Project Head Start
HV1662
L989
S48
Mainstreaming Preschoolers :
Children with
Mental
Retardation
DHEW Publication No. (OHDS) 78-31110
U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Office of Human Development Services
Administration for Children, Youth and Families
Head Start Bureau
Special Message to Parents
This book is meant to help
parents as well as teachers
understand mainstreaming and
mental retardation. Chapter 5
describes specific ways in which
parents can help their mentally
retarded child. But parents will
find the other chapters useful in
learning more about development
in mentally retarded youngsters,
techniques and activities to
promote learning, how Head Start
functions in serving handicapped
children, and what resources
outside of Head Start are
available to help fill their child's
special needs.
\T&Mainstreaming Preschoolers was developed by the staff of CRC Education and Human Deve-
, a suljsidiary of Contract Research Corporation, 25 Flanders Road, Belmont, Massachusetts
Contract No. HEW 105-76-1139 for the Administration for Children, Youth and Families.
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Offlce
Washlington, D.C. 20402
Stocli Number 017-092-00029-4
Mainstreaming Preschoolers:
Children with
Mental
Retardation
A Guide for Teachers, Parents,
£ind Others Who Work with
Mentally Retarded Preschoolers
by
Eleanor Whiteside Lynch, Ph.D.
Program Director for Special Education, Institute for the Study of Mental
Retardation and Related Disabilities, and Assistant Professor of Special
Education, School of Education, University of Michigan
Betty Howald Simms, Ed.D.
Professor of Education, Depairtment of Special Education, University of
Maryland
AMERiSAN F«llV[>A^ION FOR THE BL.ND, \H^.
, 15 WST IStti STi^EET ,
^^*^ MEV/YaW^A.Y. iJPU ■
Caren Saaz von Hippel, Ph.D.
Director of Research and Evaluation, CRC Education and Human Development,
hic, Contract Research Corporation
Jo Shuchat, M.A.
Research Associate, CRC Education and Human Development, hic, Contract
Research Corporation
The authors were fortunate in being able to draw on the advice
and contributions of many knowledgeable and talented people
during the preparation of this book. Chief among th^were the
following expeHs on mental retardation and early childhood
education, who reviewed the text in its successive versions and gave
us many excellent suggestions for improving it.
Reviewers
Thomas Hilliard, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, San Francisco, California
Merle B. Karnes, Ed.D., Professor of Education, Institute for Child Behavior and
Development, University of Illinois
Lois Barclay Murphy, Ph.D., Washington, D.C
Sister Mary Louise Reinke, M.S., Director, Head StaH, Yazoo City, Mississippi
Howard Spicker, Ph.D., Professor of Education, Department of Special Education,
Indiana University
A number of people assisted us in different ways with certain
sections of this book. We thank them for their valuable help.
Joyce Evans, Ph.D., Director, Division of Special Projects, Southwest
Education Development Laboratory, Austin, Texas
Alice H Hayden, Ph.D., Director, Model Preschool Center for Handicapped
Children, Child Development and Mental Retardation Center, Umversity o±
Washington
Shari Kieran, Ed.D., Lecturer, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study, Tufts
University
Jacqueline Liebergott, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Communication
Disorders, Emerson College
Sheldon Maron, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Special Education, Departinent
of Special Education, Florida State University
Judith Siegel, M.S., Coordinator, Rhode Island Child Find/Placement/Service
Program
Janet Zeller, M.S., Supervisor and Instiructor, Graduate Special Needs
Program, Wheelock College.
Much of the credit for the success of this book is due to the team responsWle
for the visual and stylistic aspects. Their creative efforts were ^^sf^^X- ,
we are very grateful The skiU and enthusmsm of the production staff, on whwh
we have relied so frequently in thepast, were demonstrated even more
impressively in this difficult and complex effort.
CRC Education and Human Development, Inc.
Editor: Nancy Witting
Graphic Design Unit: Kristina Engstiom, Sandra Baer, Linda Hailey
Designer: Alison Wampler
Photographer: Harriet Klebanoff
Illustrator: Stephanie Fleischer
Contract Research Corporation
Production Staff Barbara Boris, Mary Tess Crotty, KeUy Gerry, Barbara Rittenberg
In addition, we wish to thank the associations of the National Advisory
Board to this project who reviewed our book during its development. They
made many valuable suggestions.
American Psychological Association; Association for Children with Learning
Disabilities; Association for Children with Retarded Mental Development;
Council for Exceptional Children; International Parents' Organization, Alexander
Graham Bell Association for the Deaf; National Association for Mental Health; National
Association for Retarded Citizens; Occupational Therapy Association of America; Spina
Bifida Association of America We also wish to thank the following federal agencies who
reviewed this book during its development: Bureau of Education for the HandicappedAJ.S.
Office of Education; National Institute for Child Health and Human Development/
National Institutes of Health; National Institute of Mental Health; President's
Committee on Mental Retardation.
We are grateful to the Resource Access Projects and the Regional Office staff of the
Administration for Children, Youth and Families for their review of this book and their
help in organizing the national field test. We also thank the teachers, aides, parents,
trainers, directors and others in the 40 Head Start programs across the country who field
tested this book and provided invaluable feedback. We thank as well the Head Start and
other preschool programs who permitted us to take photographs at their centers.
Finally, we have special thanks to Mrs. Rossie Kelly, the Project Officer, and
Raymond C. Collins, Chief of the Program Development and Innovation
Division, Head Start Bureau, for their continued commitment and support during
this project. Rossie Kelly's involvement throughout the project, in discussions,
coordination of reviews of this book among Program Development and
Innovation Staff, and continued receptiveness and helpfulness required to
complete a project of this scope was essential. In addition, we thank the
following persons in Program Development and Innovation for their interest,
involvement, and review of this book diuing its various developmental stages:
Pamela Coughhn, Ph.D.; Laura Dittman, Ph.D.; Jenni Klein, Ed.D.; Jerry
Lapides, Ed.S.; Ann O'Keefe, Ed.D.; Margaret G. PhilUps, Ed.D.; and Linda
Randolph, M.D.
Caren von Hippel
Jo Shuchat
Eleanor Lynch
Betty Simms
Preface
Project Head Start was initially conceived and launched as a national program
of comprehensive developmental services for preschool children from low-income
families. The early design also indicated that the comprehensive program should be
tailored to the needs of the individual community and of the individual child.
The Head Start Program Performance Standards require local programs to
develop an educational plan that provides procedures for ongoing observation,
recording, and evduation of each child's growth and development for the purpose
of planning activities to suit individual needs. The Performance Standards also
require that classroom materials and activities reflect the cultural background of
the children. Thus, individualization has always been a major thrust of the Head
Start program.
The Congressional mandate to assure that not less than 10 percent of enroll-
ment opportunities m Head Start be available for handicapped children presented
special opportunities and challenges to Head Start programs to further their
efforts in the individualization of services. Head Start classes are small, makmg it
possible for teachers, working with a professional diagnostic team, to design a pro-
gram to meet the special needs and capabilities of each child.
Mainstreaming handicapped children into classrooms with non-handicaped chil-
dren has become a major activity for Head Start. However, teachers and other
staff are continually asking for assistance in mainstreaming a child with a specific
handicapping condition. This series of eight manuals, Mainstreaming Preschoolers,
was prepar^ by ACYF to help meet this need.
The series was developed through extensive collaboration with many persons
and organizations. Under contract with Contract Research Corporation, teams of
national experts and Head Start teachers came together to develop each of the
manuals. At the same time, the major national professional and voluntary assoaa-
tions concerned with handicapped children were asked to critique the materials
during their various stages of development. Their response was enthusiastic. Vari-
ous federal agencies concerned with handicapped persons — the Bureau of Educa-
tion for the Handicapped, the President's Committee on Mental Retardation, the
Office of Developmental Disabilities, the National Institute of Mental Health, the
Office of Handicapped Individuals, National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development/National Institute of Health, and Medicaid/Early and Penodic
Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment — also enthusiastically reviewed the mate-
rials as they were being developed. Finally, drafts of each of the manuals were
reviewed by teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, social service and health person-
nel, and various other specialists in Head Start programs across the country.
It is hoped that this series will be helpful to the variety of people beyond the
Head Start community — in public schools, day care centers, nursery schools, and
other child care programs — who are involved in providing educational opportuni-
ties and learning experiences to handicapped children during the preschool years.
Blandina Cardenas, EcLD.
Commissioner
Administration for
Children, Youth and Families
Contents
Introduction 2
Chapter 1: What Is Mainstreaming? . . 3
What Does Mainstreaming Mean? 4
How Is Mainstreaming Carried Out? 6
What Is Your Role In Mainstreaming? 7
Chapter 2: Wfiat Is Mental Retardation? 9
Mentally Retarded Preschoolers 10
How Is Mental Retardation Defined? 11
Recognizing Problems for Referral 18
Chapter 3: How Mental Retardation Affects Learning in Three-
to Five-Year-Olds 25
Development in Retarded and Non-Handicapped Children 26
How Do Children Learn? 28
What Children with Mental Retardation Are Like 34
Chapter 4: Mainstreaming Children with Mental Retardation 43
Planning 46
The Physical Setting and Classroom Facilities 56
General Teaching Guidelines 59
Specific Teaching Techniques 71
Activities 80
Chapter 5: Parents and Teachers as Partners 93
What Parents Can Do 95
What Teachers Can Do 99
Chapter 6: Where to Find Help in Your Area 103
Finding Out About Resources 104
Who Are the Specialists? What Do They Do? 112
Chapter 7: Other Sources of Help 117
Professional and Parent Associations, and Other Organizations 118
Bibliography 125
Appendix 129
Screening and Diagnosis 130
Chart of Normal Development (Birth to Six) 132
2
Introduction
The Purpose of This Book
This book was written for teachers,
parents, and others, such as diagnos-
ticians and therapists, who work
directly with mentally retarded pre-
schoolers. It provides some good ideas
for helping retarded children learn and
feel good about themselves, and
answers many questions, including:
What is mainstreaming?
What is mental retardation?
How does mental retarda-
tion affect learning in three-
to five-year-olds?
How^ can you design an
individualized program for
a retarded child?
What activities are especial-
ly useful for children with
retardation?
How can parents help their
retarded child?
Where can you go to seek
help— people, places, and
information?
The information in this book is
also usefiil for working with all
preschool children, non-handicapped
as well as handicapped.
The Organization of This Book
This is one of a series of eight
books on children with handicaps,
written for Head Start, day care,
nursery school, and other preschool
staff, and parents of children with
special needs. Each book is concerned
with one handicapping condition. The
other seven books address:
• emotional disturbance
• health impairments
• hearing imptdrment
• learning disabilities
• physical (orthopedic) handi-
caps
• speech and language
impairments (communica-
tion disorders)
• visual handicaps.
There are certain guidelines that
are similar in working with all kinds
of handicapped preschoolers. These
guidelines should be useful to teachers
and parents who are directly involved
with children with special needs. They
are described in the chapters "What Is
Mainstreaming?" "Parents and
Teachers as Partners," "Where to Find
Help in Your Area," and the sections
on planning, the physical setting, and
general teaching guidelines in the
chapter "Mainstreaming Children with
Mental Retardation." While these
chapters (or sections of chapters) are
largely the same in most of the books
in this series, the examples and
suggestions provided in each book are
specific, and will help you apply the
general information to a child with a
particular handicap.
A Word on Words
In this book the terms handi-
capped children and children
with special needs mean the same
thing.
Chapter 1:
What
Is
Mainstreaming?
t
Help a handicapped
child enter the main-
stream of life during
the preschool years.
What Does
Mainstreaming
Mean?
"Mainstreaming" means helping
people with handicaps live, learn, and
work in typical settings where they
will have the greatest opportunity to
become as independent as possible. In
Head Start programs, mainstreaming
is defined as the integration of handi-
capped children and non-handicapped
children in the same classroom. It
gives handicapped children the chance
to join in the "mainstream of life" by
including them in a regular preschool
experience, and gives non-handicapped
children the opportunity to learn and
grow by experiencing the strengths
and weaknesses of their handicapped
fidends.
However, mainstreaming does not
simply involve enrolling handicapped
children in a program with non-
handicapped children. Definite steps
must be taken to ensure that handi-
capped children participate actively
and fully in classroom activities. As a
Head Start teacher, it is your role to
take these steps.
Mainstreaming is not new to Head
Start. Since its beginning, Head Start
programs have included handicapped
children in classrooms with non-
handicapped children. The Economic
Opportunity Amendments of 1972
(Public Law 92-424) required that 10
percent of the Head Start enrollment-
in the nation be handicapped children.
Two years later, the Headstart, Eco-
nomic Opportunity, and Community
Partnership Act of 1974 required that,
by fiscal year 1976, not less than 10
percent of the total number of enroll-
ment opportimities in Head Start
programs in each state be available to
handicapped children. And most
recently. Public Law 94-142, the Educa-
tion for All Handicapped Children Act,
has mgindated that the public schools
provide "free, appropriate education"
in the "least restrictive setting" for
handicapped children from 3 to 21
years of age. Thus, mainstreaming has
become an important and well-
accepted approach in the education of
yoimg hginmcapped children. It is the
function of Head Start programs to:
serve handicapped children in
an integrated setting or main-
stream environment with other
children; provide for the specied
needs of the handicapped child;
and work closely with other
agencies and organizations
serving handicapped children
in order to identify handi-
capped children, and provide
the full range of services
necessary to meet the child's
developmental needs.
(Head Start Transmittal Notice 75.11
9/11/75).
Research on children has shown
over and over that the early years of
life are critical for learning and
growth. It is during this time that
children's intellectual, social, and
emotional development can be most
influenced. If special needs are recog-
nized and met during these years,
handicapped children wiU have a
much better chance of becoming com-
petent and independent adults. Handi-
capped youngsters who are given the
opportunity to play with other children
in the Head Start classroom learn
more about themselves and how to
cope with the give and take of
everyday life. This is one of the first
steps toward developing independence.
By participating in regular preschool
settings that are able to provide for
specif needs, with teachers who know
how to adapt teaching techniques and
activities, children with special needs
will truly have a "head start" in
achieving their fullest potential.
Benefits of
Mainstreaming
There are many benefits to main-
streaming-benefits that affect both
handicapped and non-handicapped
children, as well as their parents and
teachers.
Mainstreaming Helps
Handicapped Children
Participating in a mainstream
classroom as a welcome member of the
class teaches children with special
needs self-reUance and helps them
master new skills. For some, it may be
the first time in their lives that they
are expected to do for themselves the
things they are capable of doing.
Working and playing with other chil-
dren encourages handicapped children
to strive for greater achievements.
Working toward greater achievements
helps them develop a healthy and
positive self-concept.
Mainstreaming can be an especial-
ly valuable method for discovering un-
diagnosed handicaps. Some handicaps
don't become evident until after a child
enters elementary school, and by then
much important learning time has
been lost. A preschool teacher is able
to observe and compare many children
of the same age, which makes it easier
to spot problems that may signal a
handicap. Preschool may therefore be
the first chance some children get to
receive the services they need.
Mainstreaming Helps
Non-Handicapped
Children
Mainstreaming can help non-
handicapped children, too. They learn
to accept and be comfortable with
individual differences among people.
Many studies have shown that chil-
dren's attitudes toward handicapped
children become more positive when
they have the opportunity to play
together regularly. They learn that
handicapped children, just like them-
selves, can do some things better than
others. In a mainstream classroom,
they have the opportunity to make
friends with many different indi-
viduals.
Mainstreaming
Helps Parents
Mainstreaming is also good for the
parents of children with special needs.
With you, the other members of the
staff, and specialists sharing the
responsibility for teaching a child, the
parents come to feel less isolated. They
can learn new ways to help their own
child. As they watch their child
progress and interact with non-handi-
capped children, parents are helped to
think about the child more realis-
tically. They wiU see that some of the
behavior they are concerned about is
probably typical of all young children,
not just children with handicaps. In
these ways, parents come to feel better
about their children and themselves.
Mainstreaming
Helps Teachers
Mainstreaming also has advan-
tages for you. You have the chance to
make a significant impact on a
handicapped child. The techniques you
develop for working with a child with
special needs are just as useful with
non-handicapped children who have
minor weaknesses in the same areas.
In fact, many of the most effective
teaching techniques known were first
developed for handicapped children.
Finally, working with handicapped
children is a chance to broaden both
your teaching and personal experience.
6
How Is
Mainstreaming
Carried
Out?
Mainstreaming can be carried out
in a variety of ways. How you decide
to mainstream a particular handi-
capped child will depend upon the
child's strengths, weaknesses, and
needs, and will also depend upon the
parents, the staff and resources within
your program, and the resources
within your community. As you know,
every child is an individual with
different needs and abilities. This is
just as true for handicapped children:
they display a broad range of behavior
and abilities.
Some handicapped children may
thrive in a full-day program with non-
handicapped children. Others wiD do
best in a mainstream environment for
only part of the time, attending special
classes or staying at home for the rest
of the day. For still others, main-
streaming may not be the most helpful
approach. The principle to follow is
that handicapped children should be
placed in the "least restrictive en-
vironment." This means that the
preschool experiences of handicapped
children should be as close as possible
to those of non-handicapped children,
while still meeting the special needs
created by their handicaps.
Mainstreaming involves the efforts
of many people working as a team —
teachers, the child's parents. Head
Start staff (in health, education, handi-
cap, parent involvement, and social
services), other specialists providing
consultant services on a full- or part-
time basis, agencies serving handi-
capped children, and the public
schools in the community. The identi-
fication, development, and coordina-
tion of this team effort is both a
challenge and a critical requirement in
meeting the needs of a handicapped
child.
As you and your program staff get
to know each child, and as you work
with the child's parents and specialists
in your community's agencies and
public schools, you will be able to
decide what is best for each child. This
book describes how mainstreaming
can be carried out by the parent/Head
Start/specialist team in order to pro-
vide the best program for both handi-
capped and non-handicapped children.
This book also discusses different
degrees of the handicapping condition
known as mental retardation, and
describes some of the things children
with mental retardation can do well
and things they may have some
trouble doing. Specific activities and
teaching techniques are given pri-
marily for use with mildly or moder-
ately retarded children. However, there
are numerous suggestions for working
with severely and profoimdly retarded
children as well. If you have a severely
or profoimdly retarded child in your
classroom, it is essential to seek
outside assistance. It takes consulta-
tion with trained specialists and addi-
tional classroom staff to give such a
child the help he or she needs.
What Is
Your Role in
Mainstreaming?
This book approaches mainstream-
ing from the standpoint of child
development. It emphasizes the im-
portance of seeing handicapped chil-
dren first and foremost as children,
with the same needs all children have
for love, acceptance, exploration, and a
sense of competence. By understand-
ing how all children develop and
learn you can better understand the
effects of a particular handicapping
condition. For example, knowing the
importance of visual information will
help you understand the effects of
blindiiess on a child's development.
You can then use this knowledge to
plan appropriate activities for bmlding
on the child's strengths and working
on his or her weaknesses.
The teaching techniques and activ-
ities provided in this book are designed
to help develop skills in particular
areas of development — motor, social,
cognitive, language and speech, and
self-help — and can be used with any
child or group of children in your
classroom, whether they are handi-
capped or non-handicapped.
As a teacher, your role in main-
streaming includes:
• developing and putting into
effect an educational pro-
gram that meets the indivi-
dual needs of each child in
the classroom, including
the special needs of a child
with a handicapping condi-
tion
• working together with the
parents of a handicapped
child so that learning situa-
tions that occur in your
classroom are reinforced by
the parents at home
• finding out, through your
handicap coordinator or
social services coordinator,
w^hat special services a
handicapped child is receiv-
ing and how^ you can get a
specialist to help you in
your classroom teaching
• arranging referrals
through your handicap co-
ordinator or social services
coordinator for diagnostic
testing, if you feel a child
has a problem that has not
been clearly identified.
In carrying out this role, there are
many resources that can be tapped to
assist you. Later in the manual they
will be described in more detail, but
they are summarized on the following
chart.
8
Where to Go
for Help
There are many resources you can
tap for help with a handicapped child.
Take advantage of these resources by
actively seeking them out. For detailed
information on Head Start and other
resources in your area, see Chapter 6.
For detailed information on national,
professional and parent associations
and agencies, and a list of helpful
materials, see Chapter 7.
i^
Places
Public schools
Community agencies
Universities
Hospitals and clinics
State Department
of Education
People
Head Start staff
Child's parents
Specialists
Public school teachers
of handicapped children
Resource Access Projects
Teacher
and
Child
Avith mental
retardation
Information
Libraries
State and federal agencies
for the handicapped
Professional associations
Parent organizations
Chapter 2:
What Is
Mental
Retardation?
Children with mental
retardation have a
slower overall rate of
learning and develop-
ment than other
children.
10 Children with mental retarda-
tion aren't so very different from
non-handicapped children. Like
other preschoolers, they can do
some things better than other
things, have happy moods and sad
moods, and need your support to
learn and grow.
This chapter looks at how
mental retardation is defined, and
at what mental retardation means
for those who teach and work
with mentally retarded pre-
schoolers. Some of the terms in
this book are commonly used to
describe mentally retarded people.
These terms have been agreed
upon by specialists who work in
the field of mental retardation.
However, it is important to recog-
nize that the terms sometimes
become labels. Labels usually limit
rather than extend our under-
standing, and labeling a child
often produces negative and in-
accurate expectations for that
child. Describing children in terms
of strengths and weaknesses is
much more valuable to you than
being able to fit them into a label
or category. Learning about
mental retardation can help you
to realize the special needs of
retarded children. However, only
by working with a retarded child
will you recognize his or her
unique skills and problems.
Mentally
Retarded
Preschoolers
The "Head Start''
Definition
In defining handicapping condi-
tions, Project Head Start distinguishes
between categoricEil definitions,
which are used for reporting purposes,
and functional definitions, which
describe a child's areas of strength
and weakness. The categorical
definition uses Project Head Start's
legislated diagnostic criteria. An
interdisciplinary diagnostic team (or a
professional who is qualified to
diagnose the specific handicap) must
use this definition to make a
categorical diagnosis of a child. This
diagnosis is used only for reporting
piuT)Oses. A functional definition or
diagnosis, on the other hand, assesses
what a child can and cannot do, and
identifies areas that call for special
education and related services. The
functional assessment should be
developed by a diagnostic team, with
the child's parents and teacher as
active participants. Another term for
functional assessment or functional
diagnosis is developmental profile.
According to Project Head Start,
the following categorical defini-
tion of mental retardation is to
be used for reporting purposes in
Head Start programs:
A child shall be considered
mentally retarded who, during
the early developmental period,
exhibits significant sub-
average intellectual functioning
accompanied by impairment in
adaptive behavior. In any de-
termination of intellectual
functioning using standardized
tests that lack adequate norms
for all racial/ ethnic groups at
the preschool age, adequate
consideration should be given
to cultural influences as ivell as
age and developmental level
(i.e., finding of a low I.Q. is
never by itself sufficient to
make the diagnosis of mental
retardation).
("Transmittal Notice Announcement of Diagnostic
Criteria for Reporting Handicapped Children in
Head Start," OCD-HS, September 11, 1975.)
How^ Is
Mental
Retardation
Defined?
An overall slowness in develop-
ment is characteristic of children with
mental retardation. This slowness
makes them seem younger than they
are. During the preschool years, retard-
ed children fall consistently behind
other preschoolers in their ability to
learn, to remember what they have
learned, and to solve problems. In the
preschool years, "adaptive behavior"
refers to a child's increasing ability to
use language, to play with others, and
to do things independently. In retarded
preschoolers, this ability is Limited. For
example, they may not be able to
respond to their names or to catch on
to simple games. They may not be
able to jump, hop, feed themselves, or
signal that they need to go to the
bathroom.
The part of the definition in italics
is important. Formal tests of intel-
lectual functioning (called I.Q. or
intelligence quotient tests) are not
always good predictors of a pre-
schooler's later development. Young
children are hard to test, especially
since they are changing so quickly.
Furthermore, many of the tests aren't
accurate for youngsters from different
cultural, language, and ethnic back-
grounds. For preschoolers (as well as
for older chilcken and adults), a low
score on an I.Q. test is not enough to
diagnose them as retarded.
11
12
Levels
of
Retardation
Specialists in mental retardation
generally agree on a set of terms for
the levels of the handicap. These terms
are: mild, moderate, severe, and pro-
found. They refer to different levels of
I.Q. and adaptive behavior, and to
different abilities to learn.
Many mild impairments other than
mild mental retardation are not con-
sidered handicaps by Project Head
Start if the conditions do not require
special services. For example, a child
whose vision can be corrected with
eyeglasses is not considered visually
handicapped. Children are considered
handicapped if they fall \yithin the
legislative definition and if, by reason
of this handicap, they require special
education and related services.
Mildly mentally retarded children are
considered handicapped according to
the legislative definition if they exhibit
"significant sub-average intellectual
functioning accompanied by impair-
ment in adaptive behavior..." and if
they require special education and
related services.
The levels of retardation are
perhaps best described in terms of how
the children in your classroom func-
tion, what and how they learn, and
how much time they need to learn.
Mild Retardation
We might think of mildly retarded
children as those who learn consider-
ably more slowly than other children
of the same age. As preschoolers,
mildly retarded children may be good
at large motor activities but have some
trouble speaking, remembering things,
following directions, and coordinating
the use of their eyes and hands. They
may be slow to learn routines and
simple games, and may not be able to
put all their thoughts into words.
Mildly retarded children are sometimes
called "educable mentally retarded."
They should be able to learn most of
the activities in your classroom, but
will probably need more help and
more practice than the other children.
Moderate Retardation
Moderately retarded preschoolers
tend to be further behind in all areas
of development. They are often climisy,
are very late in talkmg, have trouble
remembering things, and tend to
behave like children about half then-
age. In yoiu- classroom you may need
to show them many times how to do
things. You will probably find that it
helps to use simpler language to
explain things, and to break activities
down into small parts that can be
taught and practiced one at a time.
These children can benefit from
attending preschool and from being
with non-handicapped children. They
are sometimes called "trainable men-
tally retarded."
Severe and Profound
Retardation
Severely and profoundly retarded
preschoolers, like infants, require help
with all of their daily needs. Many
have special problems with movement
and feeding that call for help from an
occupational therapist. Because they
need so much care, it is unlikely that
many such children will be enrolled in
Head Start classrooms. However, in
some communities, Head Start may be
the best program available to provide
stimulation to the child and support
the child's parents. If you have a
severely or profoundly retarded child
in your classroom, you will want to
talk with specialists about the child's
special needs.
Rate of
Learning
Perhaps the single most important
concept in the diagnosis of children
with mental retardation is the concept
of rate of learning. AH children
learn at different rates, but children
with mental retardation have a slower
overall rate of learning and develop-
ment than other children. Even
though the rate of learning in mental-
ly retarded children is slower, these
children are capable of learning a
great deal at their own pace. If you
see that a child is developing very
slowly, you may want to refer him or
her to specialists for further evalua-
tion. The specialists should be qual-
ified to examine the child in order to
assess language development, cog-
nitive development, medical history,
and physical health. Working as a
tearn, the child's parents, teachers, and
specialists should determine how to
improve the child's learning at home
and at preschool.
Commonly
Associated
Handcaps
13
Some mentally retarded children
have other handicaps. These other
handicaps result from damage to the
central nervous system, which is the
control center for all of the body's
functions. The other handicaps wOl
vary, depending upon the type of men-
tal retardation and its cause. If a
retarded child in your classroom has
another handicap, you may find it
helpful to read aoout it in the
appropriate book in this series.
Severe or Profound
Retardation
Some severely and profoundly
retarded yoimgsters never develop
speech. However, more and more of
them are being taught to commimicate
orally or by signs, using special
intensive training procedures. Some of
these children may have severe physi-
cal handicaps like those found in
cerebral palsy; others may be blind
and/or deaf. Some children with
severe or profound mental retardation
have epOepsy. Usually their seizures
are controlled by medication, but their
doctor may ask you to help by
recording the effects of the medica-
tion. Mainstreaming may not be best
for some of these children.
14 Moderate Retardation
Motor, speech, and language devel-
opment are often so delayed in
moderately retarded children as to be
considered associated handicaps.
There may be other handicaps, such
as deafiiess or blindness, but these
occur less frequently with moderate
retardation than with severe and
profoxind retardation.
Mild Retardation
Mild mental retardation is not
usually associated with severe handi-
capping conditions. However, a nuldly
retarded child is more likely to have
other handicaps than a non-handicap-
ped child.
There is no medicine used to treat
mental retardation. If a retarded child
in your class is taking medication, it is
for another problem.
Problems
in
Diagnosis
Accurate diagnosis will enable you
and others to give the kind of help
that a child needs. This means, first of
aU, that someone has to recognize that
a diagnosis is called for. If tests are
given, they have to be appropriate
and administered by trained people.
Further, the tests' results have to be
properly interpreted. Accurate diag-
nosis, therefore, can sometimes be
tricky, as the following examples
indicate.
