Saving Sahelo-Saharan Antelope essays

Saving Sahelo-Saharan Antelope essays 1. The Sahara desert covers an area larger than the lower 48 states and at over 3100 miles wide it is a little wider than the furthest distance between Maine and California. From west to east it stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and from north to south from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and the Mediterranean Sea to the Sahel. 2. The hottest temperature ever recorded was136F at AlAzizyah in Libya. 3. Daily temperatures can range from 23F (-5C) to 122F (+50C). 4. The hottest temperature I have ever been exposed to was in Las Vegas, Nevada where it was 117F. 5. The Sahara and the Sahel support at least 1660 species of plants. 220 of which are found nowhere else. Among the fauna there are some 221 species of mammals. They can live for months and probably for years, without drinking water. They selectively feed on plants with high water content. They are capable of allowing their body temperatures to rise higher than most mammal species before physiological cooling mechanisms kick in, helping to conserver water. Presumably, they are even capable of sensing distant rainfall and therefore new plant growth. They are also keystone species in the maintenance of biodiversity. They are effective seed dispersers. 7. Five threats to these species are that they are (1) an exploitable source of meat and leather, they (2) have played a major role in the culture of the people of the region, they (3) severe habitat loss, (4) competition with domestic livestock, and are (5) over hunted especially by foreign hunters. 8. Ten species of animals that are native to the Sahara Desert are the (1) ostrich, (2) desert hedgehog, (3) barbary sheep, (4) oryx, (5) gazelle, (6) cheetah, (7) wild ass, (8) baboon, (9) hyena, (10) jackal. Ostrich The ostrich is the fastest creature on two legs. Ostriches have very powerful legs which they use for running up to 40 mph, or for kicking pre...

Teaching Functional Skills to Students with Disabilities

Teaching Functional Skills to Students with Disabilities Teaching functional skills will look very differently depending on the age and level of   function of the students.   With young students with disabilities, it is really a matter of creating structure for acquiring those skills not that long after their typical peers.   Still, success in those skills are a mile marker those students need to put behind.   In many cases parents over function for their children with disabilities, and it is often left to the special educator to encourage and coach the parent through self dressing, tooth brushing and the other skills required for independence.   For older students with more significant disabilities, it is incumbent on their teachers to address those functional needs in the present levels of their IEP’s and create programs that lead to success in the functional areas.   These are unquestionably essential for helping students with disabilities reach their full potential, for if they can’t care for their own teeth or dress themselves, they will be unable to live in a supervised group situation that will offer them the possibility of employment and their own highest level of independence. Functional Skills These skills are skills our students need to master before they can truly develop independence: Self Care DressingTooth BrushingWashing   HandsEating with UtensilsBathing Housekeeping Skills Washing tablesLoading the DishwasherMaking the BedElements of a Program to Successfully Address Functional Skills Task Analysis: Breaking it Down Applied Behavior Analysis talks about the â€Å"topography† of behaviors, and there is nowhere the need is clearer than in teaching functional skills.   A task analysis will be the foundation of your data collection and even the way you define success in your student’s IEP.  Ã‚   It is essential not only that you describe each discrete step in the process, but that you do it in a way that is clear to anyone, i.e. aides, substitutes, substitute aides, and parents can clearly understand.   It is also important to also understand the student:   do they have good receptive language?   Will they respond to modeling or will they need hand over hand prompting?   Have you chosen vocabulary to describe the tasks that you can make part of a simple visual or picture prompting system?   Sample:   Pencil Sharpening You will find task analyses attached to the articles about these skills.   For our purposes, I will make a simple task analysis for a skill they will want in the classroom. Then the student identifies that his/her pencil needs sharpening, he/she will:   Raise hand and request trip to the sharpenerWalk quietly to the sharpener.Insert pencil in the correct opening.Push the pencil in, until the red light on top lights.Remove the pencil.Look at the point.   Is it sharp enough?  If yes, return quietly to seat.   If no, repeat steps 3, 4, and 5.   Teach Each Part of the Task There are three ways to teach functional multi-step skills:   Forward, backward and whole skill chaining.   This is the one place your knowledge of your student will be critical.  Ã‚   Using either forward or backward chaining, your goal needs to be sure the student feels successful at each step he or she masters.   For some students, backward chaining is the best, especially when preparing food, because that step leads immediately to the reinforcement: the pancake, or the grilled cheese sandwich.  Ã‚   For some students, you will be able to prompt each step verbally, or with pictures (see social stories!) and they may be able to master all the steps without the visual prompts after only a few probes (or grilled cheese sandwiches!)  Ã‚  Ã‚   Other students will benefit from completing each step as they learn it, and then prompting or modeling the subsequent steps.   This is a great way to teach a skill to students who may have great receptive language, but may have some difficulty with executive function, especially when it comes to remembering multi-stepped activities. Assessment As a special educator, you want to be sure that you have evidence that you have met the goal that should accompany the need expressed in the Present Levels.   A well written task analysis will provide a great platform for assessing student success.   Be sure that you have operationalized each step so anyone observing the student would check off the same items (inter-observer reliability.)