Madeline Bergstrom

SPED 420
Accommodations/Modifications

We have one student who came into the year with no English language

knowledge. At open house, he was very timid but has since opened up and is showing

rapid social and academic improvement. Since he is new to our school, we do not have

any plans set in place to support him in the classroom. This gave me an excellent

opportunity to actually develop the accommodations/modifications for him. Some things

we do to support him specifically include strategic table group pairings, one on one

practice, individualized i-Ready practice, lessening of assignment expectations, repeat

after me activities, kinesthetic connections, key word expressions, and much more.

My mentor teacher has limited experience with students with his level of English

exposure. As a result, we have been able to collaborate and dually assess his specific

needs. It becomes difficult when core instruction is required, yet makes me think how I

would support him during whole class instruction. We ask students with

Russian/Ukrainian language backgrounds to help translate relevant information when we

are not able to help relay specific directions effectively. In other situations, using simple

and clear language usually gets the message across. He is given on pace instruction

during our chrome book time because the i-Ready system we use for reading and math

supplemental instruction target the specific needs of each student. Having him develop

basic phonological awareness with the class also targets his needs based on the GLAD-

type system implemented across the subjects. I even went out and bought him some fun

workbooks to help practice basic phonics and number skills while the class is engaging in

whole class instruction above his ability level. In all, we are still learning about what
supports to give him in our classroom and I truly look forward to developing those

further and seeing his continual growth throughout the school year.