Bumping into the chair made
Mark even angrier.
Mistaking One
Handicap
for Another
Inaccurate diagnosis can mean
that a child's special needs are over-
looked.
M
argarita
Margarita, a three-year-old in a
preschool program, was thought to be
retarded. She did not respond when
her name was called. She communi-
cated by making gestures and a few
sounds that did not seem to be words.
In the classroom she couldn't keep up
or follow directions. Sometimes she
played alone in the corner. The older
children in the neighborhood called
her "dummy." The teacher talked with
Margarita's parents and got their
permission to refer her to specialists
for a complete evaluation.
The evaluation determined that
Margarita had a serious hearing loss.
As a result, she didn't understand
what was going on around her, and
could not respond to her name. She
had enormous difficulty learning to
talk because she couldn't hear dif-
ferences in sounds. She was con-
fused by the normal activities in the
classroom because she could not
understand the directions.
Fitted with a hearing aid,
Margarita began to receive special
training from a teacher of seriously
hearing impaired children. Correctly
diagnosed as hearing impaired, rather
than incorrectly as mentally retarded,
Margarita can now begin to receive
appropriate services.
Children like Margarita with
perceptual problems in hearing, speaking,
and seeing may be misdiagnosed as
mentally retarded because some percep-
tual skills are involved in testing any
child.
M
15
ark
Mark was a five-year-old whose
behavior problems kept him from
learning what other children were
learning, so he seemed to be retarded.
Mark ran around the classroom, hit
and kicked other children, used only
one or two words, and was not toilet-
trained. He was so far behind the
other children in the classroom that
his parents and teacher thought he
must be mentally retarded.
Mark was referred to a large clinic,
where he was evaluated by an inter-
disciplinary team of specialists. After
reviewing his history, talking with his
teachers and his parents, and observ-
ing him in a classroom and at play,
the diagnosticians said the problem
was emotional disturbance. Mark had
average intelligence but had serious
difficulty adjusting in his home and at
school. His way of coping with a world
that he could not understand was to
act like a much younger child-.
Knowing that Mark could learn
normally if he were not so troubled
made a difference in the program and
services provided for him. He entered a
mainstream classroom where he
received special help from a psycholo-
gist and the teacher. Now Mark is
learning better, has stopped running
around the classroom, and is toilet-
trained. Mark still has a long way to
go, but he has taken the first step.
16 Mistaking
Cultural Differences
for Handicaps
Cultural or ethnic differences have
sometimes been confused with mental
retardation. This confusion is very
destructive.
M.
.ana
Maria was five when her family
moved to the United States from
Puerto Rico. She entered a Head Start
classroom soon after her arrival.
After about three weeks, her
parents got a call asking tfiem to come
to the center for a conference. Maria
was not doing well. She didn't seem to
know anything that the other children
knew. Tiie teacher thought Maria was
mentally retarded, and wanted a
specialist to test her. Dismayed,
Maria's parents agreed to tfie test.
Maria tested in the moderate range of
mental retardation.
Her parents were horrified. In her
preschool class in PueHo Rico she had
already learned to name objects pic-
tured in storybooks, jump rope, and
retell her favorite stories. How could
they be calling her mentally retarded?
Fortunately, Maria's parents asked
the right questions. They learned that
the diagnostician had tested Maria in
English, her second language. Al-
though all of the family spoke English
somewhat, their first language was
Spanish. Maria was still not fluent
enough to understand the rapid-fire
English in the classroom or the formal
English used in a standardized psy-
chological test. If Maria's parents had
not understood what was happening,
their bright daughter might have been
labeled mentally retarded, which
would have had countless damaging
effects. Parents and teachers need to
make sure that children are tested in
their first language.
Cultural Differences
Many cultural differences can lead
to a child's being misdiagnosed as
mentally retarded, because many tests
are standardized to fit children from a
middle-class, white American back-
ground. Children from low-income or
minority families may not have had
the same chance to work on school-
related skills (such as naming pictures
in books) as children from middle-class
families. They may not have seen the
same kinds of social behavior that
children from middle-class families
have learned as "normal." And if they
speak, for example, Spanish, Chinese,
or a non-standard English dialect at
home, they may not understand what
is being said to them, which means
they can't answer the test questions
correctly.
Because of circumstances like these,
children from minority and low-income
families can appear retarded when
their test scores are compared with the
test scores of children from middle-
class families. The problem is often
not with the children but with the
tests.
We don't mean to say that there
are no mentally retarded children from
low-income or minority families:
mental retardation occurs at all
income levels and in all ethnic groups.
But you should be especially wary of
diagnoses of mental retardation based
on tests given to children. K you're
told that a particular child has been
tested and found to be retarded, and if
your experience with the child makes
you think the child is not retarded, tell
your handicap coordinator that the
child should be looked at more care-
fiiUy.
Differences in Maturity
Another mistake that is sometimes
made is to confuse behavior problems
and physical or mental immaturity
with retardation. This confusion hurts
boys more than it does girls, because
boys generally mature more slowly
than girls. This may mean that some
skills aren't as advanced as those of
girls the same age. But it doesn't mean
they're retarded — they will catch up
when their bodies are ready. Boys may
demonstrate more behavior problems
than girls, and tend to be more
boisterous and rowdy. Again, this
doesn't mean they're retarded.
Maintain Your Awareness
Head Start programs have a well-
deserved reputation for promoting the
rich cultural and ethnic differences
that exist among the families they
serve. You are perhaps least likely of
all professionals to confuse cultural
and ethnic differences with mental
retardation. Likewise, you are familiar
with the lands of behavior associated
with physical and emotional immatur-
ity. But it is important for you as a
Head Start teacher to watch carefully
for special problems, so that all
youngsters who are truly developing
slowly have the advantage of an
assessment by specialists.
Young Children Can
Be Difficult to Test
Young children are not always
easy to assess or diagnose. They may
not sit still. They aren't always
interested in what you want them to
do. They may cry if they don't want to
do something, throw the materials, or
wet their pants. But any child with a
problem deserves the attention of a
team made up of specialists, the child's
parents, and you. Any chOd you have
a question about deserves a referral, as
long as the parents agree.
17
18
Recognizing
Problems
for
Referral
Some retarded children will be
diagnosed before they are enrolled in
Head Start, but others may not be.
Children who are only mildly retarded,
for example, may be enrolled in your
program without ever having been
recognized as handicapped. The
teacher may be the first person in the
life of the child who can alert other
professionals to a problem, so that
services for the child's special needs
can finally begin. Sometimes parents
need advice and encouragement from
teachers to recognize and face
problems that may have troubled them
in their child's behavior. Diagnosis,
first and foremost, is needed to point
out the extra help and services these
children need.
General
Guidelines
Learn to Observe
Carefully
Your own classroom observation,
plus conversations with parents about
their children, can be the best foimda-
tion for deciding whether to refer a
particul£ir child to a professional
diagnostician. As a classroom teacher,
you observe children and draw con-
clusions every day.
Do you have a child in your class
who seems difficult to handle, hard to
get along with, or slow? If you observe
the child, figure out what might
improve the behavior, and try several
approaches, you may find that the
child's problems are not as serious as
you first thought. And if they still
seem serious, you can conclude that a
professional evaluation is in order.
This process of carefully observing
and drawing conclusions helps you
plan activities to meet the individual
needs of all children. Even though you
aren't a professional diagnostician,
don't underestimate your ability to
spot serious problem areas that may
signal a handicapping condition in a
chUd.
Ask Questions
Ask yourself some good, basic
questions to determine whether a child
should be referred for professional
evaluation:
Does the child learn so slowly
that it keeps him or her from
participating fully with the other
children?
Is the child's adaptive behavior
(ability to use language, to play
with other children, and to be
reasonably independent) so poor
that it keeps him or her from
participating fully with the other
children?
If your answer to either or both of
these questions is yes, and if the
parents agree, referral is in order. If it
turns out that the child is not
handicapped, you and the parents will
be reassiured and will gain a better
understanding of the child. If a
groblem does exist, the child will then
e able to obtain the needed help.
Different children — different surroundings
different influences — different expectations.
Recognize
Cultural Differences
It is important to distinguish be-
tween children who are different and
children who may be handicapped.
Since the children in your classroom
come from a variety of backgrounds
and child-rearing experiences, it is only
logical that they will react to your
classroom in a variety of ways.
For example, Juan's teacher
noticed that he was having a lot of
trouble asking questions, describing
things, and generally explaining
himself. The teacher knew that in
Juan's home everyone spoke
Spanish. She suspected that he was
having the kinds of problems any-
one has in learning another lan-
guage, and that he was probably
not speech impaired. She decided to
take a good look at his speech
problems over the next six months,
and as she predicted, they lessened
as his English improved.
In another example, Sara came
from a home where hitting and
kicking were tolerated as normal
behavior among the children. This
sort of behavior in the Head Start
classroom made her teacher suspect
emotional disturbance. For Sara,
however, this behavior was not only
normal but necessary, since she
needed to protect herself from her
brothers and sisters. With her
teacher's help, Sara came to learn
that this sort of behavior was not
allowed in class, and in fact wasn't
needed there for self-protection.
Sara no longer acted as if she had
severe emotional problems.
19
20 Juan and Sara were not handi-
capped. They were simply behaving
in ways that made sense from the
point of view of their life exper-
iences. Finding out about a child's
family and home will help you to
identify when diagnosis is called
for.
Recognize
Individual Differences
Distinguish between those children
whose temperaments and individual
learning styles you find difficult and
those children who may be handi-
capped. Children, like adults, can be
slow or fast to catch on to things, can
be quiet and thoughtful or very
energetic and into everything. Some
get frustrated more easily than others,
some get distressed and upset more
easily than others, and some demand
more attention than others. It is
helpful to ask yourself: "Do I find this
child difficult because of personality
differences between the two of us? Or
is the behavior of the child genuinely
different from the range of behavior
shown by other children the same
age?"
Gret Professional Help
From the child's point of view,
referral is better than non-referral.
This means that if you think a
handicap might account for the be-
havior you have observed, it is best to
have the child professionally evalu-
ated. If you find out that the child does
not have a handicap, no harm has
been done. If, on the other hand, a
handicapped child is not diagnosed,
the child's special needs wiU not be
met. Referral is also preferred over
non-referral for children who have
already been diagnosed: as we have
seen, children can be incorrectly diag-
nosed. If a child enters your class
already diagnosed as mentally retard-
ed, take an especially close look.
Have the child re-evgJuated if you
have any doubts about the diagnosis.
Using a checklist to observe a child can alert
you to the possibility of undiagnosed mental
retardation.
The
Observational
Checklist
The checklist of behaviors that
follows can alert you to undiagnosed
mental retardation, and help you know
when to refer a child for professional
evaluation.
The checklist is divided into three
major sections. "Information Coming
from the Environment" examines the
ways in which children take in
information about the world through
their senses (seeing, hearing, moving,
smelling, tasting, and touching). The
second section is called "Processing
the Information," and refers to the
ways in which children organize the
information (such as remembering,
making associations, understanding
causes and results, and so forth). The
third section, "Using the Information"
concerns the two major ways in which
children can express what they have
learned: by what they say and by
what they do. The titles of these
sections refer to parts of the learning
process. (At the beginning of Chapter
3, a section called "How Do Children
Learn?" describes the learning process
£ind the kinds of problems that can
occur.) In addition, there is one short
section in the checklist on the child's
behavior in the classroom, which has
to do with the child's relationships
with other people.
Basically, the checklist reflects two
primary signals of mental retardation:
being slower than others to catch on to
new things, and slower to finish a
task. The items on the checklist are
specific, representing behavior that
may indicate a problem. We must
emphasize that these items are an
approximate description. Probably
every child in your classroom will
show one or more of these character-
istics from time to time. Only when
such behavior happens often or aU the
time may there be a problem.
How To Use the
Observational Checklist
For each item on the checklist,
check whether a child "often or
always" behaves that way, or "rarely
or never" does. Three or more checks
in the "often or always" column mean
that a child may have a serious
problem. And the possibility of a
serious problem means that you
should talk to someone in your
program (such as the handicap,
health, or social services coordinator)
about referring the child for profes-
sional evaluation.
21
Observational Checklist
22
Information
Coming from
the Environment
The child doesn't understand direc-
tions, reacts slowly to them, or
waits to see what the other chil-
dren are doing first.
The child seems confiised and
doesn't do what other children are
doing along with them.
The child doesn't know what to do
with materials and toys, or uses
them for the wrong purposes.
Loud sounds disturb the child.
A lot of unorganized moving
around in the classroom confuses
the child.
The child has trouble noticing fine
details.
The child doesn't answer to his or
her name.
The child can't carry out a one-step
direction.
The child can't concentrate on one
thing for very long, and is easily
distracted.
The child doesn't show interest in
classroom siurroundings.
#
^
C?
an
□n
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
Processing
the Information
The child has trouble remembering
what he or she has seen or heard,
or what has happened.
The child can't match colors and
shapes.
The child can't sort colors and
shapes.
The child can't answer simple
questions (such as "What's your
name?") or gives answers that
make no sense.
The child doesn't know things that
other children in the class know.
The child does things in the wrong
order (such as drying the pan
before it has been washed).
The child can't predict dangerous
consequences of actions before he
or she does them.
The child can't hear small differ-
ences in words (such as boy /toy,
Fred/red).
The child can't retell a simple
story.
The child has trouble following two
or more directions in the right
order.
The child doesn't understand com-
mon environmental sounds (for
example, can't tell you "a car"
upon hearing the beep of a car
horn).
The child doesn't remember the
classroom routine.
The child forgets what he or she is
doing in the middle of it.
The child has trouble inventing
stories and actions in pretend play.
The child doesn't understand basic
concepts such as relationships,
time, space, and quantity as well
as other children do.
d^ ^^
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
Using the
Information
Verbal Responses: Talking
The child doesn't talk at all.
You can't understand the child's
speech.
The child can't communicate using
words and gestures, either alone or
together.
The child can't name or describe
familiar objects.
Motor Responses: Moving the
Body
The child trembles or shakes.
The child falls down or bumps into
things a lot.
The child walks unevenly, or limps.
The child has poor eye-hand coor-
dination (for example, knocks things
over a lot).
The child can't puU simple clothing
on or off.
The child has trouble using toys
such as blocks and puzzles.
The child can't copy simple forms,
such as a line, circle, square.
DD
nn
DD
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
The Chad's
Behavior
in the Classroom
The child resists change and vari-
ety in activities by crying, throw-
ing tantrums, or refusing to par-
ticipate.
The child cannot make choices
about what to do or select activities
independently.
The child imitates the games of
other children rather than invent-
ing his or her own games.
The child withdraws from partici-
pating in most or all of the
activities.
The child is constantly disrupting
the class.
nn
nn
nn
nn
nn
23
24 Steps
to
Take
If you suspect that a child in
your class has undiagnosed
mental retardation, take the
following steps.
1 , Find out if the standard
screening tests have been given. Talk
to the handicap coordinator, the person
responsible for coordination of health
services, or someone else in your pro-
gram who you think could be helpful.
2 • If the child has been
screened, no problems have been found,
and you are stiU concerned about the
child, speak to the handicap coordinator,
health coordinator, or social services co-
ordinator. The parents will have to give
their permission for further testing. Ex-
plain the professional diagnosis process
and the reasons for it to the parents.
3. While waiting for a profes-
sional diagnosis:
• Talk with the parents about what
they notice to help you work more
effectively with the child.
• Continue to observe and keep
notes to help you plan suitable
activities.
• Chapter 4 discusses guidelines and
ways of conducting activities for
children. Use them if they seem
appropriate and if you find they
work.
4. Find out the results of addi-
tional tests so that you can determine
whether your individualized plan for
the child needs to be changed. Discuss
with the parents the results of the tests
and any suggested changes in the ser-
vices the child is receiving.
Chapter 3:
How
Mental
Retardation
Affects
Learning in
3-to5-Year-01ds
It is necessary to know
what children with
mental retardation can
do in order to develop
an effective program.
26
Development
in Retarded
and Non-
Handicapped
Children
Although much is known about the
milestones in child development, we
still can't predict exactly when young
children will say their first words or
take their first steps. We do know,
however, that most non-handicapped
children reach a given milestone of
childhood within a few months of each
other. For example, Luz Maria learned
to walk when she was 11 months old.
Her younger brother, Jose , did not
walk until he was 15 months old. But
both of these children are developing
normally.
The chart on page 133 shows the
sequence of normal development from
birth to six years of age. In general,
retarded children follow the normal
sequence of developmental skills
shown on the chart. They simply
achieve these skiUs at a slower rate
than non-handicapped children. This
means, for example, that a mildly
mentally retarded three-year-old is
Likely to be developing skills that are
appropriate for non-handicapped two-
year-olds.
To a great extent, development is
ordered, meaning that some things
have to be learned before others, such
as walking before running. But de-
velopment does not occur in a lockstep
fashion. Retarded and non-handi-
capped children are individuals, each of
whom will demonstrate a unique
pattern of development. This means
that occasionally a child may skip
some skills. Another child may be slow
to pick up some skills. And still
another may demonstrate some skills
earlier than expected. It is only when a
child is behind in all areas, or when a
child is at age level in some areas but
far behind in others, that he or she
needs some special help.
Having fun motivates
children to learn.
Deteniiining
the Effect of
Retardation
By observing children in the class-
room and talking with their parents,
you can learn what effect the retar-
dation has on them. Using this
information, you can then plan activ-
ities that build on their strengths and
help them with their weaknesses.
Understanding what a child
currently can and cannot do can also
help you to understand why the child
behaves in a particular way. For
example, it is extremely helpful to
know that Joseph, a mentally retarded
four-year-old in your classroom, acts
more like a two-year-old. Since you
know that almost all two-year-olds
alternate between trying to do every-
thing on their own and wanting lots of
help, it's not surprising that Joseph is
so changeable. He's not trying to get
attention or make you angry. He is
simply testing his control over the
world, as two-year-olds do.
Looking at children with mental
retardation from this developmental
perspective can provide you with
many insights into why they behave
as they do, and when they might be
ready to learn new skills. It can also
enable you to help parents understand
their child's retarded development. Of
course, not all children's behavior can
be explained as easily as Joseph's, but
many of the puzzling things that a
child does can sometimes be figured
out by looking at the difference
between a child's age and his or her
developmental level.
If there is a retarded child in your
classroom, use the chart of normal
development to decide where the child
is developmentally. Look at the learn-
ing model presented on page 28-29
to discover whether the child has
problems receiving information from
the environment, processing informa-
tion, or using information. You can
then develop a set of activities for the
child that suits the child's functioning
level and that takes advantage of the
child's learning strengths.
Motivation
Through
Encouragement
and
Expectation
Young children are naturally
curious and eager to learn. Success
makes them continue to feel this way.
Failures can cause them to take fewer
chances and to turn away from
learning.
Like all of us, children with mental
retardation work best when they are
rewarded for the efforts that they
make. Adult attention and approval
can be a strong source of motivation, if
the praise is honest. Classroom and
home activities can also be designed to
allow children to feel successful and
independent in as many ways as
possible.
For example, Rolando had trouble
with fine motor skills. He couldn't
draw as well as the other children, and
when he painted his brush went
beyond the edges of the paper. His
teacher solved the problem by giving
Rolando extra large sheets of paper (to
catch the paint that went beyond the
edges). Rolando was able to draw and
paint more easily, and felt good about
it.
Encouragement is important, but it
is also necessary to provide expecta-
tions based on what each child can
currently do (not on the child's age in
years). If you begin early to set
expectations that will help each child
stretch and grow, you will be helping
him or her to grow up to be as
independent and self-fulfilled as pos-
sible.
27
^* How Do
Children
Learn?
Learning can be thought of as a
process that enables children to know
and do things they didn't know and
couldn't do before. For this to happen,
children take in information from their
environment — or, more exactly, from
people, things, and events in their
environment. Next, children organize
this information in their minds, which
makes it usable. Last, they behave in
a way that indicates that learning has
taken place.
Understanding the learning process
can be extremely useful. If a child is
having trouble learning, you can try to
determine which part of the process is
causing difficulty, and work out a
specific remedy.
The following chart may help you
to understand tlus learning process.
Taking in
Information
Information comes
from people, events,
and things in the
environment.
Processing
Information
The child thinks
about the information
and attaches
meaning to it.
Using
Information
The child uses the
information: you
see new behavior.
Children take in information with
their senses: sounds, sights,
smells, tastes, textures, moving.
This means that the child under-
stands that some things cause
others, that some things follow
others, that some things are dif-
ferent from others. It also means
that the child can remember
what is learned.
The child now understands some-
thing new or can do something
new. You know this because the
child tells you (verbal response)
or shows you (motor response).
Information
from the
Environment
Children normally use all of their
senses to take in information from
their environment. AU children — includ-
ing retarded children — learn through
a combination of seeing, hearing, and
moving, which are the most important
senses, and smelling, tasting, and
touching. (Although "moving," strictly
speaking, is not a sense, children also
learn by moving things and their
bodies in space.) However, there are
children at all ability levels who have
problems using some of their senses.
As you observe children with retar-
dation, think about the possibility that
some of their problems may be due to
poor vision, or poor hearing. If they
can't see or hear well, the things or
events they experience will be limited.
In other words, they will receive less
information from their environment.
Sometimes, vision and hearing are
fine, but there is so much to see, hear,
and do that some children get con-
fused. It's as if their senses let in too
much information at one time for their
brains to handle. Brain damage may
not allow some children to filter the
information coming in, so that they
have a hard time concentrating.
29
30 Limiting
Sensory Information
If a child has trouble limiting
information from the senses (sensory
information) and seems confused and
distracted, working in quiet comers
can help him or her concentrate on
one thing at a time. Annie's teacher
noticed that during free play Annie
wandered around the room, touching
the toys and looking at the children,
but was unable to settle on one
activity. Recognizing her problem, the
teacher took Annie to a quiet comer
away from the distracting, motion-
filled part of the classroom. He gave
her some pennies and nickels, and
showed her how to sort them into
piles. Annie was able to do this, after a
couple of mistakes, because she was
able to concentrate.
Focusing Attention
Focused activity can be helpful to
children who have trouble with one or
more of their senses, or who are easily
confused, like Annie. Your role could
be to direct these children to a favorite
activity. Playing with a truck, for
example, focuses a child's attention on
the toy and gives the child practice in
handling and moving things. You can
also emphasize particular sensory in-
formation to make sure it is clear. For
example, if a child has trouble coloring
on a sheet of paper, you could draw a
thick black boundary around the edge
of the paper.
Reinforcing
Sensory Information
Information from one sense can be
reinforced by pairing it with informa-
tion from another sense. This is easily
done with words: "That tastes sweet,
doesn't it? This feels hard." Putting
sensory information into words for a
child can also be the best way to
indicate which information is most
important at a given moment. If, for
example, you are walking to the comer
store with the children, there is much
information coming in from several
senses at the same time. The sun feels
warm, the cars sound loud, the traffic
light has just changed to red, the
children are talking, and the sidewalk
feels hard. Simply remind the child,
"There is the red light. A red light
means stop."
"If I pour the water in the
top, it comes out the bottom.
The hose holds it in!"
Processing
the Information
As their senses explore the people,
events, and things in their environ-
ment, children remember, organize the
information, attach meaning to it, see
relationships, and figure out uses for
each new learning experience. All
young children need a great deal of
direct contact with concrete exper-
iences in order to process the informa-
tion well. This is why showing a child
how to do something works better
than describing how to do it: showing
is concrete and direct, while describing
is abstract and indirect.
Retarded children learn to process
information in the same way that non-
handicapped children do, but it takes
retarded children longer. Retarded
children also need more concrete
experiences, and can't yet handle most
abstract ones.
For example, counting is abstract
in the sense that it requires a child to
use mental symbols to represent real
objects. The number 3, for instance, is
an abstract symbol that stands for
three objects or events — three cookies
on the table, three trips to Grandma's.
Some children who are retarded have
a hard time making the mental leap
from the real cookies or trips to
Grandma's to the numerical symbol
for them. Most mildly and moderately
retarded children can learn to do this,
but it will take them longer and will
probably require especially careful
teaching.
Making the Abstract
Teachable
Depending on how serious the
retardation is, a child may continue to
have difficulty with abstract learning,
such as understanding the relationship
between size and weight — that just
because something is bigger, it isn't
necessarily heavier. For example,
although an inflated beach ball is
larger than a baseball, that doesn't
mean it is heavier than a baseball. Of
course, some relationships are more
concrete or observable than others,
which makes them easier to teach to
retarded children. You can show a
child the relationship between a mitten
and a hand, for example, by putting a
mitten on the child's hand. But it's
very difficult to show a preschooler
that lightning causes thunder.
For some children, however, even
showing is not concrete enough. They
may have to be physically moved
through an activity.
For example, Laura was in a circle
game. The children were clapping as
they sang a song. Laura was not
clapping, and didn't seem to under-
stand. Her teacher stepped behind her,
took both of Laura's hands in hers,
and clapped them together. Laura then
was able to clap her hands awkwardly
by herself, and after a while she could
clap them in rhythm with the other
children.
31
32 Practice with
Processing Information
You can help children who have
trouble processing information, by
giving them practice. For associating
things with ideas and words, the child
should spend a lot of time talking.
Talk with the child about things
around you: the ball the child is
throwing, the picture the child is
seeing, the water the child is touching,
and so on.
For learning relationships between
things and classifying them, you can
give the child several toy animals of
two sorts — large and small, brown and
blue, or lions and tigers. Ask the child
to sort them into piles. When the child
can do this, do the same activity with
pictures of the animals.
Or you can play the same/different
game. Show the child several objects,
such as a sock, a mitten, a shirt, and a
fork. Ask which go together, which
don't, and why. A younger child will
be able to tell you how things are
alike. (For example, a chair and a sofa
are both for sitting on.)
There are many things you can do
to improve a child's ability to re-
member. Rhyming jingles and songs
are especially good, such as the song,
"Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." If
a television commercial seems to
interest the child, use it for this
purpose.
To help the child put ideas in the
right order, try repetitive songs such
as "Old MacDonald" or "Froggy,
Froggy, Who's Your Neighbor?" in
which some lines must occur in the
right order. Or try the bear hunt game.
Children are able to use what they
have learned when they can general-
ize, or can apply what they have
learned from the original situation to
another one. If a child has learned to
recognize a dog as a kind of four-
legged animal, generalizing involves
recognizing that a beagle and a collie
are both dogs. You can help the child
generalize by saying such things as,
"The circle in this book is like the one
you painted yesterday" or "You have a
red sweater like Harriet's."
Real and concrete experiences help
children to remember, organize, under-
stand, and make use of what they
have learned. This is true for all young
children. It's just that retarded chil-
dren need concrete learning experi-
ences for a longer period of time than
other children do.
"I am a puppet. I like carrots
for snack. Do you?" Puppets
can be used to teach
language.
Using
the
Information
If children have received informa-
tion from their environment through
their senses, and if they have attached
meaning to the information they have
received and remembered it, they
should be able to respond in a way
that lets others know what they have
learned.
Children have two ways of ex-
pressing what they have learned: what
they say (verbal responses) and what
they do (motor responses). Children
who are retarded may have trouble
expressing themselves with words (a
verbal response), or may be awkward
and clumsy with their bodies (a motor
response). This makes it hard for them
to use the learning that has taken
place.
Improving
Verbal Responses
The most important thing you can
do to improve children's verbal respon-
ses is to help children understand and
communicate meaning. This is much
more important than teaching them
the correct way to pronoimce a word.
To help children understand language,
talk to them about things and events
in their day-to-day world. Use simple
words, make your sentences short,
speak clearly, and use as many
"props" as you can. Put Randy's hand
on the ball when you say, "This is a
ball." Put your hands on his hips and
guide him into the chair as you say,
"You are sitting down."
It often helps children start to talk
if they are encouraged to say words
that are very familiar to them. Es-
pecially good are movement or action
words, such as go, come, show, sit,
and walk, and words for things used
every day in the classroom, such as
ball, box, toy, and juice. Choose
words that are short and easy to say
(book, not reading comer), and
focus on things that mean a lot to the
child. If Sylvia loves to plav with toy
ceirs but isn't interested in olocks, you
would concentrate on getting her to
say car, not block. Sing songs and
read stories that use the words you
have chosen. When the songs and
stories are familiar to Sylvia, pause
when you get to the word you want
her to say, and ask her to supply it.
When children are used to saying
some words, you wUl want to help
them use those words to express
meaning. If Jessie knows what milk is,
and if he can supply the word "milk"
in a story about cows you have read to
him many times, let him watch you as
you pour the milk. Point to it and ask,
"What is this, Jessie?" (Many more
suggestions for helping a child develop
language can be found in Chapter 4.)
You might have in your class a
child who can't talk at all, and who
doesn't signal what he or she wants.
Your main task is to help this child
communicate using gestures, such as
pointing. If a child has a severe
physical handicap, work on eye ges-
tures for communication. The speech-
language pathologist and other spe-
cialists can give you many other ideas
for helping a non-verbal child develop
communication.
