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The Range Statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Add any essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts. |
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Terminology relating to multiple disabilities or impairments may include: | Access: to use or participate in something, for example, to access a computer, curriculum or building Achievement: the level of actual performance or accomplishment, especially as a result of effort and ability Acquired injury: an impairment which has developed during the person's life rather than being present from birth Anecdotal records: recording of incidents, exactly as observed, during everyday school activities Education adjustment program profile: a process used to demonstrate the types of adjustments to: curriculum communication social participation /emotional well being health and personal care safety learning environment / access that are being provided for students with disabilities s to learn, participate and progress towards planned outcomes in relation to his/her same age peers rather than focussing on the students' disabilities, this process focuses on the adjustments that need to be made at school to facilitate the student's presence, participation, access and achievement of appropriate educational outcomes Attention span: the period of attention or concentration given by an individual to a task Auditory: related to hearing Behaviour: all the observable responses of an individual to internal and external stimuli continued... |
Terminology relating to multiple disabilities or impairments may include: (contd) | Behaviour support: the application of a range of positive support strategies designed to assist students to behave in socially acceptable ways Classroom environment: the sum of the conditions within the classroom, or affecting the classroom and which influence the learning situation it covers the physical setting, the structure of learning and the relationships between participants Cognition: developmental area that involves thinking skills, including the ability to receive, process, analyse and understand information Communication: the process of exchange of meaning through listening, speaking, viewing, signing, symbols, gesture, facial expression, reading and writing this process of exchange involves receiving and understanding messages and making and sending messages Competency: the ability to perform a task at a satisfactory standard consistently Comprehension: understanding the message in what is read, heard or observed Cue: a distinctive signal or hint to which a person has learned to respond Culture: all the behavioural patterns and products of a social group these are closely related to customs and values Curriculum: the entire range of experiences and structured learning activities through which knowledge, skills and benefits are communicated in schools these experiences have intended and unintended outcomes Disability: the resulting functional impact of disability or impairment on performance (that is, any restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in the normal manner) continued ... |
Terminology relating to multiple disabilities or impairments may include: (contd) | Distractibility: inability to maintain attention to relevant stimuli as outside stimuli interferes Enrichment activities: educational experiences to supplement the regular class work Evaluation: measurement of student performance usually against stated objectives Facilitation: supporting a team or group to stay focused on a task or process it involves process management and communication skills Fine motor: refers to movements made by the small muscles of the hand and mouth (e.g. manipulation of objects, speech etc) Fluency: smoothness of completing a task (e.g. reading without stumbling or errors) Functional performance: a level which is sufficient for the person to operate within a particular environment it may describe writing that is less than artistic but which allows the person to communicate at their job Gross motor: refers to movements of the large muscle groups of the arms, legs and trunk (e.g. walking, rolling, and sitting) Impairment: an objective description defining any loss or abnormality in terms of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function Inclusive curriculum: a flexible model that requires each school to provide for the educational needs of all students enrolled there Individual differences: differences in personality, physiology, and perceptual processes that can account for variations in student performance continued ... |
Terminology relating to multiple disabilities or impairments may include: (contd) | Informal assessment: assessing student performances by means other than the use of standardised tests Interpersonal: relating to other persons the ability to interact and get along with others Interpreter: a person who translates information from one form to another for students who are deaf/hearing impaired, specifically used for translation between spoken language and signed language Kinaesthetic: related to the awareness and sensations coming from muscles and joints that indicate the position and movement of body parts Language: a conventional symbolic system used to communicate it is symbolic because the spoken, signed, indicated or written units of a language always represent the same object or concept it is conventional because members of a community share the meaning of the symbols it is a system because there are rules for using the symbols. Learning style: the way that an individual prefers to perceive information, think and problem solve there are a number of theoretical frameworks which divide people who have similar preferences into groups Least restrictive options: choices about activities and processes which provide the maximum opportunity for access and participation by all students Literacy: the ability to comprehend and compose spoken, written and visual texts commonly used by individuals and groups to participate fully, critically and effectively in a wide range of life roles computer literacy is also now viewed as another vital strand of literacy competencies. continued ... |
