TESOL 2023 Experience by Lara Ravitch

I had a wonderful time moderating the Intersection for the K12 IS and the Supporting Students with Disabilities IS. First, Amy Noggle & Patricia Rice Doran gave an overview of disability in the US educational context. They particularly stressed the four goals of disability policy (Equality of opportunity, full participation, self determination, and economic self-sufficiency) and the importance of involving families. Liz Piñon then spoke about Translanguaging as a strategy for supporting students with disabilities in language learning contexts. While Translanguaging can benefit all students, Piñon noted that students with disabilities are particularly likely to benefit from the scaffolding and clarity that it provides. She gave great, concrete examples of how to increase translanguaging, such as listening corners with materials in all languages, a multilingual cognate wall, targeted use of translators, and giving students the opportunity to translanguage in pair or independent work. Finally, Crystal Cho Jones shared a number of strategies for supporting neurodivergent students, including dimming lights, moderating sound, providing flexibility, using assistive technology and not forcing students to make eye contact. For those who'd like to learn more, the Padlet form the presentation is here:

https://kapiolani.padlet.org/caroline_torres1/inclusion-and-dis-ability-in-global-pre-k-12-english-languag-h3kpllnku37183vo