Introduction
I teach Life skills at Ortiz Middle School, a Title One school, with a student body of appropriately 1,028 students. The student body has multicultural composition of the following: Hispanic, 64 percent; African American, 30 percent; Asian, 5 percent; White, one percent, and Native Americans, 0 percent. The Life Skills class has a total enrollment of 11 students who reflect the ethnic make up of the student body. My students enter the self-contained class in the sixth grade and go on to high school after they have completed the eighth grade.
The purpose for writing this curriculum unit, Children's Literature for Students with Reading Challenges using Picture Books and Film, is to provide my students who have developmental disabilities with access to the exciting world of children's literature, using vibrant, eloquently illustrated picture books that have been adapted into film either as movies, videos, or DVDs.
Developmental disabilities include mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome, and spina bifida, among other disorders. Several of my students fall into three of these categories: mental retardation, Down's syndrome, and autism. For mental retardation, the student has to have an intelligence quotient (IQ) score of approximately 70 or below, with deficits in adaptive behavior, and the disability must occur before age 18. Down's syndrome students have an abnormal chromosomal arrangement resulting in mental retardation and a "Mongoloid" type appearance. Students with autism have mental disorders affecting communications and behavior.
Students who receive lifeskills services have moderate to severe developmental disabilities, and their Individual Educational Program (IEP) requires significantly off-level and modified functional academic instruction, and they need additional instruction in daily living skills. My students attend full-day sessions that are organized around functional academic and classroom routines that facilitate the development of daily living skills. The daily schedule reflects the overall activities of the school as well as the classroom's unique activities and daily routines.
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