Sample Lesson Plan

Excerpts from Lesson 5: Myths and Misconceptions

Objective

The purpose of this lesson is identify common myths and mis-conceptions about persons with disabilities, and to explore how those misunderstandings can affect attitudes and hinder the establishment of social relationships.

Key Learning

At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:

• Identify common myths and misconceptions regarding persons with disabilities.
• Cite pertinent facts about persons with disabilities, as well as several specific physical and cognitive disabilities.
• Understand how misunderstandings can affect attitudes and hinder the development of social relationships.

Materials

• Overheads
  • Overhead 1: Yes I Can Partner Activity Log
• Handouts
  • Handout 1: Planning a Community Activity
  • Handout 2: Yes I Can Partner Activity Log
  • Handout 3: Developmental Disabilities: Truth or Myth?
  • Handout 4: Mental Retardation: Truth or Myth?
  • Handout 5: Misconceptions About Persons With Physical Disabilities
  • Handout 6: Test Yourself about Cerebral Palsy

Instructor Preparation

1. Using Partnership Information Form (Handout) and Recreational Interests (Handout) from Lesson 4, and Interview Sheet (Hand-out) from Lesson 2, determine which students will be part-ners for the remainder of the course. Remember to pair each student with a disability who desires to be more socially connected and another student who will fill the role of inclu-sion facilitator. Come prepared to let students know who their partners are.
2. Duplicate handouts and prepare overhead transparencies.
3. Decide how you want to distribute new copies of the Community Activity Planning Sheet (Handout) and Partner Activity Log (Handout) for the remainder of the term (all at once today, weekly), and make copies accordingly.

Lesson Plan

1. Read the list of partners to students. You may want to have students move to sit next to their partners.

• You may also want to return to students their completed forms, Recreational Interests (Handout) and Interview Sheet (Handout), previously collected, and give partners a few minutes to share that information with each other.
• Explain to students that each week they will meet with their partner to plan a social activity that will take place in the community or school, and then carry out the activity.
  • Remind students that the activities they select should:
    • be based upon their mutual interests,
    • be the kinds of activities others their age participate in, and
    • allow the partners to interact with others, such as classmates and community members who are age-peers.
  • Explain that each week a portion of class time will be set aside for partners to begin planning their weekly activities. They will have to get together outside of class to complete each week’s planning.
• Explain to students that there will also be time during each class to review that past week’s activity and discuss concerns, surprises, successes and so on that have occurred.
  • Emphasize that if problems occur during outings, students should discuss them with the instructor, either privately or during class.

2. Distribute "Planning a Community Activity" (Handout) and the "Partner Activity Log" (Handout).

• Explain that before going out on an activity, each student, working with their partner, should complete Planning a Community Activity (Handout).
• Allow students sufficient time at this point to complete the plan for their first activity.
  • As students work on their plans, circulate among the partners and review their plans, answering questions and making sure that the necessary information is provided and that the selected activity will offer the possibility for the partners to interact with others.
• After students have completed their planning sheets, explain that each person will also need to fill out Yes I Can Partner Activity Log (Handout) after completing the weekly social activity with their partner.
  • You may want to use Yes I Can Partner Activity Log (Overhead) to guide students through the sheet and answer questions.
  • If students are not able to fill out the Partner Activity Log in written form, provide an alternative means for completing this activity. Alternatives may include tape recording the log, dictating the responses to another person, or drawing pictures that depict activities and their reactions.
• You may want to ask students to turn in their logs to you the week following the activity, or to bring the logs to class each week for use in a group discussion of how the activities are going.
• Let students know how to obtain new logs and planning sheets.

3. Introduce today’s lesson, the concept that myths and misconceptions regarding persons with disabilities often produce negative attitudes. Note the following:

• Misunderstandings about a disability can evoke the following fears:
  • That we might “catch” it.
  • That we will do or say the wrong thing.
  • That persons with disabilities will harm us.
• Misunderstandings can also create discomfort or embarrass-ment if we are afraid of the following:
  • That people with disabilities are so different from us that we cannot understand them and they cannot understand us.
  • That we cannot communicate with persons with disabilities.
  • That the needs and wants of persons with disabilities are not the same as ours.
  • That we may feel our own vulnerability and shortcomings in their presence, and have to face up to the fact that we all are likely to experience a disability at some point in our lives.
• Misunderstandings can lead to pity if we believe the following:
  • That persons with disabilities want others to feel sorry for them.
  • That persons with disabilities only need our help, rather than our support and friendship.
  • That persons with disabilities are less fortunate, and want “special” attention (e.g., special education, special friends).

