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)
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.
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
1 comment:
a.
The second blog topic that I have been assigned to is mental retardation, more specifically, Angelman Syndrome. The federal definition of mental retardation is "Cognitively impaired" corresponds to "mentally retarded" and means a disability that is characterized by significantly below average general cognitive functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior; manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects a student's educational performance and is characterized by one of the following :i. "Mild cognitive impairment" corresponds to "educable" and means a level of cognitive development and adaptive behavior in home, school and community settings that are mildly below age expectations with respect to all of the following:(1) The quality and rate of learning;(2) The use of symbols for the interpretation of information and the solution of problems; and(3) Performance on an individually administered test of intelligence that falls within a range of two to three standard deviations below the mean.ii. "Moderate cognitive impairment" corresponds to "trainable" and means a level of cognitive development and adaptive behavior that is moderately below age expectations with respect to the following:(1) The ability to use symbols in the solution of problems of low complexity;(2) The ability to function socially without direct and close supervision in home, school and community settings; and(3) Performance on an individually administered test of intelligence that falls three standard deviations or more below the mean.iii. "Severe cognitive impairment" corresponds to "eligible for day training" and means a level of functioning severely below age expectations whereby in a consistent basis the student is incapable of giving evidence of understanding and responding in a positive manner to simple directions expressed in the child's primary mode of communication and cannot in some manner express basic wants and needs.
b.
The characteristics of Angelman Syndrome and Conduct Disorder are very different. Children with Angelman Syndrome have such identifiable characteristics such as: stiff, jerky gait, absent speech, excessive laughter and seizures. Because their development problems do not appear at birth, the children are usually diagnosed between the ages of three and seven years old. Children with Angelman Syndrome also have the following typical characteristics: developmental delay, speech impairment none or minimal use of words, apparent happy demeanor, short attention span, easily excitable personality disproportionate growth in the head circumference, frequent laughter or smiling, lazy, eye or crossed eyes, drooling, or flat back head.
On the other hand, children with conduct disorders display different characteristics from children with Angelman syndrome. Some characteristics of children with conduct disorder include: aggressive behavior toward people and animals, destructive behavior, lying or theft, abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and other substance abuse at a young age, poor relationships with peers and adults, and higher rates of expulsions and complications with the law.
The characteristics of Angelman syndrome are mostly physical signs, while the characteristics of children with conduct disorder are mostly behavioral. When one looks at a person with each syndrome, the person with Angelman Syndrome will be recognized right away, while the person with conduct behavior will not be recognized because there are no physical signs of the disorder.
c. In order to effectively teach any child with a disability, it is important that the teacher treats all the students equally. It is also imperative that the teacher makes the child with the disability feel completely comfortable and safe in the classroom. The teacher needs to learn how the child learns best and make sure to include that teaching style often to make sure the student is learning to the best of his/ her ability. For example, students with Angelman Syndrome learn best kinesthetically, therefore the educator should include charts and graphs to appeal to the student’s visual learning. Because children with conduct disorder need consistency in their daily routines it is essential that those students have set rules and guidelines to their work. For instance, the teacher should have a specific area in which the homework is always collected and certain areas where the books are in the classroom.
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