Everything is still possible in kindergarten, even for students with significant disabilities. Inclusion should come naturally, because all the students enter kindergarten at different levels. With the use of accommodations that changes “how” students with disabilities learn, many students with intellectual disabilities can meet the same kindergarten standards.
Still, expectations have changed a lot since I was in kindergarten 30 years ago. Writing journals, addition math problems, and mandatory reading levels are an actual thing now. I’m blown away by the standards kindergarteners must meet.
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Thinking about how my son with Down syndrome would meet these new, rigorous standards made me nervous. I knew accommodations could help him access the kindergarten curriculum, but would he also need modifications to change what he’s taught and is expected to learn? Using modifications should never legally lead to a more segregated setting, but I knew from other family’s stories across the nation that often it does.
Ultimately, understanding my son’s potential, setting high expectations, and presuming competence helped guide his kindergarten year.
With three years of preschool under his belt, we decided to start the school year with only accommodations to allow our son to meet the same grade-level expectations as all the other kindergarteners. With so many students at different levels in his general education classroom, he often knew just as much as the majority of students in his class. Every family has to make their own choice about changing the grade-level content to meet their child’s needs. I’m an advocate of giving the student a chance to perform to grade-level standards with accommodations first, then moving on to modifications if needed.
My twin boys, who are in the same general education class do the same work, but their different ability levels are obvious. I admit that I compare the work that they bring home, and have been proud of how much individual progress both of them have made. Below you can compare a typical assignment they do each day.
Although my twin boys learn the same content, accommodations do change how my son with Down syndrome accesses that content. Here are his kindergarten accommodations:
- paraprofessional
- slant board
- short writing utensils
- foot rest
- large font
- less content on each page
- more time to work on assignments and tests
- Accept approximations for expressive assessments
- Accept pointing to an answer rather than expressively saying an answer
- visual cues and prompts
- number line
- sit near the instruction
- visual timer
- tablet with touch screen
- small, one-click mouse
If the first semester of kindergarten was smooth sailing, the second half has tip the boat a bit. The few students who were behind my son have caught up in most areas. Some concepts, like “more or less” in math have been difficult for my son to pick up without a lot of concrete examples. Still, I’m glad I started with just accommodations. It gave me time to feel out the IEP team and kindergarten curriculum to see what was possible.
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I learned that my son’s IEP team members would not use modified IEP goals as an excuse to pull him out of general education. They’ve agreed to push all resources into general education so far. That gives me more confidence to define how the content may change to meet his level. For example, because my son had difficulty counting to 100 expressively, the team created an IEP goal to start by counting to 30 by ones and 100 by tens. He can also point to numbers that he has a hard time saying expressively.
As my son goes into first grade, I know modifications to the curriculum will be an important way for my son to continue accessing the grade-level content at his level. Modifications allow students who are far behind their classmates to access the grade-level curriculum at their own level, or can change the grade-level curriculum completely.
Some great resources to help create appropriate modifications include’s Nicole Eredic’s new book “Inclusion In Action” with over 40 modifications for students with the most significant needs. Paula Kluth’s book “Universal Design Daily: 365 Ways to Teach, Support, and Challenge All Learners” is also a great gift to give your child’s general education teacher and will help all the students in the class.
On social media, join the “Educational Strategies for Students with Down Syndrome” page. Parents often share modified content that works. You can also follow Nicole Eredic’s Live Binder page that has specific modified assignments being added all the time. Click here to find it.
