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Educational survey results
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Educators face unique challenges teaching children with Williams syndrome. The information presented here is a good starting point for understanding how to address these unique issues Williams Syndrome Association Education Survey resultsby: Nancy Grejtak
Introduction [back to top]In 1996, the WSA conducted a survey regarding education of children with Williams syndrome. The families of 1,258 elementary and secondary school age children received a questionnaire which addressed specific aspects of the educational experience; the same questionnaire was included in the Spring, 1996 issue of Heart to Heart. This project was conducted by the Education Committee. It follows directly from a specific objective in the 1996 WSA Strategic Plan to provide information on the educational materials, strategies, and programs shown to be most effective for children with WS. Preliminary results were presented at the 1996 WSA National Convention. Who Responded? [back to top]112 families responded, representing 9% of the school age population in the Williams Syndrome Association. Approximately two-thirds of the families who responded have children in elementary school: 48% are 9 years old or younger, primary grade age, 23% are 10-12 years old, the typical age for upper elementary grades, 20% are 13-15 years old, junior high school age, and 9% are 16 years old and older, representing the high school age population. What Types Of Programs? [back to top]Children with Williams syndrome typically are referred for evaluation for special education services in pre-school. The process of qualification involves the determination of the appropriate classification, i.e. one of the 13 handicapping conditions determined by federal law to warrant consideration for special education services. By law, every child who qualifies for special education services must be accommodated in what for that child is the least restrictive educational environment (LRE). The setting must also be one whereby he/she can receive the appropriate educational services and support. Typically, this means a program that most closely resembles regular education. In the 1980's, the least restrictive setting was a resource support pull-out program where the child would be taken from the regular classroom for special education instruction. In the 1990's, more and more states are adopting inclusion (or full inclusion) as the standard for the least restrictive setting. In an inclusion program, the child receives all instruction in the regular classroom, typically from a team of collaborating teachers representing both regular and special education. There were 107 responses to the question regarding current special education classification, including some respondents who identified two categories. A common double classification was LD/OHI. The specific breakdown of special education classifications from the survey was: 31% LD (specific learning disability), 15% OHI (other health impaired), 30% EMH/TMR/MR/MMR (various levels of mental retardation), 8% MH (multi-handicapped), 16% in other categories, focusing on physical, emotional, behavioral or language handicaps. The responses to the question regarding current program confirmed the trends seen in special education today: LRE in the form of inclusion and/or resource support pull-out programs. 50% of the respondents report that their child is in regular education today, 14 specifically identifying their child's program as full inclusion. Most of these were children in the 6-13 age range who were in an inclusionary program with modifications and/or adaptations to their curriculum, and with the support of either a full-time aide (15) or a part-time aide (26). The children in regular education without an aide were mostly in secondary education (high school) programs. About 35% of the children represented were being served through a resource support program, whereby they are in the regular education class at least 50% of the day. About one third of these children are in regular education 80-90% of the day. Seventeen percent of the children are in a special day class (SDC) setting all day long. 25% are in SDC for part of the day. Most (18) of these students are 11-20 years old. Presumably they have been in SDC since the 1980's and are now experiencing some form of inclusion in various classes (e.g. science, social studies with modifications, typical art, music, etc.). Only 5 respondents were in private schools, and 5 were being home-schooled. What Types Of Therapies Are Provided? [back to top]The question was worded to address both the past and present, Does/did your child receive the therapies that were listed. The results overwhelmingly supported the belief held by the committee that designated support services are necessary for our children. All the respondents said their child does or has in the past received speech and language services, 87% receive or received occupational therapy and 71% receive or received physical therapy. 15% receive or received counseling services. Others mentioned were music therapy, adaptive PE, vision therapy, social skills or play therapy. What Are The Characteristics Of Successful Programs? [back to top]We asked you to tell us about your child's most successful academic year. We were interested in the relative importance of the teacher, grouping of children, class size, teaching styles and specific curriculum. The overwhelmingly most critical factor in the opinion of parents (anecdotal information) is the teacher (79 mentions), followed closely by teaching styles, then class size (small preferred), grouping of children (12 of these focused on the need for appropriate regular education peers as language and behavior role models. Nine (9) respondents mentioned the aide as being the most important person in their child's formula for success. On the opposite side of the equation, we asked about your child's least successful programs. Not surprisingly, poor teachers topped the list, followed by teaching styles, grouping of children, class size, and specific curriculum. Grouping of children responses focused on how our children can be adversely affected by the behavior of other children, again making the case for appropriate role models. The positive characteristics of teachers mentioned are that he/she be flexible, provide options, be creative, communicate well, be consistent, have a "you can do it" attitude, provide appropriate discipline, and build self-esteem. What Are The Child's Best And Worst Subject Areas? [back to top]Our questions toyed with semantics: most successful vs. least successful subject areas, and subject areas the child enjoys most vs. the least Here is the breakdown, based on the results of the survey: Reading - 52 mentions, music/band - 25, spelling - 14, science - 11, math - 10 (all math lovers were in K through 2nd grade), foreign language - 8, miscellaneous others - 28 (writing got only 1 vote). Reading and music cut across all age categories, implying that they had "staying power" throughout the years. As expected, the least successful programs mirrored the most successful. The children represented have the most difficulty with math (56), writing (23), reading (13), fine motor activities (9), plus miscellaneous others (20). In reviewing the data, it was in many ways a nice, neat picture. Relatively speaking, the children do best in reading (and secondarily in music), and worst in math and writing. None of the children were succeeding in writing, and those who were succeeding in math were very young. What was interesting was the 13 who said they were least successful in reading, because they spanned the age range. Further investigation of these respondents is warranted. It might reveal a reading disability not associated with WS, which would reflect the preponderance of reading disabilities in the general population. Not surprisingly, our children like what they do best in, and dislike the subject areas of most difficulty. Reading and music tied as best liked, followed by science. Math was the most disliked subject, followed by writing. Reading was a distant, but significant third. It appears that many of our children are good at reading and enjoy it, but many struggle, and therefore don't enjoy reading. Bottom-line, if the subject is hard, the child doesn't like it. The obvious next step in the investigation was to look at what curriculums, strategies, approaches and materials work for our kids. If we can find programs that improve their ability to learn, then we can make sure they are working at or near full potential. What Were The Most Successful Reading Programs? [back to top]The question in the survey regarding reading programs referenced phonics and whole language as examples of generic programs. There were 53 respondents who specifically mentioned phonics as a successful approach, 9 mentioned whole language, and 15 stated that a combination of the two had been successful for their child. The specific programs or curriculums identified were: SRA's Reading Mastery (previously known as DISTAR) and SRA's Corrective Reading (11), Edmark (6), other multi-sensory programs (7 - Orton-Gillingham, Slingerland, Rescue Reading, Project Read), and the Lindamood-Bell program ADD (for developing phonics skills). Reading Mastery is a phonics based program which also directly teaches sight words; Edmark is a sight word reading program exclusively. Lindamood-Bell also offers a comprehension program called Visualizing & Verbalizing (V/V) that several parents are considering. If effective, it would draw on the child's verbal strengths to assist them in forming visual mental images which would aid them in reading comprehension. What Were The Most Successful Math Programs? [back to top]Despite math being the least liked and worst subject for our children, several approaches emerged. First and foremost was the program Touch Math, mentioned 22 times. This was followed by the generic category of manipulatives, then calculators, then Hands On Math curriculum. What Other Types Of Programs Were Recommended? [back to top]Word processors were mentioned repeatedly as the older child's option to overcome their difficulty with handwriting. Keyboarding was therefore a common part of the curriculum for the younger children. Two handwriting programs were mentioned: Handwriting Without Tears, and Zaner & Bloser Handwriting. McCracken Spelling, SRA's Spelling Mastery and Steck Vaughn Spelling programs were recommended by several parents. Many different computer programs for reading, math and writing were mentioned (note that the Edmark software is a complete language arts curriculum for schools). The most popular appear to be Reader Rabbit, Kid's Phonics (Davidson), Mickey's ABC's, Millie's Math House (Edmark), Sticky Bear Math, Math Rabbit, Math Munchers, Fraction Munchers, Math Maze, Math Blaster, Spell it 3 (Davidson), Edmark's Spelling, Story Weaver, Dino Soft Word Builder, Write Out Loud, Student Writing Center, Sticky Bear Typing, Talking Fingers, Mavis Beacon, and Type to Learn (Starburst). What Program Modifications And Grading Adaptations Were Recommended? [back to top]Since most/many of the children whose parents responded are in regular education at least part of the time, the issue of program modifications and grading adaptations was relevant. The following program modifications for WS children are common: adapting program, materials, homework, and tests to the student's ability level, giving more time to complete tasks, use of computer for writing assignments, oral tests with an auditory rather than visual focus in general, addressing obvious weaknesses with pencil grips, raised line paper, peer helpers to copy from the board for them, etc. Grading adaptations included grading based on IEP short term objective performance, grading according to ability level and the goal of achieving potential, no grades at all, specific skill mastery checklists. Summary [back to top]The data painted a picture of a changing population and changing programs for children with Williams syndrome. It appears from this survey that our children are increasingly being served in a more inclusive (regular education) setting. Ancillary services, especially speech and language, occupational therapy, and to a lesser extent, physical therapy, continue to be an important element in the children's programs. The teacher is the critical element to their success, although appropriate role models are also important. In this study we found that reading and music are the children's best and favorite subjects, while math and writing are the critical academic stumbling blocks. In reading, specific multi-sensory programs which utilize a phonetic approach have been successful. Generally speaking, programs which are sequential, mastery oriented, and therefore directly teach skills have been successful, whether their orientation is sight reading or phonics. Whole language, which is not a direct instruction methodology, has therefore not been as successful with our children. Math programs which are experiential, sequential, and which accommodate the typically weak visual and spatial modalities have been relatively successful with our children. Accommodations and grading adaptations have been necessary in order for our children to succeed in the regular education environment. The Education Committee plans to follow-up on this effort, with a telephone survey in 1997. Specifically we hope to determine if there are any definite or unique links between the cognitive profile and the academic experiences of children with Williams syndrome. In this study we hope to continue to unravel the mysteries of how our children learn, in order to ensure that they can achieve their potential and become productive members of their respective communities.
Adaptations and curriculum modifications [back to top]By Nancy GrejtakSeveral of the parents who responded to the survey included lists of the modifications which have been included in their child's IEP's. Some or all might be appropriate for your child, depending upon his/her unique needs. They certainly should be considered if the child is in an inclusion setting in a regular education classroom for most of the day. From the parent of a 9 year old, third grade boy in a regular education program with a full-time aide:
From the parent of an eighth grade boy in a modified regular education program with no aide: Directions/organization
Assignments/instruction
Testing
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