Functional Math Skills That Support Independence

Functional Math Skills That Support Independence Functional math skills are those skills that students need to live independently in the community, care for themselves, and make choices about their lives. Functional skills make it possible for students with disabilities to make choices about where they will live, how they will make money, what they will do with money, and what they will do with their spare time. To do these things, they need to be able to count money, tell time, read a bus schedule, follow directions at work, and know-how to check and balance a bank account. Functional Math Skills Before students can understand numbers and numeration, they have to understand one-to-one correspondence. As they count, they need to be able to match each item or items to a corresponding number and understand that the number represents a matching or a corresponding number of items. One-to-one correspondence will also be helpful in such household tasks as setting the table and matching socks. Other functional skills include: Number recognition: This includes recognizing and being able to write the 10 digits, and then recognizing place value: ones, tens, and hundreds.Skip counting: Skip counting by 5s and 10s to 100 is important for understanding time (such as five-minute increments on an analog clock) and money. Teachers can use a hundreds chart or on a number line to demonstrate skip counting.Operations: Its vital for students to have a grasp of addition and subtraction. At a later point, if your students have an understanding of these two operations, it may be possible to introduce multiplication and division. Students with special needs may not be able to develop the ability to do the math operations themselves independently, but they can learn how the operations are used in order to use a calculator to do calculations, like balancing a bank statement or paying bills. Time Time as a functional skill involves both understanding the importance of time- such as not staying up all night or not missing appointments because they dont leave enough time to get ready- and telling time on analog and digital clocks to get to school, work, or even the bus on time. Understanding time requires comprehending that seconds are fast, minutes almost as fast, and hours much longer. Students with disabilities, especially significant cognitive or developmental disabilities, may have behavioral outbursts because they are stuck on preferred activities, and dont realize they will miss lunch. For them, building an understanding of time may involve a visual clock, like a Time Timer, or a picture schedule. These tools help give students a sense of control over their schedule and an understanding of what happens and when during their school or even home day. Parents may also benefit from having visual schedules at home. For children with autism spectrum disorders, it can help avoid long periods of self-stimulatory (stimming) behavior, which may actually undermine progress they are making at school. Teachers can also pair telling time with understanding the concept of time, for example, that 6 a.m. is when you get up and 6 p.m. is when you eat dinner. Once students can tell the time to the hour and half-hour, they can progress to skip counting by fives and telling time to the nearest five-minute interval. A geared clock, such as a Judy clock- where the hour hand moves when the minute hand goes around- helps students understand that both hands move together. Money Money, as a functional math skill, has several levels of skill: Recognizing money: pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.Counting money: first in single denominations and later mixed coinsUnderstand the value of money: budgets, wages, and paying bills Measurement Learning measurement for students with special needs should involve length and volume. A student should be able to use a ruler and even perhaps a tape measure for length and recognize inches, half and quarter inches, as well as feet or yards. If a student has an aptitude for carpentry or graphic arts, the ability to measure length or size will be helpful. Students should also learn volume measurements, such as cups, quarts, and gallons. This skill is useful for filling tubs, cooking, and following directions. When cooking is part of a functional curriculum, a knowledge of measures of volume will be helpful. Students should be able to choose what they will cook, and find and read recipes. Familiarity with measuring volume will help students who want to pursue work in culinary arts, such as a kitchen assistant.

Dignity, Potential, and Uniqueness of Each Students

Dignity, Potential, and Uniqueness of Each Students Hashtag: #PSYDignidad Dignity, Potential, and Uniqueness of Each Students Dignitas, Latin for â€Å"intrinsic worth† or dignity is not only used as a guiding principle for human rights (ex. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights) but used to balance with other fundamental liberties and rights such as academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.   For instance, although academic freedom includes the right to seek, discover, and assert important truths, they need to adhere to the human right to equality of status or equally treat all human beings regardless of their performance, intellectual capacity and achievement . For one the chief conditions of human dignity according to the literature is human possessions and achievements, academic freedom normally places the value of rational and scientifically acquired truth about the world, man, and his works at the core and recognizes the obligation to teach and act in a manner that constitutes dignity, maintain and protect the order in which academic activities are performed effectively. Secondary schools, for instance, are often concerned in providing equal educational opportunities for all students regardless of race, social class, gender, or ability. Universities, on the other hand, are higher educational institutions known for advancing human dignity through a type of education, nurturing liberal ideals such as critical thinking, moral reasoning, ethical responsibility and duties towards others. Since academic institutions commonly recognize that students have different backgrounds (i.e. ethnicity, race, etc. ), sexual orientations, political, relig ious, and educational beliefs and learning needs, measurements of students academic and personal achievement are often done in an environment of respect and justice. In relation to scientific freedom, the freedom to research is limited by the recognition that human dignity is inviolable, respectable, and must be protected from harmful experimental research, such as those disclosing genetic abnormalities, altering human genome, implanting computer in the brain, or administering drugs that can enhance or destroy human memory. Note that the 1997 Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights urged UNESCO to take actions regarding the consequences biological and genetics studies and emphasized the need to respect human dignity and prohibit discrimination based on genetic characteristics. You may be interested in: Is High IQ a Guarantee of Academic Success? Who and What Deserve Respect? The Value of Academic Debate Womens Right to Education Practice What You Preach At school, respect and care for the rights or dignity are not only applied to human, but to non-human or animal subjects. Similar to a human being with inherent moral dignity and basic rights, treatment of animal subjects is also justified on moral grounds thus science experiments must respect the animal’s dignity. For instance, regardless of improvement in their well-being, schools should not encourage or allow their students to conduct genetic alteration or any experiments that would inhibit animals from performing their normal functions. Preserving Human Dignity in Academic Setting Educational institutions are mostly aware of students’ rights and developed policies reflecting a range of intended educational, spiritual, social, and moral outcomes. A Catholic school in one study, for instance, intends to create a school environment where there are respect and trust, and policies that value and support each student and staff. Aside from quality education, the school is set out to create an enjoyable atmosphere in which everyone’s dignity is acknowledged, nurtured, and protected. Through social, moral, physical, spiritual activities, and recognizing and celebrating students’ achievements, other schools hoped to encourage all students to strive for academic excellence and enhance their dignity as a person. Some catholic schools, according to the study, are focused on social justice, common good, and community service   and developing their students to become responsible member of society by carrying out economic and social activities promoting equality and justice, helping the poor, and   the recognition of dignity and worth of   our brothers and sisters around the world.