RSP Students in General Education Classrooms

Hello everyone,

I received the following email in response to yesterday's suggestions on how instruction affects management:

What to do with a class primarily comprised of RSP students? Their skills are very low, but they're also in the 12th grade. In addition, I do have a few regular ed kids in the class whom I don't want to bore. Considering that they're in the minority, I tend to cater to my lowest kids because they are easily frustrated and need A LOT of my attention.

P.S. I have no RSP teacher and it's a senior class during 6th period. Advice?

Personally, my experience with RSP students has been very good over the years. Most of them are assigned RSP because their cognitive ability is high enough, but they have a specific learning disability (i.e., they're dyslexic, they have trouble with math, or they have attention deficit disorder). Don't make the mistake of thinking that, because their skills are low their cognition is also low. Claude Debussy, one of the greatest composers and music theoreticians of the 20th Century--indeed of all time, was famously a very bad speller. His skill level was embarrassingly low in one area, while his cognition was exceptionally high. Keep in mind that one of the ways a learning disability is diagnosed is that there is a disconnect between skill and cognition. In other words, the kid may be very intelligent (think gifted), but can't perform specific tasks that one would expect in an intelligent person.

In other words, if you assume that your RSP students are not able to understand higher level thinking, and so you're "dumbing down" your curriculum, you're opening yourself up to some pretty serious management problems.

The sorts of trouble that I usually had from RSP students, when I had trouble with them, was that they would sometimes be disruptive to cover their disability, or their disability included attention deficit problems or hyperactivity.

It's best if you can read the IEPs (there isn't always time, but it's best) and find out what the problem really is. If you have a good relationship with the student, you can sometimes talk to them directly. Often enough, the problem is obvious. (Dyslexia, for example, is really easy to spot in kids who speak on a very high level, but have very poor reading.)

I believe in being frank. "You have trouble reading. I don't mean to embarrass you, but I want you to practice anyway. You'll notice that you're not alone." Or, "You seem to have trouble focusing. I need you to avoid disrupting the class when your focus drifts. Is there a strategy we can agree on?" These are abbreviated versions of conversations I've really had with students, and they really work.

I frequently read aloud to my poor readers. I like it; they like it; it works. If you're not good at reading aloud, it's not a good strategy, but it works if you have a dramatic bent and good word attack.

Judiciously maintaining and varying the classroom routine are good strategies. RSP students flourish under routine, but occasionally use the routine to your disadvantage. If disruption becomes part of the routine, then change the routine; otherwise, routine can be helpful.

Keep them on their toes academically, but know their disabilities. Think of it this way: What would you do if you, with your teacher intelligence, had to do everything in the Cyrillic alphabet, where "n" looks like "h," "p" sounds like "r," "b" sounds like "v," and many symbols don't exist in English? Your inability to read would have nothing at all to do with your cognition, and your frustration could certainly lead to some interesting behavior. My guess is, you would prefer to keep the classroom at a high intellectual level, but have lots of help with your reading and writing. I also suspect that you would resent it if the teacher assumed that you were incapable, or refused to teach you how to read and write in Cyrillic.

Keep the class at the highest level of cognition and academics you can muster, but be ready to do a lot of kinesthetic activities (readers' theater is one of my favorites) or reading aloud.

Jeff Combe