Equals Mathematics is a program that focuses on foundational mathematics skills. It can be differentiated to apply to a wide variety of students including students with a range of disabilities and English language learners. This system provides a wide range of materials including books, manipulatives, worksheets, posters, and online activities.
Target Audience
This program is not specifically targeted toward a specific age range. Rather, it is targeted toward teaching students fundamental mathematic skills. The materials cover K-4 mathematics and are geared toward students with mild, moderate, and severe disabilities as well as students whose first language is not English. The goal of this curriculum it to use a variety …show more content…
IDEA mandates that students are placed in the least restricted environment (Gargiulo, 2015; Turnbull, et. al., 2016). Sometimes it is impossible to place students in a general education setting. If possible, an educator should make an attempt to incorporate some aspect of the content that typically developing peers are learning.
The use of graphic organizers in reading has been shown to increase reading comprehension (Kim, Vaughn, Wanzek, & Wei, 2004). Attainment incorporates graphic organizers into the text to supplement student learning. Where the visuals fail, the graphic organizers can fill in the gaps so students are able to more fully comprehend the content. When possible, teachers can also incorporate content area texts, like Attainment’s history texts, into reading intervention strategies to help improve specific reading deficits (Denton, et. al., 2013).
Autism & PDD Adolescent Social Skills Lessons: 5-Book …show more content…
It gives the student the opportunity to practice before they are put on the spot. Using social stories gives the student an arsenal of possible responses. When responses are similar for different situations, educators can use those moments as opportunities to help students learn how to generalize. The illustrations used in this curriculum do not seem to be the most engaging. Overall, they seem to be blandly illustrated. Also, student may grow bored with social stories, especially if they become repetitive. There aren’t many opportunities for the students to interact with the texts, so they may also have difficulty retaining the information since most of it is verbal or written communication.
Research
Students with autism often have difficulty relating to others which can lead to isolation and social anxiety (Gargiulo, 2015). Having opportunities to work through situations can help these students prepare for future interactions and reduce anxiety. Managing behaviors can also be a challenge with this population. Self-regulation is the ultimate goal, but using token economies can also be effective in managing disruptive behaviors until such a time that the student is able to self-regulate (Filcheck, McNeil, Greco, & Bernard, 2004). This curriculum would provide students with social stories to accompany a classroom management