Adapting for Children with Special Needs
Adaptations for children with disabilities are intended to provide as normal a school or child care setting experience for the child as possible. An adaptation is something we do to alter the physical environment, curricular materials, and/or teaching strategies to include the child in the daily life and learning opportunities of the classroom or child-care setting.
IDEA requires that all states have a Child Find process to identify children with disabilities and provide services as early as possible. Communities administer special education services for preschool children in different ways. But if a child has been officially referred, evaluated, and diagnosed with a condition that qualifies under IDEA as a special need, a team of peopleincluding the teacher, family, and specialistswill work together to provide support in the school or care setting. The team will work with an individualized plan (called an Individualized Family Service Plan [IFSP] for children from birth to age 3 or an Individualized Education Plan [IEP] for a child over 3 years of age) that identifies specific curricular and developmental goals, needed resources, adaptations, and support personnel, time lines, and follow-up measures.
Table 4.2 provides examples of the kinds of adaptations that might be made for children with different kinds of special needs.