Improving
Motor Responses
Children who have motor problems
are generally clumsy and awkward.
Such children need extra gross motor
experiences — lots of opportunities to
run, jump, slide, kick, and so forth.
Playground activities are excellent
for children with motor problems, but
also try to set up classroom motor
activities so that these children aren't
isolated. If a child has a severe motor
problem, you may want to ask for help
and advice from a physical therapist
and an occupational therapist. In
Chapter 4 you can find more sug-
gestions for helping children improve
their motor responses.
33
'' What Children
with Mental
Retardation
Are Like
Later in this section, the skills that
mildly, moderately, severely, and pro-
foundly retarded youngsters generally
have are described. These descriptions
should serve as guidelines, not rigid
rules. Some children can do more than
is suggested, while others can do less.
Some children are behind others tKeir
age in one or two skiU areas, not in all
areas. As you get to know the
children, you will also get to
know what each child is like. It
is your expertise as a teacher that will
help children do as much as they
possibly can.
The Importance of
Teacher's Expectations
Studies have shown that the ex-
pectations a teacher has of children's
abilities and performance influence
what they do. In one experiment,
several teachers were told that several
of their pupils were unusually intel-
ligent. In fact, the children's intel-
ligence was really normal, not su-
perior. But since the teachers thought
the children were very bright, they
treated them that way and expected
more from them. After a year, these
children were tested again. It was
found that they made large gains in
their intelligence scores. TTiis result
was not obtained when teachers were
told that several of their pupils were of
average intelligence.
The experiment confirms what
good teachers already know: Expect
more from a child and you'U get
more. Expect less and you'll get
less.
Each description that follows refers
to an "average child. Since all
children are different, these descrip-
tions won't necessarily apply to chil-
dren in your class. Study each child in
your class carefully, so that the
description of an "average" retarded
child won't make you expect less — or
more — of him or her than the child is
really capable of.
Age and Self-Concept
To help you understand skill de-
velopment in retarded children, they
will be compared with non-retarded
children. For example, what a moder-
ately retarded four-year-old can do is
compared with what you might see an
average (non-retarded) two-year-old do.
While this is helpful, it is not the
whole story. Retarded or not, a four-
year-old has lived twice as long as a
two-year-old, and has seen, heard, and
felt more than a two-year-old. Another
difference is that a non-handicapped
two-year-old has probably had a lot of
successful experiences in that time,
while a retarded four-year-old may
have had a lot of failures and
frustrations.
For these reasons, it is necessary to
consider a child's self-concept — how a
child feels about him- or herself^along
with what a child currently can and
can't do. If Tina's motor skills are very
much like a non-retarded three-year-
old's, that doesn't mean that she is
totally Uke a three-year-old or that you
should treat her just like a three-year-
old. In many ways, she feels like a
four-year-old, and this makes a big
difference.
The next few pages discuss what
children with mild, moderate, severe,
or profoimd retardation are generally
like in five skill areas: motor, language
and speech, self-help, social, and cog-
nitive skills.
However, it must be re^mphasized
that no two children are alike. Handi-
capped children often vary even more
than non-handicapped children within
an age range. The sldll descriptions
that foUow are general. They need to
be interpreted for the particular child
you are working with, taking into
account the child's age, degree of
handicap, past experience, self-concept,
and motivation. It is also important to
remember that handicapped children,
like other children, are always learn-
ing and developing, and that a
description that may fit a child one
month may no longer be true the next.
Finally, while three- to five-year-olds
are discussed as a group, everyone
knows that three-, four-, and five-year-
olds, handicapped or not, behave quite
differently from each other.
35
Children learn better when
they are proud of what they
can do.
36 Children
Who Are
Madly
Mentally Retarded
Children who are mildly
mentally retarded are generally
developing at about two-thirds to
three-fourths of the normal rate
of development. Therefore, you
are likely to find three- to five-
yecw-olas working on developing
skills that are generally found in
children who are 2 to 3V2 years
old.
Motor Skills
In terms of fine motor skills,
children at this developmental level
are beginning to use their fingers, not
just their whole hands and fists, to get
what they want. They can generally
turn pages in a book one at a time,
turn doorknobs, and build a tower of
six to seven cubes. They c£in pick up
small objects like buttons and stones,
hold a crayon with their fingers, and
scribble across a page. Many of them
can draw a circle or a cross if you
show them how.
Some children with mild mental
retardation are not delayed at all in
their gross motor skills, and can use
their bodies as well as other children
their age. Other children with mild
retardation are delayed in their gross
motor skills, and are just beginning to
use their bodies effectively. They fall
less often than they did a few months
before, and are learning to run, stop
suddenly, and change directions.
Going up and down stairs may still
present problems. Within the next year
and a half or two years, however, the
child will probably learn to go up and
down stairs one step at a time without
holding onto the railing (as long as
there are no other physical handicaps).
Language and Speech
Skills
The development of speech and
understanding of language depend on
intellectual functioning. Therefore, it is
an area that is often quite delayed.
Like all young children, children with
mental retardation are able to under-
stand more than they can say.
Language may be limited to simple,
single words that are meaningful to
them, like "cookie," "dog," "daddy."
Or, they may combine two or three
words to express a more complete
thought, like "cookie gone" or "more
juice," and may be able to use the
pronouns " — ' '
me
and
mine.
Palmer grasp— whole hand.
Pincer grasp— fingers.
Self-Help SkiUs
The degree of development in self-
help skills among children with mild
mental retardation depends more on
what has been learned and expected at
home than on their retardation. Most
of them will probably be a lot like their
non-handicapped classmates. The
yoimger children will be much better
at taking their clothes off than putting
them on. When they do dress them-
selves, some things may get put on a
little twisted, backwards, or wrong-side
out.
If a child has difficulty with fine
motor skills, buttons, snaps, zippers,
and laces will be hard. You may need
to teach the child how to do and undo
them, or help until the child makes
progress.
All of the children should be
feeding themselves, but they may not
win any prizes for their table manners.
They may still ignore their forks, and
may find a full glass of milk very
tippy.
Becoming independent in toileting
depends on the child's family and their
values. Whether mildly mentally retar-
ded preschoolers are toilet-trained or
not has less to do with their retar-
dation than with their families' values
and life styles. If they have been
taught that it is important to be dry
and unsoiled, they should be able to
communicate when they need to go to
the toilet. They may, however, need
some assistance in removing their
clothes, wiping themselves after a
bowel movement, putting on their
clothes, and wasmng their hands. As
their dressing and washing skills
improve, they wiU learn, like aU
children, to toilet privately and inde-
pendently.
Social SkiUs
Socially too, three- to five-year-old
children who are mildly mentally
retarded are likelv to behave more like
two-year-olds ana three-year-olds. Don't
be surprised if one moment they are
very clingy and dependent and the
next minute refuse all help. As with
two-year-olds, "no" is a common word
in their vocabulary. They are still
testing their impact on the world.
Even though the children may look
brave and bold one minute, they may
be very frightened when they are
separated from their parents, and cry.
They notice the other children in
the classroom and often play alongside
them, but their play is usually solitary
and without the give-and-take that we
see in non-handicapped three- to five-
year-olds. As the youngsters mature in
your classroom, they wiU often become
more outgoing, less negative, and more
eager to please. Instead of being afraid
of oeing left by their parents, children
tend to be more afraid of monsters,
bugs, scary animals, and the dark.
The children may begin to play with
others and, like all children, will have
their ups and downs in the daily give-
and-take of a preschool classroom.
A few of the youngsters may begin
to be able to imagine and make
beUeve. Often some of the first pretend
play that they do centers aroimd real-
life experiences that they have had,
such as going to preschool, going to
the doctor, or going marketing. In fact,
you may be surprised at how accurate
their "pretend" play can be. Some of
the best teaching feedback that one
teacher ever got was from a mildly
mentally retarded little girl who played
school at home every day after she left
the classroom!
37
38 Cognitive Skills
Children with rrdld retardation
show a wide range of ability in their
cognitive skills, lliey should, how-
ever, be matching familiar objects by
color, form, or size, and responding to
simple requests such as "Give me the
pencil" or "Put the ball in the closet."
They should be able to point out body
parts, sing phrases of some simple
songs, and enjoy looking at pictures
and learning favorite stories. Early
ideas of what things are for are
beginning to be formed, and the child
may be able to answer a few questions
such as "What do we hear with?"
"What do we ride in?" and "What is a
cup used for?"
Children
Who Are
Moderately
Retarded
Moderately mentally retarded
children develop at about half the
rate of non-handicapped children
the same age Therefore, moder-
ately mentally retarded three- to
five-year-olds are more develop-
mentally similar to non-handi-
capped children who are 1-1/2 to
2-1/2 years old.
Motor Skills
Their fine motor sldlls are generally
well enough developed that they can
tiun the pages of a book, but several
pages get turned at once. They can
usually hold two small objects in one
hand, and no longer drop the first one
when the second one is offered.
Crayons and pencils are made for
scribbling, and scribbling just any-
where is as common as scribbling on
paper. They hold the crayon with their
whole fist and do not yet use the
fingers separately. Though the tower
may lean a little, a moderately mental-
ly retarded three- to five-year-old with-
out other physical handicaps should be
beginning to stack three or four cubes.
As they develop and have more
classroom experience, they will be able
to hold crayons with their fingers
rather than their fists, scribble within
boundaries, stack more cubes, and
begin to turn knobs, lids, and dials.
The patterns of a 1-1/2- to 2-1/2-
year-old are common to moderately
mentally retarded three- to five-year-
olds in the gross motor area as well.
By this time, as long as there are no
compHcating physical handicaps, they
shoiild be able to walk well, with few
falls. Children should be able to climb
into large chairs, onto the couch, and
onto the bed. They should be able to
walk up stairs with help and creep
down steps. Pushing and pulling other
objects is not only fun, but also good
for their physical development. They
can throw a ball overhand, but it often
lands on the floor nearby instead of
hitting the intended target. Their
running is still stiff and awkward, but
they are able to move fast.
Language and Speech
SkiUs
Language and speech development
is one of the most difficult areas for
moderately mentally retarded children.
Between three and five years of age,
most are using a series of nonsense
sounds that sound like talking. They
are able to understand more words
(receptive language) than they are able
to say (expressive language), and they
should be able to understand com-
mands such as "no," "stop," "come
here," and "give me."
Some of the youngsters may be
able to carry out two commands given
simultaneously, such as "Pick up the
ball and give it to me." They also may
be able to point to farrdliar objects in
the room when they are named by the
teacher, or to use as many as eight to
ten words appropriately. With
teaching, practice, and development,
moderately retarded children will
begin to combine two words to express
an idea such as "all gone," "want
more," or "me thirsty." The words that
have the most meaning for them are
the ones they tend to use first.
Self-Help SkiUs
Most two-year-olds don't do a lot
for themselves, but they are very good
at taking off socks, hats, and mittens.
This is true as well for moderately
retarded three- to five-year-olds. These
children will probably be ready to try
eating with a spoon, though there may
be as many misses as hits. It still
takes two hands to hold a glass and
even at that there are many tips and
spills. By this time, their bowel and
bladder schedule should be well estab-
lished and predictable. Though a child
may not let you know that it's time to
go to the toilet, it is often possible to
avoid accidents and begin toilet train-
ing by placing the chUd on the toilet at
regular intervals.
39
r'
What's a little spilling, if he can pour his
own juice?
40 Social Skills
Socially, children at this develop-
mental level are quite self-centered.
They insist on having things exactly
their way. They may react violently to
sudden changes or upsets in their
routine, and get easily frustrated. They
want what they want when they want
it! Fortunately for everyone aroimd
them, this doesn't last too long. The
child wOl soon move into wanting to
be admired, praised, and encouraged.
Although the child may continue with
some of the "terrible twos" behavior
for a while, it won't always be this
stormy.
Cognitive Skills
Cognitively, children at the low
end of the moderately retarded range
should be able to name one or two
familiar things in their environment.
They can follow a one-step direction,
can point to two or three body parts,
identify familiar pictvires in story-
books, choose the named object from
three alternative choices, recognize
their own name when called, and
match familiar objects.
Children
Who Are
Severely and
Profoxindly
Mentally
Retarded
Children with severe and pro-
found mental retardation develop
at a much slower rate than non-
handicapped children. Their de-
velopment may he one-tenth to
one-third of what we would ex-
pect of non-handicapped children
of the same age. Severely and
profoundly retarded children al-
most always have other handi-
caps. This makes learning even
more difficult. Often the other
handicaps are physical or neuro-
logical (involving the central
nervous system). Many of them
have epilepsy or other seizure
disorders that require continual
medical monitoring. For these
reasons, it is difficult to describe
what these children are like.
Generally, however, a severely
and profoundly mentally handi-
capped retarded child functions
very much like an infant.
Friends are important for everyone.
Motor Skills
Their fine motor development is
progressing from focusing on objects
with their eyes to following objects
moved in front of their eyes. They are
also balancing their heads, grasping
things placed in their hands, reaching
for interesting objects, putting objects
in their mouths, releasing objects,
pulling a toy by a string, holding
objects for prolonged periods, and
picking up objects using a palmer
grasp (the palm of the hand). Soon
they will be able to use a pincer grasp
(the thumb £md finger).
The early gross motor sldEs that
these youngsters display initially in-
volve learning to coordinate primitive
reflexes. As they develop, they gain
control of their head, neck, and torso,
begin to bear weight on their feet and
legs when held in a standing position,
and sit when propped up. Eventually,
the youngster will be able to sit
without support, creep around on the
floor, crawl, puU to a standing posi-
tion, take supported steps, and walk.
All of these motor milestones do,
however, tend to be seriously delayed.
It would not be uncommon to have a
three- to five-year-old severely or pro-
foundly retarded youngster who is not
yet able to walk independently.
Language and Speech
SkiUs
Language and speech is another
area of extreme delay in youngsters
with severe and profound retardation.
All of the sounds that they make are
important to the development of
language, though much of the child's
vocal play does not seem to be
anything like real language. If a
severely or profoundly retarded child is
following the normal sequence of
speech development, throaty noises
should be replaced with single vowel
sounds like ah and eee.
Non-handicapped three-month-old
infants begin to use sounds in a
communicative way. When an adult
nods or talks to them, they respond
with a smile and sounds. The child
will coo, gurgle, laugh, and respond
differently to voices than to other
noises in the room. High-pitched
squeals, grunts, and vowel soimds in a
series come next, followed shortly by
single consonant sounds such as d, b,
and m. Combining sounds, imitating
sounds, using tongue play to make
new sounds, and saying "ma ma" or
"da da" with meaning foUow.
The whole progression is accom-
plished by the non-handicapped infant
during the first year. This is often the
developmental level at which three- to
five-year-old severely retarded children
are still functioning.
41
42 Self-Help SkiUs
Like infants, severely and pro-
foundly mentally retarded children
who are three to five years old often
do very little for themselves. Serious
motor handicaps, particularly those
related to chewing and swallowing,
may require special attention from a
specialist in occupational therapy,
physical therapy, and/or speech and
language therapy.
If the child has no physical
handicaps that limit movement, you
may begin a simple training program
to help the child learn to take off and
put on clothes. Almost all severely and
profoundly retarded youngsters can be
toilet-trained. You may want to work
cooperatively with the family to estab-
lish a toileting schedule so that
training can begin.
Social Skills
Socially, these children may smile,
pat a mirror image of themselves, and
show fear when left with strangers.
They relate much more to adults
than they do to other children. With
adults, they like to play peek-a-boo and
to drop toys on the floor for you to
fetch. Since their language is very
limited, they express enjoyment with
smiles and laughs, and discomfort or
unhappiness with crying. They can
sense how someone feels about them
by the person's touch, the tone of
voice, and the facial expression.
Even though these children can't
participate in many activities in your
class, they still enjoy and learn from
being included in the group— if only by
being able to watch. The sound,
movement, and energy in the class-
room stimulate their interest in the
world around them, and this helps
them learn.
Cognitive Skills
Much of the play that severely and
profoimdly retarded children enjoy has
to do with learning about the world.
For example they are learning that
things that are hidden still exist; that
if they drop a block, it falls down; that |
if they shake a bell, it rings. At this I
level of functioning, children are learn-
ing to recognize the people they know J
and to respond to them differently 1
than to strangers. They are beginning
to look for dropped objects, to respond
to their names, to play simple games
like pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo, and to
look at pictures in books.
Many of the needs of children with
retardation are exactly like the needs
of other children. As they take risks
and try new things, they need to be
loved, to have limits, and to be
supported as they learn.
This chapter has described how
children with different degrees of
mentad retardation generally function.
However, it must be emphasized that
these descriptions refer only to the
"average" crdld. Each child is different
from every other child, even though
they may have the same level of
retardation. It is the teacher's respon-
sibility—and challenge— to get to know
children well enough to be able to
stretch each child's capabilities as
much as possible. Your expectations of
what a child can achieve have a
strong influence on what the child
actually does achieve. So be sme that .
yoiu: expectations are guided by what '
you have learned about each indi-
vidual in your classroom, not by
descriptions of an "average" child.
Chapter 4:
Mainstreaming
Children
with
Mental
Retardation
Mainstreaming in-
volves planning and
organizing the class-
room environment and
activities to meet the
needs of mentally
retarded children.
44 This chapter can help you
understand the importance of
early mainstreaming eocperiences
for children with retardation. In-
cluded are techniques for plan-
ning, ideas for classroom arrange-
ments, and general teaching
guidelines that are useful for all
children; and specific techniques
and activities for use with re-
tarded children.
Mainstreaming
Severely
and
Profoundly
Retarded
Children
Project Head Start stresses that all
handicapped children, regardless of
the severity of their handicap, should
be considered for enrollment in Head
Start if the particular program can
meet their needs adequately. On the
other hand, not all handicapped chil-
dren are best served in Head Start
programs. Both the resources within
your program, including available
staff, and the resources in your
commimity determine what you are
able to offer children. This means that
you, the total Head Start staff, and a
physician or other appropriate pro-
fessional should decide whether that
child should participate in the pro-
gram. If another setting would be -
better suited for meeting the child's
needs, Head Start may be able to
assist in the alternative placement.
Although very few children are
severely or profoundly retarded, occa-
sionally such a child may be enrolled
in a Head Start program. Children
who are this limited often need the
kind of care an infant needs. They
have to be carried, washed, changed,
and fed. Their participation may be
minimal, but they may be drawn into
the world by hearing voices and music
and by getting attention from the
teacher and others. Even if these
children do not participate, they
shovdd be positioned so that they can
see the other children, and should be
given objects to touch, move, and play
with (such as bells, rattles, textured
toys). Talking to and holding these
children also contribute to their learn-
ing and growing.
Children with severe and profound
mental retardation usually have other
handicaps. Their speech, feeding, and
movement should be checked by
specialists in speech and language,
occupational therapy, and physical
therapy. These specialists can help you
and the parents develop the best
program for a severely or profoundly
retarded child. Of course, such children
should also be checked by a pediatri-
cian on a regular basis.
Mainstreaming
Mildly and
Moderately
Retarded
Children
Children with a mild or moderate
degree of retardation generally do not
put a heavy strain on your class.
Introduce the child as you would any
other child. You may need an addi-
tional aide and probably some extra
planning time to enable you to treat a
retarded child as much as possible as
you treat other children.
Be ready to provide special support,
but only when the child needs it. As
you observe the child, you will learn
when to offer assistance and when not
to. Sometimes the need for help will be
relatively minor, such as making sure
that an extra pair of hands is
available for helping with outerwear at
arrival and departure times. You may
need an aide to help with a retarded
child especially at transition times,
during outdoor play, at meals, and
with snacks.
With any retarded child in your
class, there are some important steps
to take.)
A • Get to know the child. Learn the
child's strengths as well as needs.
^« Get to know the child's parents,
and work together with them. They
can give you valuable suggestions.
You can provide them, in turn, with
ideas that you have found useful in
working with the child.
0« Learn all you can about retarda-
tion. Read enough about it so that you
feel comfortable, prepared, and
confident. Talk to teachers, parents,
and friends who have worked or lived
with retarded children
4. Avoid being overprotective, but be
alert to the child's needs for support. If
you do things for children that they
can do on their own, the success is
yours, not theirs. And if you ask them
to do things they aren't yet capable of,
they wiU fail. As we have said before,
the best encouragement for learning,
improvement, and growing is a good,
solid success. You can create the
circumstances that make this not only
possible, but likely. And the grin on
the child's face is a very fine reward
for you.
45
^
H^i' ■ "^ """" ~"^
1 \ ■^^'^IL^i^
'^
46
Planning
The planning process for a child
with mental retardation has the same
purpose as for other children: to help
you map out a course of action for
working with the child. This process
calls for the involvement of several
people: the teacher, the parent or
parents, Head Start staff representing
the various service components, and
service providers from outside agen-
cies.
The goal of the planning process is
to produce an Individualizea Educa-
tion Pl-ogram (I.E.P.) for the child,
which is now required by PubUc Law
94-142, Education for All Handicapped
Children Act, and required by Head
Start Performance Standards. Based
on a professional diagnosis of the
child's handicapping condition, the
Individualized Education Program
spells out classroom activities, parental
involvement in the development of the
program, and special services to be
provided for the child.
For each handicapped child Project
Head Start requires the following
elements in the planning process:
1. An interdisciplinary team is re-
quired to make two kinds of diagnoses:
a categorical diagnosis and a
functional diagnosis. A categorical
diagnosis is simply a statement of the
kind and severity of the child's
handicap. This kind of diagnosis is
useful to you only for reporting or
record-keeping purposes. The team also
should develop a functional diagnosis,
or assessment, which is useful to you
in your classroom planning and
teaching. It is a developmental profile
that describes how the child is
functioning, and that identifies the
services the child requires to meet his
or her special needs.
^ • Based on the functional assess-
ment, an individualized education
plan is to be developed for the cMld.
This plan describes the child's
participation in the fuU range of Head
Start services, and the additional
outside services that will be provided
to respond to the child's handicap.
3. Periodically, ongoing assess-
ments of the child's progress are to be
made by the Head Start teacher, the
child's parents, and (if needed) by the
full diagnostic team. If these re-
evaluations show that the child's
individualized education plan or the
services he or she is getting are no
longer appropriate or needed, they
should be changed or adjusted.
4. When the child leaves the program,
Head Start should make arrangements
for the continuity of needed
services in elementary school. This
can be done in a variety of ways, but
usually involves holding a conference
with parents, the school, and service
providers. The elementary school
should be given a description of the
services the child has been receiving,
recommendations for futiire services,
and the child's records from Head
Start.
As the child's teacher, you are
involved in many of these procedures.
Your part in the process is described in
more detail in the following six steps.
These steps are just as useful with
non-handicapped children and other
handicapped children as they are with
retarded children.
Step 1: Observe each child in
a variety of activities, and record your
observations.
Step 2: Set objectives based on
what you have observed as reasonable
for the child to achieve.
Step 3: Select classroom activities
and teaching techniques that can best
help each child reach the objectives.
Seek outside assistance as needed.
Step 4: Develop the plans with
the cnild's parents and specialists.
Step 5: On a continuing basis,
observe, evaluate the child's progress,
and develop new objectives.
Step 6: When the child is ready
to leave Head Start, make plans to
ensure that there is continuity of
needed services with the public school.
Each of these steps in the planning
process for handicapped children is
discussed in greater detail below. For
help in individualizing your activity
planning for retarded children, see the
section entitled, "Specific Teaching
Techniques," p.71.
47
48 Step 1:
Observe
The process and purpose of ob-
serving is the same for all children.
The purpose of observing a child is to
identify the child's developmental
level — the level at which a child is
actually functioning. This can tell you
much about the child as an individual.
Progress is made by building on the
child's strengths and working on areas
that are weak. As you observe the
child in a variety of activities, you
should take careful notes. Another
name for this process is assessment, or
evaluation. Evaluation is particularly
necessary and useful to the planning
process because it makes you aware of
the basis for what you do in the
classroom. The following example de-
scribes a situation that caUs for
evaluation.
-r\lan
At the beginning of the year, you
meet four-year-old Alan. The first
thing you notice is that he seems
confused — he doesn't seem to under-
stand what is going on. When you ask
the children to sit down to hear a
story, Alan gets up and goes to the
sand table. When you put paper and
crayons in front of him, he just stares
at them. You realize that Alan is a
child you need to observe closely, so
you can figure out what the trouble
could be.
You think that there are several
possible explanations for Alan's be-
havior. It is possible that he has a
hearing problem, which would explain
his difficulties in following directions.
But when you call his name when his
back is turned, he looks at you — so
that isn't it.
Maybe he has never been away
from his parents before, and the
emotional stress of the separation is
troubling him. But you notice that he
says goodbye to his mother fairly
easily in the morning, and doesn't
seem very upset after she has left — so
that isn't it.
So then you think that whatever it
is, he'll get over it in time. After all,
some children do take longer than
others to adjust to new situations. A
month passes. You are beginning to
think that there might be something
wrong with Alan, since the unusual
behavior is continuing.
You start to keep notes. You write
down all the behavior that seems
unusual: what the circumstances are
and what Alan does. After another
month, you suspect that he might
have a problem that calls for outside
help. Your careful observations and
the notes you keep are the best
beginning for figuring out what the
problem could be.
Anyone who works with children
can be a detective in this way. If you
notice a problem in a child, try to
figure out possible explanations for it.
Test each explanation to see if it
accounts for what you have observed
and reject ones that don't fit the facts.
Gradually, you can narrow down the
possibilities. You may find yourself
with one or two possible explanations
of the problem or you may still not
know. At that point you may decide to
seek help.
How to Observe
Observation is a technique of
focused looking and listening to what
people do and say. Using observation
as a tool for learning about children^
involves being systematic, watching
for patterns, and using the informa-
tion.
Be Systematic
Your first step is to decide what you
want to observe. Thinking about Alan
again, for example, you remember that
he can't complete a simple puzzle.
Since you know that doing puzzles
requires fine motor skills, you want to
observe how he handles other activ-
ities that require such sldlls.
You next think of other activities
that require fine motor sldlls. They
might be coloring, working with clay,
turning the pages of a book, picking
up a spoon and a cup, and zipping a
zipper. You will want to observe AJan
when he is doing these things.
Yoiu* observation notes should in-
clude several kinds of information:
• What the activity is: snack, for
example, or sand table.
• What is happening aroimd the
child. ("The room was noisy, and
Alan was getting little attention
from the teachers at that
moment." "It was a hot day, and
that comer of the playground was
crowded." "I asked Alan to cut out
a picture of a jack-o'-lantern with-
out my help.")
• The details of what Alan does
and how he does it. ("Alan held
the cup with two hands, and
dropped it when he tried to hold it
with one hand." "Alan's move-
ments were very slow and listless,
and he put his head down on the
table twice.")
• How the child is feeling. ("Alan
felt good because he had just been
able to throw the ball to me for the
first time." "Alan was annoyed by
49
50 Hisako, who kept reaching for his
cookies." "Alan s favorite cousin is
visiting from Alabama this week.")
You continue to observe Alan's
sldlls regularly enough and long
enough to get a sense of how he is
functioning.
Here are some general tips to help
you be systematic as you observe.
1. Note details
It is very important to write down
specific, detailed observations that
focus exactly on what the child does.
For example, if you write down, "Alan
spilled his rmlk," this might mean that
he was angry, wasn't paying attention
to what he was doing, was awkward,
had a problem with his arm or hand
muscles, or a number of other possibil-
ities. However, consider this version:
"Alan reachea for his milk cup with
both hands. The closer he got to the
cup, the more his arms trembled.
Finally, the trembling made him
knock over the cup." These notes
would be immensely helpful both to
you and to a trained diagnostician,
who would recognize that they could
indicate a serious physical problem.
For information to be useful to
you and others, it must be specific.
2. Write down the details as soon
as possible
Note down what you see as soon as
possible, since it's easy to forget
quickly the details of a child's be-
havior in a particular circumstance.
Details are important. They describe a
child's individuality. They are also "the
best indicators of a child's strengths
and weaknesses. When you make
notes, try not to be obvious about it.
Write them down away from the child.
3. Plan a realistic schedule
Your observations should be sched-
uled, just as your activities are.
Observe and make notes as often as
necessary to get a fuU picture of what
the child does easily and has problems
with in the sldll area you are focusing
on.
4. Vary the settings in which you
observe
Children can behave differently in
different activities and moods, so it's
important to observe a child in a
variety of situations. Observe the child
on the playground and in the class-
room. Observe the child as he or she
plays alone, with other children, and
with you and other adults. Observe the
child when he or she is feeling happy,
sad, tired, rested, friendly, and angry,
because these feelings affect the child's
behavior.
"February 1 7, For the first time today,
Peter tried to figure out how the pedal
on the tractor works."
5. Vary your observer role
You might also try to vary your
role as an observer. You can act as a
spectator-observer, watching but not
participating. For example, you can
observe from the side of the room
while another adult manages the
classroom activities. Or you can be a
participant-observer, talang part in the
activity of the child. It is usually easier
to observe as a spectator, so you might
try this method first. Again, be careful
not to call attention to yourself as you
observe, otherwise the child might not
act naturally.
