind and the point will be lost. Useful Methods for Teaching Mentally Retarded Students (2006) Children with Mental Retardation are a kinesthetic learner which means they love dancing, running, jumping, building, touching or gesturing. They need role play, drama, movement, sports, games or hands on learning in order to best understand the lesson. Armstrong, T. (1994). It is also good to give the child websites such as www.angelman.org. Websites could be very educational and it also helps them understand that they are not the only ones who have this disability.
Strategies to help support a child with Angelman Syndrome:
As a teacher in a general education classroom, I would do my best to make sure each student, including the ones with the disability, got treated equal. It is understandable that children with disabilities need different instructions and more help and it is important that they always get the attention they need and deserve. Being that Children with Angelman Syndrome are more Kinesthetic learners, I would make sure that they are taught mostly through somatic sensations. I would still focus on the other seven learning styles but I would try to make the child feel comfortable with how they learn the best, which is through visuals. There are also many support groups that have been established in order to make the lives of children with Angelman Syndrome better. They were formed for the individuals and their families to provide support, information and contact to other individuals with disabilities. I would also recommend that all children with disabilities get enrolled into an Early Childhood Development program. They are set up like a preschool where children partake in pre-math and pre-reading in order to better prepare them for kindergarten.
_______________________________
Armstrong, T. (1994). Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom. Association for a
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Driscoll, D. J. & Williams, C. A. (2007). Angelman Syndrome. Retrieved November 24, 2007, from http://www.geneclinics.org/profiles/angelman/details.html
New Jersey State Bar Foundation. (1996). Defendants with Mental Retardation: A Guide for Attorneys. Retrieved November 26, 2007 from http://www.njsbf.org/njsbf/publications/mental.cfm.
Useful Methods for Teaching Mentally Retarded Students. (2006). Mental Retardation. Retrieved November 25, 2007, from http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=10365&cn=208
Williams, C., Philips, R., & Wagstaff, J. (2004-2006). Angelman S. Foundation, Inc.Facts About Angelman Syndrome. Retrieved November 10, 2007, from http://www.angelman.org/angel/index.php?id=75
Mental Retardation-Prader Willi
A-Prader Willi Syndrome occurs when children are born without the paternal Chromosome 15. A genetic DNA test can be taken to determine how specifically the chromosome was affected and to determine the risk of passing the syndrome on to future children. The main symptoms include food intake and the great risk of morbid obesity because of it. Between the ages of 1 and 6, children develop a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder involving overpowering cravings for food.
B-Developmentally, there is a strong delay in the development of motor skills of about 1-2 years. Strength, coordination, and balance suffer due to lack of muscle tone, hypotonia, but should improve with age as long as the proper physical therapies are followed, and the child should remain actively engaged in physical activities. Hypotonia may affect speech, but severe cases are rare. Feeding problems also occurs,s as well as a delay in speech and oral motor skills. With cognition, the average IQ is about 70. Those with PWS have an excellent long-term memory, and reading abilities, although having a normal IQ is usually accompanied by learning disabilities.a Attention, short-term auditory memory, and abstract thinking are typical weaknesses. Although sex hormone levels are typically low, hormone treatments are usually successful and PWS patients can have children, although genetic counseling should be taken seriously as the risk of passing the syndrome on is significant.
C-Food should never be used as a reward. Lunches should be held by the bus driver, teacher, or aid until it is allowed to be eaten. During these lunch and snack times, the child should be monitored to make sure he or she eats only what should be eaten. Lunch should not be delayed, and food should be kept out of sight until the proper time. The nurse should make sure to take weekly measurements to monitor weight gain. In the classroom, the child should always be well informed about procedures, changes, and assignments. All given directions should be simple, clear, and concise as possible. Gradually increase the work load over time instead of bombarding the child all at once. Confrontations with the student should be avoided. Maintain a positive attitude and there should be plenty of positive reinforcement of positive behaviors.
Externalizing disorders- socialized aggression
A- An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. It’s an Inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers. Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances. Also has general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. A tendency to develop physical symptoms related to fears associated with personal or school problems
B- Children that display externalizing behaviors have persistence aggression. The pattern of early aggression can lead to bullying in school. Youth who build or join a community of peers who are involved in delinquent act is what socialized aggression consists of. Delinquency consists of the commission by juveniles of illegal acts, which could include crimes such as theft or assault. The children with emotional behavioral disorders are 13 times more likely to be arrested then other students with disabilities. Children with socialized aggression aren’t very social with the other children.
C- Use as few commands as possible to teach and manage behavior. When giving commands, focus on initiating commands rather than terminating commands. Be clear and direct. Repeat the command one time only. Be relatively close to the student when delivering a command. Develop common rules and expectations for all students. Teach them to all students. Provide more intensive levels of support to meet the behavioral, social, and academic needs of students who are not responding to the school wide intervention efforts. Be alert to the students and classroom. Be skilled in managing your classroom.
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