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Lesson Plans


Re: Poor fine motor skills--how to assess fairly?

From: Melissa Enderle (melissae)
Date: Fri Jan 21 2000 - 17:28:24 PST

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    Well, I guess it's another time for me to provide my feedback and advice. As
    many of you know, I teach at a school that has a high disability rate -
    about 40% of the 750 or so students. We have several burn victims, lots of
    LD, at least one tourette's case, lots of physical disabilities, etc. I give
    grades both on artwork and behavior. Effort and attitude, as all the
    students know, play a big role in their grades. I look closely at what the
    child is capable of doing, both artistically and behavior-wise. If a child's
    behavior is directly related to his/her disability, then I do take that into
    consideration for the behavior grade. Conversely, if their behavior has
    nothing to do with his/her disability, then they are held to the same
    grading behavior standards as their non-disabled peers. Same goes with their
    artwork. If the student tries, attends to the task, and participates to the
    degree possible, then they will get a sufficient grade. Not necessarily an A
    or even B, but one that is fair.
        Regarding students such as burn victims, adaptations may depend on how
    recent the injury is. Students who are recent burn victims will be very
    tender along the injury sites (and will probably have psych issues as well,
    such as depression, feelings of loss or inadequacy, etc.). Students with
    older injuries or those who have been born with a disability will often come
    up with their own adaptations. For example, one of my one-handed (the other
    is paralyzed) students blew up and tied a balloon by himself. One of the
    burn students with reduced digits on both hands can do everything without me
    intervening. There are many adaptive scissors including some that require no
    fingers - only a depression by an elbow, fist, etc. Cutting can also be
    helped through creating a "mountain" in the paper - taping both ends to the
    table, with the middle part tapering up as a mountain. This way, the child
    can get the scissors between the paper and cut - even with one hand.
    I can help more with specific cases.

                        __________________________________
                       | Melissa Enderle |
                     /)| melissae |(\
                    / )| || \
                 __( ( art teacher/ adaptive art /_) ) )__
                ((( \ \ /_) / / / ) ))
                (\\\ \ \_/ / \ \_/ / ///)
                 \ / \ /
                  \ _/ \_ /
                  / / \ \
                 / / \ \
    Melissa Enderle
    melissae

    > From: "Aaron and Jennifer" <THEGREEN99>
    > Reply-To: "ArtsEdNet Talk" <artsednet>
    > Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 17:58:15 -0500
    > To: "ArtsEdNet Talk" <artsednet>
    > Subject: Re: Poor fine motor skills--how to assess fairly?
    >
    >> I know that some of the projects that I have planned for this group (of
    >> highly capable kids) will be very difficult for this boy.
    >> Can anyone suggest adaptions I should make on projects
    >
    > I would like to know, too. I have a burn victim. His hands are
    > completely scarred and it is difficult for him to even cut paper, glue or
    > hold a pencil.
    >
    > Jennifer in Michigan

    > 

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