Educational Psychology

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infrequent or two (e.g. 1-2

classes or activities)

consultation or

monitoring by

professional

Limited As needed, but

sometimes continuing

Regular, but

frequency varies

Several settings,

but not usually all

Occasional or

regular contact with

professionals

Extensive Usually continuing Regular, but

frequency varies

Several settings,

but not usually all

Regular contact

with professionals at

least once a week

Pervasive May be lifelong Frequent or

continuous

Nearly all settings Continuous

contact and

monitoring by

professionals

Source: American Association on Mental Retardation, 2002: Schalock & Luckassen, 2004.

As a classroom teacher, the intellectual disabilities that you are most likely to see are the ones requiring the least
support in your classroom. A student requiring only intermittent support may require special help with some
learning activities or classroom routines, but not others; he or she might need help with reading or putting on
winter clothes, for example, but primarily on occasions when there is pressure to do these things relatively quickly.
Students requiring somewhat more support are likely to spend somewhat less time in your classroom and more
time receiving special help from other professionals, such as a special education teacher, a speech and language
specialist, or an assistant to these professionals. These circumstances have distinct implications for ways of
teaching these students.

Teaching students with intellectual disabilities

There are many specific techniques that can help in teaching students with mild or moderate intellectual
disabilities, but most can be summarized into three more general strategies. The first is to give more time and
practice than usual; the second is to embed activities into the context of daily life or functioning where possible; and
the third is to include the child both in social and in academic activities, rather than just one or the other. Let us
look briefly at each of these ideas.

Giving more time and practice than usual

If a student has only a mild intellectual disability, he or she can probably learn important fundamentals of the
academic curriculum—basic arithmetic, for example, and basic reading. Because of the disability, though, the
student may need more time or practice than most other students. He or she may be able to read many words by
sight (day, night, morning, afternoon, etc.), but need longer than other students to recognize and say them. Or the
student may know that 2 + 3 = 5, but need help applying this math fact to real objects; you (or a helper) might need
to show the student that two pencils plus three pencils make five pencils.

Educational Psychology 97 A Global Text