Category Archives: Special Education

Peer Tutoring: Taking Advantage of Our Resources

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Written by Nicole Lehman

The following is a brief summary of Nicole’s Graduate Studies Capstone project, “Developing a Peer Tutoring Program for Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School.” There will be a link at the end of the article if you would like to read her entire paper.

The Problem
“I don’t get it.” “This is too hard.” “It doesn’t make sense.” “Can you help me with . . .?” How often do you hear these or some variety of these statements each week? How often do these questions come 30 seconds before class starts/ends or before you need to get to your extra-curricular? I think we can all agree that we love when our students ask for help and wish we had more time in our day to actually sit down and give them the help they need.

The Solution
Since we don’t have access to Hermione Granger’s Time-Turner necklace, which would give us more time to get stuff done, one solution to this problem is peer tutoring.

We all have students in our schools who excel in one or more subject areas and have the ability to explain/teach what they know to others. The problem is, we don’t always know who they are, and sometimes they themselves don’t realize that they have this gift. Continue reading →

Supporting the Social and Emotional Needs of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Written by Dr. Rachel Youngblom

It is likely that you know, have taught, or have interacted with a child who has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Furthermore, it is possible that you may not even have been aware of the child’s diagnosis, based on the severity of his or her symptoms, let alone the social and emotional challenges that a child with autism experiences daily. While teachers should not attempt to make a diagnosis, they will likely encounter students, whether diagnosed or not, who have difficulty making friends due to their social, emotional, and communicative challenges.

Teaching Children Social Skills
A child with Autism Spectrum Disorder demonstrates social difficulties in various ways, such as deficits in social and emotional reciprocity (e.g., conversational turn-taking, sharing of interests and emotions), and difficulties understanding and using nonverbal communicative behavior (e.g., eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, body language) and developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships (e.g., understanding of friendships, “stranger danger”) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Continue reading →

Teaching Students with Challenges: The Importance of Parents’ Perspectives

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Written by Jane Mose

Ten years before I became a parent, I was a teacher. With my master’s degree in special education and considerable experience working with children and adults with disabilities, I saw myself primarily as the person to whom parents of children with special needs could turn for information. I would share my knowledge and expertise with parents and guide them.

Then my husband and I became the parents of six children.

Three of our children were born into the family, and three entered through adoption. Suddenly I was a mom to children with a variety of trauma backgrounds, physical disabilities, and learning differences. And I learned just how much I had not understood about the lives of my students and their parents! Continue reading →

Supporting Communication Development for Children with Autism

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Written by Dr. Carrie Pfeifer

God has created us to interact with each other using the gift of receptive and expressive language. The communication areas of the brain are seen in the Broca’s and Wernicke centers. The Broca center in infants activates when language is spoken to them (Imuda et al. 2006). When a child begins to use language, the Wernicke center of the brain is activated, even in children who are communicating with a non-oral language such as American Sign Language (Campbell et al., p. 3, 2008).

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V), one of the criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts (Autism Diagnosis Criteria). These deficits are seen in non-verbal and verbal communication. Students with deficits in communication may encounter barriers across school, home, community and work that can lead to problem behaviors (Perner and Delano, p. 45. 2013). Therefore, it is vital to understand the early signs of language deficits in children with ASD so that interventions can be implemented for these children as early as possible. Continue reading →

Our Students Need Trained Special Education Teachers in Their Schools

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Written by Michelle Yotter

Whether you have a class of 10 or 25, meeting each student’s needs can be challenging. This is especially true when working with students with special needs. Some may come struggling to understand math concepts or to grasp the strategies needed to comprehend informational text. Others may come with lots of energy but not the strategies or tools to channel that energy. Others may storm out of a room when something does not go their way or melt down into tears because that is the only way they know how to cope. Some may be a puzzle that is not figured out quite yet.

No matter what challenges each student brings as they walk into the classroom, each is a child of God. Each child is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14 NIV). As teachers, we have the privilege and amazing opportunity to share the wonderful news of salvation with them every day and help them use their God-given gifts and abilities. Continue reading →

Autism: Identification and Intervention

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Written by Dr. Carrie Pfeifer

Chances are, if you work with children, you will work with a child with autism. The prevalence of autism has been on the rise—an increase of over 60% within the last decade. Today, the CDC states that 1 in 54 children will be impacted by autism, and boys are affected 4.3 times more than girls (Data and Statistics on Autism, 2020).

Research has shown that “early identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is essential to ensure that children can access specialized evidence-based interventions that can help to optimize long-term outcomes” (Zwaigenbaum et al., 2015, p. S10). Families within our congregations, schools, and communities need education, guidance, and support to find much needed early identification and intervention services. These needs can be provided, at least in part, by our church and school communities.      Continue reading →

The Science Behind the “Aha!” Moment

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Written by Nicole Lehman

I think we can all admit that one of the highlights of being a teacher is seeing the “Aha!” or lightbulb moment go off in our students’ faces. We work so hard to help them understand a complex subject, or their brains have a hard time grasping what we find to be obvious, and so, after many attempts, we finally find the right thing to say and BAM! The light bulb comes on. These are the moments that make you smile at the end of a hard day/week/month. If only they weren’t so rare a sighting! Continue reading →

Poverty and Education: What Being Poor Does to the Brain

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Written by Dan Johnson

What does poverty look like? Can you tell by looking at the students who walk into your room? Are they hungry? Dirty? Sleepy? Does poverty only affect those in large cities and urban areas, or can you see poverty in rural and suburban schools as well? It may be possible to see some of the signs of poverty in students as they come into your classroom, but what can a teacher do?

What is poverty?
The federal poverty line for a family of four is $25,750 in 2019. Poverty is defined as not having sufficient income to meet basic needs. Many families struggle to meet these basic needs. Even those families above the poverty line, at 130-200%, earning up to $51,500, will continue to exhibit signs of poverty. Continue reading →

Differentiation for Students with Disabilities

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Written by Amanda Weinrich

The Issue
As I began my teaching ministry, I quickly realized that I was underprepared to help the students with disabilities that I had in my classroom. I did not know the best way to teach them. I concluded that other WELS teachers might experience the same problem.

Since teachers who receive even a brief introduction about creating diverse lesson plans have been shown to include more modifications, alternatives for communications, and activities that involved students (King-Sears, 2008), I decided to help a fellow teacher learn about differentiation as part of my capstone work in my master’s program. The results are important for all teachers because all teachers will at some point have students with disabilities, and the number of students with disabilities is on a steady increase (Allsopp, Kyger, & Lovin, 2004). Continue reading →

The State of Special Education in Lutheran Schools

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Written by Calista Leistekow

Lutheran schools often struggle to balance the desire to serve all children who seek a Christian education with the ability to provide sufficient resources and support for students with special learning needs. To learn the extent to which this struggle occurs and what Lutheran schools are doing about it, I conducted some research. Continue reading →