SPED Teachers/Parents: Music?

Question

Currently in my degree pursuits, I've had little chance to learn about inclusion in the music classroom. I'd like to know a little more--I'm student teaching (music) next semester and I feel undereducated in this category.

Do you have any suggestions on inclusion of disabled children? Please forgive me if I'm not using the correct term--I've learned so many I don't know which is PC at this moment. I would like to find ways to include disabled children because I've seen the joy it gives them to be able to make music with others.

It can be a challenge to find something suitable for them and gives them room for success. What are your thoughts or opinions? What has been most successful/least successful for you? Parents of disabled children in music classes....how much have they enjoyed it? What do they respond to the most?

I'm aware of IEPs and the like, but I want to know more. Any other thoughts/suggestions are welcome.

Answer 1

Well, I'm a parent and my experience is with autism, so I'll share that.

My daughter loved music class, but it was VERY overwhelming for her. Also, when games were played, she was never picked, or never 'won' the opportunity to lead a round. So, to keep her from getting overwhelmed, she had shooter's muffs to help muffle the sound. She was allowed to sit back from the rest of the class if she wanted to, although she had the opportunity to move forward. She could also leave the class at will, if she needed to rest a bit from the excitement.

To keep from getting discouraged, the music teacher would make sure that my daughter was always picked somewhere in the first five turns, and that she was leader at least once a week.

It was also helpful that in the first few weeks of school, that my daughter had a chance to visit the classroom without a class going on. She could practice entering, sitting down on her carpet square. The teacher would sit beside her and told her every time, "If this is too much, we can move back" and showed her a taped off square back a few feet where she could move her carpet. She had a chance to hear all the instruments, and practice the games and songs before everyone else came in (because she was slower to process and pick up the movements and words)

The music teacher was an angel, and while we chose to homeschool due to other issues, this teacher always worked hard to ensure my daughter was included and learning.

Answer 2

I watched a superb music teacher the other day. She had a number of ESE students included, including two with emotional disturbance. The children were grade 1. First, she had places for each child to sit on the floor that were delineated by a carpet square. She kept things fast paced and slid between activities quickly. She obviously had taught the routines of her class because the kids knew what to do.

The two ED kids spent a lot of time being helpers. They were in charge of giving stickers and stamps to the other kids when they did well. They didn't get time to act up and they were so proud.

She did a lot of choral responding, which is good for ESE kids because they can participate by following the lead of the other kids. She was also a strong behavior manager, but used an abundance of praise, stickers and stamps for success that really pulled everyone into line.

Interestingly, she had three large faces above her white board. There was a picture of a smiley face, a neutral face and a crying face. She pointed to the first two faces and said, "These are the faces I want to see in my room, right? Say right!" All the kids laughed and said "Right!" Right away she was setting some visual limits on behavior that helped the special ed children.

When you are dealing with sped kids, bear in mind that most do not process excessive verbiage. They usually receive most of their information through visual channels, so the more hands on or provision of visual models you can do, the better off you are. For kids who can read, be sure you provide a written copy of any words to songs that you want them to remember. You might even want to provide them with a copy to take back to class to practice.

In terms of instruments, give them things that are easy to play like bells and sticks. This of course depends of the level of the child, because one size does not fit all. However for low functioning kids, ringing a bell is just as exciting as play a xylophone and is fairly innocuous if they do it at the wrong time.

For higher functioning kids, sometimes pairing them with a peer buddy to learn a simple instrument is helpful. However, make sure you teach the children how to work cooperatively in pairs before giving them the instrument. Perhaps coloring together with 3 crayons and having to ask politely to share would be helpful. Make sure that the regular peer has fairly good skills when you do the matching up.

If I were you, I would visit some sites that discuss some of the disabilities that may appear in your class. These include Down Syndrome, autism, Specific Learning Disabilities, ADHD and physically impaired children, to name a few. If I had just two rules to follow with them all, it would be do as many visuals as you can and teach routines. That and keep them busy.