Several assumptions permit thinking it possible to prepare a student with intellectual disabilities for college. Learners use them implicitly when trying to complete lessons. Most teachers and parents know these assumptions and use them when instructing learners. I and many others have used them when evaluating teacher performance. They're generic assumptions, based on experimental empirical research conducted over the past four decades, including by Zeaman and House in the 1960s. Observers can analyze most lessons with these generic assumptions about how learners change behavior.

Assumptions

1. Life exists as patterns. Anyone can learn any pattern given enough time. Schools' primary duty is to introduce learners to patterns other people use to survive in likely settings where they may live (including in colleges).

2. Teachers and parents can only observe behavior, and must infer cognition from behavior.

3. Learners see lessons as one or more of three types: Tell me so I know (direct instruction, tell them what you will tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them); Show me so I can do it too (direct learning; imitation and generalization; I see you do it, I do it); and Teacher's playing hide-and-seek, and I must figure out what I am to know or do (discovery learning, etc.).

4. Learning consists of two parts: content and processes. Learners must figure out what these parts are in a lesson and how they go together to resolve each problem.

5. Learners go from known to unknown, easy to hard, simple to complex facts and processes to resolve problems efficiently.

6. Reinforcers in the learner's environment, by definition, increase the likelihood that behavior will occur again.

7. An increasing number of mobile PC software programs exist that use one or more of these assumptions. Teachers, parents, and other software evaluators may use these assumptions to consider the relative learning effectiveness and efficiency of these programs.


Taechers and parents may use these assumptions to organize lessons that prepare someone with intellectual disabilities for college.

Let me know if you have questions. I'll describe a few lessons in another post.

Tablet PC Education Blog