Intervention for Students with Developmental Disorders
A page from the students of the University of Girona
Topic 1. Psychoeducational intervention in inclusive educational contexts
In this section we deal with diversity, individual differences because we want to understand what educational monitoring aimed at diversity consists of. In Spain we have different laws directed to this minority that receives the name of SEN (Special educational needs). These would receive specific support.
We discussed the role of the psychologist in the educational field and the diversity of psychoeducational models, the difference of inclusion with exclusion, separation and integration. And we also talked about ELIC, CREDA, CRETDIC, CRP, CREDV.
Topic 2. Language disorders
In the second topic, we talk about communicative intentions, conversational rules, type of discourse like jokes and the impact of the child if they have speech disorders that affect their fluency like stuttering, and the aparcia of the speech. Also we introduce the oral language disorders, the social communication disorder and other disorders derived from other pathologies. We know that language is very sensible to the age of aquire so can have consequences if someone doesn't have it in the acquired way, so the intervention should be:
Change or eliminate the underlying problems
Modify linguistic problems associated with the disorders
Teach compensatory strategies
Focusing on the child's environment.
The most important thing is the communication, be comprehensive for others, not the form!
Also, we differentiated the child-centered (CC) and the clinician-directed (CD). Following the line, we wanted to know some methodological orientations for working with students with language disorders.
Adding in this topic, we learn about AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) that can be unaided or aided systems.
"A million things I'd like to say"
Topic 3. ASD
The autistic have no theory of mind. They are isolated from the outside world because they are perceived as being difficult to cope with or adapt to. Prevalence: + male than female
1- Inability to establish relationships with others
2- Significant speech delay
3- Non-communicative use of the word
4- Echolalia retarded
5- No symbolic play
6- Obsession to preserve identity
7- Low imagination
8- Mechanical memory, good cognitive potential
9- Abnormalities in early childhood
10- Less social-emotional reciprocity
We should understand their behaviours or actions but they can’t find the way so we should being comprehensive as acts of communication
ASD Levels
a) much substantial support
b) substantial support
c) support
Forecast:
the earlier you are, the better the prognosis
Use of tablets, large applications allow communication.
It is not known if they can reach a certain autonomy and independence because they can stop maintaining a routine
- If there is brain damage, they self-injure, in ASD there is usually no self-injury
- Music therapy goes very well for reproducing and helping
Objectives: to minimize deficits in interaction and communication or other symptoms; improve autonomy and functioning to acquire daily life skills; reduce disruptive behavior.
Types of interventions:
1. primary intervention
It must be said that all of them are adapted to the development of the child
2.in social and thinking skills
3.Role of psychologist social skills:
4. Teaching peers
5. Plan social situations (increasing social motivation)
6. Breaking down complex social behaviours (e.g. Teaching ToM skills like conversational breakdowns)
7. Practicing opportunities
Academic skills:
Motivate
Self-regulation
Structured environments and predictability
Plan generalisation
Medical help
How psychologist may help families of children with ASD?
Design routines
Meeting other parents
Information
Identify their worries
Support
Involve them in the school education
Topic 4. What’s and intelectual disability?
Intellectual disability involves problems with general mental abilities that affect functioning in two areas: intellectual functioning (such as learning, problem solving, judgement) adaptive behaviour and functioning (activities of daily life such as communication and independent living), developmental period
How to mesure and criteria: with IQ
But we discuss it bc we don't think intelligence test doesn't include all skills that one person can be good at. Sometimes they aren't stimulated? We know that intellectual disability is a state but it's now usually the case that in can have changes... Should be a state not a trait. So there are correlation between IQ and educational outcomes.
The origin:
-genetic
- interactional factors with environment
- ... several factors
Usually have health problems in shorter time, and motor problems is a good thing to involve intelectual problems. But it depends on the disability
How would u face their memory and attention problems in school?
Metacognitive strategies à how to memorize, recol things, …)
Reduce executive demands (planning, visual things will help, try to know what do they know to adapt the explanations and vocabulary.
Divide lessons in short segments
Consider their lower level of general knowledge
How can we help?
- Natural reinforcers, reminders, explicit instruction
- Motivation
- Generalisation
About high capacities: Differences between a talented and a gifted student? first one is more specific and the second one is about how to process the information is general. IQ isn’t enough; they have and intense emotional life bc they are interested in other things or complex things. They are stubborn and they doesn’t accept the rules; they are non conformity.
High capacities doesn’t mean a good emotional level, bc they r still learning. They are perfectionist and they push up their expectations and they work hard for it. If they aren’t good in specific área, they can do mistakes and be furious with them.
Maybe, the evaluation should be in which areas are better and adapto r do an acceleration for their capacities. Obtaining the profile of the strengths and not strengths of the student and it may helps to decide which high-level learning skills could work
Topic 5. Deafness
Sometimes the difficulties of deaf people is that parents aren’t and they doesn’t use sign language. Others is that child can be deaf or have deficit. We should understand that children with deficit aren’t able to communicate with sign language (depends on the context).
