To teach me is to
understand me
Einat SarafEducational Counselor,
The Israeli Assessment Team
3/23/2016
Einat Saraf - The israeli
Assessment Team
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LEARNING
Learning is a basic and essential need for
every human being.
To learn is to build day to day meaning, to
develop an approach for understanding the
world with the possibility of active
participation.
Learning provides a sense of success.
Learning develops a sense of capability.
3/23/2016
Einat Saraf - The israeli
Assessment Team
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Learning For girls with
Rett Syndrome
For girls with RS, learning and communication are
sources of strength; they are perhaps their most
important life skills.
Due to the complexity of the syndrome, girls with
RS require methods of learning and teaching
which are suited to their needs.
Girls with RS require an adjusted learning
environment and belief in their abilities on the
part of their teachers.
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Assessment Team
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Without accessible
learning we will see:
 Inconsistent look
 Quick view that we cannot identify
 Distraction
 No appropriate behavior – avoidances. i.e.
closing eyes , falling a sleep
 Inconsistent learning- i.e. not being able to
recognize something which they knew
before
3/23/2016
Einat Saraf - The israeli
Assessment Team
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Rett syndrome and understanding
According to research girls with RS •
succeed in acquiring knowledge, in
learning and understanding day to day
routines; and in developing the ability to
classify Such as in the development of
matching skills, finding the same and the
different, and recognizing written logos
(pictures, symbols, and word). From this
we understand that they have short and
long term memory and the ability to learn.
3/23/2016
Einat Saraf - The israeli
Assessment Team
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Why is it so hard to
teach girls with RS?
The physical aspect:
 The difficulty in speech and hand function
prevents the girl from express herself.
 The Apraxia element of the syndrome which
causes a looooong time reaction.
 When time passes and the girl does not respond
we think that the girl either didn’t understand or
didn’t know the answer;
 The complexity of the medical aspect of the
syndrome- epilepsy, constipation, etc. - can all
interfere with the learning process.
3/23/2016
Einat Saraf - The israeli
Assessment Team
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The social-cognitive aspect
 They have less opportunities to learn
 Not provided with age appropriate curriculum
 Have less time for study per day – research
shows that girls with Rett syndrome have only 40
minutes for academic learning in a 6 hour day
 Having less opportunities to interact with peers
and thus less opportunities to develop their
language and their general knowledge base
 experience less expectations from teachers,
therapists and family for cognitive learning
 do not have sufficient access to learning and
communication equipment.
3/23/2016
Einat Saraf - The israeli
Assessment Team
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How to teach a child with RS:
Look at children with
normal development
and ask not why
but how
3/23/2016
Einat Saraf - The israeli
Assessment Team
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Principles for teaching
girls with RS:
…"if a student doesn't succeed we must
check our teaching methods and not
blame the disability.
Don’t wait until your student will be
ready- the basic assumption is that the
student is ready and you must find the
way to include him in an active way in
the learning process" ( Koppenhaver )
3/23/2016
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Assessment Team
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The most important
principles are:
TEACH DONT TEST
DON’T GINE UP ON THEM
- BE PATIANT
3/23/2016
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Assessment Team
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Principles for teaching
girls with RS:
1. A basic belief should be that they
understand that if she can't show
her knowledge it doesn't mean that
she doesn't understand.
2. Separate between understanding and
functional level and targets.
3. Ensure the accessibility of the
educational and communicational
environment
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Assessment Team
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4. teach strategies for choice and
make sure that the choice is real,
relevant and happens throughout
the day.
5. give them the time they need.
6. girls with RS develop strategies for
organizing themselves – i.e. Closing
their eyes to listen when they
concentrate
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Assessment Team
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7. Find motivational factors
8. provide options for learning from their
daily lives and from subjects which are
taught in the age appropriate
educational frame.
9. Provide peer learning for enjoyment
and play – the more communication they
will initiate, at a higher level, with
richer vocabulary and at a higher
cognitive level.
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Assessment Team
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10. Due to the complexity of the
syndrome, it is easy for them to be
passive. It is our duty to challenge
them .
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Assessment Team
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Relevant learning areas
for girls with RS:
•
•
•
•
•
Use of communication aids for expression and
choice-making
Expansion of world knowledge and vocabulary
Exposure to written language in their daily
environment and through book reading
Learning language characteristics – letter
recognition, rhyming, similar words, etc.
Teaching age-appropriate academic subjects
3/23/2016
Einat Saraf - The israeli
Assessment Team
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Dr. Seuss says:
“If you go out you find
a wonderful places”….
It is our duty to open the door for
them, and not their duty to guess
what we expect them to do
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Einat Saraf - The israeli
Assessment Team
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