Profound Developmental Disability

Profound Developmental Disability Deanna Taudien

What is a Developmental Disability? Characterized by significantly below average intellectual ability approximately the 2nd percentile or below. Deficits in adaptive functioning must also be present. -

Definition from the Ontario Teacher’s Federation

What is a Developmental Disability? A severe learning disorder characterized by: a) an inability to profit from a special education program for students with mild intellectual disabilities because of slow intellectual development; b) an ability to profit from a special education program that is designed to accommodate slow intellectual development; c) a limited potential for academic learning, independent social adjustment, and economic self support. -Definition from the Ontario Ministry of Education

Students with a developmental disability may be placed in a semi-integrated program or in a specialized school program depending on the severity of their Developmental disability. The main focus for students with a developmental disability is to develop communication, social and life skills in order to gain the independence for adult life. Both semi-integrated and specialized school programs focus on community life often times meaning many trips out into the community.

Profound DD Educational profile: ● Students with profound DD are usually placed in a specialized school program. ● The have limited intellectual potential for academic learning. ● They are measured by psychological assessment as being at or below the 0.1st percentile. ● They are working on alternative curriculum expectations. ● Many are dually diagnosed with Autism. ● School programs focus on developing basic academic skills, social skills and daily living skills. ● Require intensive instructional support - (generally 1 teacher and 2 - 3 EA’ s for a classroom of 8 - 10 students.)

Profound DD student generally demonstrate the following: • A limited means of communication • Delays in social interaction and basic daily living skills • Requires frequent redirection and guidance • Difficulty with self control Verbal and or physical difficulties are generally present.

Daily Living Skills Walking Self Feeding Self Toileting Making Simple Requests

Living skills we acquire at a very young age can be major challenges for many Profound DD students.

Walking: Students may need assistance from an adult, walker, wheelchair, or hall railings. The goal is for students to be able to walk on their own at least some of the time.

Self Feeding: Students being able to feed themselves is a main goal. Many have trouble with plates, bowls and utensils. Some schools have bowls with velcro so that they can stick to a tabletop making it easier for the student to eat. Some students cannot have more than one food item in their bowl at a time without making a mess and require a lot of assistance. Velcro is shown on the tray of which the bowl can stick too. You can also see thicker grippier utensils.

Self Toileting: A living skills goal for students is also to be able to self-toilet. Those who cannot need assistance from adults. Bathrooms in Special Education Schools generally contain some assistive equipment for toileting.

The black disk in front of the toilet swivels so that a student may be placed on the black disk from a wheelchair and be easily turned to sit.

Making Simple Requests: It can be very difficult for students that have limited verbal ability to make simple requests. Signing and visual cues help students get their needs across.

Students use the core vocabulary chart to communicate. Pointing to I, Want and More on the chart would be typical in a lunch room setting.

Basic Academic Skills Math Skills: Telling time and counting. Language Arts: Recognizing symbols, moving on to reading signs (stop, push).

Basic Academic skills will depend on the student. Goals and expectations are outlined for students on an individual basis.

Social Skills Students learn how to interact with one another, school staff and the community. Students spend time visiting grocery stores, malls, and other community areas in order to develop their social skills. It is common for classes of Profound DD students to go on one outing a week.

Schools in Ottawa ● Crystal Bay Centre for Special Education ● Clifford Bowey Public School This presentation will focus on the facilities at Crystal Bay.

Crystal Bay Centre for Special Education The school opened in 1972. 96 students with moderate to profound developmental disabilities ranging in ages 4-21. Students at Crystal Bay all have a developmental disability that may be coupled with; autism, hearing impairment or deafness, visual impairment or blindness, physical disability. Classes contain 8 students. Each class has 1 teacher and 2-3 Educational Assistants. http://www.crystalbayse.ocdsb.ca/

Crystal Bay Centre for Special Education I had the chance to visit the school and take pictures of the facilities. Music room Touch sensory wall

Assistive Walkers for students with physical disabilities

Physical Education

Safety is a priority and is achieved by enclosing the trampoline

The gymnasium is set up with a circuit for students to move through. Students are encouraged to explore their mobility and improve their motor skills while being safe.

Snoezelen Room Dutch words: Snuffelen - To seek and explore Doezelin - relaxation and calm ● ● ●

Multi-sensory environment - touch, sound, vibration, colour and light Provides a safe and accessible place for children to relax. Children may take control of their environment and explore with the help of a school therapist.

