Functional curriculum

Christine A. Macfarlane, Ph.D.Sped 535 Integrated Curriculum and Methods for Students with

Disabilities: Functional

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Skills must be chronologically age-appropriate

Can interview peersSurvey peersObserve peers

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Functional skills

Immediately usefulDemanded in everyday activities and

environments, both in and out of schoolResult in greater independence & less

dependenceAllow access to less restrictive

environments

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Criterion of ultimate functioningSkills that adolescents and adults with

severe disabilities would need in order to function as effectively and independently as possible in vocational, residential, and social environments

Should reflect need for transitions from one environment to the subsequent or next environment

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Criterion of the next environment

Skills a student needs in the next educational environment

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Criterion of the immediate environment

Consider needs for student to function in the immediate or current environment(s)

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Criterion of the least dangerous assumption

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"A functional curriculum could be defined as the life skills needed by a student in the current environment in which he or she was functioning, the life skills needed in the student's immediate next education environment, and the skills the student would need after leaving school to function in vocational, residential, and recreational environments."

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Personalized Curriculum

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Domains of Adult Life Skills

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Community Domestic

Leisure/RecreationVocational

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Ecological inventories

A systematic, flexible process for determining a scope and sequence of functional living skills

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Relationship of domains

Not all skills fit tidily into one domain.

Many have application across more than one domain.

"More bang for the buck".

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Related skills

Functionalacademics

Communicationskills

Motor skills Social skills

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Community-Referenced Instruction

Aligning assessment and instruction to the natural cues in the environment

Referencing instruction to your community!

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Life in a Greek Hotel

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Oregon Statewide Assessment

Extended CIM Math Reading Writing

Extended Career & Life Role Assessment System (CLRAS)

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Principal of partial participation

Can't deny child access because of physical or cognitive deficits

Individuals with (severe) disabilities can acquire many skills that will allow them to function, at least in part, in a wide variety of least restrictive environments and activities.

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The child should be allowed to participate in the activity even

when:the child does not exhibit all the

necessary prerequisite skills,the child will not be able to acquire all

components of the skill,the child may not complete the entire

activity or skill independently, andthe child's developmental age is lower

than his or her corresponding chronological age.

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Frequently thought of as providing physical assistance, but that is too narrow a definition

Can be physical assistanceCan be a prosthesisCan be communicative in nature to

determine quality or make choices.

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Types of adaptations

Provide personal assistanceModify skills or activitiesUse an assistive deviceModify the physical and social

environments

Orelove & Sobsey, 1996

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Can't always come up with a modification that will allow the person to function independently, but can increase level of participation and thus independence.

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Patterns of error in using partial participation

Ferguson & Baumgart, 1991

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Passive participation

Sitting in a classroom, i.e., just being present, doesn’t necessarily make it active participation

Example: going to music class, but not being able to sing or play the instruments

Nonexample: Listening to a book being read

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Myopic participation

Focus is too narrow, doesn’t meet full needs of student, family, or community

Example: parent requests help with shopping; teacher implements in nongeneralizable environment

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Piecemeal participation

Not connecting in-class instruction with out-of-class instruction throughout the day

Example: Instructional lesson aimed at object permanence, public library outing in afternoon, play story tape in evening at home

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Missed participation

The length of time required to learn to do something independently may be too time consuming, might be better to simply rely on personal assistance, so valuable time can be spent learning other skills as well

Example: Can’t grasp items in cafeteria to place on tray, can’t carry tray. Since there are always people present in the cafeteria, might be better to just leave it at that.

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Remediation strategies

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Active participation

Rather than worry about expanding a behavioral repertoire, concentrate on strengthening a small set of behaviors

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Attend to multiple perspectives

Use family and community-referenced assessment

Use ongoing instructional information systems

Use ongoing outcome information systems

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Use information from multiple sources

Merge “competing” perspectivesOngoing planning and program

improvement

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Enhance image and achieve interdependence