Individualized educational program provides learners with significant disabilities with an opportune chance to achieve the privileges that their counterparts enjoy in education. Performance feedback is one of the techniques used in the individualized education program to determine the specific needs of children and ways through which teachers and educators can handle disabled students. Performance feedback assists in a significant way towards the achievement of literacy skills among students with disabilities. In most cases, educators tend to assume that students with significant disabilities cannot acquire the educational skills that the rest of the students do in education. As a result, the society treats this group of students with prejudices, which further affects their self-confidence. Students with significant disabilities may have lower IQs than the rest of the students, but they are well able to acquire educational skills like their counterparts. The Individualized Education Program helps in assisting disabled students to fit it. For this reason, educators need to find ways in which to provide literacy skills to students with significant disabilities one of which is the use of performance feedback (Westover & Martin, 2014).
Literacy skills are fundamental to every learner with or without disabilities. Individualized Education Program equip students with literacy skills by the use of tests, class interaction, and one-on-one sharing. Performance feedback is one of the strategies that the program employs to reach the disabled students. Rather than using the traditional teaching system where the teacher does the talking, performance feedback allows students an opportunity to raise their concerns and suggestions on the ideal teaching method. One of the main goals of individualized education program is to ensure that disabled children have the chance to enjoy childhood like their counterparts. Performance feedback technique, one of the tested evidence-based practices in teaching help teachers come to a better understanding of their students with significant disabilities hence increasing the students’ chance of free interaction. Additionally, performance feedback and the use of evidence-based practice enable instructors and teachers to achieve equity in learning institutions. Performance feedback enhances communication and genuine friendship among students with disabilities, which is an ideal step in learning (Westover & Martin, 2014). In addition, performance feedback puts students with significant disabilities in ideal positions towards the achievement of a better future.
The author points out that evidence-based practice in teaching can bridge the gap in performance between students with significant disabilities and normal students. He further asserts that the use of evidence-based practice in education platforms goes a long way in the achievement of major individualized educational program goals. Research indicates that with the right approach in teaching, students with significant disabilities can perform just as well as their counterparts. The greatest challenge for students with significant disabilities is low self-esteem. Most of these children grow up knowing that the society does not approve of them, and that affects their self-esteem in a great way. Performance feedback helps break that perception and allows the students to interact freely with one another and their teachers (Westover & Martin, 2014). Additionally, performance feedback increases personal awareness among students with significant disabilities. Through evidence-based practice, teachers can easily understand the specific needs of students with significant disabilities. In most cases, educators seclude students with disabilities from normal classroom for lack of better understanding of their needs. Better understanding of the specific needs of students with disabilities will limit such incidences and allow students to interact with one another freely. In general, evidence-based practice is an effective tool towards achieving ideal individualized educational program.
References
Westover, J. & Martin, E. (2014). Performance feedback, Paraeducators, and literacy instructions for students with significant disabilities. Journal of intellectual disabilities, 18(4), 364- 381.