Montgomery Carpenter - Physical Therapist
Chris Mckenna - Social Worker
Joshua Mullen - General Education Teacher
MEETING THE NEEDS OF STUDENTS WITH
SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES,
EMOTIONAL/BEHAVIORAL DISABILITIES,
AND AUTISM:
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACADEMIC
AND SOCIAL EXCELLENCE AT SENN HIGH
SCHOOL

The leftmost chart illustrates the amount of
reported crime that took place in the
Uptown neighborhood from March 24th to
June 6th of this year. Uptown is designated
by number “3” on the picture right.
WHERE WE ARE, AND WHAT WE’RE MADE OF

The end goal for all of our recommendations is to ensure students with disabilities succeed
academically and socially. As a community, we need to make good on our compassioned
efforts and first recognize this is an issue were facing and then ameliorate the causal factors.
TAKING EXCELLENCE SERIOUSLY AT
SENN: ARE WE “ON TRACK?”
Why remaining on track matters and an analysis of
causal forces.
Mellissa Roderick et al. case study, sponsored by University of
Chicago, remarks: “Student performance in the freshman year
predicts whether students will graduate from high school. In
particular, the freshman on-track indicator, failures, grades,
and absences each predict the students who will graduate and
those who will drop out. How Senn students have historically
performed on these indicators can provide insight into how to
target interventions and supports for students” (2).
When we keep in mind that Hispanic and African-American
students across the nation have had a history of higher
dropping out rates than their peers, and in recognizing that
our school is 43.9% Hispanic, 27.7% African-American it’s in the
best interests of our students for us to take the data from these
scholars with the seriousness it deserves as we outline the
forthcoming services to be provided for our students with
special needs.

 Students with disabilities have the right to individualized
education. This pillar of IDEA is protected through the law’s
language of FAPE, or Free and Appropriate Public Education.
 A student with a disability ought to be assumed to be already
included in class alongside his peers in the general education
classroom unless there is evidence that, in spite of supports
and services, the student is not making educative strides. This
is the presumption that the least restrictive environment
 Procedural Due Process is the clause that holds schools and
parents accountable for carrying out the provisions delineated
in a students individualized education program (IEP); it also
operates as a rational that determines the appropriate phases
to resolve discrepancies between disagreeing parties.
INCORPORATION OF FEDERAL LAW:
SPECIAL EDUCATION TENANTS UNDER
IDEA (REV, 2004)

 Home-School Placement
 Principle of Natural Proportions
 Restructuring Teaching and Learning
 Age and Grade Appropriate Placements
(Turnbull, 2013)
CHARACTERISTICS OF INCLUSION

 Eliminating the Continuum of Placements
 Increasing the Amount of Time in General Education
Classrooms
RESEARCH INTO INCLUSION
(Turnbull, 2013)

Our team of multidisciplinary experts
has arrived at two general
recommendations:
GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
- The Effective Promotion of Student Self-Advocacy
- Wrap-Around Services

 Students with disabilities must be given equal opportunities
to participate in their education
 These students are often dismissed from all educational
planning on their part
 Student Self-Advocacy must be employed at school
THE EFFECTIVE PROMOTION OF
STUDENT SELF-ADVOCACY

 These services will help to meet the needs of students
with disabilities
 The school must identify the needs of students with
disabilities
 Our school must strive to provide all services necessary
to ensure success
WRAP-AROUND SERVICES

GENERAL EDUCATION SPECIFIC
RECOMMENDATIONS (1)
Maximizing Positive Educational Outcomes
for Students with Autism
Positive Behavioral Support (PBS)
“Systems-level, problem-solving-
oriented, data-based approach to
reducing problem behavior;
improving appropriate behavior;
and achieving important academic,
social, and communication
outcomes” (Turnbull, Turnbull,
Wehmeyer, & Shogren, 2013).
Buddy Program
This program will involve
the pairing of students with
autism
with peers without
disabilities and serve to
bolster students’ social skills.

GENERAL EDUCATION SPECIFIC
RECOMMENDATIONS (2)
Enhancing the Academic and Social
Experiences of Students with Specific Learning Disabilities
Curriculum Planning
Process that helps teachers
and IEP teams “identify
those points in the curriculum
at which students with
disabilities should receive
instruction that is based on
their unique learning needs”
(Turnbull, Turnbull,
Wehmeyer, & Shogren, 2013).
Partnership strategies
These serve to promote self-
efficacy among students with
specific learning disabilities.
Successful professional-
family/student partnerships
should include frequent
meetings of general education
teachers, special education
teachers, IEP teams, families,
and students.

GENERAL EDUCATION SPECIFIC
RECOMMENDATIONS (3)
Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
Active involvement on the part of general
education teachers in
the process of determining appropriate
student IEPs and wrap-around services
The partnering of general education teachers
and the IEP teams of students with emotional
and behavioral disorders (EBD) can help to
ensure that the individual educational needs of
students with EBD are met.
Classwide Peer Tutoring
(CWPT)
“Evidence-based peer-
mediated practice that
supports students with EBD
to have positive peer
interactions” (Turnbull,
Turnbull, Wehmeyer, &
Shogren, 2013).

