Downs Syndrome Differentiation Plan Essay

After the IEP is made and the child is accustomed to our classroom, the details of our lessons become more specific and more practical to suit their needs. This is referred to as differentiation in lesson planning. If we take an intellectually disabled student who has Downs Syndrome our differentiation would look differently than a differentiation plan for a student with ADHD or Conduct Disorder. The Downs Syndrome Education website cites that the basic principle for teaching students with Downs Syndrome is to appeal to their learning strengths. With this recommendation comes the additional advice of: reducing the oral demands and continuous time spent on one lesson, use pictures and list to enhance memory skills, and actively teach to provide clarity and relevancy. In a third grade classroom, this may look something like a schedule or calendar written out with corresponding pictures, or making a motion every time a teacher says one particular word. Research shows that intellectually disabled students will have memory difficulties, issues with self-regulation, and metacognitive resistance. Because these students have trouble recalling information, we have to separate tasks because it is difficult for ID students to remember information while attending to a task (Hallahan, 2013). While it may be difficult to remember information, a study conducted at Lancaster University in England concluded that mildly intellectually disabled children had specific recall abilities and could be

Two important keys to these lessons are relevancy and explicit transitions. If the students know exactly what we are doing, when we are supposed to be doing it, it will likely ease their frustration because they are not confused. With this type of differentiation, we bear in mind that these tips will be helpful for all of our students (Downs Syndrome, 2014). In our