6. Start by observing one child at
a time
As you become more experienced in
observing, you will probably find that
you can observe more than one child
at a time. It's best not to try to do this,
however, imtO you are pretty sure you
won't get confused, or miss or forget
important information.
Watch for Patterns
Watching for patterns is an impor-
tant part of observation. You may
notice that a child sometimes forgets
words, stumbles, or knocks things
over. All preschool children do these
things firom time to time. What you
want to know is whether the child
often or always does these things.
Carry a piece of paper and a pencil
aroimd with you and keep track for a
few days. Be sure you are objective
(factual) about yoiur observations — try
to keep your own feelings and reac-
tions separate. In this way, you will be
able to see the patterns that point to
the particular skills with which the
chila needs help.
Going back over all the notes you
have made can help you discover
patterns you didn't see before. You
should review your notes on a regular
basis. The information in them can
help you identify new sldll areas and
behavior you might want to find out
more about, either by observing or by
other assessment methods.
Use the Information
Once you have observed a child
systematically, written down your ob-
servations, and reviewed your notes,
you should be able to identify areas of
strength and weakness in the child's
skills. This information can be used to
develop objectives for the chQd, and to
select activities and teaching tech-
niques that meet the child's needs.
This information can also become a
basis of discussion with other teachers,
the parents, and the specialists.
For example, when you review the
observations you made about Alan, it
becomes clear that he does have a
problem with his fine motor skills. In
particular, you notice that he has a lot
of trouble with hand-eye coordina-
tion— making his hand move to the
place where his eyes tell him his hand
needs to go. Since your objective is to
improve Alan's hand-eye coordination,
you select activities that involve this
skill so that he can get the practice he
needs. These activities might include
puzzles, sand table, making collages,
and pointing to pictures. You can also
decide to work alone with Alan more,
both because he needs your help with
the sldll and because he works Ibetter
on it in a quiet place away from the
other children.
51
52 Step 2:
Set Objectives
An important part of the planning
process is developing individual objec-
tives that will lead to the maximum
growth of each child. The objectives
need to be realistic in terms of the
purpose of Head Start and the pro-
gram's staff and time resources. Most
important, the objectives should be
developmental objectives. In other
words, you can't expect to make a
retarded four-year-old function exactly
like non-hantficapped four-year-olds,
but you can help the child progress to
his or her next developmental level.
Here are some guidelines for setting
objectives.
1. Be Specific
When you have gotten together
your observations, you will find some
areas of strength and some weak-
nesses. This information is not par-
ticularly useful until it is translated
into what the child needs. State
objectives in terms of skills and
behaviors that need to be learned and
that you can observe. Set a target date
for the achievement of each objective.
For example, if Tanya has difficiilty
sorting out related items, your objec-
tive for her is to learn to group items
according to likenesses. To make this
objective more specific and easier to
observe, state it as follows: "In two
months, Tanya wiU be able to group
toy animals oy size, and marbles by
color."
2. Develop Both Long- and Short-
Term Objectives
If Robert has difficulty with self-
help skills such as eating and
dressing, a long-term objective for him
might be: "Robert will learn to fasten
and unfasten his clothes with a
zipper." Short-term objectives that will
help Robert meet the long-term one
are: "In one month, Robert wiU be able
to finish unzipping a zipper that has
already been started. In two months,
Robert will be able to imzip a zipper
without assistance. In eight months
Robert wiU be able to zip up a zipper
without any help."
3. Develop New^ Objectives as
Needed
Objectives wiU have to be changed
if yoiu" observations show that there is
a need for it. If Robert surprises you
and learns to zip up his zipper in only
six months instead of eight, or if it
takes him more than t\yo months to
unzip the zipper, you wiU want to
develop new objectives to fit Robert's
needs.
"Objective: Derek will
snap the bottom snap on
his jacket by April 15. "
step 3:
Step 4:
53
Select the
Program,
Acivities, and
Techniques
If your Head Start program has
several program options, you need to
consider which one can best meet the
objectives you have set for each child.
For some retarded children, a full-day,
center-based program is best. For
others a part-day program combined
with a home-basea program or a
special class might be best. The
particular combination of Head Start
and other services that is best and the
amount of time spent in each varies
from child to child. It is a good idea,
however, to start off by expecting the
child to participate in all standard
Head Start activities along with the
other children. The child's program
can then be revised, if and when it
becomes necessary.
To make it possible for retarded
children to participate in aU your usual
classroom activities, think about ways
to adapt them, and prepare them
differentiy. You can use a variety of
teaching techniques to make sure the
child gets what ne or she needs. For
examples, look at the "Activities" in
this chapter.
Develop Plans
with Parents and
Specialists
Parents
Sometimes it is hard for parents to
recognize changes in their child from
day to day. In the classroom you have
the opportunity to see a child for long
stretches of time, to observe the child
performing a wide variety of activities,
and to compare each child with many
other children. For these reasons, you
can observe a child's daily progress
and set realistic objectives based on
your observations. On the other hand,
parents know a great deal about their
child that no one else can learn simply
by being the child's teacher. Moreover,
for education to be effective, parent
and teacher goals for the child need to
be consistent so that both are working,
in their different roles, toward the
same end. Develop your plans with
parents. Share with parents the pro-
gress their child is making in your
classroom and ask them to share with
you the child's accomplishments at
home. As you work together with
parents, you might invite them to
observe the program and to assist in
class activities.
Specialists
Specialists typically see a child for
short periods of time doing a limited
number of tasks, and interacting only
with themselves and the parents.
Sharing your observations with spe-
cialists can provide them with valu-
able information on the child's activity
in a more normal setting. In turn, the
specialists can help you imderstand
what limits the handicap imposes on
the child's activities, and may be able
to help you develop objectives that are
based on the child's needs and abili-
ties.
54 Step 5:
Continue to
Observe, Reassess,
and Make
Adjustments
While a formal assessment of each
child's development and progress may
occur only once a year, you should aim
for more informal evaluations much
more often. (Remember how qioickly
children change at this age, especially
in a stimulating Head Start class-
room!) As you observe regularly and
record a retarded child's responses in
major sldU areas, your understanding
of that child and the effects of the
retardation will grow. Keep in mind
the objectives toward which the child
is moving, and how much progress
has been made.
Refer often to your past observa-
tions, and look for patterns in skill
areas. If, for example, there is a
pattern of poor eye-hand coordination,
consider whether you have seen some
improvement in this area. Try to figure
out which activities the child has
enjoyed most and which ones seem to
have caused the most improvement.
Try to include more of these kinds of
activities in the future.
Step 6:
Continuity
Betv\^een
Head Start and the
PubKc Schools
As a result of the Education
for All Handicapped Children Act,
public schools will increasingly be
providing the benefits of mainstream-
ing classrooms and special services to
handicapped chOdren. After being in a
mainstream Head Start classroom and
receiving special services, children
with mental retardation will need to
have these advantages continue. There
are several things a handicap or social
service coordinator and you can do to
contribute to the continuity of the
education that a child with mental
retardation in your program has been
receiving.
• Some Head Start programs
have developed formal re-
lationships with the public
schools in their areas, to
assist in the transition be-
tw^een preschool and ele-
mentary school. If your
program has no formal re-
lationships with the public
schools, you might explore
the possibility of establish-
ing them. Your program
director or handicap co-
ordinator will know^ where
to go for suggestions on
how^ to achieve this.
Developmental continuity
is made easier if com-
munity providers of special
services to Head Start chil-
dren continue to provide
them to children as needed
when they go on to public
school. Before a child
leaves Head Start, vou can
discuss the child's mture
plans with the specialists
who have been working
with him or her.
Parent participation in the
services their child has
been getting in Head Start
is a valuable foundation to
build on. Encourage par-
ents to continue their in-
volvement and to make
sure that their child re-
ceives needed services in
elementary school.
Finally, you can keep in
touch with the child and his
or her family after the child
leaves your classroom. A
telephone call or a visit to
find out how things are
going will be appreciated
by the parents. If the child
is having problems, your
suggestions on how to deal
with them \vould be vv^el-
come.
55
56
The
Physical
Setting and
Classroom
Facilities
No two Head Start programs have
the same classroom faolities, and few
of them have ideal physical settings.
But wonderful learning environments
often exist without modem buildings,
fancy furniture, or expensive materials.
The children and the staff reaDy make
any preschool program. One of the
best things you can do for retarded
children is to talk to them, encourage
them to talk, and listen to them.
By and large, most handicapped
children don't require special class-
room arrangements or extra materials.
You can adapt and reorganize the
materials you already have to meet the
needs of retarded children. Basically,
the classroom should be arranged to
suit the special needs of the retarded
child. These modifications should not
be necessary very often, and they are
sure to be minor.
There are moments when handi-
capped children need special help in
dealing with the physical setting of
the classroom. Such help should be
given fi*eely. In general, arrange your
room so that the child can explore the
space and use the materials with as
little assistance as possible. Here are
some suggestions that are useful with
all children. They are particularly
helpful for children with handicaps,
including mental retardation.
Clear
Traffic
Patterns
K you have a child in your
program who is just learning to walk
and is still climisy, make sure that
there is enough space between furni-
ture groupings to avoid "collisions."
The traffic patterns between activity
areas should be easy to recognize.
Making a map of your floor plan
before the beginning of the program
year may help you to recognize and
correct traffic problems before they
happen. Don't overlap traffic routes
and activity areas — this will disrupt
the children who are involved in the
activities.
M
All the trucks together.
Neatly arranged materials invite playing.
start
Simple
Keep your room arrangement as
simple and uncluttered as possible,
especially at the beginning of the year.
As the children get used to it and
learn to handle a more complex
environment, you can gradually in-
crease the amount of materials and
number of activity areas. The use of
well-defined and consistent space pat-
terns wdll avoid confusion and help the
children become familiar with the
classroom organization. The space in
which each activity occurs should be
clearly marked.
For example, you might want to
put masking tape on the floor to
indicate the big block area, the
housekeeping comer, and other areas.
Other space cues, such as cabinets and
movable partitions, can be moved
around as needed. Mark storage areas
clearly. Make sure children know
where they are and what belongs in
them, and can get at them easily. Be
consistent about where materials are
kept and where activities take place.
Noise
Level
Avoid placing noisy activities next
to quiet activities. Noise and move-
ment distract some children from
quieter tasks. Noise interrupts the rest
breaks that some handicapped chil-
dren need. Most retarded children need
help in improving their language
skills, but it's hard to make out what a
teacher is saying if it's very noisy.
Listening and speaking are a lot easier
for everyone when it's relatively quiet.
Be sure there are quiet places in the
room, perhaps sectioned off.
57
Play areas should be clearly marked.
One good way to label cubbies.
58
Getting away from it all.
Individual
Space
Cues
Some children aren't used to
sharing a room with a lot of other
children, and they may use more than
their share of the space. You can use
physical signals to limit their move-
ment. For example, when Sean sits in
a circle, he might extend his legs and
kick the child next to him. To avoid
this, try a masking-tape "x" or a rug
square on the floor where Sean is to
sit. A file cabinet or a bookcase can be
strategically placed to define the space
you want a child to occupy. More
subtle cues, such as a friendly touch or
placing a disruptive child directly in
front of you, will also help limit
children's movement.
In general, the more obvious the
space cue, the easier it is for the child
to imderstand. As the children learn to
use space properly, you can gradually
eliminate the more obvious cues (rugs,
tape), and substitute less obvious ones
(a spoken reminder).
Even the spoken reminder wiU no
longer be needed when the child learns
and accepts the limits of his or her
own space.
Personal Places
There should be a quiet place
available where children can go on
their own. Some classrooms have
cubbies where children keep their
personal belongings. These are some-
times large enough to be used as nice
"escape hatches." You can even rig up
a curtain that can be drawn across the
cubby, if the child would like this. Tiy
to arrange your book area so that it is
soft and comfortable, and has private
nooks and crannies.
Everyone needs to get away from it
aU every once in a while.
Use
What
You Have
Just like for all young children, you
don't need expensive or fancy mater-
ials for a child with retardation. You
can often adapt what you have by
thinking about what the child needs to
learn from the materials. Watch the
child to see if they are too complicated.
If they are, the way the child reacts
will let you know how to simplify
them.
You might ask a retarded child's
parents for help in adapting classroom
materials. They may already have
done this sort of thiiig at home.
Try to use materials that will
stimulate children's curiosity. Offer
materials that need active fingers and
hands, and that allow a variety of
uses. Since learning takes place
through all the senses, include mater-
ials that a child sees, hears, feels,
smells, tastes, and moves.
The only extra materials you might
consider obtaining for retarded pre-
school children are those designed for
younger children. If a retarded child is
functioning at a two-year-old level,
provide materials designed for two-
year-olds. Have some two- or three-
piece puzzles on hand, for example,
some large picture books with untear-
able pages, and some large pegboards
with easy-to-grip pegs. If it is easy to
locate such materials, fine. If not, you
can usually think of ways to adapt
what you already have.
General
Teaching
Guidelines
There are many good ways to
teach. Because of your personality,
temperament, and values, you have
developed your own individual teach-
ing style, which is reflected in the
activities you choose, and in the ways
you interact with children. Good teach-
ing techniques are often the same for
the education of any child, whether
handicapped or non-handicapped. So it
is best not to try to change your
natural teaching style for a retarded
child. It will only serve to make both
you and the child uncomfortable.
With retarded children, you wiU
want to apply your teaching sldlls
consciously, using those skills that
most effectively serve the needs of the
child. You do much the same for every
child. But since children who are
handicapped have problems that
seriously interfere with overall per-
formance, they require extra considera-
tion. Following are some basic prin-
ciples that you may already know and
use with ail children. They are parti-
cularly useful in working with children
who have handicaps, including mental
retardation.
59
60 1.
Understand
Your Feelings
and Keep Trying
A couple of weeks before preschool
opened in the fall, Ms. Lazon was
asked to take responsibility for Linda,
a four-year-old child with mental
retardation who was about to enter the
program. For two weeks Ms. Lazon
had thoughts like these:
"Me? I've never worked with a
retarded child before. I won't know
what to do with her. She'll just
stare at me, or cry. Her parents will
see I don't know what I'm doing.
What should I do if I talk to her
and she doesn't answer? Who will
help me with her? How will I be
able to have enough patience to
show her something for the sixth
time in a row? Why wasn't some
other teacher chosen for this?
Everybody will see I don't know
how to work with this child, and
I'll be embarrassed. If I try
something and it doesn't work,
what on earth will I do then?"
If Ms. Lazon had been able to
speak with other staff members in her
program about these worries, instead
of keeping them to herself, she might
have felt better. Talking with the
director of the program, she might
have been able to find out why she
had been chosen. The handicap or
social services coordinator could have
explained what kinds of help were
available to her.
Starting Out
Some adults are nervous and
worried about working with a handi-
capped child for the first time. This is
a typical reaction when they don't
know the child very weU yet (if at all).
As a result they sometimes start out
thinking of the child as a "retarded
child." As they spend time with the
child, watch the child, play with the
child, and hug the child, they usually
find that they have begun to think of
the child as a "child with retar-
dation," and soon they think of him or
her as a "child," plain and simple.
Your first efforts working with the
child may not all be successful — this is
to be expected. You may feel frustrated
and guilty. If something goes wrong
(as things do from time to time), figure
out what happened, and keep it in
mind for the next time.
Don't expect miracles. No one is
asking you to cure a child, or to make
the cMld into the fastest puzzle-doer in
the class, or into the best runner or
climber. Sometimes, even with the very
best help from you, the staff, and
specialists, a child doesn't make as
much progress as hoped.
If he doesn't learn today,
you can try again tomorrow.
E
lerre
This was true of Pierre, a child
with very serious problems. Although
the teachers knew how difficult it
would be to work with him, they
accepted him into the program because
they had been able to help other
children with retardation.
When Pierre started the program,
he was hard to manage. He yelled,
pushed children out of his way, and
refused to do what was asked of him.
He couldn't sit still. He sometimes got
so angry he lost all ability to speak.
But every now and then, Pierre did
seem to do better. He learned a few
new words, and he kept still long
erwugh to play at the water table. He
made several approaches to play with
other children. He could listen to a
very short story if a teacher held him
on her lap. Sometimes it looked as
though a breakthrough was about to
happen.
But then the next day, Pierre would
go back to his old behavior — or worse.
Although his teachers were discour-
aged, they tried to be even more
sensitive to his needs and moods. They
had regular staff meetings about
Pierre. They asked a number of
specialists for suggestions and advice.
They scheduled regular sessions with
some specialists. They worked closely
with his parents.
But in spite of all their efforts,
nothing worked. Pierre's problems are
as serious now as they were on his
first day in Head Start.
Some children, like Pierre, never
seem to progress. All you can do is
your best to try and help. There will
also be many times when you will
succeed in helping these children to
make the best compensations they can
for their handicap, and to take advan-
tage of the talents and skills they do
have.
2.
Classroom
Personnel
Aides and volunteers play a key
role in all Head Start programs, and
their assistance should be included in
classroom planning for children with
special needs.
Aides
Your aide or assistant helps you
teach activities and work with children
individually. This help is especially
valuable if you have a retarded child
in your class who needs special
attention and assistance. Aides should
be included in developing educational
objectives for the child and in ongoing
planning. Both you and the aide
should agree on what the aide should
do, and why, to help the child learn
and play with other children.
It is not a good idea to have the
child work constantly with only one
adult. This isolates the child from
other children, defeating the purpose of
mainstreaming. Some children, how-
ever, need the security of an attach-
ment to only one adiilt in the
classroom before they are able to work
with several adults. For such a child,
you may want to assign an aide to
work with the child for a while.
On the other hand, other problems
can be created when a child has too
many caregivers who come and go.
This makes it hard for the child to
form emotional attachments. Children
learn better with the reassuring pres-
ence of a few people they know and
care about.
Care for the child should therefore
be shared among several adults. Indi-
vidual attention should be limited to
what the child needs so that he or she
is not separated from the group too
often.
61
62 Volunteers
Volunteers can be helpful in work-
ing with handicapped children even
though their work hours are probably
shorter and less predictable than those
of aides. They, too, need explanations
and directions from you about what
they are requested to do.
Parents make good volvmteers.
High school and college students are
also ideal volunteers. Young people
who are learning about children in
school are often interested in working
with them. Another source of volun-
teers could be senior citizen clubs or
apartment complexes for the elderly.
Many elderly people, especially those
whose grandchildren don't live nearby,
would be pleased to help with young
children — and they certainly are exper-
ienced! Another excellent source of
volunteers is organizations and
agencies in your community that work
with handicapped children (such as
Easter Seal, United Cerebral Palsy
Associations, children's hospitals, re-
habilitation centers).
See to it that everyone who works
with a handicapped child in your class
gets along well with him or her.
Everyone works better when they
enjoy what they are doing.
3.
Setting
Limits
Some limits must be put on
children to protect their physical
safety. Safety limits are usually clear-
cut: for example, "We walk in the
classroom" and "Look both ways
before crossing the street." State safety
limits simply and frequently, and
demonstrate them when necessary.
Enforce them consistently, so that
children will learn that they must be
followed.
Children also need limits to help
them control their behavior. Unlike
safety limits, behavioral limits require
you to make some judgments about
what is appropriate and what is not.
Each of us has a range of child
behavior that we accept or can tolerate
in our classrooms. (Some teachers
don't mind a lot of noise or a messy
paint area, while others can't stand
this.)
Whatever behavioral limits you set,
be consistent in enforcing them. K the
limits keep changing, the children will
never know what you expect, and will
not learn what you are trying to teach.
Praise children for their efforts, and
try to ignore borderline but tolerable
behavior. Let the children know that
you accept and respect them, whatever
the quality of their performance. As a
result, the children will not feel
personally threatened by failure. They
will approach learning without fear.
Before setting a behavioral limit,
look carefully at the behavior you are
concerned with, and ask yourself the
following questions.
How Does It Affect
the Other Children?
Does the behavior disrupt the
learning of the other children? If the
behavior does not disturb the other
children, then perhaps it should be
something you may want to learn to
live with.
For example, if Tasha's loud voice
seems much more annoying to you
than to everyone else in the class,
maybe it is not so important that she
be quiet, after all.
Can the Child Help It?
Does the child have control over
the behavior? For example, you may
find it hard to take the slowness of a
particular child in getting ready for
the next activity. Although you can do
some things to speed up the process, it
may not be possible to speed it up as
much as you would like. This means
you must adapt to the child's behavior.
Concentrating on the child's needs
rather than on the behavior may help
you change.
63
This behavior is
disturbing the boy,
and should be
J stopped.
64 Is a Change Justified?
Do you have a good reason for
wanting to change the child's
behavior? What is your educational
reason for wanting to alter the
behavior? In other words, make sure
the behavior change is good for the
child, not just more convenient.
Derek is a child who has a hard
time keeping still for long. Helping
him learn to stay and work at the
puzzle table is important, because he
won't be able to learn the skills puzzles
can teach him if he is running around
the room. On the other hand, it's not
important that Derek sit at the table.
He may need to move around the table
as he works on the puzzle, but he can
stiU learn this way. There would be no
educational reason for asking him to
sit still.
Can You Think of
Substitute Behavior?
What behavior do you want the
child to substitute for the unacceptable
behavior? One good way to help
children change undesirable behavior
is to teach them a good substitute. A
child who hits other children can be
taught to express anger with words, or
to stalk away from the anger-pro-
ducing situation, or to hit a punching
bag. Make sure that the new behavior
competes with the undesirable one.
Laiu*a can't hit Rudy and stalk away
from him at the same time, so stalkmg
away would be a successful technique
for her.
4.
Pacing
Plan yoiu- day so that the activities
are varied. Alternate between active
and quiet activities, between organized
projects and free play. When you teach
new skills, present them first in
familiar contexts, along with some
skills the child already has. This
lessens the child's uncertainty and
frustration.
A child with mental retardation is
especially sensitive to the pace of the
day. Some retarded children tire easily,
and may need more quiet times than
non-handicapped children. This
doesn't necessarily mean a nap — often
ten minutes alone in the book comer is
enough. Also, the child's attention
span may need training and strength-
ening if he or she isn't used to
preschool. If a child's attention span is
short, make the activities short, too.
You can lengthen them as the child
learns to pay attention for longer
stretches of time. Finally, there should
be extra time available for the child
who needs more than one turn to
imderstand or to do something. Provid-
ing time for that extra turn or two can
mean the difference between success
and failure.
5.
Grouping
At home children with special
needs are sometimes isolated from
other children. One of the benefits of
mainstreaming is that it offers these
children the opportunity to play with
other children and to learn a new skill
by seeing someone else do it correctly.
You can plan and organize your
learning situations so that this inter-
action, called "peer modeling," can
occur. In areas where a handicapped
child is weak, another child (a peer)
who has the sldll can act as a model,
likewise, in areas where a handi-
capped child excels, she or he might be
paired with a less sldlled child.
No child, handicapped or non-
handicapped, is good at everything or
bad at everything. All children should
have the opportunity to give help to
their classmates and to receive help
from them.
Try very hard not to exclude a
child with special needs from any
activity, especially large-group activi-
ties. Exclusion means isolation, and
isolation means feeling different and
bad. To include the child, give extra
assistance or change the expectations
for the child. For example, when
several children are painting a mural
together, stand near the child to make
sure that he or she enjoys it without
disturbing the other children's paint-
ing, hi this way, the child is a full
participant in the activity, is not
isolated, is not interfering with the
other children, is having fun, and is
also practicing needed sldlls.
Individualized teaching does not
mean isolating a child. Rather, it
involves modifying the activity so that
all children participate within the
same learning situation.
65
Modify the activity
for several children.
66
6.
Children
Helping
Children
We have already mentioned the
benefit of using children as models for
each other. This principle applies
directly to using non-handicapped
children to assist you in mainstream-
ing children with special needs. Your
youngsters will probably be eager to
serve as helpers. This experience has a
bonus: it helps them develop positive
attitudes about handicapped people. In
addition, their help will free some of
your time for other responsibilities.
Ways in which non-handicapped chil-
dren can help in mainstreaming a
handicapped child include:
• introducing a new child to the
physical setting of the classroom
• helping a confused child to organ-
ize his or her materials for a
cutting and pasting activity
• providing a child with opportim-
ities to practice a newly learned
skill
• assisting a poorly coordinated
child during playground games
• alerting a child whose attention
wanders that a teacher is about to
give a direction
• sitting close to an easily frightened
child to provide support when the
lights go out diuing a film-strip.
Peer helpers should be used often,
and this includes using a handicapped
child in areas where he or she excels.
In this way, all the children will learn
that they each have areas of strength
and weakness. They will also learn
that the need to receive help does not
mean that they are failures, or are less
worthy than those who offer help.
You may find that there is a non-
handicapped child in your class who is
unusually responsible and enjoys
being a big brother or big sister to a
retarded chUd. This is fine, but make
sure that you are not relying so much
on your helper that he or she becomes
a substitute teacher, or does more for
the retarded child than is needed.
7.
Breaking
Down
SkiUs
Every skill is really composed of
many sub-skills — there is no such
thing as a one-step activity. Skills such
as tying shoelaces, cutting a circle
with scissors, doing a somersault, or
learning to count consist of many sub-
skills.
Some children can master a new
skill very quickly with little help from
you. These are children who already
know the sub-skills and can use them
in performing the new skill. Handi-
capped children, however, don't have
some of the sub-skills necessary, and
need to be taught them before they
can succeed at the overall activity.
Children with mental retardation have
this problem in all skill areas.
For these children, you can break
down the activity into sub-skills that
can be learned at their current skill
level. For example, if you want to
teach a child to hop, check to see if he
or she can balance on one foot.
Balancing on one foot is a sub-skill of
hopping, and must be mastered first.
Since breaking down skills into small
parts is very important with retarded
children, we cover it in detail in the
"Activities" section of this chapter.
8.
Sequencing
Activities
67
In addition to sequencing skills
within an activity, sequence a series of
activities. Start with simple activities
and gradually increase the level of
difficulty as a child learns.
For example, children can begin to
learn about traffic lights by hearing a
story about one and by coloring a
picture of one with red, yellow, and
green crayons. Then you could play a
game of "Red Light, Green light"
with them. The next step in the
classroom might be to set up a maze,
complete with teacher-made traffic
signals, and have each child go
through the maze as the light changes.
(You can make the light change by
inserting red, yellow, or green cards at
different times.) Finally, you will want
to go outside and practice the real
thing. By sequencing these activities
from simple to more complex, you
have helped the child to generalize,
and have reinforced the concepts you
are teaching.
Be sure to demonstrate to a child
how the skills learned in one activity
can be used in others. A retarded chold
may need to repeat a sub-skill, a skill,
or an activity several times with your
help and several more times without it,
before moving on to new activities at a
more difficult level.
68
9.
Physical
Contact
and Guidance
Use physical contact to help a
handicapped child, to ensure safety, to
provide guidance, and to limit space.
Feel free to express your affectionate
feelings with a pat or a hug. Guard
against using physical contact to
punish a child.
Physical contact is especially im-
portant for a retarded child, who can
often learn best by being "moved
through" an activity one or rnore
times, until independent participation
is possible. Put your hands on
Marilyn's shoulders and walk her
around the circle. Put the crayon in
Peter's hand and put your hand over
his, so that he can feel the motions of
drawing a stencil pattern.
Using physical guidance as you
move Marilyn around a circle and as
you help Peter with the stencil is a
temporary technique that allows them
to be successful on their own. In this
sense, physical guidance (and stencils,
too) are like training wheels on a two-
wheel bike. The success children have
with your help makes them more
willing to try again, and the structured
practice helps them learn more
quickly. After a while, your help, just
like the training wheels, will no longer
be needed.
If he can reach the paint brushes, allow
him the pride of getting them himself
lOo
Avoiding
Over-Dependence
It is sometimes hard to be accurate
and realistic about what children are
capable of doing for themselves. In the
case of many children with special
needs, it is all too easy to assume that
they are more helpless than they really
are. Seeing that they cannot do some
things may make us think that they
cannot do others.
Furthermore, some parents may
have overprotected their handicapped
child to make up for all the extra
problems that their child has to deal
with. This means that some children
may come to Head Start expecting
that everything will be done for them,
simply because this is what they are
used to.
Overprotecting a child is a trap
that you don't have to get caught in.
You have to ask yourself: "Is this
really impossible for the child? Could
the child do it alone with more time?
Could the child do it with more help
from me?" Think hard, and be honest.
It is tempting to do things for a slow
child because you can do them faster
and better. But if you're always the
one who zips the zipper and sets out
the paint brushes and turns the book
right-side up, the child won't have a
chance to try to learn to do these
things. And isn't the child in your
classroom so that he or she can learn
to do them?
Being extra patient and giving
exfra encouragement to children who
try to do things on their own will pay
off many times in the future. You can
help children think of themselves as
able, not imable. When they grow up,
they will be in the habit of expecting
as much from themselves as they are
really capable of.