Terminology relating to multiple disabilities or impairments may include: (contd) | Long-term memory: the mental process of retaining and recalling a past act, experience or expression after a period of time Modelling: a process where the learner acquires a skill or attitude through watching and copying another person Motivation: force within the individual which drives them to maintain attention or to behave in a certain way in order to satisfy a need or attain a goal Note taking: the use of another to take lesson notes on behalf of a student who is unable to do so because of a disability Numeracy: the ability to use skills for interpreting, applying and communicating mathematical information in commonly encountered situations to enable participation in a wide range of life roles that are appropriate to the student Perseveration: tendency to persist in or to repeat behaviours which are no longer useful or appropriate Practice: repetition of a performance in order to raise the quality of the performance. Prior learning: relevant information that a person has prior to instruction this forms a basis for learning the new information Program modification: making changes and adjustments to the content or manner of presentation of the class curriculum to improve a student's chances of success Prompt: any feature added to the learning task that assists the student in performing tasks - can be verbal, gestures, visual or physical Reflection: the process of consciously thinking over experiences in order to learn from them continued ... |
Terminology relating to multiple disabilities or impairments may include: (contd) | Risk-taking: experiences undertaken by people which may or may not have positive outcomes but from which they can learn and develop Scaffolding: the process where a more expert person interacts with learners to guide them towards building their own understanding Self-concept: individuals' perception of themselves Self-esteem: Individuals' value judgement about themselves Short-term memory: momentarily, the mental process of retaining and recalling a past act, experience or impression Task analysis: systematic study of the components of a skill or activity so that all components can be taught a step at a time to build up to performing the complete task Transition: a move from one educational setting to another or from secondary to a post-school option Verifier: a professional who has demonstrated skills to interpret a medical specialist's letter of diagnosis and to provide verification of disability and is nominated by the educational organisation as a verifier Verification: a process that indicates that the student meets organisation's criteria to allow entry to a recognised disability category Visualisation: mentally picturing objects or events as opposed to experiencing them directly |
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Multiple disabilities or impairments refers to: | Students with multiple disabilities or impairments have a combination of two or more low incidence disabilities These occur in combinations, for example disabilities may be: visual, hearing and physical intellectual and hearing speech language and physical Every student is different, even when they have a similar combination of disabilities: it is important to realise that one impairment can exacerbate the difficulties caused by another the interplay and impact of disabilities are greater than the sum of the individual disabilities The implications for learning will depend on the mix and severity of disabilities as well as on factors such as age, experiences and personality |
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Adaptive skills refers to: | Along with significantly impaired intellectual functioning, people with multiple disabilities or impairments have limitations in two or more of the adaptive skill areas: communication self care home living social skills community use self-direction health and safety adjusted academics leisure work These skill areas are central to successful life functioning Communication (giving and receiving information) difficulties: understanding language (especially complex sentences, colloquialisms and words with more than one meaning) learning rules of language (e.g. grammatical constructions, appropriate language for specific situations) using language for a variety of functions (e.g. fulfilling basic needs, asking questions, stating information) producing speech Some students may need to use AAC (Augmentative and Alternate Communication) and/or speech generating devices Self care: refers to those skills necessary to maintain personal hygiene and appearance
Students will need to be taught these skills in a structured manner
For example, they may need an understanding of appropriate clothing for different social contexts Students may need specific programs in the following areas: eating dressing grooming toileting hygiene continued ... |
Adaptive skills refers to:
(contd) | Home living: skills are those required to manage in the home environment and may include: housekeeping clothing care food preparation home safety daily scheduling planning to budget and shop Self-direction: skills include: making choices problem solving being assertive initiating or completing activities planning following a timetable seeking assistance when needed Leisure: skills refer to the ability to use free time to pursue personal interests
The purpose of teaching leisure skills is to provide students with the skills to be active participants in a variety of leisure pursuits
Related skills include: appropriate behaviour in leisure settings home and community leisure playing socially with others indicating choices and needs turn-taking Work Skills: need to be developed for students to have the opportunity to access work (paid and unpaid)
These include work-related behaviours such as: completing tasks following schedules seeking help self -management interacting with co-workers job-specific competence Community Use: refers to the ability to access community facilities
Skills include: using public transport shopping using public facilities appropriate behaviour |
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Alternate performance strategies refers to | Strategies that provide the capacity to adapt/operate effectively in a normal situation |
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Ways in which multiple disabilities may affect student learningmay include: | Attention
The student may have difficulty: beginning to attend the task maintaining attention to complete the task discriminating key features Thought processing
