10/11/2014
What does your school do to bring about awareness of disabilities? Did you know that October is National Disabilities Awareness Month? With a background in special education (undergrad in CI and Masters in LD), disability awareness is near and dear to my heart. I'd love to help you get a program started at your school so here are a few resources to get you started. First, if you haven't checked out my blog series, "Fear of the Unknown" yet, there is a treasure trove of information and resources from several special educators and it's all about disability awareness! You may need to scroll down a bit to get to the meat (as the last few posts were a giveaway). You can also check out this blog post that includes a freebie hop of special education resources (again scroll to the bottom of the post as the giveaway has expired). Here's a free resource I wrote about
Here is a free booklet I created for elementary students that teaches about the different disabilities in easy to understand, people first language.
These free playlets created by Classroom Around the Corner are a great way to spark discuss in your mid-upper elementary classrooms! Discussion breaks are woven into the skits as actors freeze and class members discuss how they would respond to each situation.
Traci Bender from the Bender Bunch created this fun complete Disability Awareness Day Kit. Using the activities outlined in this kit, students will get to experience what it is like to have different disabilities.
Here's a handy free fact sheet from Stout Sensations that could be a helpful quick reference tool for general education teachers.
Here's another free resource from Primarily Au-Some that teaches Autism awareness with a mini-reader and corresponding lesson plans.
Here's another free flip book I created to teach students about assistive technologies that students with disabilities might use.
I hope these resources will give you a great jumping off point to create your own disability awareness school-wide initiative. If you have more ideas or resources on this topic please share in the comments below!
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