69
70
11.
Confidentiality
Making sure that confidential in-
formation stays confidential involves
careful record-keeping and watching
what you say.
Project Head Start requires pro-
grams to institute careful procedures,
"including confidentiality of program
records, to insure that no individual
child or family is mislabeled or
stigmatized with reference to a handi-
capping condition" (OCD Transmittal
Notice N-30-333-1-30, "Head Start ^
Services to Handicapped Children,"
February 28, 1973, page 6). The Head
Start Performance Standards also
spell out procedures to guarantee
confidentiality of records-
• Records must be stored in a
locked place where unauthor-
ized people can't see them.
• The Head Start director must
determine which staff members
can see which parts of the
records and for which reasons.
• Parents must fill out written
consent forms to give anyone
outside of Head Start permis-
sion to see the records.
These procedures are designed to
make sure that aU records on a
handicapped child and his or her
family are seen only by people who
need to see them for legitimate educa-
tional or medical reasons.
Avoid writing down confidential
information such as that contained in
the child's records. limit the confiden-
tial information you do write down to
what you need for working with the
child.
You should not repeat confidential
information about handicapped chil-
dren or their parents, either to other
parents or to staff members who are
not working with the children. This is
an invasion of the privacy to which
handicapped children and their
parents have a right.
If you need to share confidential
information with another staff mem-
ber to help him or her work better with
the child, have your discussion in a
private place and limit it to necessary
information only.
Teachers have sometimes been
embarrassed to find that their com-
ments about a handicapped child's
family have been repeated to the
family. Parents of children with
special needs can be sensitive about
this issue, and understandably so. Be
discreet about what you say — and to
whom you say it.
Specific
Teaching
Techniques
This section suggests specific teach-
ing techniques that you can use to
help mentally retarded children in
your classroom learn better. It includes
recommendations for improving self-
concept, tips to keep in mind, the
techniques of task analysis and beha-
vior modification, how to handle
transition times, and ways to help
with language problems.
Improving
Self-Concept
Children's self -concept is affected
by the expectations of the people who
are important to them. For example, if
Jackie's parents and teachers think it
is important to eat neatly, she will
enjoy their approval, and feel proud of
herself when she keeps her milk in the
cup and her food on the plate.
Children who believe that they are
capable of fulfilling the expectations of
the people who are important to them
develop a positive self-concept, or a
sense of worth in themselves. This
sense of worth in turn encourages
them to try new things and again be
successful. They begin to feel capable
when they are praised and valued for
the good things they do. For this
reason, social skills, gross motor skills,
and all the other skills have to be
thought about in connection with
children's self-concept.
"Do the other children like me?"
"Am I big and sti-ong?" "Can I cHmb
to the top of the jungle gym?" "Is my
teacher proud of me?" Children ask
themselves these kinds of questions
often. Those who can answer "yes" are
likely to have a positive self-concept —
they find the world a fiiendly and
delightful place, and they are eager to
try out new things. Children who
answer "no" are Ukely to have a
negative self-concept — the world is an
unpleasant place where new experi-
ences mean new failures. Since failing
is so painful, these children may tend
to avoid the new experiences, because
they foresee getting hurt by them.
Children with a negative self-
concept can react in a number of
ways. They seem to need your atten-
tion very often. They may be with-
drawn and quiet, and may refuse to
play with other children. They may be
frightened, insecure, timid. They may
be resentful and sullen. They may cry
a lot. They may misbehave, disrupt
activities, or annoy or try to hurt other
children.
71
72 Although poor self-concept is dam-
aging to aS children, it is a special
problem for children with mental
retardation: their handicap means that
they can't yet do some things that
other children their age can do. Mildly
and moderately retarded children, in
particular, are very well aware that in
some ways they don't "measure up" to
the other children. This is why
children who are retarded are very
much in need of successes. With
successful experiences, these children
will feel better about themselves.
"I made this all by myself!'
Here are some steps you can take
to help children develop a better self-
concept:
• Structure activities so that
the child feels successful.
Break them down into as
many small steps as needed
for success.
• Praise progress, no matter
how^ small.
• Try to be positive about
failures. "You tried very
hard. With such good prac-
tice, I'm siu*e you'll learn
how^ to do that soon."
• Be patient Avhen it is neces-
sary to show a child how^ to
do something many times.
• Be tender, accepting, and
loving.
• Don't talk about a child's
problems in front of him or
her.
• Concentrate on a child's
strengths, not w^eaknesses.
Use those strengths to the
child's best advantage.
• Fit the activity to the child,
so that it is challenging but
not overwhelming.
• Be consistent about what
you are expecting from a
child.
• Make the child responsible
for a part of the classroom
routine, and praise his or
her reliability.
• Never allow other children
to make fun of a child.
• Include each child as fully
as possible in all activities.
Isolation hurts.
• Give each child the oppor-
tunity to show^ off a little,
such as displaying draw-
ings. When a child is proud
of something, show^ it to
others.
Tips
to Keep
in Mind
1. Make It Simple
When you are explaining some-
thing, keep your directions simple. Use
only a few words. Speak slowly and
clearly.
Show the child how to do the
particular task. Physically move the
child through the task so that he or
she begins to "feel" what to do. For
example, if you are teaching John how
to jump, lift him off the ground with
you as you jump, to show him how it
feels.
Stand or sit close to the child
during the task so you can help when
needed. (But only when needed!)
Reduce clutter and noise. Use
materials that are clear and plain,
with bold lines. Avoid materials that
have confusing backgrounds or crowd-
ed pages.
2. Make It Short
Some of the retarded children you
work with will be very active. Some
may get easily distracted. It will be
hard for them to sit and listen. When
a child doesn't pay attention, make
sure that the activity isn't too hard.
Most of us quit trying when we don't
understand what to do. Some children
also have problems when the activity
is long, even when it is simple. Know
when a child has had enough.
3. Keep It Organized
Help the children organize their
world by providing structure for them.
Plan each day so that it is balanced
between quiet times and active times.
Discuss the routine with the children.
As you finish each activity, explain
what comes next. You might even post
a picture schedule to show the order
and kinds of activities. Follow the
same routine each day, so the children
can anticipate the next activity.
Give clear directions, but only one
at a time. Show the child how to do
what you are describing.
Don't change activities abruptly.
Let the children know that it will be
time to stop "when the bell rings,"
"when the lights go off and on," or
"when you hear music." This allows
the children to get ready for the shift,
and can help prevent tears and
tantrums.
4. Teach It
Non-handicapped children often
seem to learn without being taught.
They pick up on lots of things that
they see around them and soon
recognize and know them: colors, cars,
rhymes, and numbers. But children
who are retarded often have to be
taught things that other children learn
on their own. With retarded children, it
helps to use more demonstrations than
words. Don't just tell them how to do
something; show them how.
Give the children lots of practice.
Repeat the same activity in the
classroom and on the playgroimd.
Each time you do an activity, help the
children remember when they did it
before.
Point things out and describe
them. For example, "Look at the big,
soft pillow." "Miyeko's coat is blue.
Kevin's coat is brown."
Teach in small steps and don't go
too fast. But expect a little more from
the children each day. Remind them of
their successes and encourage them to
try their best.
73
74
Task Analysis
Task analysis is a teaching tech-
nique you may already know about. It
works particularly well with children
who are mentally retarded. The tech-
nique calls for breaking a task (activ-
ity) down into small sequential steps
and teaching each step until the child
can do the whole thing. For example,
if Mara is having trouble learning to
put her T-shirt on, her teacher can
break the task down into the following
smaller steps:
Lay the shirt flat on a table with
the back up and the bottom
toward the child.
Put both arms inside the shirt.
Move both arms along the sides Lift the shirt up so the neck
of the shirt to the armholes. hole is on top of the head.
Pull the neck hole down over
the head.
Pull the bottom of the shirt
down from the armpits to the
chest.
Pull the bottom of the shirt
down from the chest to the
waist.
When you consider how many
motions it takes to put on a shirt, it's
no wonder that some children find it a
complicated task. Going through this
type of analysis can help you be
patient with a child, who knows
perfectly well when a task is compli-
cated!
Often the easiest way to teach most
skills, including self-help skills, is to
teach the last step first. The name of
this technique is backw^ard chain-
ing. The satisfaction in doing some-
thing, either putting on a shirt or
completing a puzzle, is greatest as the
last step is finished. Backward chain-
ing not only makes it more likely that
children will succeed at doing some-
thing, it also lets them see the result of
their effort immediately, and be
pleased at their accomplishment. On
the other hand, if you teach children
how to put on a shirt, for example, by
starting with the first step, they will
have a long wait before the final
successful moment. And some of them
might not have the patience to wait
that long for success.
Mara's teacher taught her how to
put on her shirt using backward
chaining. She first helped her get her
shirt almost all the way on, but taught
her to do the last step by herself— to
Eull the shirt down from her chest to
er waist. As soon as she could do
that, she congratulated her and taught
her the next-to-last step — to pull it
down from her armpits to her chest.
Each time she learned a step, she
congratulated her and taught her the
one just before. This way, Mara got
lots of practice, was successful, felt
proud of herself, and learned to do
more each day.
Behavior
Modification
Behavior modification is a teaching
technique that relies on an old prin-
ciple: when we are rewarded for
something we do, we are more likely to
do it again. Psychologists call this
positive reinforcement.
For example, if you tell Sasha that
his shirt is beautiful, he is more likely
to wear it again. K your supervisor
tells you that you work well with
children who are slow, you are likely
to try even harder and to be willing to
work with others who are difficult to
manage. If, however, you are criticized
for the way you managed a parent
meeting, you are less likely to want to
manage it again.
Rewarding children in your class-
room for effort and accomplishment
keeps them working and learning,
according to principles of behavior
modification. You probably reward
children in your classroom often and
without special effort. For example,
when they have worked very hard,
you probably praise their efforts, smile,
or give them a friendly pat. But what
is rewarding and motivating for one
child may not be rewarding and
motivating for another. For some
children, you may need to make a
special effort to figure out what is
most motivating to them. To do this,
you have to get to know the individual
child, and consider what you do that
makes that child work harder and
behave in desirable ways. Sometimes
rewarding children for effort or ac-
complishment by allowing them to
listen to a favorite record, giving them
extra time to play with a favorite toy,
or giving them the privilege of feeding
the fish or watering the plants motiv-
ates them.
75
76 To motivate children, the reward
must be something they want and
must be given right after they make
an effort or accomplish a task. While
you want to give children time to
practice what they have learned, you
want to be sure that you encourage
them to learn more. And to learn
more, children need to do a little bit
more or a little bit better.
On the other hand, when we are
punished for something we do, such as
being criticized for managing a parent
meeting, the impleasantness tends to
make us want to stop doing it.
Punishment, however, can have the
opposite effect from what you intend.
TTbe attention from being scolded, for
example, is a kind of positive reinforce-
ment for children who don't get
enough attention. They are therefore
encouraged to repeat the undesirable
behavior, not to stop it. This is why
simply ignoring vmdesirable behavior
sometimes works better than punish-
ing children for it. When they are no
longer rewarded with the attention of
a teacher who is scolding or criticizing
them, they are less likely to continue
the problem behavior.
Although punishment is not useful
for changing most kinds of undesir-
able behavior, there are times when
you have to stop a child, with a firm
"no" or a gentle scolding, to protect the
safety of the child or another child.
You obviously have to stop a child
right away from nmning out into a
heavily traveled street or from hitting
another child.
You will find that one good way to
prevent dangerous or undesirable be-
havior is to teach children appropriate
behavior instead. Of course, physical
punishment in any form does not
belong in a preschool classroom.
Handling
Transition
Times
The hardest times for many
teachers and children are the transi-
tion times — the times between activi-
ties. For children with mental retar-
dation, these unstructured times can
be disastrous. Without careful manage-
ment, the time can become confusing
for a child, sometimes resulting in
misbehavior.
When the children must all move
from one area of the room to another,
it helps to divide them into smaller
groups. This cuts down on the milling
aroimd and sets a smoother tone for
the next activity.
To prepare children for a change in
activity, teU them a few minutes ahead
of time that they will have to stop
when the bell rings, when they hear
music, or when the lights go off and
on. TTiis winding-down time is
especially important for many mental-
ly retarded children. Eric, a moderately
retarded child, couldn't cope with
sudden changes. If he was told to stop
immediately, with no warning, he
would throw himself onto the floor and
bang his head. But when he was told
a few minutes in advance that it was
almost time to stop, he was able to
shift gears and stop even his favorite
activities without a tantrum.
Helping
with
Language
Problems
Children with retardation often
have problems talking and under-
standing speech. K there were twenty
children in your class who were old
enough to tie their shoes but didn't yet
know how to, you would do more than
give them twenty pairs of shoes to tie.
You would teach them how to tie
shoes. In the same way, children who
have not yet learned the speech or
language skills that other children
have learned clearly need more help
than just hearing people talk. If that
were enough, they would have learned
in the first place. The next few pages
contain several suggestions for helping
retarded children to communicate
better.
I
1. Be a Good Listener
' It is difficult to practice talking if
there is no one listening to you.
Children with a language problem
need to be listened to and rewarded for
trying to talk. It reaUy helps them
when they realize that adults will stop
and Listen seriously to what they are
saying.
Sometimes, children with speech
problems are hard to understand.
Usually, as you listen to them more
and more, you begin to develop an ear
for what they are saying. Parents can
often help you understand their chil-
dren. You might ask them for help.
It is also important that you help
the other children in the class under-
stand what a retarded child is saying.
It often happens, however, that the
children understand the child better
than you do at first!
2. Talk About What You Are Doing
Children's earliest speech is about
the present— what is happening now.
While you are doing things with the
children, talk about them. For example,
if you were helping the children make
pretzels, you might make comments
such as these:
"We need to put the flour in the
bowl. Hamilton is pouring it in.
Mary, can you hold the bowl for
him ? Okay, the flour is all in. Who
can add the sugar? Good, ru)w the
sugar's in. Jennifer is putting in
the salt. "
11
"Here goes the egg.
What color do you
see?"
78 3. Give Directions Simply
Children with language problems
sometimes don't do what you ask
them to do because they don't under-
stand what you want. Help them learn
to follow directions by taking the
following steps:
• Get their attention.
• Talk to them in language that is
appropriate to their level of lan-
guage development. For example,
& the children speak in two- or
three-word sentences, tell them
what to do in three- or four-word
sentences.
• While you are talking, use motions
to show them what to do. If they
still don't understand, take them
through the directions step by step,
using your hands to move their
bodies.
4. Use What the Children
Already Know
It is easiest to leam something new
if it is paired with something farrdliar
when you teach it. For example, if a
child uses single words and you want
him or her to begin to use two words
together, put together two single words
the child already knows to make a
two-word phrase.
Sylvia has never used more than
one word at a time. She knows the
words "more" and "juice." Each day at
snack time you might ask, "Sylvia, do
you want more juice?" One day she
may reply, "More juice." Then you can
say, "Gk)od! You want more juice."
Sylvia has spoken her first two-word
phrase.
5. Repeating Words Correctly
Repeating what children say with a
correction is called "modeling." It
allows children to hear the right way
of saying something without making a
big deal about their mistakes. If
Leon says, "I want more duce," you
can reply, "Yes, you want more;ufce."
6. Expand on What Children Say
Expansion is like modeling, be-
cause it also involves repeating what a
child has said. But instead of just
saying what the children have said,
you add something more — you "ex-
pand" the phrase. This not only shows
them that you understand what they
have said, it also suggests new
information they might add. When
Paul says, "Susie is hiding," you
might say, "Yes, Susie is hidmg
behind the blocks."
7. Get the Children Talking
Many retarded children with lang-
uage and speech problems don't talk
unless they are encouraged to do so. It
is sometimes hard to t£ilk very much
to children who don't answer very
much. But in order to speed up their
speech and language development, it is
important to get these children talking,
to keep them talking, and to listen to
them. The following suggestions may
help these children talk more.
• Talk to the children while they are
doing something. They are more
likely to talk at these times,
because they are less self-con-
scious.
• Encourage the children to bring in
special things from home, and give
them time to share them with the
rest of the class.
• Encourage the children to talk
about how they feel. Being able to
tell a friend that you are angry
may cut down on the need to hit
your friend. Jn the same way,
being able to say "I like you" has
its special rewards.
Let the children do as many
different things in the classroom
as possible. It gives them more to
talk about.
Teach the children how to give
important information, such as
their names and addresses. They
will probably have to learn such
information bit by bit.
Teach the children a short rhyme
or song they can perform for
others. Being able to put on a
show can really build children's
confidence in their speaking abil-
ity.
Include activities and words that
are meaningful to the children.
They have all heard the word
"milk" but they may never have
heard of "eggnog."
Ask the children open-ended rather
than yes/no questions. "What are
you going to buy with that
nickel?" is better than, "Are you
going to buy sugarless gum with
that nickel?"
Listen when a child talks. Few
people talk for very long if no one
wants to listen to them.
79
"What is on my
hand?"
80
Activities
Like all preschoolers, children who
are mentally retarded need to learn
skills in the following areas:
• gross motor
• fine motor
• language and speech
• self-help
• social
• intellectual.
This section describes activities
that can help children improve their
performance in all areas of develop-
ment. Each description involves ways
of modifying the activity or tips to
keep in mind so that mentally retarded
children can participate. As you know,
any activity can be used to teach
many kinds of skills. Depending on
how the activity is done, some skills
win get more practice than others. For
example, if you wish to use a puzzle
activity to practice fine motor coordi-
nation, any simple puzzle will do. But
if you also want to practice the
inteDectual skill of learning colors, you
v^ need a puzzle with different
colored pieces, so that you can teU the
child, "Now, put the red piece in." You
can use the activities in this section to
provide practice in many other sldlls
than the ones we have listed.
" "Pick
" "Stand beside
Playground
Playground activities can help
children improve their:
• muscle coordination
• body awareness
• rhythm
• balance
• ability to follow directions
• language development
("Step on the circle."
"Jump off the step "
up the ball. "
the tree.")
• eye-hand coordination
• socialization with other
children.
Preparation
Playgrovmd or gym time should be
a planned part of every day. The
equipment that you need for the
activity should be ready and in good
shape (such as balls, hoops, beanbags,
parachute, records). Time spent on the
playground should aUow for free play
as well as plaimed games and activi-
ties. The activities should emphasize
cooperative play whenever possible.
Conducting the Activity
1. Give verbal directions and show
the children what to do.
2. Stay close to children with retar-
dation vmtil you are sure they
understand.
3. Be sure you have planned the
transition from one activity to
the next.
Tips
Some children can get too excited
during free play. If this happens,
invite the child to play with you
(catch, kick ball, or animal walks). If a
child consistently overreacts during
free play, you might consider making
up a plan for the child that leaves out
free play for a while.
Beanbags are easier to catch than
balls. Provide them to ensure a child's
success at catching.
Rather than have the children
choose sides in games, divide them by
the colors of their shirts, or by
separating them into two equal groups.
It hurts not to be chosen for a team.
End every activity in a way that
makes starting the next one easier. For
example, end a race by having aU
children sit down when their turn is
over.
Be sure that the play area is safe:
fenced, no glass, and small enough to
be well supervised.
81
Obstacle Course
An obstacle course helps children
improve their:
• muscle coordination
• body awareness
• balance
• socialization with other children
• ability to follow directions
• language development ("Go
under the table," "Jump over
the pillow," "Wiggle through
the tire.")
Preparation
Set up a simple obstacle course
inside the classroom or on the play-
ground. Chairs, tables with blankets
over them, rubber tires, and cloth
tunnels can be put together to make
an obstacle course. Make the first one
easy so that everyone can do it alone
or v^th little help.
Conducting the Activity
1. Show the children how to go
through the course by doing it
yourself, as much as you can, or
by having a child demonstrate it
for the others.
2. As the children go through the
course, describe what they are
doing. ("Susan is going imder
the chair, through the tunnel,
and over the chair.")
3. Let children take several turns
for fun and practice.
Tips
Check the course for safety to make
sure that a tumble wouldn't hurt
anyone.
Make sure the children go through
it one at a time, so they can take it at
their own pace.
Activities
82
Simon Says
An activity like "Simon Says"
helps children improve their:
• ability to follow directions
• ability to imitate
• muscle coordination
• body image
• balance.
Preparation
You need only to tell the children
the rules of the game. Stand or sit in a
circle with the children, and demon-
strate the directions as you give them.
Conducting the Activity
1. Begin the game. Use "Simon
says " on most directions at
first.
2. Play only as long as the game is
still fun.
Tips
Start with easy directions, and go
slowly.
A retarded child may need help.
You or an aide might physically move
the child through the motions at first.
Puzzles
Pvizzles can help children improve
their:
• eye-hand coordination
• sense of position in space
• depth perception (near/far).
Preparation
Choose simple three-piece puzzles of
animals or objects that the child can
recognize. Find a quiet spot for the
child to work on the puzzles, with just
you or an aide.
Conducting the Activity
1. Show the child the puzzle.
2. Name the pieces, as you point to
them ("the red one," "the long
one," "the rovmd one").
3. Show the child how to fit a piece
in.
4. Give the child that piece and tell
him or her to "put it in."
5. If the child can't do it, put your
hand over his or her hand and
put the piece in.
6. Keep helping the child, gradually
letting hun or her do more
without help.
Tips
Introduce puzzles to a child with
retardation one at a time. It is best not
to start a new pvLzzle imtil the child
has mastered the last one.
Don't be surprised if the child
would rather twist, mouth, or feel the
puzzle's pieces and holes than fit the
pieces in.
Field Trips
Field trips can help children im-
prove their:
• language development (in-
creasing vocabulary)
• fine motor skills (handling
objects)
• gross motor skills (walking)
• intellectual skills (receiving
information, association,
memory)
• social skills (meeting
people, socializing with
other children).
Preparation
Before any field trip, plan how you
wall provide the extra supervision that
is needed for a child with retardation.
Cjet volunteers and notify the place
that you are coming. Prepare all the
children for the trip by teUing them
about it several days ahead of time.
Conducting the Activity
1. Allow plenty of time to get
everyone ready, so that no one
feels rushed.
2. Put a name tag on each child
and assign adults to specific
children. Be sure that each retar-
ded child has one adult to hold
I onto.
3. Point things out to a retarded
child. Re-explain things simply.
1 Whenever possible, show him or
I her how things work instead of
just talking about it.
4. Review the trip when you return:
what the children did and what
t they saw.
Tips
Choose places or trips that have
meaning for young children, such as
the neighborhood store, the big kids'
school, or a ride on a bus. It's
important that the trip be short.
Yoimg children tire easily and can
become cranky without enough rest.
Explain what happens at the
places you visit: what the people there
are doing, and why.
Some typical field trips can be too
exciting for very active children with
retardation, such as going to a circus,
a basketball game, or the zoo. Think
twice about the value of the trip.
If a child usually takes medicine at
a time when you wiU aU be out of the
building, be sure to bring the medicine
along.
Consider asking a retarded child's
parent to come with you as a helper.
83
Activities
84
Naming Objects
and Pictures
This type of activity helps children
improve their ability to:
• associate words with
pictures
• progress from the concrete
(objects) to the abstract
(pictures)
• socialize vAth adult(s).
Preparation
This activity can be played like an
organized game or done at any time
during the day. All you need are
pictures of some of the common objects
in the classroom (chair, table, clock,
doU, block).
Conducting the Activity
1. Ask a child to point to objects in
the room that you name. "Show
me the chair." "Show me the
clock."
2. When the child can do that, have
the child point to pictures of the
same objects.
3. When the child can point to
pictures, ask him or her to name
objects in the classroom. "What
is this?"
4. When the child can name the
objects, have him or her name,
pictures of the same objects.
Tips
Try to keep this activity as much
like a game as possible. It's most
important not to turn the child off to
language. If it looks like the fun is
wearing thin, that's enough for this
time.
Help the child pronounce the
words. Praise the child for every
attempt to say words — effort deserves
praise.
Dressing
Dressing activities help children
improve their:
• independent dressing skills
• concept development (up/
down, backwards/ front-
wards)
• fine motor coordination.
Preparation
Some dresing and undressing activ-
ities happen every day in Head Start
classrooms: for example, taking off
and putting on sweaters, boots, gloves,
and smocks. Children may need more
help and practice with some lands of
clothes than with others. Start with
outerwear, such as jackets and coats.
Set aside a time each day to work on
dressing and undressing skills.
Conducting the Activity
1. Break the task down into small
parts, teaching one step at a
time. (See the description of task
analysis, earlier in this section,
for a specific example of how to
do this.)
2. Praise each effort and each
accomplishment.
Tips
Don't try working on dressing
skills imtil the child is ready and
willing.
Start with simple, loose-fitting
clothes.
Don't rush. Take time to demon-
strate each step to the children, and
give them plenty of time to attempt it
on their own. It helps to practice
dressing skills with some children
each day.
Rest
As we all know, rest is also an
important "activity." It is especially
important for young children. Some
children with retardation need more
rest than non-handicapped children.
Rest gives them and other children a
chance to relax and be calm, even if
they don't fall asleep.
Preparation
Make rest a regular part of the day
that children can anticipate. Have a
cot or pad available for each child, and
figure out a routine for getting them
out and putting them away.
Conducting the Activity
1. Have children get out the rugs,
mats, or cots, following the
established routine.
2. Help the children to relax by
Slaying soft music, dimming the
ghts, tellng a quiet story.
3. Find a gentle way to end the rest
period and put away the rugs,
cots, or mats.
Tips
Don't expect all children to nap.
Allow for quiet movement and quiet
activity.
Don't expect children to rest right
after a noisy activity. Help to quiet
and relax them before rest time.
Everyone needs some calming down
time.
85
Activities
86
Story Reading
Reading stories to children can
help them improve their:
• ability to pay attention
• listening skills
• vocabulary development
(naming pictures)
• language development (im-
derstanding spoken words)
• sequencing (retelling the
story)
• socialization wdth class-
mates
• ability to connect written
words with spoken words.
Preparation
Plan ahead of time which book to
read. Try to find one that ties in with
something else the children have been
doing or are going to do that day. For
example, if someone is bringing a pet
turtle to school, you may want to read
Dr. Seuss's Yertle the Turtle. Big,
bright, colorful pictures, pop-up illus-
trations, and touchable books help
mentally retarded children stay inter-
ested and timed in.
Prepare the children for a quiet
activity by talking softly, playing
restful music, suggesting they think
about quiet things (such as a leaf or a
snowflake falling to the ground), or
perhaps giving them back rubs.
Conducting the Activity
1. Let the children get comfortable
on mats, piQows, or rugs, in a
place where each can see the
book and pictures. Make sure,
though, that they aren't so
crowded together that they
bother each other without mean-
ing to.
2. Before you begin to read, teU the
children a little about the story
and what to watch and listen for.
3. Read the story using different
voices for different characters.
Vary the loudness and softness
of your voice. Change the speed
a little, but don't read so fast
that children can't foUow.
4. Show the pictures as you go
along, giving children time to
look, touch, and feel the illustra-
tions.
5. Encourage the children to com-
ment on the story and to reteU
parts of it.
6. Tie the story back to the class-
room activities. "We have a
turtle, too."
7. If some children find the stories
too hard to understand, choose
simpler ones to read to them, in
a small group or individually.
Tips
People listen in all kinds of posi-
tions. It's okay if the chQd wants to
lean on you, lie down, or listen from
vmder the table.
If the child wanders away, don't
make a big deal about it. You may
want to draw the child back by asking
him or her to point to something. Or
you can have the child help you turn
pages. Or you can wait until the next
story.
Use short stories. Children especial-
ly like rhyming words and nonsense
sounds in rhythm.
Sometimes children with retar-
dation win tear a book out of excite-
ment or because they don't know what
books are for. Show them how to
handle books, stay with them as they
learn, and provide books with cloth or
plastic pages to practice with.
Snack
Snack time can be an opportunity
for children to improve their ability to:
• eat independently
• socialize with classmates
• speak (ask for what they
w^ant, name foods)
• grasp and coordinate eye-
hand movement
• understand concepts (nmn-
ber of crackers, size of cup).
Preparation
Have the snack, plates, cups, nap-
kins, and anything else you need clean
and ready.
Conducting the Activity
1. Let the children take turns set-
ting the table, passing the snack,
and cleaning up. Show a retar-
ded child how to do each task
and give help when needed.
2. Establish a routine for getting to
1 the table and being served.
3. Use snack time as a social time
to share, talk, and take turns.
4. Use snack time as a self-feeding
teaching time for ret£trded chil-
dren who are just learning to eat
independently.
5. Use a routine for clean-up.
Tips
Have snack at the same time every
day, so that the children can antici-
pate it.
To help a retarded child learn to set
the table, put down placemats that are
marked with the table setting:
Set the rules about "seconds" ahead
of time.
To avoid spills and crashes, show
each child how to pour into cups and
pick up plates.
Be prepared for some mistakes
while the children learn. Have a
sponge or paper towels handy to clean
up spills.