Use of Snoezelen rooms has shown a reduction in distress, aggression and self-injury. Snoezelen rooms have also been found to improve concentration, eyehand coordination, and motor function.

Video on Snoezelen Rooms: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=bEY368vVpwg

Student Profile Jessica - 12 years old ● ● ● ●

Delayed Development intellectually - at the 0.1st percentile difficulty with movement and stability - generally uses a walker or may be provided assistance from an adult. severe communication problems - limited verbal ability - some shrill sounds Can become aggressive - biting and hitting

Teaching Strategies for Jessica: ● Processing Speed ● Aggression Management ● Assistive technology ● Emotional Regulation ● Gross Motor Skills Chewy tubes may be useful for Jessica.

Information provided on different teaching strategies for Spec. Ed students: http://www.teachspeced.ca/teaching-strategies-students-special-needs?q=node/663

Lesson Plan For Jessica’s lesson plan I will focus on the use of assistive technology and processing speed.

30 minute Introductory lesson before snack time The students will come into class and sit at their assigned seats. Jessica sits with an EA. The smartboard has the students names below images of buttons. Each student is asked to come up to the smartboard and click the button above their name. The button turns around and shows their photo. (Jessica is helped up to the Smartboard, she is given extra time and prompting to find her name. The teacher may guide her hand to the right button.) The teacher greets each student one by one, awaiting eye contact and a hello back from each student. (The teacher provides visual cues to help Jessica process what is being asked of her to do. She shows an image on an Ipad with a waving person and the word Hello. She gives Jessica time to process and repeats the greeting to Jessica.)

Students are asked to identify the day of the week. They are shown an Ipad with all the days of the week on it. They are to press the day of the week of which it is today. Students are prompted to press Wednesday by guiding their hand or redirecting their attention verbally. Once everyone has selected the day of the week, students must indicate the weather. The Ipad is now displaying weather options like:

Once students have finished they select songs about the weather to listen to. They do so by clicking images on the smartboard. (The sun will be a song about a sunny day.) It is now time to walk the students down to the lunch room for snack.

The lesson I have described is short and simple but there is a lot of potential for discussing ways in which teaching strategies for Jessica can be used. Assistive Technology: -Ipad -Smartboard Processing Speed: -Pair oral with visual instructions -allow extra time -prompting and redirecting questions

I would like to ask the class to provide ideas on strategies that could be used for Jessica in this lesson. Assuming any of the following: - Jessica has trouble making her way into the classroom - Jessica has an outburst and is trying to leave her seat - Jessica is making loud wailing noises and bites the EA during the lesson - Jessica will not look at the teacher when she asks her specific questions OR How can the following teaching strategies be helpful in these situation? - Emotional Regulation - Gross Motor Skills - Aggression Management info on the above teaching strategies: http://www.teachspeced.ca/teaching-strategies-students-special-needs?q=node/663

Reflection The best thing I could do in preparation for this project was to visit Crystal Bay. I got to see what the school environment is like for students with Profound DD and it impacted my research and understanding of the research. Since the learning is primarily focused on basic life skills and social skills I felt it was important to have a lesson plan that reflected this type of learning. It is important to identify what each individual student needs in order to work towards achieving these skills. I partially chose this topic because I had worked with students with minor DD. It is significantly different and I did not realize how different the students would be between the two programs. The students with minor DD were in a community living program and were training for jobs, for example becoming an employee at Pizza Pizza. Students were learning about money, how to make change, etc. Comparing the two, I can see that their are different levels of ‘basic skills’. Prior to my visit to Crystal Bay I had never seen nor heard of a Snoezelen Room. It was an interesting experience and even as you walk into the room you can feel a sense of calm (and I did not get to experience the special lighting). I enjoyed exploring this topic and hope that you found my presentation to be interesting!

Resources http://www.teachspeced.ca/developmental-disability http://www.ocdsb.ca/programs/se/sepr/Pages/DevelopDisabiProg%28DD%29.aspx http://www.ocapdd.on.ca http://www.ocdsb.ca/med/pub/OCDSB_Publications/IEP_Guide%20April%202012.pdf http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/studentsupport/ese/PDF/InstructionalDesigns.pdf http://www.ocdsb.ca/med/pub/OCDSB_Publications/IEP_Guide%20April%202012.pdf http://www.cliffordboweyps.ocdsb.ca/index.php?id=10 http://www.specialneeds.com/products-and-services/autism/chewing-and-autism http://www.snoezeleninfo.com/main.asp http://aaidd.org/ http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/guide.html