Sometimes the problem of the child depends on the origin: cerebral or ear
Sign language to hearing students:
- Inclusion
How can we help?
1. Reading skills, difficulties when kid want to learn the best is learn the oral language not the write one.
2. Signing exact english: learn signs according to the grammer
3. Importante of having a first language ASAP
Mistakes do parents do when talking to a child deafness: imperative forms, they don’t interact with their childs.
Class intervention: self-esteem, behavioral difficulties, prove written material about everything said in class. Benefits of mainstream education for deaf students. Understand emotions and help them with skills to make new friends.
Affected areas by deafness:
- Oral language and communication (take care and pay attention about socialization)
- Literacy skills like Reading and writing: pay attention in visual things
- Cognitive development (e.g. symbolic play) à can be affected by language
- Psychomotor development
Variables related to deafness and intervention: They can use hearing impariment and if kid is deaf of one ear, he doesn’t have to have problems with communication or interactuate with others. Also they can have early communication, linguistic input, different types of communicative interaction with parents, medicines, surgery and hearing devices or hearing devides, speech therapy (CREDA).
Types of hearing impairment according to the damage. Also there are degree of loss and we can see where are the problems about in which parts they can listen or not by “audiograma”. Furthermore onset of loss:
- Prelingual (0-3 years old)
- Postlingual (from age of 3)
Communicatives modes:
1. Oralist:
They are able to hear and to develop an oral language and is complemented the Reading to read the lips.
Help people with hearing deficits to discriminate between sounds which the mouth has similar movements.
2. Gestural is useful for sign language but it’s only for a few words bc for the rest of the words there are differents signs for each Word.
3. Bimodal: Consists in using the signs of ASL but following the grammar of oral language.
4. Bilingual: subjects use oral language and sign language
Intervention so we studied the functions of the education psychologist and what about teachers consider when they have to educate children with deafness. Also what should parents consider and which functions have CREDA.
Visual impairment vs blindness
Vision as integrator of other senses bc there are range and variety of experiences it’s the reason there are heterogeneity.
Motor development:
1- Related to authonomy and relationships.
2- Delayed grasps of objects and exploration. The cognitive experiences may be affected and the early years
3- Blindisms
4- Deficit in self-initiated movements
5- Motor and postural
6- Understanding body changes
Characteristics of the information coming from touch and hearing:
Transitory, hard to discriminate, to integrate, to represent, more sequential.
We talked about linguistic, cognitive and social development
Intervention in children with VI
Adapt the curriculum, talk or avoid some things with childmates.
Help them to interact with other people or kids, not overprotection, avoid guess, to iniciate conversation we shpuld say our name, normalize “see” words and promote activities they r allowed. Also we talked about their motor disorders:
promote authonomy
teach him/her to read
promote sign languages
communication is prior
Topic 6. Motor disorders
Motor disorder is an alteration of the motor system that be caused from CNS, muscular system or bone system. The affection might be transitory or permanent so there are many different diagnosis and degrees of severity.
The cerebral palsy. Depending on the part of the body is affected, we distinguish tetraplegia, paraplegia and monoplegia.
Myopathy
Spina bífida
Spine muscular atrophy
Ataxia
The evalution try to adapt the environment and providing the necessary resources. This process can be helped by EAP trying to consider architectural barriers, make Availability of the materials and products. And try to support staff and educational services.
Evalutation of the motor skills is necessary the implication of the child and their microsystems. Child should try to mantain the correct position, they shoud have different ways to move form place to another and try to make maniplative activities. The perspective of the professionals are involve to adapt better the objectives of the child.
The intervention is focused in helping them to develop the máximum number of functions as possible in an autonomus maner so it’s necessary to prioritize the objectives, adapt the function over form, the activities that make it possible for the child to obtain the result bc we would like to avoid frustration. Also, adapt the evaluation in a way that their impaired motor skills do not interfere in the evaluation of their other competences. If the child has difficulties with speech try to intensify the intervention from a speech therapist. Also w have specific strategies like dialogues with turns, accepting all communicative modalities like sounds or facial expressions, AAC system so who use this system need to know the models to communicate with other people, use repetitions and expansions. About reading and writing they an have multiple supports like computer to communicate effectively.
What can support the child? Adapt the tools and materials, support products for the correct position and postural control, support for movement, the communication or Access to computers.
Families and professionals of the child should be involved and they should have a good interaction to consider the characteristics of the family and the social system when planning the intervention with the child. Families should participate with the center to take knowledge about his child. Furthermore, parents need a good orientation of the professions to help them. Parents may have to talk about their feelings and talk about their worries in relation to the disability, let them express their difficulties and comment what they can do or they can not. We have to try to promote the acceptance of the family what his child is suffering: motor disorder. Too they have to participate in dailly activities.
Who are we?
We are students of Psychology at the University of Girona who are currently studying this subject as third and fourth year students.
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