87
Activities
88
Stencils
Stencil activities can help children
improve their:
• eye-hand coordination
• sense of direction (left/right,
up/down)
• understanding of concepts
(shapes, angles, curves).
Preparation
If the children can't imitate lines,
circles, and other shapes on their own,
stencils can help them learn to
recognize such shapes and the motions
involved in making them.
Use plastic stencUs or make sten-
cils out of heavy cardboard. You may
want a stencil for a vertical line,
horizontal Une, circle, square, and
triangle. Have ready paper, a crayon
or felt-tip pen, and tape.
Conducting the Activity
1. Tape the stencil to the paper at
one edge, so it won't sUp.
2. Show the child how to mark
inside the stencil.
3. Guide the child's hand initially,
until he or she can manage
independently.
4. Be sure to pick up the stencil to
show the child what he or she
has made.
Tips
Check to make sure that the child
is ready for this kind of activity: are
the child's hands steady enough?
Hidden
Object
An activity such as the old sheU-
and-pea game lets children work on:
• concept formation (object
permanence: things con-
tinue to exist even though
you can't see them)
• receptive language (under-
standing directions)
• eye-hEind coordination
• socialization with an adult.
Preparation
Find a small object that the child is
especially fond of Have two or three
cloth diapers, towels, or similar cover-
ings ready.
Conducting the Activity
1. In a quiet comer, show the object
to the child. Let the child handle
it.
2. Lay the pieces of cloth in front of
the child in a row.
3. Slip the object under each of the
pieces of cloth briefly, then leave
it under one of them.
4. Ask the child to find the object.
5. Repeat.
Tips
Be sure the child likes the toy well
enough to search for it.
Use cloth that you can't see
through.
You might start with a fairly
large toy and gradually shift to
smaller ones.
"Can you find the car?'
'Good for you! You found it!"
Music
Music activities can help children
improve their:
listening skills
ability to pay attention
sequence and sense of rhythm
fine motor skills (manipulat-
ing musical instruments)
speech development
ability to socialize
body movement.
Preparation
Plan activities in music so that
they relate to other classroom activi-
ties. If you are doing a unit on
animals, community helpers, or body
parts, find songs to play and sing that
relate to these topics. Have all the
equipment that you need (record
player, rhythm instruments, records)
ready and working. Plan ways for a
child with retardation to be successful
in the activity. For example, the child
may clap along, beat a drum, or
march to the music.
Conducting the Activity
1. Tell the children what the activ-
ity is. Show them how to do it.
2. Allow some time for the children
to do what they would Like to do
with the music: march, clap, sing.
3. Relate the music to the other
classroom activities.
Tips
Show a child with retardation how
to use a rhythm instrument. Help the
child make the instrument work.
Use different lands of music to
calm down or pep up the children, or
as a gentle way to signal a change in
activities.
89
Activities
90
Sorting
Sorting activities help children
work on:
• concept formation (classifi-
cation)
• receptive language (under-
standing descriptions of
objects: "Put the red cars
here and the blue cars
there.")
• eye-hand coordination
• socialization.
Preparation
Have the materials to be sorted
ready.
Conducting the Activity
1. Explain and demonstrate the
activity.
2. Once the child imderstands, let
him or her take several turns.
3. Give help as needed.
4. When the child finishes, check
the work. Ask the child to teU
you what he or she did. Praise
efforts and successes.
Tips
Start with objects that differ fi:om
each other in only one way. For
example, you might have ten small
trucks— five blue and five red. When
you are sure that the child knows how
to sort these, you can make the game
harder.
Using pictures rather than objects
is one way to make the activity
harder. Another way is to increa.se the
number of things and the ways in
which they are different. For example,
put all of the small, blue circles
together and all of the large, green
circles together.
Having the children sort by func-
tional categories makes the activity
still harder. For example, put all of the
things we could ride in together; put
all of things we codd eat together.
Be sure the objects for sorting are
interesting. Make sure the materials
are safe; you may want to laminate
many of them. And finally, choose
objects that are easy to handle and
that won't bounce or roU away from
the child.
Small-Group Activities:
Art, Cooking, Science
Small-group activities such as
painting murals, baking cookies, or
caring for classroom pets can help
children improve their:
• ability to cooperate
• ability to pay attention
• ability to follow directions
• language £ind speech devel-
opment
• socialization with other
children
• concept development
• eye-hand coordination.
Preparation
Have materials and equipment
ready. Be prepared to give extra help
to retarded children or to modify the
activity to help them be successful
with it.
Conducting the Activity
1 . Demonstrate the activity.
2. Assist any child who is having
trouble.
3. Have a routine for cleaning up
and putting away.
Tips
Retarded children tend to learn best
when they are taught one at a time or
in small groups. Plan as many
activities as you can for small groups.
Be prepared to stop children before
they do too much and ruin what is
being made.
Make siu-e all materials are non-
toxic. After all, paint and paste look
good enough to eat.
Stand nearby to prevent grabbing,
ripping, and so forth.
91
92 Summary
Below is a chart of the activities
discussed in this chapter. It is de-
signed to help you identify at a glance
which activities are especially useful
for the different skill areas that
children with retardation need practice
in. As you see, every activity provides
practice in at least two skill areas,
which means that the child will be
helped in several ways at once. ("Rest"
is not included on the chart— it's good
for giving children energy for all the
other activities!)
You can determine which skill
areas to work on from your owri
observations of a particiolar child, and
from your discussions with handicap
specialists. Remember that these activ-
ities are only examples — you know
and do many more than these. No^y
that you have seen how these activi-
ties work on different skiU areas, think
about the skills involved in other
activities you do in school. Water play,
blocks, dress-up comer, puppet play,
and coloring all involve many sldll
areas.
/ /
Playground
80
•
•
•
Obstacle Course
81
•
•
Simon Says
82
•
•
Puzzles
82
•
Field Trips
83
•
•
•
Naming Objects
and Pictures
84
•
Dressing
85
86
•
•
Story Reading
•
Snack
87
•
• •
•
Stencils
88
-
•
Hidden Object
88
•
•
Music
89
•
•
•
Sorting
90
•
•
Art, Cooking,
Science
91
•
•
• Skill areas the activity is especially good for.
Chapter 5:
Parents
and
Teachers as
Partners
Working with
parents as partners
will help you, the
child, and the parents.
94 One of Head Start's unique
achievements has been the in-
voh)etnent of parents in the educa-
tion of their children. Parents are
the primary educators of their
children, and their involvement is
the cornerstone of a successful
Head Start program. This partner-
ship is even more important in the
education of a child who is handi-
capped, for the following reasons:
• Parents know their children's
strengths and limitations better
than anyone else. They can
help a teacher understand and
plan for their child.
• A joint family /teacher effort is
essential for developing the
best program for a child and
for ensuring that the child will
benefit as much as possible
from the Head Start experience.
• Head Start may be the first
preschool experience the child
and parents will participate in.
Making it a successful ex-
perience will have positive ef-
fects on the child's school years
to come.
Parents as Decision-Makers
Head Start has always considered
parents important decision-makers for
their child, because they are the main
influence on the child's development.
They need to reinforce what you are
teaching in preschool if maxinnun
progress is to be made. Changes in a
child that come about through your
efforts, the efforts of specialists who
provide services, and the experience of
mainstreaming affect parents. For all
these reasons, it is important that the
parents participate directly in \yhat
you are trying to accomplish with the
child in the program.
Direct parent involvement in de-
cisions affecting their child is es-
sential. They should decide with you
what and how you teach their child,
and what efforts they wiQ make at
home. They should participate in
decisions involving formal assessment
and diagnosis of their child, and
selection and arrangements for any
special services that are needed. They
should be a part of any decisions that
are made as a result of assessments of
their child's progress.
One of the major areas in which
parents are needed as decision-makers
is in the development of an individual-
ized education plan for their child.
This plan is a written statement
developed in meetings of the diagnos-
tic team, the parents, and the teacher.
It spells out the educational goals for
the child, the activities that wiU take
place in the classroom, the involve-
ment of parents, the special services
that will be provided by other
agencies, and details of the evaluation
procedure. Parental consent is required
by law at two points: to give permis-
sion for the diagnostic process to take
place, and to give permission to put
into effect the individualized education
plan that has been developed for the
child. This requirement is intended to
guarantee that parents have their
rightful say in the education of their
child.
The rest of this chapter discusses
specific ways in which parents can
help in the education of their child,
and provides guidelines for teachers in
worlong with the parents of handi-
capped children.
A teddy-hear from home
helps her feel secure at school.
What
Parents
Can Do
Helping
Your Child
As parents, you are the first and
most important educators of your
child. You can help in your child's
education in a number of ways, both
at home and in the classroom. You
might begin by taking the following
steps:
1.
Get to know your child's teacher.
Give him or her a realistic idea
of how much you can do. Take
into consideration the amount of
extra time you can afford to
spend working with your child,
as well as how much time you
would like to spend. Even if you
have a fair amount of free time
avaOable, you may find it diffi-
cult to work closely with your
chOd for long periods of time.
2. Recognize that you have a
tremendous influence on the
growth and development of your
child. What you do does make an
enormous difference. Try to partici-
pate in your child's learning as
much as possible.
3. Seek guidance from your child's
teacher if you are not certain
how to use everyday events at
home as learning experiences for
your child. The teacher may be
able to suggest specific activities
you can do with your child to
help him or her build necessary
skiDs.
4. Bmld on Head Start's firm com-
mitment to a partnership with
parents. You aren't alone in your
efforts to help your child. You
now have pgotners who can help
promote the well-being and de-
velopment of your child: the
teacher, other staff members in
the program, and agencies and
public school resources in the
community.
The next section discusses how to
prepare your child for the Head Start
program, some things you may find
helpful to discuss with the child's
teacher, and how to use everyday
events in the home to foster your
child's development.
95
96 Preparing Your Child
You can help both your child and
the program staff by preparing the
child for the Head Start program. Just
before the start of class, bring your
child to the Head Start center. Intro-
duce yourself and your child to the
teacher and other staff members.
Encourage your cMld to explore the
classroom and to play with some of
the materials. Try to make sure that
your child has a good time diuing this
visit.
Because some retarded children
function like much younger children,
they may be fidghtened at first about
leaving home. You and the teacher
may want to discuss whether it would
be helpful to your child if you remain
in the classroom during the first few
days. At some point your child will
have to feel comfortable in the class-
room without your being there. This
takes more time for some children
than for others.
A little bit of home at preschool
and a little bit of preschool at home go
a long way toward helping children
feel comfortable and secure. Perhaps
at home you can hang some pictures
of the classroom or the teacher. Or
your youngster could be sent to class
with a favorite toy or familiar object
from home, to increase his or her
feelings of seciuity.
Try to have your child arrive in
class on time. Let the teacher know of
important events at home that might
influence the child's behavior in class.
These special events may be happy
times (such as birthdays, a family
visitor, or a trip), or unhappy times
(such as death, illness, or disruption in
the family routine).
Understanding
Skill Areas
You may feel that you need help
from the teacher in understanding the
skill areas— such as language skills,
motor sldlls, social sldlls, self-help
skills— that your child has serious
weaknesses in. Don't hesitate to ap-
jroach the teacher for this help, or for
lelp in figuring out ways to use daily
lome activities to help bmld on the
child's strengths and work on the
child's problems.
Try to talk frequently with the
teacher in terms of specific skills.
Exchange suggestions. If yoiu- child is
living witii both parents, both of you
should try to get involved in confer-
ences and conversations. Each parent
may have a different perspective.
Ask to see for yourself what the
teacher does and how he or she does it
in the classroom. You might even
want to try practicing skills with yoiir
child in the classroom. Sometimes it is
better for you to work with a child
other than your own. But in either
case it will give you practice and an
opportunity to exchange ideas with the
teacher.
Describe to the teacher an average
day at home, in order to learn how
you can use these everyday events to
work on the skills your child is having
problems with.
Additional Effort
All young children learn by having
different experiences and by trying
things out. This means that your child
needs to be involved as much as
possible in daily activities at home,
just like other children. If it's good for
a non-handicapped child to help feed
the dog, then it's good for a retarded
child. Any activity the child can be
involved in can go a long way toward
helping him or her build self-confi-
dence and competence.
You win probably have to make
some additional effort to help your
child become actively involved in daily
events. Work out with the teacher
what you can realistically do, but
recognize that extra effort is necessary.
Talking about the pictures helps a retarded
child to learn.
Home Activities
Activities at home should be as
enjoyable as possible for the child and
for the family. Don't overburden your-
self or your child. Ask the teacher to
suggest things that can easily be built
into the daily routine. If the sugges-
tions are very hard to carry out, they
may not get done.
On the other hand, if you are
willing to take a more active teaching
role at home, ask for extra suggestions
for things you can do. Talk with the
teacher about what you like to do with
your child and about what the child
likes to do at home. Those activities
can all be learning opportunities.
If you would like some specific
activities to do at home with your
child, look over the activities in
Chapter 4. Remember, however, that
you need not be a formal teacher for
your child. Often the best way to help
your child is to be loving and helpful,
and to use the daily routine as a way
to teach the child. All of the things
that you do at home can be used to
help the child with special needs learn
more about the world.
1. Using the Daily Routine
For example, you can describe
what you're doing when you turn on
the lights, set the table, or make the
bed. You can point out and name
colors in the house and outside. You
can name your child's pieces of
clothing. You can give the child simple
chores, like putting the napkins by
each plate, passing the cookies, putting
clothes in the laundry basket. Don't
expect the job to be done perfectly the
first time, or even the second. With
patience and affection you can help
your child improve.
Be consistent in what you ask your
child to do. If it is reasonable to expect
a child to hang pajamas on a hook in
the morning, then you should expect
the child to do this every morning.
97
98 Expensive toys or materials aren't
needed to help children learn. The
kinds of things that are in all homes —
pots and pans, socks, spoons, and
magazine pictures — are all good teach-
ing aids. Pots and pans can be used as
rhythm instruments, can be stacked or
nested, or can be sorted. Socks can be
matched by color, coimted, and folded
together. Pictures can be named, or
used to tell stories.
Most handicapped children need
more, not less, stunulation from people
aroimd them. A good and simple way
to achieve this is for you and other
members of the family to talk to the
child about what you're doing as you
do it, and to listen to and encourage
your child to talk. It is very important
to talk and listen to a retarded child.
Confusion and failure can result if
you shower the child with too many
activities. As you work with yoiu"
child, you will recognize when the
child has had enough. You can help
the teachers recognize this limit, too.
2. Fostering Independence
Help your child become as independ-
ent as possible. It's tempting for aU of
us to do things for children that they
could do on theu* own, since we do
them faster and better. But it is very
important for handicapped children to
learn to do as much as they can by
themselves. Independence helps chil-
dren feel good about themselves and
improves their ability to get along
with others.
If your child has clumsy or unco-
ordinated body movements, you may
worry that he or she could get hurt by
aU that tripping and falling. You may
even feel that you should put the child
in a playpen or crib to protect him or
her from bumps and bruises. Doing so,
however, is a disservice to your child,
who learns best about the world by
exploring it firsthand. You might ask
the teacher to suggest how to "child-
proof your home so that exploration
is less dangerous for a child who isn't
too steady on his or her feet.
3. Praise and Encouragement
We aU benefit from honest praise —
children as well as adults. Praise
program staff honestly for their efforts
with your child, and ask them for
feedback on your work with the child.
Remember also to praise your child's
achievements. For some children, even
small tasks can take a lot of time to
master. Every achievement — from
learning to sit still to managing to eat
independently — represents real prog-
ress and deserves real praise.
Also, praise the child for trying,
even if failure or mistakes result.
Continued effort is essential for chil-
dren with special needs who have
many obstacles to overcome. Repeated,
steady praise will help a child to keep
on trying.
It is important, however, that your
praise be honest, and that your child
has done something to earn it. Chil-
dren with retardation, just like other
children, are very good at recognizing
insincerity. If you praise your child at
times when he or she has not been
trying or has not mastered something,
the youngster will be confused and will
not understand what your expectations
are.
Ask the teacher to share asses-
ment results with you . Everyone invol-
ved should understand how the child
is functioning and share pleasure in
the child's progress.
What
Teachers
Can Do
Guidelines for
a Partnership
with Parents
Parents of children with special
needs are as concerned about their
children as any other parents, if not
more so. One difference for parents of
a retarded child is that their child may
not be as predictable as other children.
This lack of predictability makes the
child more difficult to plan for, to
teach, and to live with. You may want
to keep in mind the suggestions below
as you work with parents.
1. Establish and Maintain Contact
Describe the Head Start program
in detail, and invite the parents to
observe and participate in the class-
room. Work out the child's educational
goals in conference with them. Review
the child's short- and long-term objec-
tives with them at least every three
months, or whenever needed.
I Although at least two home visits a
year are required in Head Start
programs for aU children, you may
need to make more visits if a child is
handicapped. Maintain contact with
the parents as often as you can. Visits,
phone calls, notes, and sending chil-
dren's projects home with them can
help parents see the skills their child is
learning. As with any child, don't
contact parents only when there is a
problem. Ask yourself, as often as you
have time, "What did the child do
today or this week that shows some
progress or enjoyment? How can I find
time to tell the parent, along with every-
thing else I have to do?"
Some teachers and parents send a
notebook back and fortn each day or
so. Teachers write a short note and
send it home. Parents write one back
for the child to take to preschool the
next day.
2. Know the Family's Limits
Everyone has a personal limit on
how much he or she can do for a chQd
at home or in the classroom. Get to
know families well enough to under-
stand these limits. Make sure that the
suggestions you give them for working
with their cMld can easily be included
into their daOy routine. For example,
ask parents to talk to their child as
they help him or her dress, to name
the foods the child is eating, and to
give the child simple things to do (like
putting a spoon by each plate).
Encourage parents to visit and partici-
pate in your classroom as much as
they can.
99
100 3. Focus on the CMld's Education
Families of handicapped children
may have all kinds of feelings about
having a handicapped child. Some
may feel angry, some guilty, and some
embarrassed. Some may feel that they
have a special responsibility to protect
their child from aU problems and
frustrations, and they may expect
much less from the child than he or
she is reaUy capable of. They may
need the help of a psychologist, a
social worker, or a counselor in
learning to accept and deal with these
feelings.
While you can be supportive and
sympathetic, you haven't been trained
to be a social worker and should not
try to take that role. Suggest to these
parents that they talk to people who
can help them work through their
feelings, if you feel they need it. Your
main role is to be the teacher of the
child. You should concentrate on the
child's education and development.
4. Recognize and Deal with Your
Feelings
Be aware and honest with yoiu*self
about yoiu' own feelings toward a
handicapped child and his or her
family. Negative feelings, such as
blame, anger, sorrow, nervousness,
and fear, are imderstandable. Getting
to know the child and the family helps
to reduce some of these negative
feelings.
Think positively about children
with special needs. Focus on what
they can do, not on what they can't
do. Help the parents see their child .as
someone who can grow, learn, and
improve, no matter how severely
handicapped. Most of us feel better
about ourselves when people look at
our strengths rather than our weak-
nesses.
5. Be Reassuring, but Be Honest
Parents may be worried and upset
when their child is about to be
evaluated for the first time, or re-
evaluated. At such a time, it might be
tempting for you to tell them not to
worry, and to teU them that everything
wUl be fine. It is natural for you to
want to soothe their anxiety. However,
you shouldn't tell them these things
because in fact you don't know if
things really will be fine. A false sense
of confidence can be hurtful. Be
reassuring, be calm, be imderstand-
ing — but be truthful.
Parents may ask you questions
about the child's problems that you
can't answer: "What's wrong with my
child?" "Will my child learn to talk or
move or act like other children by the
end of the year?" Don't be afraid to
say that you don't know the answers,
but help parents find someone with
whom they can discuss their concerns.
Your social services personnel should
be able to help you find people who
can answer some questions. The
answers to other questions, such as
"What will my child be able to do
when he grows up?" are often vmcer-
tain and complicated. Beware of people
who have easy answers.
Some parents need reassurance and
evidence that they can help their child.
Help tiiem see the many things that
they already do that help their chil-
dren, and tell them about all the
things they are doing well.
Concerns
of Parents
Parents of Children
with Special Needs
Parents of handicapped youngsters
often have special concerns. In gen-
eral, it is wise for you to wait until
they bring up these problems, rather
than to suggest what the problems
might be. Otherwise, you could be
creating a problem that they have
never felt.
Reading about some of the con-
cerns that parents of children with
handicaps often have should help you
understand what some parents mean
when they hint at a concern without
actually saying it.
Enrollment in a Mainstream
Classroom
Parents may worry that their chOd
will not fit into the Head Start
program. You may need to reassure
the family that you want the child in
your classroom, and that you believe
the child will enjoy and learn from
your classroom. Invite the parents to
watch and Hsten to what is going on —
let them see for themselves how their
child plays with and works with the
other children and with you. Seeing is
believing.
Acceptance by Other Children
Parents are sometimes concerned
that their child will not be liked and
accepted, and that other children may
be cruel and tease their child. You can
reassure them that preschool-aged chil-
dren are usually too young to notice
handicapped children as different
unless the handicap is very obvious.
They usually can't pick out a retarded
child to tease. You can also tell them
that you do not allow teasing or
bullying of any child in your class-
room, and that you will deal with it
firmly if it should happen.
Of course, some children just don't
get along well with others, but this is
not a problem that is limited to
children with special needs. It is not a
reason for a child to avoid the
classroom, any more than it is a
reason for a child to avoid the rest of
the world. You can teU parents that
managing these situations, when and
if they arise, is a normal part of your
job.
"Seeing is believing" fits here, too,
so invite the parents to visit the
classroom so that they can get a
feeling for the atmosphere themselves.
Throughout the year, keep the
parents as informed as you can about
how their child is getting along with
the other children. If problems do
arise, you may want to ask the
parents how they handle these situa-
tions at home. What do the parents do
to help their child play with brothers
and sisters or with neighborhood
children?
You have developed a number of
techniques for helping children co-
operate and get along in yovir class-
room. You will probably find that
these techniques are just as useful for
a child with special needs.
101
102 Teacher's Time
Assure the parents of a handi-
capped child that you will have time
for their youngster. Describe to them
what you wiU be doing with their child
and explain that you will have your
aide, volunteers, and other staff mem-
bers to help you. Discuss also any
outside assistance the child wiU be
getting.
The Future
Parents may worry that their child
will not make progress in your pro-
gram. You can assiu-e them that there
are many things that you can teach
their child, and that their child will
also learn a lot from the other children
in the class. But be careful not to offer
the parents false hopes. Make it
clear that you can't make long-range
predictions about how far the child
will progress in the future, but that
you wiU help the child learn as much
as he or she can in Head Start. Be
honest when you describe the sldU
areas you are working on with their
child, and keep them well informed of
their child's progress. Ask the family,
in turn, to tell you how the child is
progressing at home.
As with non-handicapped children,
if you genuinely like a child, and if
you and other staff members in yoiu:
program have worked out a sensible
plan to meet the child's needs and
stimulate his or her development, you
have a solid basis for developing a real
partnership with the parents. While
jarents of handicapped yoimgsters
lave some concerns that are different
rom the concerns of other parents, -
you can use the same skills and ways
of working with them that you have
already developed in yoiu: conversa-
tions and personal contacts with other
parents.
Parents of
Non-Handicapped
Children
Many Head Start programs have
children with handicaps in their
classes. Generally, parents of non-
handicapped children in a mainstream
classroom have no strong concerns
about the presence of a child with
special needs in the class. If the
parents of a non-handicapped child are
concerned, invite them to come to your
classroom to see for themselves. This
will show them that a handicapped
child is first and foremost a child and
an individual, Uke their own child.
Visiting your mainstream classroom
wiU help dispel incorrect ideas parents
may have about a handicapped child
whom they have never met.
If some parents express a concern
that their child wiU pick up undesir-
able behavior from handicapped chil-
dren, you can explain to them that it
is normal for children to copy the
behavior of other children— this is one
of the ways they learn. However,
undesirable behavior tends to be
outgrown quickly, once it has been
tested and met with disapproval.
If parents would like to talk to their
child about handicaps, you might
suggest that they do this in a factual,
non-emotional way. If the parents are
concerned that you won't have enough
time for their non-handicapped child,
you can describe to them the staffing
arrangements your program has made
to enable all children to have enough
teacher time. If they are worried that
their child might be hurt by a child
with retardation, you can point out
that there is no more danger of injury
from a retarded child than from any
other child.
In general, be calm, reassiuing,
and objective, and describe the very
real benefits to their child of main-
streaming a child with retardation in
the classroom.
Chapter 6:
Where to
Find
Help in
"four Area
A team of people is
needed to help you
mainstream. There
are many kinds of
professionals who can
provide help.
104 Head Start is a comprehensive
child development program for all
eligible children— handicapped
and non-handicapped. It includes
jnainstreaming experiences in the
classroom; medical, dental, mental
health, and nutrition services;
parent involvement; and social
services. To strengthen services to
handicapped children, Head Start
programs are required to make
every effort to work with other
programs and agencies who serve
these children. This cooperation is
essential.
Provision of services to handi-
capped children is not a solo
effort. As you have already found
out (or soon will), it requires the
involvement and cooperation of
many people with different kinds
of skills and knowledge. You are
the primary planner of the child's
daily educational program and the
person who is central in carrying
it out. But it will help you and the
child if you can work with these
specialists in your Head Start
program and with other
specialists in your community.
You and the specialists can
achieve more working as a team
than as individuals. This chapter
discusses how to find out about
local or regional resources, what
they provMe, how you can make
the most of what's available, and
the kinds of specialists you may
meet as you work with handi-
capped children.
Finding
Out
About
Resources
To find out about resoiirces, start
by asking questions. Ask other teach-
ers, your center director, other program
staff, and then ask people they
suggest. You need some basic informa-
tion about the kinds of support
personnel available in your program.
For example:
• Is there a handicap coordinator,
a mental health professional,
or a health coordinator who is
familiar with retardation and with
retarded children, and who can
suggest materials, methods, and
additional resources?
• Is there an educational co-
ordinator, a director of educa-
tional services,or another
classroom teacherwho can help
you to make any changes in your
program as needed by a retarded
child?
• Does the program have a social
Avorker, a social services direc-
tor ,or a parent-involvement
staff memberwho can help
arrange contacts with the child's
family and with resources outside
the program?
• Does your program have
consultantSjWhether from the
Head Start regional office, public
schools, nearby colleges or univer-
sities, community health or social
service agencies, a state depart-
ment of education, the State De-
velopmental Disabilities CoimcH,
or local chapters of national associ-
ations serving mentally retarded
children? (For more information on
national associations, see the
section in Chapter 7 on profes-
sional and parent associations.)
Head Start
Program
Resources
Certain components — social ser-
vices, health services, educational ser-
vices, handicap services, and parent
involvement — are found in Head Start
programs. Programs vary greatly,
however, in the number of staff
members providing these services.
In a given program, one person
may be both the social services
director and the parent involvement
coordinator. In another program,
several people may work in each
component. These staff members may
work part-time or full-time. They may
be a part of your program or outside
consultants to your program. Their job
titles may vary. It often happens that
people with the same title do different
jobs, or that people with different titles
do the same job. A job title only gives
you a small clue. You will need to find
out who does what, when and where,
and how you can get things going.
Social Services
Social services staff (whether a full-
time director, a part-time social case-
worker, or a community aide) usually
coordinate contacts among a child's
family, the Head Start program, and
outside community resources. This
person (or people) can help you put
together a team of specialists to work
with you and a retarded child in your
class. When needed, the teacher and
the social services person work to-
gether to arrange referrals for children
and families who need diagnosis and
treatment or family counseling. Social
services oversee the follow-up, too,
making sure appointments are made
and coordinating services if several
agencies are involved. It is important
that you get information from the
social services person about the kinds
of services a child is receiving.
The social services component is an
extremely valuable resource to you in
your efforts to provide handicapped
children with a good education in a
mainstream setting.
He£dth Services
The health services component of
the Head Start program must include
medical, dental, mental health, and
nutritional services. The specialists
who carry out these services may work
on a full-time, part-time or consultant
basis. The person responsible for
coordinating all these health services
can draw upon a number of services
outside of the program for diagnosis
and treatment. This means they can
help you get health information or the
services of specialists for a child. For
example, an ophthalmologist or
optometrist (eye specialists) may be
called upon to examine a child with
vision problems, or an audiologist
(hearing specialist) may be recruited to
assess a child's hearing. A mental
health professional such as a psychol-
ogist can diagnose mental retardation.
Other specialists such as a neiu-ologist
(nervous system specialist), an occupa-
tional therapist (activities specialist), a
105
106 physical therapist (movement special-
ist), or an otologist (ear specialist) may
be consulted when necessary.
You will want to know who in
your program is responsible for con-
tacting and coordinating health
service agencies, and what your
relationship is with the agencies.
What kinds of assistance can you
expect from them? What conference
arrangements are being made
among team members? While some
agencies are more accessible than
others, all Head Start programs (no
matter how large or small) have or
will have access to these resources,
either within the program or
through outside referrals.