The student may have difficulty with: speed and organisation of though processes forming logical sequence of ideas interpreting symbolic and abstract concepts linking new information with previous knowledge or experience perseveration (repetition of speech or behaviour) Memory students with an intellectual disability may have difficulty retaining and recalling information Generalisation students with multiple disabilities or impairments have considerable difficulty transferring skills learned in one situation to another (e.g. money addition on a worksheet may not be generalised to the shopping centre) students need to be taught how to generalise learned skills across a variety of locations, people, materials, and times Perception students with multiple disabilities or impairments may have difficulty registering information through particular sensory mode (e.g. auditory or visual) they may also have difficulty making meaning from what has been perceived (e.g. interpreting diagrams or pictures) |
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Assist students may include: | Assist a student to improve memory: use visual supports such as word lists, pictorial timetable, or self management charts use verbal and gestural prompts use music or rhyme (e.g. learn required facts to a jingle) build in opportunities for over learning (frequent practice) encourage the use of a diary Assist students to improve generalisation ability: creating real-life or life-like environments use a range of concrete materials use role play develop contingency plans (e.g. carrying coins/phone card for the unexpected) practising the same skill with different people in different places Assist students with perceptual difficulties: use as many sensory modes as possible to reinforce learning (e.g. studying a country - include music, costume making, cooking, dance) use one-to-one instruction use short clear instructions link abstract learning (e.g. reading and writing to actual concrete experiences in the student's recent past) present paper tasks in simple, uncluttered formats (e.g. not too much information on the page) provide visual, auditory or tactile support use real-life or life-like situations wherever possible (e.g. study plants in the garden or the bush rather than at a desk) Assist students to improve adaptive skills: most students acquire adaptive skills (everyday coping skills) through incidental learning students with multiple disabilities or impairments may require specific instruction and training to achieve competency in these skills as the skills are acquired, advantage should be taken of the many opportunities that arise for practice throughout the school day the student's age and environment will influence the adaptive skills to be taught |
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Contribute to effective learning outcomes may include: | Assisting with establishing and maintaining a supportive environment which is emotionally, socially and physically inclusive of diversity A curriculum which is responsive to individual needs Student groupings which support the student's involvement in teaching and learning Supporting teaching strategies which respond to the student's learning styles and needs Assisting with the development of teaching materials which are adapted to the student's needs Positive behaviour management strategies |
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A supportive environment is one that creates a sense of belonging for all students by: | Accepting and valuing difference Facilitating academic and social development Supporting learner risk-taking by encouraging students to 'have a go' (e.g. praise for working through the process of an activity even if the outcome is not correct) Defining, modelling and reinforcing appropriate behaviour |
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A critical element of a supportive environment is | The positive attitude of teachers, teacher aides, students and parents To help develop positive attitudes within the school environment: share student successes demonstrate a positive approach focus on what students CAN do rather than on what they CAN NOT do expect ALL students to develop and progress allow students with multiple disabilities or impairments to face challenges promote the rights of all students provide access to a range of experiences encourage peer interaction |
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Support to the teacher of students with multiple disabilities or impairments includes: | Develop a knowledge base in the area of multiple disabilities or impairments Develop a knowledge and application of appropriate resources Provide input into planning sessions as required Follow teacher directions in implementing programs Assist in collecting and recording data as required Provide feedback on student performance to the class teacher Encourage and guide students to do as much as possible for themselves (avoiding the development of learned helplessness) When needed, direct parent enquiries to the relevant teacher Maintain confidentiality on student and family personal information Use prompts and assistance only if required after the student has sufficient time to process the task Keep intervention to the minimum required for students to achieve success Fade assistance so the student can eventually do without teacher aide support Give sufficient feedback so the student can do it right or better next time Collect data on the student's performance to allow the teacher to monitor progress and make necessary program adjustments |
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Resources to support the teacher in the delivery of educational programs may include: | Written material - hand out notes, tests or assignments Technology support - setting up and operating computers, software, DVD, audio and video equipment Researching - sources of material for students and teachers Setting up and preparing for practical tasks/activities such as sewing, cooking, art, music, drama Students with multiple disabilities or impairments sometimes need class materials adapted to enable them to participate in class activities {e.g. more space between questions on worksheet, complex sentences reworded) At times, the student may need specialised equipment, such as a slope board or pencil grip to improve writing skills Some students will need technological aids to assist them in class activities e.g. computer switches which are bigger or brightly coloured, or electronic communication devices |
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