4. Have students complete and discuss "Developmental Disabilities: Truth or Myth?" (Handout) and "Mental Retardation: Truth or Myth?" (Handout).

• Option: Some instructors have found that exercises 4 and 5 are more interactive and more interesting for students when presented in a game show format. Using that format, students take turns serving as the show’s host while others form teams of four to five individuals (with and without disabilities) and attempt to correctly answer the questions. Each team is presented with a question and given a limited amount of time to arrive at an answer (e.g. 30 seconds). Whether or not the team answers the question correctly, the answer is discussed among all class members and another team is then given an opportunity to respond to the next question.
• Distribute Developmental Disabilities: Truth or Myth? (Handout) and Mental Retardation: Truth or Myth? (Handout) and have students work with their partners to complete them.
  • Remind them that this is not a test and worksheets won’t be collected or checked. Rather, they are a learning tool.
• After all students have completed their worksheets, as a group discuss the myths and misconceptions using the information provided on the two instructor answer sheets.
  • Make sure to ask if any of the facts discussed are new to the students, and if so, which facts.

6. Have students fill out and discuss "Misconceptions About Persons with Physical Disabilities" (Handout) and "Test Yourself About Cerebral Palsy" (Handout).

• Distribute Misconceptions About Persons with Physical Disabilities (Handout) and Test Yourself About Cerebral Palsy (Handout) and have students get back together with their partners to complete them.
• After all students have completed their worksheets, as a group discuss the answers using the information provided on the two instructor answer sheets.
  • Make sure to ask if any of the facts discussed are new to the students, and if so, which facts.

7. Conclude the class by letting students know the topics and/or activities that will be part of the next class.

• Also remind students to complete their activity logs following their first outing with their partner and bring the logs to class for discussion.

Sample Handouts

Developmental Disabilities: Truth or Myth?

Answer Sheet
Developmental Disabilities: Truth or Myth?

1. Myth: People with developmental disabilities who do not live at home live in institutions. They live in all sorts of settings: in their own apartments or houses, alone or with roommates; in group homes or other residential settings that may have up to 15 people living there with paid support staff; in cooperative housing with multiple families and individuals; in their family home with family members. Some are still in institutions, and efforts are underway across the country to move them into community settings.

2. Myth: Siblings of persons with developmental disabilities should take care of them so they will not be placed in a different home. The responsibilities that family members take for each other's care varies greatly from family to family and culture to culture. In each situation, the needs of everyone involved ought to be considered, and the best possible options selected to meet those needs.

3. Truth. People with developmental disabilities should have realistic hopes and dreams about their lives. The label "realistic" or "unrealistic" is often used in situations where the abilities of an individual with disabilities are being underestimated. It is important to not make assumptions about what a person with a disability can or can't do. Sometimes what is truly realistic can initially seem impossible to others.

4. Myth. People with developmental disabilities don’t have the same feelings as people without disabilities. We all experience similar emotions, whether we express them the same way or not.

5. Myth. Persons with developmental disabilities who are employed do not receive pay. People with disabilities who have jobs earn money just like anyone else. Many persons with disabilities work in competitive employment - the same kinds of jobs held by people without disabilities. For people with more severe disabilities, there may be a need for supported employment. In supported employment people are hired to guide and assist the individual as they perform their job. Those working in supported employment typically earn much less money than those in competitive employment.

6. Truth. In order to keep a job, being dependable and getting along with others is more important than IQ. Each job has different skill requirements. For example, some require that a person do physical labor, some that they talk to the public, some that they work with numbers, some that they be good at writing, and so on. While the education, training, and abilities differ for each, the two traits that are needed on any job are dependability and being able to get along with others.

7. Truth. When someone does not learn a skill, it could mean that the environment has not been sufficiently modified, rather than the person cannot learn the skill. When a person is learning a skill, that learning doesn't take place in isolation. It involves other people, in a certain location, at a certain time of day, with specific methods of training or teaching. If a person has difficulty learning a skill, it may be that the information needs to be presented differently, that another person might be a better trainer or teacher, that the location is too distracting, or that it is a time of day when the person often has trouble concentrating. Sometimes changing the environment makes it possible for a person to learn a skill more easily.