Be sure that the parents are
completely informed of any plan for
services for their child, and that they
give their consent.
Education£d Services
This component comprises all
aspects of the educational program.
All Head Start programs should
use the resources of local institutions
of higher learning (junior colleges,
colleges, universities, and university-
affiliated facilities) that are available
to them.
In many programs, the people who
are responsible for educational services
can provide guidance and advice to
teachers in the classroom. This advice
would include helping you to observe
a child systematicaDy, to assess a
child's skills, and to develop and carry
out an individualized education plan
for a retarded child. Your center's
educational director should be able to
help you tailor classroom activities to
meet each child's needs.
Parent Involvement
Parent involvement, a cornerstone
of Head Start, encourages family
participation in all aspects of the
program. Head Start believes that the
gains made by a child in Head Start
must be understood and built upon by
the child's family and by the com-
mimity. To achieve parent involve-
ment in a child's Head Start experi-
ences, each program works toward
increasing parents' understanding of
their child's needs and how to satisfy
them. Project Head Start is based on
the premise that successful parent
involvement requires parents to par-
ticipate in making decisions about the
program and about what kinds of
activities are most helpful and impor-
tant for their child.
In some Head Start programs, the
parent involvement component may be
combined with social services. In
others, it is a separate service. Regard-
less of its place in the organization of
your program, the people in this
component are responsible for the
coordination of all activities that
involve the child's family.
You probably realize that the
parent involvement component is
especially important for families of
handicapped children. Since they have
lived with the child you are trying to
help, they know a great deal about
their child's needs and strengths. The
more the home and Head Start can
exchange information and work to-
gether, the better the child wiU do in
your class.
Handicap Services
A handicap coordinator is respon-
sible for supervising the mainstream-
ing of all handicapped children in the
program. This person is usually
farmliar with special education
methods and materials, and should be
able to teach you how to use them in
your classroom if you need help.
Many Head Start programs have a
close working relationshin with the
local school system. The local school
system may pay for specialists to work
with handicapped children. Under 1975
federal legislation, Education for All
Handicapped Children Act (Public
Law 94-142), local school districts must
provide a free public education to all
handicapped children from 3 to 21
years of age. Some states have their
own special education laws, which
require services for children from
infancy to age five as well. You will
want to learn as much as you can
about these laws in your own state so
that you can take advantage of the
services. Your local public school
director of special education is a good
resource for such information.
One aspect of the Education for All
Handicapped Children Act that
concerns Head Start teachers and
parents is its outreach component.
Under the law, public school systems
are required to demonstrate a practical
method for identifying unserved and
underserved handicapped children, so
that they can receive the special
services they need. Called Child Find,
Child Search, or Child Identification in
different states, the method also varies
from state to state. In some, it consists
of an advertising campaign to let
parents, teachers, and others know
whom they should contact if they
suspect a child has a handicap that
has not been recognized. In other
states, there is a formal program of
screening and diagnosis in addition to
a public awareness campaign. To take
advantage of this service, which is
your right under the law, call the
director of special education in your
local school system, the superintendent
of schools in your town, or the special
education section of your state's de-
partment of education.
Since the Head Start program in
many states enrolls children for whom
the pubUc school system is also
responsible, this means that there are
many services that the school district
will be able to provide for these
children in your classroom, such as
free diagnoses and specialists' services.
The handicap coordinator or someone
else in your program should be in close
contact with the public schools in your
community, and should know aU of
the resources available and how to
link up with them.
107
108 Who Knows About
Resources and Services?
The staff person in your program
who is responsible for handicap
services may be the best person to
contact to find out about resources and
services. In your commimity, however,
there are other people who know what
agencies or people provide the services
you need for a child with special
needs.
The special education supervisor in
your public school system is one
person to contact for information
about local resources. It is also a good
idea to contact this person to alert
the school system to the special
needs of a child. After all, the child
wiU probably be starting public
school after leaving Head Start.
Your local hospital may have a
department called a child development
unit, which deals with all sorts of
development problems in children.
Sometimes the hospitals have special-
ty clinics for children with particular
health and developmental problems,
such as mental retardation. The
services the hospital can offer wiU
vary, depending on the staff and funds
they have. But the hospital will often
be able to suggest other resources for
you to contact.
Some states have a University
Affiliated Facility, which provides
direct services to handicapped children
and their families. The address for this
resovirce is given in Chapter 7, page
119.
The Resource Access Project (RAP)
in your region should be contacted.
RAPs are designed to link local Head
Start staff with a variety of resources
to meet the special needs of handi-
capped children. They identify all
possible sources of training and tech-
nical assistance and enlist their sup-
port in helping Head Start programs
find and serve handicapped children.
The addresses of the RAPs are given
in Chapter 7, pages 123-124.
Often, parents of school-age retar-
ded children are very knowledgeable
about the resources that can be tapped.
Find out if your community has an
organization for parents of retarded
children. You coiJd also write to the
National Association for Retarded
Citizens (address given on page 121),
because local parent groups are often
affiliated with this organization.
How to Make the Most
of Available Resources
You can make the most of avail-
able resources by taking the following
steps:
1. Be Precise
Be precise about the help you need.
For people to be helpful, they have to
understand exactly what you need.
You may want to discuss your prob-
lem first with other Head Start
teachers and specialists, so that you
end up with a clear idea of what you
need to know.
2. Develop Objectives
With your team of specialists,
develop objectives about what each of
you wants to achieve in working with
a particular handicapped child. That
is, know what you're aiming for so you
can plan activities to meet that aim,
and so you wiU know when you have
reached it.
3. Agree on Responsibilities
Work out together with the special-
ists what you expect from them and
what they expect from you. People
sometimes start out with different
expectations— such as who is respon-
sible for working with the child (the
specialist or the teacher), or who is
responsible for checking on whether
the plan has worked. Responsibilities
need to be spelled out so tiiat an
agreement can be reached.
4. Make Sure You Understand
Advice and explanations that don't
tell you specifically what you can do
for a child in your classroom leave you
as stranded as you were before. If you
don't understand, ask. Some specialists
are used to saying things in com-
plicated ways, and they need to be
reminded to say them in plain
English. Advice won't do any
good if you can't use it. And if
you don't understand it, you can't use
it.
5. Keep In Touch
Feedback on both sides is very
important. You need to know what the
specialists are doing for the child and
how the child is progressing. The
specialists need to know what the
child is doing in your classroom and
how the child is progressing. And
everyone — the parents, the specialists,
and you — needs to know what every-
one else is doing, so that the services
can be coordinated. Otherwise, two
specialists could be providing the same
services for a child — or even worse,
no one coidd be providing them.
Feedback won't happen by itself.
Plan a schedule of contacts — such as
meetings and phone calls— and hold
yourself and the specialists responsible
for sticking to it.
6. Consider Parents Specialists
Work with parents in the same
way that you work with specialists.
Parents are specialists on their own
child's needs, strengths, problems,
likes, and dislikes. Fiirthermore, like
working with specialists, working with
parents involves agreed-upon objec-
tives, knowing what each of you is
doing, knowing how the child is
progressing, and regular contact.
7. Expect a Lot
You will be working with a child
who has problems that may be
unfamiliar to you, and for which there
are no easy solutions. This means you
need to expect a lot, both from yourself
and from others hired to help a child
with special needs.
If you are going to get the most
from resoiirce persons both inside and
outside your program, you need to be
doing a great deal yourself. You need
to identify what the child can cur-
rently do and what he or she is
developmentaUy prepared to learn. At
the same time, you will have to
maintain a program that is good for
all the children in the classroom.
Expect a lot from the people your
program has hired on a full-time, part-
time, or consultant basis. Don't be
impressed by their titles, backgrounds,
or anything else except how helpful
they really are to you, the child, and
the child's family.
109
I
no
Using Local
Resources for
Mainstreaming
Handicapped
Children
Classroom
Teacher
• observes child
• records information
• develops questions
• identifies where help
is needed.
Head Start
Person
Responsible
for Referral
♦
• receives results
• coordinates program
review
• coordinates foUow-
through
♦
Team Within
Program
Educational Services
Handicap Services
Health Services
Parent Involvement
Social Services
determines additional
information needed
plans strategy for
gathering information
provides, seeks, and
coordinates services
makes referral to outside
agency.
i
Parent
"¥
• observes child
• notes information
• develops questions
• identifies where help is
needed.
HI
Resources }
Head Start
Classroom
Outside 1
Person
Teacher
Program
Responsible
,i
for Referral
• translates information
into educational
Audiologist
activities
Occupational therapist ^^ ^k
• processes referral ^^ ^^
• carries out educational
Ophthalmologist ^^^ ^M
previews questions ^^^m ^h
^plan
Pediatrician ^^P ^B
W draws together inforrnf^T^ ^M
^ assesses progress.
Physical therapist ^w ^r
tion and resources from^^ "▼"
Psychologist
within program.
Speech-language patholo- i
gist 3
Dentist
Neurologist i
Nutritionist
Optician ^
Optometrist
¥K
Orthopedist
Otologist 1
Psychiatrist
Social worker
■ ^
Parent^
Colleges and universities
Hospitals
• translates information
into home activities
Professional associations
• discusses educational
Public school personnel
plan with Head
Resource Access Projects
Start staff
Social service agencies
• assesses progress.
State departments of
education
University Affiliated
Facilities
• provide additional
information
• recommend steps to
take.
"' Who Are
the Specialists?
What Do
They Do?
This section describes the special-
ists mentally retarded children are
most likely to need help from, and the
kinds of help they can provide. Other
specialists who work with handi-
capped children are described in the
section beginning on page 116.
Psychologist
A psychologist conducts
screening, diagnosis, and
treatment of people with
social, emotional, psycholog-
ical, behavioral, or develop-
mental problems. There are
many different kinds of
psychologists.
What Is Done
Psychologists may ask chil-
dren questions, observe them at
play, ask the parents questions,
and observe the children inter-
acting with the parents. They
may choose to administer stan-
dardized tests to assess chil-
dren's intellectual abilities and
adaptive behavior (ability to use
language, to play with others,
and to do things independently).
Psychologists sometimes use
play activities to understand
and treat children. At times
they may want to talk with the
whole faimly to help with prob-
lems they might have concern-
ing a particular child. Psychol-
ogists can also help to decide
what lands of educational pro-
grams and activities would be
best to improve children's intel-
lectual abOities and adaptive
behavior.
Speech-Language
Pathologist
A speech-language pa-
thologist conducts screening,
diagnosis, and treatment of
children and adults with
communication disorders.
This person may also be
called a speech clinician or
speech therapist.
What Is Done
The speech-language pa-
thologist talks with the child's
parents and teachers to obtain a
full case history of the child and
an idea about the child's speech
and language at home and in
school. The pathologist then
spends time talking to the child.
Usually this is done in the
context of a play situation. After
this type of informal observa-
tion, the speech-language pa-
thologist gives the child a bat-
tery of tests to assess the child's
ability to understand and pro-
duce speech. As part of a
screening or evaluation, the
child may be asked to draw
pictures, say words, manipulate
and name objects, describe pic-
tures, repeat sentences, answer
questions, or tell a story.
Depending upon what is
foxmd out from tests, observa-
tion, and parent and teacher
interviews, the speech-language
pathologist may design and
carry out a therapy program for
the child. When the speech-
language pathologist feels that
there may be other problems
contributing to the speech or
language disorder, he or she
may recommend that the child
see an audiologist, psychologist,
otolaryngologist, or other pro-
fessional for further examina-
tion and recommendations.
The speech-language path-
ologist can provide a teacher
with specific instructional sug-
gestions for a particular chila.
The pathologist can also give
the teacher ideas for develop-
mentally appropriate objectives
for the child. Finally, the
speech-language pathologist
may work with the parents of a
child with a speech or language
impairment.
Pediatrician
A pediatrician is a medi-
cal doctor who specializes in
childhood diseases and prob-
lems, and in the health care
of children.
What Is Done
A pediatrician can examine
general health conditions to
determine whether a child
should spend a full day in your
classroom, and what activities
are within the child's capabili-
ties. Nutritional problems may
be identified. If there are specific
health problems, such as epi-
lepsy, the pediatrician may pre-
scribe medication, or may sug-
gest another specialist.
113
114 Physical
Therapist
A physical therapist
evabiates and plans physical
therapy pro-ams. He or she
directs activities for pro-
moting self-sufficiency pri-
marily related to gross
motor skills such as walk-
ing, sitting, and shifting
position. He or she also
helps people with special
equipment used for moving,
such as wheelchairs, braces,
and crutches.
What Is Done
A physical therapist evalu-
ates each child with whom he or
she works before, during, and
after each treatment program.
The physical therapist may give
muscle tests to see how strong
each muscle is, and how much
the child can move it. Such tests
help a therapist to choose the
right kind of treatment. The
therapist may help a child
practice walking, crawling, hop-
ping, skipping, and going up
and down stairs. A physical
therapist also teaches children
how to maintain their balance
when standing, walking, and
sitting.
As part of a program of
physical therapy for a particular
child, the therapist can tell you
if there are any exercises or
activities that you can do to
help the child, and can show
you how to do them.
Occupational
Therapist
An occupational therapist
evaluates and treats chil-
dren who may have dif-
ficulty performing self-help,
play, or school-related ac-
tivities. The aim is to pro-
mote self-sufficiency and in-
deperulence in these areas.
What Is Done
After evaluating children to
see how they use their muscles
to eat, dress, and carry out
preschool activities (such as
drawing, cutting, and pasting),
the therapist chooses exercises
and activities designed to im-
prove the child's motor skills in
three areas. The self-help area
includes feeding, dressing, toilet-
ing, and washing. The play
area includes moving the body
(sitting, walking, handling ob-
jects) and psychosocial aspects
(getting along with others, toler-
ance for frustration). The pre-
school area includes perceptual-
motor skills (paper and pencil
activities, hand-eye and body-
eye coordination) and the ability
to move the body smoothly.
This therapist will tell you what
you can do to help the child, as
part of the therapy program.
Ophthalmologist
An ophthalmologist is a
medical doctor who diag-
noses and treats diseases,
injuries, or birth defects that
affect vision. He or she may
also conduct or supervise
vision screening.
What Is Done
The ophthalmologist ex-
amines the child's eyes using
lights, simple pictures and toys,
and a variety of instruments to
discover how well the child sees.
Ophthalmologists use different
procedures in treating children,
depending on what they find
the eye condition to be. Ophthal-
mologists may, for example,
prescribe glasses and/or medica-
tion, or perform siu-gery. If asked,
they may suggest special
modifications in teaching (such
as in materials and seating
arrangements).
Audiologist
115
An audiologist conducts
screening and diagnosis of
hearing problems, and may
recommend a hearing aid or
suggest training approaches
for people with hearing
What Is Done
The audiologist performs the
above services and can also be
called upon to answer questions
in the following areas: the
nature of a child's hearing loss,
what the child can and cannot
hear, the usefulness of a hearing
aid, the care of a hearing aid,
and the availability of special
programs for children with hear-
ing impairments.
116
Other Specialists
Below is a list of other specialists
who may work with handicapped and
non-handicapped preschoolers.
A Dentist conducts screen-
ing, diagnosis, and treatment of
the teeth and gums.
A Neurologist is a medical
doctor who conducts screening,
diagnosis, and treatment of
brain and nervous system dis-
orders.
A Nutritionist evaluates a
person's food habits and nutri-
tional status. This specialist can
provide advice about normal
and therapeutic nutrition, and
information about special feed-
ing equipment and techniques
to increase a person's self-
feeding skills.
An Optician assembles cor-
rective lenses and frames. He or
she will advise in the selection
of frames and fit the lenses
prescribed by the optometrist or
ophthalmologist to the frames.
An optician also fits contact
lenses.
An Optometrist examines the
eyes and related structures to
determine the presence of visual
problems, eye diseases, or other
problems.
An Orthopedist is a med-
ical doctor who conducts screen-
ing, diagnosis, and treatment of
diseases and injuries to muscles,
joints, and bones.
An Otologist is a medical
doctor who conducts screening,
diagnosis, and treatment of ear
disorders.
A Psychiatrist is a medical
doctor who conducts screening,
diagnosis, and treatment of
psychological, emotional, behav-
ioral, and developmental or
organic problems. Psychiatrists
can prescribe medication. They
generally do not administer
tests. There are different kinds
of psychiatrists.
A Social Worker provides
services for individuals and
families experiencing a variety
of emotional or social problems.
This may include direct coimsel-
ing of an individual, family, or
group; advocacy, and consulta-
tion with preschool programs,
schools, clinics, or social
agencies.
Chapter 7:
Other
Sources
of
Help
There are many
associations and
books that can pro-
vide more detailed
information on main-
streaming children
ivith mental retardation.
118 In addition to specialists in your
program, community, or region,
there are other sources of help you
can draiv on to assist you with
children who are mentally retarded.
Around the country are a number of
organizations concerned with
mental retardation. They can send
you helpful information about
retardation and about how you can
work with the children in the class-
room. There are also many good
books and articles that you may
find useful. These are listed in the
bibliography at the end of this
chapter.
Professional
and
Parent
Associations
and Other
Organizations
For the associations and organiza-
tions in this section, we have listed
their national addresses, whether they
have local branches, what they do,
and how they can help you.
American Association
for the Education of the
Severely/Profoundly
Handicapped
This is a new organization in the
field of retardation. Its membership is
committed to developing and sharing
new knowledge about effective ways
for working with severely and pro-
foundly handicapped people.
This organization has only a na-
tional office. For more information
write to:
American Association for the Educa-
tion of the Severely /Profoundly
Handicapped
1600 W. Armory Way
Seattle, Washington 98119
American Association
on Mental Deficiency
This association is the oldest pro-
fessional society devoted to research,
training, and program development for
persons with mental retardation. Its
nearly 12,000 members are profession-
als representing a variety of interests
and disciplines dealing with many
types of aevelopmental disabilities.
The objectives of the AAMD are to
effect the highest standards of pro-
gramming for mentally retarded per-
sons, to promote cooperation among
those working with them, and to
educate the public to imderstand,
accept, and respect people with mental
retardation.
These aims are achieved in the
following ways: The association serves
on panels to develop and evaluate
standards for services and facilities for
retarded citizens. It plans national
educational and informational semi-
nars, and attends meetings at local,
regional, national, and international
levels. It supports legislation concerning
the rights and services available to
retarded citizens, as well as the
prevention of mental retardation and
related developmental disabilities. And
it furthers the professional identity of
all individuals and disciplines in the
field of mental retardation.
The association publishes many
low-cost materials of interest to profes-
sionals. AAMD has regional, state,
and college/university branches. For
more information write to:
American Association
on Mental Deficiency
5101 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20014
American Association of
University Affiliated Programs
This organization is most interested
in providing diagnostic services to
individuals with developmental disabil-
ities (which include mental retarda-
tion) and in providing training for
people who work with handicapped
persons. University Affiliated Facilities
provide services in areas such as early
and special education, pediatrics, child
development, child psychology, social
work, child neurology, speech pathol-
ogy, physical and occupational thera-
py, nutrition, and nursing. Nearly 50
UAFs have been established through-
out the country. The association has
an official working relationship with
Head Start. By writing to the address
below you can find out if there is a
program near you that can provide
diagnostic, treatment, training, and
consultation services. For more infor-
mation write to:
American Association of University
Affiliated Programs
2033 M Street, Suite 406
Washington, D.C. 20036
Closer Look
Funded through the Bureau of
Education for the Handicapped, U.S.
Office of Education, this special project
attempts to provide bridges between
parents and services for handicapped
children, and to help parents become
advocates for comprehensive services
for their own handicapped child as
well as for others. Closer Look publish-
es a newsletter about handicaps and
new programs, as well as information
of special interest to parents. The staff
win also respond to questions that you
may have. The newsletters and infor-
mation are free. By writing to them
you can be added to their mailing Ust.
This organization has regional
branches. For more information write
to:
Closer Look
Box 1492
Washington, D.C. 20013
119
120 Council for Exceptional Children:
Division on Mental Retardation
This division is concerned with
teaching children who are mentally
retarded, and with training special
education teachers to be more effective.
CEC and this division publish low-cost
informational materials of interest to
professionals and parents.
CEC has local chapters. For more
information write to:
Council for Exceptional Children
1920 Association Drive
Reston, Virginia 22091
Council for Exceptional Children
Information Center
This information center provides
abstracts of current research and
bibliographies of information currently
available in publications and nonprint
media. It also provides annotated
listings of agencies that serve excep-
tional children and their families.
Contact:
Covmcil for Exceptional Children
Information Center
1920 Association Drive
Reston, Virginia 22091
Epilepsy Foundation of America
The Epilepsy Foundation of
America is a national voluntary health
organization. It acts as a national
spokesman and advocate for people
with epilepsy, and supports medical,
social, and informational programs.
Because many people with epUepsy are
also retarded, the Foimdation offers
many low-cost and free publications
that teachers and parents of mentally
retarded children have found helpful.
A monthly newspaper. National
Spokesman, is available by subscrip-
tion.
The EpUepsy Foundation has local
chapters. For more information write
to:
Epilepsy Foundation of America
1828 L Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
Instructional Materials Centers
These centers have media and
materials suitable for use with retard-
ed children. Often the director or staff
of the center can demonstrate mate-
rials, suggest especially good mate-
rials, and consult with you about your
needs.
To find out about a Center, contact
the Resource Access Project in your
region, directors of special education in
your state department of education, or
colleges and universities' special edu-
cation departments.
National Association
for Retarded Citizens
This association, founded and oper-
ated by parents of children with
retardation, has been responsible for
lobbying for the rights of retarded
citizens and their families. The associ-
ation's purpose is to encourage study,
research, and therapy in the field of
mental retardation; to develop a better
understanding of the problems of
mental retardation by the public; to
improve the training and education of
personnel for work in the field; and in
general to promote the welfare
of the mentally retarded of ail ages.
They publish many fi'ee or low-cost
materials of interest to parents and
professionals.
NARC has many local chapters.
For more information write to:
National Association for
Retarded Citizens
2709 Avenue E. East
P.O. Box 6109
Arlington, Texas 76011
National Center for Law
and the Handicapped, Inc.
This organization was established
to ensure equal protection iinder the
law for handicapped people. It partici-
pates in selected court cases by
consulting with the lawyers of handi-
capped people whose rights may have
been violated. Sometimes NCLH pro-
vides a lawyer for a handicapped
person. The staff can answer questions
and provide information about legal
issues affecting children who are
retarded.
For more information write to:
National Center for Law and
the Handicapped, Inc.
1235 North Eddy Stieet
South Bend, Indiana 46617
National Easter Seal Society
for Crippled Children and Adults
The National Easter Seal Society
for Crippled Children and Adults
provides information about handicaps.
It assists disabled persons and their
families in finding and making effec-
tive use of resources that will be
helpful to them in developing their
abilities and in living piirposeful Uves.
It assists communities in developing
necessary and appropriate resources
for disabled persons. It attempts to
establish and maintain programs and
services that are appropriate and
realistic. And it tries to create a
climate of acceptance of disabled
persons, which will enable them to
contribute, to the full extent of their
competence, to the well-betng of the
community.
The Society conducts a three-point
program in service, education, and
research at the national, state, and
local levels. In some areas the staff
operates programs for handicapped
infants and young children. In some
areas they can help parents find
financial support for their handi-
capped child's special needs, e.g.,
wheelchairs, braces.
The society puts out several free
publications, and a monthly journal
called Rehabilitative Literature.
Easter Seal as local chapters. For more
information write to:
National Easter Seal Society for
Crippled Children and Adults
2023 W. Ogden Ave.
Chicago, Dlinios 60612
121
122 The National Foundation/
March of Dimes
The National Foundation/March of
Dimes has as its goal the prevention
of birth defects. Its principal programs
and activities include funding basic
and cUnical research, funding medical
service programs, offering professional
education, and providing health in-
formation. The foimdation publishes
pamphlets, booklets, and audio-visual
materials for the general public on the
prevention and treatment of birth
defects.
March of Dimes has local chapters.
For more information write to:
The National Foundation/
March of Dimes
1275 Mamaroneck Avenue
White Plains, New York 10605
President's Committee
on Mental Retardation
This is a committee of 21 citizens
appointed by the President, and three
cabinet members ex-officio. The citizen
members include professional and lay
persons and parents of retarded chil-
dren. The Secretary of Health, Educa-
tion and Welfare is chairperson. The
committee's objectives are to advise
and assist the President on all matters
pertaining to mental retardation;
evaluate national, state, and local
efforts; help coordinate federal activi-
ties; facilitate commvmication between
federal, state, and local agencies;
inform the public about mental retar-
dation; and mobilize support for re-
lated activities.
The committee's principal pro-
grams and activities include conduct-
ing conferences on such key issues as
screening of yo\mg children, early
intervention, and legal rights of the
retarded.
The committee publishes free and
low-cost materials on mental retarda-
tion for the general public, parents,
teachers, and other professionals. For
more information write to:
President's Committee on
Mental Retardation
Department of Health, Education
and Welfare
Washington, D.C. 20201
Resom^ce Access Projects
Resource Access Projects (RAPs)
are designed to link local Head Start
staff with a variety of resources to
meet the special needs of handicapped
children. They function as brokers,
facilitating the delivery of training and
technical assistance to meet local
Head Start program needs in the area
of services to handicapped children.
While the RAPs will assist local
grantees in determining and meeting
their needs in the area of handicapped
services, the cost of any required
training or technical assistance must
be borne by the grantee and/or the
resource provider.
RAPs have been established to
identify all possible sources of training
and technical assistance, and to enlist
their support in helping Head Start
find and serve handicapped children.
Examples of resources include public
health departments, community men-
tal health centers, speech and hearing
clinics, developmental disabilities coun-
cils, universities and colleges, pro-
fessional associations, and private pro-
viders of training, technical assistance,
materials and equipment.
DHEW States
Region Served
Resource
Access Project (RAP)
123
Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Connecticut
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Education Development Center, Inc.
55 Chapel Street
Newton, Massachusetts 02160
New York
New Jersey
Puerto Rico
Virgin Islands
Pennsylvania
West Virginia
Virginia
Delaware
Maryland
District of Columbia
Texas
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Arkansas
New Mexico
New York University
School of Continuing Education
3 Washington Square Village, Apt. IM
New York, New York 10012
PUSH/RAP
Mineral Street Annex
Keyser, West Virginia 26726
4
North CaroUna
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Mississippi
Chapel Hill Training Outreach Project
Lincoln School
Merritt Mill Road
Chapel HiU, North Carolina 27514
Kentucky
Tennessee
Alabama
The Urban Observatory
1101 17th Avenue, South
Nashville, Tennessee 37212
5
Illinois
Indiana
University of Illinois
Colonel Wolfe Preschool
Ohio
403 East Healev
Champaign, Illinois 61820
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Michigan
Portage Project
Resource Access Project
412 East Slifer Street
P.O. Box 564
Portage, Wisconsin 53901
Contract not awarded
at time of printing.
124 DREW States
Region Served
7 Missoviri
Kansas
Iowa
Nebraska
8
9
Colorado
North Dakota
South Dakota
Montana
Utah
Wyoming
California
Arizona
Hawaii
Nevada
Pacific Trust Territories
10
Washington
Oregon
Idaho
Alaska
Resource
Access Project (RAP)
University of Kansas City
Medical Center
Children's Rehabilitation Unit
39th & Rainbow Blvd.
Kansas City, Kansas 66103
MQe High Consortium
Hampden East I-Room 215
8000 East Girard Avenue
Denver, Colorado 80231
Los Angeles Unified School District
Special Education Division
450 North Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90012
University of Washington
Model Preschool Center for
Handicapped Children
Experimental Education Unit WJ-10
Seattle, Washington 98195
Easter Seal Society for Alaska
Crippled Children and Adults
726 E. Street
Anchorage, Alaska 99501
Bibliography
Many books have been published
on children with retardation. It is not
possible to list all of them here. The
ones mentioned are especially good for
iinderstanding what mental retarda-
tion is and for helping you work with
retarded children in your classroom.
Books About
Mental Retardation
Barnard, Kathryn E., and Erickson,
Marcene L. Teaching Children
with Developmental Problems - A
Family Care Approach. St. Louis:
The C.V. Mosby Co., 1976.
This book is difficult reading in some
sections, but presents information on
normal and abnormal development,
causes of retardation, and guidelines
for assisting parents of retarded chil-
dren. It includes an excellent develop-
mental schedule with suggested activi-
ties for promoting development. This
schedule might be especially helpftil to
teachers.
Ehlers, Walter H.; Krishef, Curtis H.;
Prothero, Jon C. An Introduction
to Mental Retardation - A
Programmed Text. Columbus, Ohio:
Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co.,
1973.
This text takes the reader through 15
"lessons" on mental retardation, in-
cluding topics such as special
problems faced by families, community
services, and causes of retardation.
Because the text is programmed,
readers have a chance to check their
learning as they go.
