severe to profound special needs & active learning?

Question

What are some creative, inexpensive ways to put together active learning boards and containers? I am starting a new position next year in a hospital setting with older students with profound mental retardation. They have limited movement.

Answer 1

Keep in mind that you will be dealing with people who need micro-step instruction, a single step at a time.

Make them very simple, but also expandable. As a person learns a routine, add a step.

Here's a place you can ask that you might catch people with more experience with MR and Active Learning activities:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/activeLearning/

Answer 2

having a child with severe brain injury I can tell you some of the things I created over the years to assist her in experiencing the world around her and learning. She has multiple disabilities including cortical blindness, developmental delay, she does not walk without lots of assistance, she also has sensory problems in that she experiences her senses differently severe speech delay (she doesnt talk), epilepsy. She is now 18.

I wish I could give you the references of the people I learned all of this from because they each deserve credit for it but alas and alack I do not remember who taught me what.

I went to a conference where the guest speaker was this lady:
Lilli Nielsen's Active Learning Approach and "Little Room" Products:
http://www.lilliputnorthamerica.com/cover.html
http://www.lilliworks.com

With a little creativity it is quite possible to create a 'little room' with all of its benefits without purchasing a little room.

the important things to note about the little room which is a tool used to teach blind students to 'reach out and explore their world'

it does not matter how disabled the student is they will benefit from the little room. When it is set up one flick of the finger can create a response from the environment.

Lilli during her conference explained how she worked in one institute where there were no finnacial resources at all and so she had a local handyman lift the height of a patient's bed so the patient could sit under the bed in their little room.

Another patient had their little room built over their bed.

For my daughter I purchased a prefab little room with a perspex roof that had holes drilled in the top and panelled sides that could be rearranged and altered.

From the roof of the little room I hung a variety of objects, first on string and later exchanged string for elastic for some items. The items I used were made from a variety of materials ie wood, steel, plastic, cloth, stone and then also I ensured there were a great deal of variety in textures ie. plastic dishwashing scourers, satin toys, wooden spoons, a steel egg whisk,

the panels were coated in various textures ie, sandpaper, plastic lawn substitute, terry towelling, metal, wood.

variety is not just the spice of life it is life.

The main concepts learnt from the little room are
object permanence
spatial relations
environmental feedback

the little room works in every way to stimulate the senses including auditory, visual, tactile

some further research into the active learning as taught by Lilli Nielsen would be beneficial.

Dr Nielsen advocated usiing what you have and keeping things inexpensive.

Consider including sensory integrative therapy into your plans..
see this site and any others too for ideas on what to do..
http://www.aotf.org/html/rn_sensory_integrative.html

we used a brushing programme to desensitise my daughter to touch.

be sure to have a good grasp of assistive technology too. Here is a website that has an old but good basic study on this topic.
http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/outprint/nd13txt.htm

as well as learning boards and containers see if you can have access to one room, even if its only a broom cupboard, to set up as a sensory stimulation room.

Between now and when you need the items haunt garage sales, opportunity shops, building recycling sites, any where you will find items of all kinds of textures. Collect lots of different things so that you can alter ad change things for the students and introduce new variations of known textures etc.

Best Of Luck.

Answer 3

ahve you thought about making plain white boards that they can use marker pens on.Mentally disabled children love to use them so same may apply

Answer 4

not sure---i'll ask my sons o.t. friday & i'll try to get back w/something