 Thinking about my role with all students as synonymous with the duties of an
ambassador, this is particularly significant when working with students on the autism
spectrum1.
 Students with autism need to have dependable advocates due to the fact that the
manner in which they process and communicate their experience is radically different
from a student without a disability. Thus, in order to acknowledge the correct type of
services a student may need, I am required to have a thorough knowledge of each
child’s particular proclivity for unique communication; ignoring these moments of
earnest communication as the “non -sense” of an autistic child does nothing in the way
of helping them progress socially or academically —that requires services to enhance
communication. Because of this need, I would recommend that I meet with the family
of the student with autism often to understand the development of language and plan
the scouting out of resources around those developments.
 Ron Suskind wrote an astute piece in the Times describing his son’s desire to
communicate despite his different mode of expressing such thought: “That desire to
connect has always been there as, the latest research indicates, it may be in all
autistic people; their neurological barriers don’t kill the desire, even if it’s deeply
submerged. And this is the way he [Owen] still is — autism isn’t a spell that has been
broken; it’s a way of being. That means the world will continue to be inhospitable to
him, walking about, as he does, uncertain, missing cues, his heart exposed. But he has
desperately wanted to connect, to feel his life, fully” ( Suskind 1).
SOCIALLY WORKING WITH STUDENTS
ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM

Establishing transparent
and accountable
relationships between
inter-institutional systems
that interact with student
• In Exceptional Lives,
Turnbell et al. write
that current college
students had listed
“forming relationships
with instructors,
university or college
support staff, friends,
and mentors” as one
of the seven most
important skills
needed for ensuring
success in college (118).
How does the social
worker form these
relationships
• The simple truth of the
matter is that the
social worker acts as
knowledgeable
advocate for the
student with the
disability. This
advocacy can take the
shape of ensuring that
when the student
needs any type of
support that the social
worker acts as the
means to satisfy that
end..
Where would the verification
for this strategies impact on a
student’s improvement both
educationally and socially?
•The proof that social
workers do have an
impact in the lives of
students would depend
upon the the extent to
which the student with
the disability is able to
be accommodated
through the following
services that a social
worker can provide:
family support, cultural
understanding in
relation to instructional
delivery, and the
wherewithal to locate
the necessary recourses
for the student.
ADVOCATING FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIFIC LEARNING
DISABILITIES: A SOCIAL WORKER’S APPROCH TO
DEVELOP ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL EXCELLENCE

ADDRESSING STUDENTS WITH EBD AT
SENN: STRIKING A BALANCE
 Given that we are familiar with EBD, one of the most important
things that need to be addressed, and where social work can make a
substantial impact, are the systemic factors that lead a student to
develop these behaviors of anxiety, aggressive external behavior,
or deceitfulness, theft, and the like (152-153)1.
These systemic environmental and
familial factors are manifested in the
microcosm that is the student. Knowing
that poverty is highly associated with
EBD, my responsibility as a social worker
would be to work with the family to seek
out any type of assistance in the form of
housing, food, transportation, medical
services, etc. Because all of these factors
directly affect the academic and social
skills of student, I would advocate that
such services are for the benefit of the
students mental well-being and ought to
be considered as subsidiaries under
IDEA/ section 5042.
And while we
are doing fairly
well in
comparison to
district
averages, our
suspension rate
of 50% per
every 100
students is
unacceptable if
we are striving
to keep
students in
places where
they can learn.

 Physical therapy can be useful to students with
Autism for several reasons:
 Treat motor function impairments
 Musculoskeletal system issues
 Fitness programs
 Posture
PHYSICAL THERAPY AND AUTISM

 Physical therapy used mostly for
musculoskeletal disorders and other
forms of physical impairment
 Physical Therapists can be useful in
dealing with SLDs by providing
background information and
perspective on students with specific
learning disabilities
PHYSICAL THERAPY AND STUDENTS WITH
SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES

 Physical activity helps reduce stress
 Develop exercise routines
 Help teachers reduce stress
PHYSICAL THERAPY AND STUDENTS WITH
EMOTIONAL-BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS

 What needs to be put into place at Senn High School:
 General Education:
 Buddy Program
 Partnership Strategies
 Class-wide Peer Tutoring
 Social Worker:
 Knowledgeable Advocate
 Ensure Necessary Resources In Place For Struggling Students
 Social Worker Resources for Students With An EBD
 Physical Therapist:
 PT A Must In Senn!
 Resources To Develop Exercise Routines
CONCLUSIONS

Image Credit s :
 http:// w w w . w i z ar d c r af t .n et / S en n/ i m ag e s/ s en nh s 1. g i f
 http:// st a t i c . d dm c dn . c om /g i f / f in an c i al - a i d - s tu d en t s- w i th - di s ab i l i t i es - 1. j p g
 http:// s pe c i a l e dpo s t . c om / w p - c on t ent /u p l o a ds / 2012/ 11/ h er_ ym c a 052809_ 69744c . j pg
 https:/ / w w w . r ea l g ap . c o .u k/ s i t e s/ d ef au l t /f i l e s/ i m ag e c ac h e/t r i p_ p i c s_ l i gh t bo x/ t r i p/ p i c s / g al l er y -
3-chin a -m a rt i al - a rt s . j pg
 http:// w w w . s l at e . co m / co nt en t/ d am/ s l at e/ ar t i c l es / bu s i n es s /t h e_ d i s m al _ s c i en c e/ 2012/ 01/ 1201
05_DS_go o d T ea ch er . j pg . CR OP . r e ct an g l e 3 - l a rg e . j pg
 http:// ww w. soc i al work er s. or g/ a r ch iv es/ a dvoc a c y/u p da tes/ 1997/ id ea . htm
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Child: . Retri ev e d June 13, 2014, from http:// w w w . m ed . um i ch . e du/ yo u r ch i l d/ to p i c s / l d . ht m
 Meli s s a Roder i c k , Thomas Kell ey - Kempl e , Courtney M. Thompso n . "Getti ng On -Trac k: Under st a n di n g
Freshm an Perform an c e at Senn . " ccsr.u c h i c ag o . edu , 2013. Web. 10 June 2014
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RESOURCES