Grossman, Herb J., ed. Manual on
Terminology and Classification in
Mental Retardation. 2nd rev. ed
(1973). Available from: American
Association on Mental Deficiency,
5201 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20015.
This comprehensive handbook defines
and explains mental retardation terms.
Smith, Robert M. An Introduction
to Mental Retardation. New York-
McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1971
This book describes the causes of
mental retardation and the needs of
people with mental retardation from
birth to old age. It has a very good
chapter on programming for preschool-
aged children with retardation.
Guides to Teaching
and Classroom
Activities
Anderson, Zola. Getting a Head
Start on Social and Emotional
Growth (1976). Available from:
Meyer Children's Rehabilitation Insti-
tute, University of Nebraska Medical
Center, Omaha, Nebraska, 68105.
This is a practical and easy-to-read
guide for preschool teachers on devel-
oping the social skills and emotional
growth of young children. Chapter 11
describes emotional problems and sug-
gest methods for teachers to use in
dealing with them. This is helpful in
dealing with a child's frusfration, and
with the emotional problems that may
accompany mental retardation.
Blake, Katliryn. Teaching the
Retarded. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice Hall, 1974.
This book discusses the child with
mild mental retardation, and makes
practical suggestions about curriculum
content and teaching techniques.
125
126 Brown, Sara L., and Donovan, Carol
M. Developmental Programming
for Infants and Young Children:
Volmne 3, Stimulation Activities.
Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michi-
gan Press, 1977.
This clearly written book of activities
suggests what parents and teachers
can do to foster development in chil-
dren who are functioning at a level
below three years of age. Each activity
includes necessary modifications for
children with additional handicaps.
Connor, Frances P., and Talbor, Mabel
E. An Experimental Curriculum
for Yoimg Mentally Retarded
Children. New York: Teachers
CoUege Press, 1970.
This curriculum was written primarily
for mildly mentally retarded pre-
schoolers, but it has also become a
mainstay in a number of programs for
the moderately retarded. It presents a
comprehensive r£inge of objectives
appropriate for all preschoolers.
D'Audney, Weslee, and Dollis,
Dorotiiy. Calendar of
Developmental Activities for
Preschoolers (1975). Available from:
Meyer Children's Rehabilitation Insti-
tute, University of Nebraska Medical
Center, Omaha, Nebraska, 68105.
This is a resource book on preschool
activities arranged in calendar format.
The simpler activities are presented in
the fall months and the more complex
ones are presented in the spring
months, allowing you to choose activi-
ties appropriate to the child's develop-
mental level. Also given are the sldll
areas involved in each activity.
D'Audney, Weslee, ed. Giving a
Head Start to Parents of the
Handicapped (1976). Available from:
Meyer Children's Rehabilitation Institute
University of Nebraska Medical Center,
Omaha, Nebraska, 68105.
This manual is designed primarily to
help Head Start teachers provide sup-
port and encouragement to parents of
children with handicaps. It discusses
subjects such as the value of main-
streaming, legal rights of the handi-
capped and their families, and the
dangers of labeling. It also provides
specific suggestions for working with
parents of special needs children, in-
cluding those with retardation.
The Exceptiongd Parent Magazine,
Box 964, Manchester, New Hampshire
03105.
Addressed to the parents and teachers
of handicapped youngsters and adults,
this maga2dne has many articles of in-
terest, including "what to do," "how to
do it," and "where to get help."
Findlay^ane, et al. A Planning
Guide: The Preschool Curriculiun -
The Child, The Process, The Day.
Chapel HiU, N.C.: Chapel HiU Train-
ing Outreach Project, n.d.
This book elaborates on curriculvun in-
formation foimd in the Learning
Accomplishment Profile developed
by Anne Sanford, and presents 44
preschool curriculum units intended for
developmentaUy delayed or impaired
children. It has a section on curricu-
liun (who determines it, what it is, and
what goes into it), a section on
methods and principles (preparing
instructional objectives, task analysis,
error-free learning, and positive rein-
forcement), the 44 cvuriculimi units,
with objectives and skOl sequences,
and bibliographies. It is helpful, al-
though not necessary, to use the
Planning guide together with the
LAP.
Foxx, Richard M., and Azrin, Nathan
H. Toilet Training the Retarded.
Champaign, El.: Research Press, 1973.
This book describes a rapid program
for achieving independent toileting.
The procedures are best done in the
home, but teachers, parents, and coor-
dinators or psychologists should find
this a useful reference as they work
together to develop a toilet-training
program. This book is hard reading in
places, but worth the trouble.
Groldstein, H. Social Learning
Curriculum. Columbus, Ohio: Charles
E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1974.
This is a package of materials, consist-
ing of a teacher's guide and ten "phase
books," which cover various social
learning concepts for school-aged re-
tarded children. Some sections can be
used with preschool children. Supple-
ments cover mathematics, science, and
physical education suggestions for
these children. There are "stimulus"
pictures representing familiar situa-
tions, which can be used to give chil-
dren practice in talking about every-
day social situations. The package also
contains duplicating materials and
charts. The emphasis of the ciuriculum
is on helping children to think criti-
cally and act independently.
GroUmen, Sharon Hya, and Perske,
Robert. More Time to Grow^:
Explaining Mental Retardation to
Children: A Story. Boston: Beacon
Press, 1977.
This book is in two parts. The first is a
story for yovmg children about a girl
whose little brother is diagnosed as re-
tarded. It sensitively describes her feel-
ings about what it's like Kving with a
retarded child. The second part is a guide
for parents and teachers, written in
imderstandable language, on helping
children with retardation learn and
grow. It also lists and describes organi-
zations concerned with mental retarda-
tion, and books and films on retarda-
tion for children, parents, and
teachers.
Hansen, S. Getting a Head Start
on Speech and Language
Problems (1974). Available fi-om:
Meyer Children's Rehabili-
tation Institute, University of
Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha,
Nebraska, 69105.
This good, simple guide to working
with preschool children who have
speech and language problems gives
language milestones, screening proce-
dures, and teaching techniques.
Hogden, Laurel^t al. School
Before Six: A Diagnostic
Approach (1974). AvaDable from:
Cemrel, Inc., 3120 59th Sti-eet, St.
Louis, Mo. 63139.
School Before Six is printed in
two volumes. Volume I includes proce-
dures for assessing young children's
learning needs and strengths through
testing procedures in four developmen-
tal areas: large, small, and perceptual
motor skills; language; social-emotional
skills; and conceptual skills. General
teaching strategies and activities are
suggested to help children develop in
each of these areas. Volimie II includes
a wealth of activities in areas such as
science, art, table games, food prepara-
tion, language, social science, and
music. Volume I is extensively cross-
referenced to Volume II to simpUfy the
selection of appropriate activities for
specifically diagnosed situations.
127
128 Johnson, Vicki M., and Werner,
Roberta A. A Step-by-Step
Learning Guide for Retarded
Infants and Children. Syracuse,
N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1975.
As the name suggests, the book lists
over 200 tasks appropriate for the pre-
school curriculum. For each task the
authors have stated the objective and
suggested ways to teach it.
Jordan, June, ed. Not All Little
Wagons Are Red: The Exceptional
Child's Early Years (1973). Avail-
able from: Council for Exceptional
Children, 1920 Association Drive,
Reston, Va. 22091.
This book discusses the importance of
beginning early to develop programs
for children with handicaps. Attention
is given to helping children achieve a
positive self-concept, good learning
motivation, social skills, emotional
stability, and physical well-being. Two
sections are particularly helpful: the
development of children who need
special help, and program models and
resource materials, llie book includes
many fine illustrations, and describes
a variety of alternative ways to meet
children's needs.
LavateUi, CeUa S. Piaget's Theory
Applied to an Early Childhood
Curriculum. Boston: A Center for
Media Development Book, American
Science and Engineering Inc., 1970.
This book describes how teachers can
help four- to six-year-old children with
retardation to acquire logical ways of
thinking. It teUs teachers how to pro-
vide children with concrete materials
to learn from, and supplies teachers
with questions to ask of children to
stimulate their mental activity.
The Portage Guide to Early
Education, rev. ed. Portage, Wis.:
Cooperative Educational Service
Agency No. 12, 1976.
This guide has three parts: a checklist of
skills for determining an individual
child's progress, a card file listing
activities that can be used to teach these
skills, and a manual of directions for
conducting the activities. The areas
covered in the program are infant stim-
ulation, socialization, language, self-help,
cognitive sldUs, and motor skills.
Guides to
Other Resources
Goldstein, H. Bibliography: Educa-
tion of Moderately Retarded
Children. New York: Yeshiva Univer-
sity, 1974.
This contains a list of books dealing
with all aspects of working with mod-
erately retarded children.
Appendix
Tests are only one
source of information
in evaluating a child
130
Screening
and
Diagnosis
This section describes the nature
and purpose of screening and diagno-
sis, and the use of tests in each of
these processes. The overall goal of
both processes is to evaluate or assess
a child's functioning and to identify
problem areas, if any exist.
Screening
Screening is a process that
identifies children who need
specific treatment (for example, eye-
glasses or immunization shots) or
who need to be referred for a
diagnostic evaluation. Screening is
therefore an important tool in the
early identification of handicapped
children.
Screening procedures such as
checklists and tests are inexpensive,
quick, and easily administered. They
give the screener an overview of a
child's performance. Teachers, aides,
and others need to be trained to use a
particular screening procedure correct-
ly. For the screening services that
must be provided for every child, see
Project Head Start Performance
Standards.
Not all children who fail a screen-
ing test are found to have a problem
when they are given a full diagnostic
evaluation. This is because the results
of screening tests are not exact, since
the tests do not assess in depth a
child's functioning in a given area.
Also, because screening is done in a
limited amount of time, the screener
may not realize if a certain child is not
performing at his or her best at that
particidar time. For these reasons, a
child who is not handicapped may fail
a screening and be referred for further
evaluation.
On the other hand, some children
who pass a screening test may, in fact,
have a problem that wasn't detected in
the screening. If you have a child in
your class who has passed the stan-
dard screening tests and you stiU feel
there may be something wrong, do not
hesitate to ask an appropriate profes-
sional to look at the child more closely.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is a process of
gathering information from a
variety of sources in order to get a
comprehensive picture of a child's
functioning and to identify prob-
lem areas. The diagnostic process
assesses both physical and psycho-
logical functioning.
A variety of tools should be used in
the diagnostic process: interviews (with
parents and other adults who know
the child well, with the child, with
social agency personnel the child has
been receiving services from), psycho-
logical tests, medical and other
reports/tests of physical functioning,
and other sources of information about
the child. These tests that are used in
the diagnostic process take an in-depth
look at a child's skills in particular
developmental areas. In Project Head
Start, diagnosis is to be conducted by
an interdisciplinary team of specialists
(or a professional who is qualified to
diagnose the specific handicap). The
diagnostic process should involve:
i • a categorical diagnosis of a child,
using Project Head Start diagnostic
criteria, to be used solely for reporting
purposes
^ • a functional assessment of a child.
This functional assessment is a
developmental profile that describes
what the child can and cannot
currentlj' do and that identifies areas
requiring special education and related
services
O • an individualized program plan
based upon the functional assessment
and developed jointly by the diag-
nostic team, the parents, and the
child's teacher
4 • ongoing assessment of the child's
progress by the teacher, the child's
parents, and (as needed) the diagnostic
team
The results of the diagnostic
process should inform the teacher and
parents as to the child's strengths and
weaknesses — and hence the child's
needs in terms of further learning. The
results of the diagnostic process often
do not tell the teacher or parents what
they should do to help the child in the
identified problem areas. Diagnosti-
cians themselves, depending on their
knowledge of classrooms and of speci-
fic teaching techniques, may be able
to discuss with the teacher and parent
specific ways in which they can help
the child in the classroom and at
home. Often the teacher or parent
needs to take the initiative in order to
obtain this kind of information from a
diagnostician.
131
132
Testing
The selection of appropriate tests,
their administration, and their inter-
pretation is often a difficult process,
requiring a great deal of expertise.
Sometimes the precise test needed has
simply not yet been developed, and a
diagnostician must use the best of
what is available and then interpret
the results with great caution. Many
factors can lead to inappropriate
testing or inaccurate test results:
• mistaking one handicap for
another
• mistaking cultural differ-
ences for handicaps
• mistaking norm£il physical
or mental immaturity for
handicaps
• testing a child who is not
used to test-like situations
• testing a child when he or
she is not feeling w^ell
• testing a child in a lan-
guage that is not his or her
home language
• testing a particular devel-
opmental area in a child by
requiring a response that
involves skills in which the
child is handicapped (for
example, testing cognitive
functioning by requiring a
verbal response from a
speech-impaired child, or a
motor response from £in
orthopedically handicapped
child).
Even if children are given tests
that are appropriate to their age,
cultural background, and suspected
handicaps — and that are methodolog-
ically vaHd and reliable — test results
can be inaccurately interpreted.
To ensure that tests are appropriate
to a specific purpose, and that they are
administered and interpreted correctly,
any screening test that a teacher
wants to use should be discussed
ahead of time with a trained profes-
sional who is knowledgeable about the
test. Tests used for diagnostic purposes
should be administered and interpreted
by specialists trained in the use of the
test.
In addition to interviews and
histories, your own continuing obser-
vation of a child in a variety of
situations in yoiu- preschool program
is an invaluable tool in vmderstanding
and helping a child learn. During the
preschool years, children experience
a great amount of development and
change in all areas. This means that
ongoing assessment, balanced against
over-testing, is needed to provide a
more accurate picture of a child's
developing skills and functioning.
Ongoing assessment can help prevent
mislabeling of children.
For additional information on the
diagnostic process — including proce-
dures and persons — contact the
Resource Access Project in yoiu- area.
For additional information on tests,
write:
Head Start Test Collection
Educational Testing Service
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Chart of
Normal
Development:
Infancy
to Six Years
of Age
The chart of normal development
on the next few pages presents
children's achievements from infancy
to six years of age in five areas:
motor skills (gross and fine)
cognitive skills
self-help skills
social skills
communication skills (under-
standing language and speaking
language).
In each sldll area, the age at which each
milestone is reached on the average is
also presented. This information is use-
ful if you have a child in your class
who you suspect is seriously delayed in
one or more skill areas.
However, it is important to remem-
ber that these milestones are only
average. From the moment of birth,
each child is a distinct individual, and
develops in his or her unique manner.
No two children have ever reached aU
the same developmental milestones at
the exact same ages. The examples
that follow show what we mean.
By nine months of age, Gi Lin had
spent much of her time scooting
around on her hands and tummy,
making no effort to crawl. After about
a week of pulling herself up on chairs
and table legs, she let go and started
to walk on her own. Gi Lin skipped
the crawling stage entirely and scarce-
ly said more than a few sounds until
she was 15 months old. But she
walked with ease and skill by 9'/2
months.
Marcus learned to crawl on all
fours very early, and continued crawl-
ing until he was nearly 18 months old,
when he started to walk. However, he
said single words and used two-word
phrases meaningfully before his first
birthday. A talking, crawling baby is
quite a sight!
Molly worried her parents by
saying scarcely a word, although she
managed to make her needs known
with sounds and gestures. Shortly
after her second birthday, Molly sud-
denly began talking in two- to four-
word phrases and sentences. She was
never again a quiet child.
All three children were healthy and
normal. By the time they were three
years old, there were no major differen-
ces among them in walking or talking.
They had simply developed in their
own ways and at their own rates.
Some children seem to concentrate on
one thing at a time — learning to
crawl, to walk, or to talk. Other
children develop across areas at a
more even rate.
As you read the chart of normal
development, remember that children
don't read baby books. They don't
know they're supposed to be able to
point out Daddy when they are a year
old, or copy a circle in their third year.
And even if they covild read the baby
books, they probably wouldn't follow
them! Age-related development mile-
stones are obtained by averaging out
what many children do at various
ages. No child is "average" in all
areas. Each child is a unique person.
One final word of caution. As
children grow, their abilities are
shaped by the opportunities they have
for learning. For example, although
many five-year-olds can repeat songs
and rhymes, the child who has not
heard songs and rhymes many times
cannot be expected to repeat them. AU
areas of development and learning are
influenced by children's experiences
as well as by the abilities tiiey are bom
with.
133
Chart of Normal Development
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0-12 Months
Sits without support.
Crawls.
Pulls self to stand-
ing and stands
unaided.
Walks with aid.
Rolls a ball in im-
itation of adult.
12-24 Months Walks alone.
Walks backward.
Picks up toys from
floor without falling.
Pulls toy, pushes toy.
Seats self in child's
chair.
Walks up and down
stairs (hand-held).
Moves to music.
Reaches, grasps,
puts object in mouth.
Picks things up with
thumb and one fin-
ger (pincer grasp).
Transfers object
from one hand to
other hand.
Drops and picks up
toy.
Responds to speech
by looking at
speaker.
Responds different-
ly to aspects of
speaker's voice (for
example, friendly or
unfriendly, male or
female).
Turns to source of
sound.
Responds with ges-
ture to hi, bye-bye,
and up, when these
words are accom-
panied by appropri-
ate gesture.
Stops ongoing action
when told no (when
negative is accom-
panied by appropri-
ate gesture and
tone).
Makes crying and
non-crying sounds.
Repeats some vowel
and consonant
sounds (babbles)
when alone or when
spoken to.
Interacts with others
by vocalizing after
adult.
Communicates
meaning through
intonation.
Attempts to imitate
sounds.
Builds tower of 3
small blocks.
Puts 4 rings on stick.
Places 5 pegs in peg-
board.
Turns pages 2 or 3 at
a time.
Scribbles.
Turns knobs.
Throws small ball.
Paints with whole
arm movement,
shifts hands, makes
strokes.
Responds correctly
when asked where,
(when question is
accompanied by
gesture).
Understands prepo-
sitions on, in, and
under.
Follows request to
bring familiar object
from another room.
Understands simple
phrases with key
words (for example,
Open the door, or
Get the ball).
Follows a series of
2 simple but related
directions.
Says first mean-
ingful word.
Uses single words
plus a gesture to ask
for objects.
Says successive
single words to de-
scribe an event.
Refers to self by
name.
Uses my or mine to
indicate possession.
Has vocabulary of
about 50 words for
important people,
common objects, and
the existence, non-
existence, and recur-
rence of objects and
events (for example,
more and all
gone).
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Follows moving
object with eyes.
Recogrmes differen-
ces among people.
Responds to stran-
gers by crying or
staring.
Responds to and
imitates facial
expressions of others.
Responds to very
simple directions (for
example, raises arms
when someone says,
Come, and turns
head when asked.
Where is Daddy?).
Imitates gestures and
actions (for example,
shakes head no,
plays peek-a-boo,
waves bye-bye).
Puts small objects in
and out of container
with intention.
Feeds self cracker.
Holds cup with two
hands. Drinks with
assistance.
Holds out arms and
legs while being
dressed.
Smiles spontaneous-
ly.
ftesponds differently
to strangers than to
familiar people.
Pays attention to
own name.
Responds to no.
Copies simple
actions of others.
Imitates actions and
words of adults.
Responds to words or
commands with
appropriate action
(for example; Stop
that. Get down).
Is able to match two
similar objects.
Looks at storybook
pictures with an
adult, naming or
pointing to familiar
objects on request (for
example:What is
that? Point to the
baby).
Recognizes difference
between you and
me.
Has very limited
attention span.
Accomplishes pri-
mary learning
through own explora-
tion.
Uses spoon, spilling
Uttle.
Drinks from cup, one
hand, unassisted.
Chews food.
Removes shoes,
socks, pants, sweater.
Unzips large zipper.
Indicates toilet needs.
Recognizes self in
mirror or picture.
Refers to self by
name.
Plays by self
Initiates own play.
Imitates adult
behaviors in play.
Helps put things
away.
Chart of Normal Development
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24-36 Months Runs forward well.
Jumps in place, two
feet together.
Stands on one foot,
with aid.
Walks on tiptoe.
Kicks ball forward.
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Strings 4 large
beads.
Turns pages singly.
Snips with scissors.
Holds crayon with
thumb and fingers,
not fist.
Uses one hand con-
sistently in most
activities.
Imitates circular,
vertical, horizontal
strokes.
Paints with some
wrist action. Makes
dots, lines, circular
strokes.
Rolls, pounds,
squeezes, and pulls
clay.
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Points to pictures of
common objects
when they are
named.
Can identify ob-
jects when told their
use.
Understands ques-
tions forms what
and where.
Understands nega-
tives no, not, can't,
and don't.
Enjoys listening to
simple storybooks
and requests them
again.
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Joins vocabulary
words together in
two-word phrases.
Gives first and last
name.
Asks what and
where questions.
Makes negative
statements (for ex-
ample. Can't open
it).
Shows frustration at
not being under-
stood.
36-48 Months Runs around ob-
stacles.
Walks on a line.
Balances on one foot
for 5 to 10 seconds.
Hops on one foot.
Pushes, pulls, steers
wheeled toys.
Rides (that is, steers
and pedals) tricycle.
Uses slide without
assistance.
Jumps over 15 cm.
(6") high object,
landing on both feet
together.
Throws ball over-
head.
Catches ball
bounced to him or
her.
Builds tower of 9
small blocks.
Drives nails and
pegs.
Copies circle.
Imitates cross.
Manipulates clay
materials (for exam-
ple, rolls balls,
snakes, cookies).
Begins to under-
stand sentences in-
volving time con-
cepts (for example.
We are going to the
zoo tomorrow^).
Understands size
comparatives such
as big and bigger.
Understands rela-
tionships expressed
by if.. .then or
because sentences.
Carries out a series of
2 to 4 related
directions.
Understands when
told. Let's pretend.
Talks in sentences
of three or more
words, which take
the form agent-
action-object (I see
the ball) or agent-
action-location
(Daddy sit on
chair).
Tells about past ex-
periences.
Uses "s" on nouns
to indicate plurals.
Uses "ed" on verbs
to indicate past
tense.
Refers to self using
pronouns I or me.
Repeats at least one
nursery rhyme and
can sing a song.
Speech is under-
standable to stran-
gers, but there are still
some sound errors.
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Responds to simple
directions (for
example: Give me
the ball and the
block. Get your
shoes and socks).
Selects and looks at
picture books, names
pictured objects, and
identifies several
objects within one
picture.
Matches and uses
associated objects
meaningfully (for
example, given cup,
saucer, and bead,
puts cup and saucer
together).
Stacks rings on peg
in order of size.
Recognizes self in
mirror, saying,
baby, or own name.
Can talk briefly
about what he or she
is doing.
Imitates adult actions
(for example, house-
keeping play).
Has limited attention
span. Learning is
through exploration
and adult direction
(as in reading of
picture stories).
Is beginning to
understand function-
al concepts of
famiUar objects (for
example, that a
spoon is used for
eating) and part/
whole concepts (for
example, parts of the
body).
Uses spoon, spilling
little.
Gets drink from
fountain or faucet
unassisted.
Opens door by
turning handle.
Takes off coat.
Puts on coat with
assistance.
Washes and dries
hands with assis-
tance.
Plays near other
children.
Watches other chil-
dren, joins briefly in
their play.
Defends own posses-
sions.
Begins to play house.
Symbolically uses
objects, self in play.
Participates in simple
group activity (for
example, sings, claps,
dances).
Knows gender identi-
ty.
Recognizes and
matches six colors.
Intentionally stacks
blocks or rings in
order of size.
Draws somewhat
recognizable pictiu-e
that is meaningful to
child, if not to adult.
Names and briefly
explains picture.
Asks questions for
information (v^^hy
and how questions
requiring simple
answers).
Knows own age.
Knows own last
name.
Has short attention
span.
Learns through
observing and imi-
tating adults, and by
adult instruction and
explanation. Is very
easily distracted.
Has increased under-
standing of concepts
of the functions and
groupings of objects
(for example, can put
doU house furniture
in correct rooms)
part/whole (for
example, can identify
pictures of hand and
foot as parts of body).
Begins to be aware of
pEist and present (for
example: Yesterday
we went to the
park. Today we
go to the library).
Pours well from
small pitcher.
Spreads soft butter
with knife.
Buttons and unbut-
tons large buttons.
Washes hands un-
assisted.
Blows nose when
reminded.
Uses toilet independ-
ently.
Joins in play with
other children. Begins
to interact.
Shares toys. Takes
turns with assistance.
Begins dramatic
play, acting out
whole scenes (for
example, traveling,
playing house,
pretending to be
animals).
Chart of Normal Development
48-60 Months
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Walks backward
toe-heel.
Jumps forward 10
times, without
falling.
Walks up and down
stairs alone, alter-
nating feet.
Turns somersault.
Cuts on line contin-
uously.
Copies cross.
Copies square.
Prints a few capital
letters.
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Follows three un-
related commands
in proper order.
Understands com-
paratives like
pretty, prettier,
and prettiest.
Listens to long
stories but often
misinterprets the
facts.
Incorporates ver-
bal directions into
play activities.
Understands se-
quencing of events
when told them
(for example, First
we have to go to
the store, then we
can make the cake,
and tomorrow we
will eat it).
Asks when, how,
and w^hy ques-
tions.
Uses models like
can, will, shall,
should, and might.
Joins sentences to-
gether (for exam-
ple, I like choco-
late chip cookies
and milk).
Talks about causali-
ty by using because
and so.
Tells the content of a
story but may con-
fuse facts.
60-72 Months
Runs lightly on
toes.
Walks on balance
beam.
Can cover 2 meters
(6'6") hopping.
Skips on alternate
feet.
Jumps rope.
Skates.
Cuts out simple
shapes.
Copies triangle.
Traces diamond.
Copies first name.
Prints numerals 1
to 5.
Colors within lines.
Has adult grasp of
pencil.
Has handedness well
established (that is,
child is left- or
right-handed).
Pastes and glues
appropriately.
Demonstrates pre-
academic skills.
There are few ob-
vious differences
between child's
grammar and adult's
grammar.
Still needs to learn
such things as sub-
ject-verb agreement,
and some irregular
past tense verbs.
Can take appropri-
ate turns in a con-
versation.
Gives and receives
information.
Communicates well
with family, friends,
or strangers.
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Plays with words
(creates own rhyming
words; says or makes
up words having
similar soimds).
Points to and names
4 to 6 colors.
Matches pictiires of
familiar objects (for
example, shoe, sock,
foot; apple, orange,
banana).
Draws a person with
2 to 6 recognizable
parts, such as head,
arms, legs. Can name
or match drawn parts
to own body.
Draws, names, and
describes recognizable
picture.
Rote counts to 5,
imitating adults.
Knows own street
and town.
Has more extended
attention span.
Learns through
observing and listen-
ing to adults as well
as through explora-
tion. Is easily
distracted.
Has increased under-
standing of concepts
of function, time,
part/whole relation-
ships. Function or
use of objects may be
stated in addition to
names of objects
Time concepts are
expanding. The child
can talk about
yesterday or last
week (a long time
ago), about today,
and about what will
happen tomorrow.
Cuts easy foods with
a knife (for example,
hamburger patty,
tomato sUce).
Laces shoes.
Plays and interacts
with other children.
Dramatic play is
closer to reality, with
attention paid to
detail, time, and
space.
Plays dress-up.
Shows interest in
exploring sex differ-
ences.
Retells story from
picture book with
reasonable accuracy.
Names some letters
and numerals.
Rote counts to 10.
Sorts objects by
single characteristics
(for example, by
color, shape, or size ,
Is beginning to use
accurately time
concepts of tomor-
row and yester-
day.
Uses classroom tools
(such as scissors and
paints) meaningfully
and purposefully.
Begins to relate clock
time to daily
schedule.
Attention span
increases noticeably.
Learns through adult
instruction. When
interested, can ignore
distractions.
Concepts of function
increase as well as
imderstanding of
why things happen.
Time concepts are
expanding into an
understanding of the
future in terms of
major events (for
example, Christmas
will come after
two weekends).
Dresses self complete-
ly.
Ties bow.
Brushes teeth im-
assisted.
Crosses street safely.
Chooses own
friend(s).
Plays simple table
games.
Plays competitive
games.
Engages with other
children in coopera-
tive play involving
group decisions, role
assignments, fair
play.
■l!rU.S, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OmCE ; 1978 O— 270-712
HV1662 Lynch, Eleanor Whiteside,
L989 Mainstreaming
S48 preschoolers: Children
with mental retardation:
a guide for teachers,
DATE DUE
S-3
HV1662 Lynch, Eleanor Whiteside
L989 Mainstreaming
S48 preschoolers: Children
with mental retardation:"
a guide for teachers.
OITC out
f/22
BORROWERS NAM!
AMERICAN FOUNDATION fD?^ T-HC^flLlNB, INC.
15 WEST letti STREET '^-
NEW YORK, «.Y.i0011
DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH, EDUCATION. AND WELFARE
WASHINGTON. D C 20201 .
OFFICIAL BUSINESS
SECOND CLASS
POSTAGE AND FEES PAID
US DEPARTMENT OF HEW
HEW-391
U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Office of Human Development Services
Administration for Children, Youth and Families
Head Start Bureau
DHEW Publication No. (OHDS) 78-31110
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11