How to Teach ESL Students with Disabilities

Special needs learners with disabilities can have a wide range of skills, abilities and requirements in a classroom. They may have a single disability or condition, or more than one. Disabilities are often grouped into categories, including:

Vision impairment - students who have no vision, or who may see some shapes, color, or light and dark. These students may use a guide dog, a cane or 'sight guiding' (holding the elbow of a support person) to move around safely.

Hearing impairment - students who lack the ability to hear without assistance. They may use a hearing aid, have a cochlear implant, or use sign language or lip reading.

Intellectual disability - these students have a lower IQ (Intelligence Quotient) than would be expected for their age. They may find it harder than their peers to remember, understand, apply reasoning, process information and learn new skills.

Physical disability - students with a physical disability have some sort of mobility limit. They may use a wheelchair or walker, or they may walk unaided but need assistance with movement activities for other parts of their body. Examples in this category include spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis.

Learning Disability - these students have difficulty learning and find problems with memory, information retention and recall and processing of information. There is a difference between a learning and an intellectual disability, and at times a learning disability may not be diagnosed, particularly in an ESL student.

For learners with special needs, teachers need to have a good understanding of the needs of students with disabilities, and consider the language implications of their classroom and their own teaching style. Then they must match the needs of the learner with the classroom structure, to ensure the ability of the learner to benefit as fully as possible from the class is maximised. One way to do this is to create a 'language plan' or 'language map' for each session. This means adjusting the regular lesson plan to cater specifically for the language needs of special needs students. For example, an extra column could be added beside the description of activities to note how language needs can be met appropriately. This could simply be a note to ensure information is written onto large text cue cards, a note about charging a laptop so a voice recognition program can be used, a reminder to face towards a hearing impaired student when speaking, or a reminder to give text based information to a teacher aide or support person prior to the class.

The ESL content may need to be adapted with modified work or worksheets which ensure success is high and students feel a sense of achievement. Books such as Everyday Literacy provide a range of useful adapted worksheets and activities suitable for ESL learners with disabilities. Another useful resource is Practical Activities for ESL Students, by Australian author Anne Vize (published by Teaching Solutions in 2010).

ESL assessment is a challenging area for ESL students with disabilities. An ESL teacher needs a good understanding of how the disability affects not only their classroom learning but also their ability to cope in an assessment situation. Remember that students need to demonstrate competence on a number of occasions during assessment, not just once. An ESL assessment for a student with a disability may need to be modified with large print, reduced text, verbal rather than written instructions or extra time.

Here is an example of a language plan for a class on personal presentation for a job interview with a group of 15 year old students in a mainstream ESL class setting:

Intro - discuss job interviews, and write key words onto electronic white board. Brainstorm 'personal presentation' on board, and talk about why it is important - does it matter?

(Language plan - check Kylah has her USB memory stick to download intro notes onto laptop; seat Barry near front of room so he can lip read)

Activity 1 - break into small groups to design an outfit and image for an interviewee.

(Language plan - put Barry with Ben and prompt Ben to speak clearly and not mumble; check chair arrangement of their group)

Activity 2 - whole class presentation of designs - ask for a volunteer from each group to present their ideas. Encourage general discussion and comments. Focus on idea that different jobs have different presentation requirements at interview.

(Language plan - use gesture and eye contact to remind Kylah about movement around room and encourage her to use signing to show when she wants to leave the group; check she has notes on her USB and has saved them to a named file)