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Ripple Effects: Meeting a Range of Special Needs
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Raise grades
Reduce truancy
Build character
Prevent bullying
Solve behavior problems
Anywhere. Anytime
"(Before)
I'd never tell my advisor ... . Now I'll go to my advisor. She helps,
or I'll go to a teacher. I feel OK doing that. I was embarrassed to
ask the teacher , but after I did the program, I'm not. You've got to
express yourself so you can know more."
Student,
Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy, Oakland, CA
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 Both Ripple Effects for Kids and Ripple Effects for Teens can
be a substantial and important part of truly Individualized Education
Plans for students with a range of special needs. The simple monitoring
and reporting features enable adult facilitators to monitor each student's
progress and report to parents with a minimum of fuss.
The software helps students with special needs succeed by:
- Providing research-validated and comprehensive positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS)
- RTI: early individualized interventions to build student's resilience, social and emotional competency, and connection to the community
- Ensuring fidelity to proven effective cognitive-behavioral training methods
- Matching training to each student’s learning strengths
- Automatically monitoring student progress – reducing paperwork
Here are some examples of how Ripple Effects applications accommodate students
with special needs.
Students who are deaf - text to sound equivalents give them complete
access to the entire program.
Students with Dyslexia - the program provides specific information on
student rights to reasonable accommodation, as well as practical tips
for reducing the impact of dyslexia on academic achievement, and specific
techniques for dealing with the feelings and frustration that comes with
dyslexia.
English Language learners - simple vocabulary, comic book style
illustrations, narration by peers from diverse cultural groups, and topics
that reflect some of these students most immediate concerns, like making
friends, and dealing with discrimination, have made this program a big
hit among English Language learners.
Students with attention-related problems - an interactive profiler based on DSM-IV
provides broad screening to separate the medical condition of ADHD from
other causes of attention deficit, such as learning style differences,
preoccupation with personal problems, and substance use. Provides impulse
control training as well as information about Ritalin.
Students with communicative disorders, such as mild autism or Asperger's syndrome
- the specific, repeatable training in basic social skills such as making
eye contact and starting and stopping conversations, makes it possible
for each student to have an individualized plan of specific training,
without requiring an individual instructor for each student.
Students with other
emotional and behavioral disorders - whether rooted in family dynamics,
or a variety of other social factors, from racism to abuse, are explicitly
addressed with separate tutorials, which often include encouragement and
guidance for talking about those problems with a trusted adult. There
are many reports of students disclosing their personal problem to counselors
and nurses, after having a chance to use the program.
If kids with learning,
attention and conduct problems don't get help, their frustration is likely
to lead either to aggression (acting out) or withdrawal (dropping out).
Over a lifetime, untreated learning problems are correlated with lower
employment, higher welfare and higher incarceration rates.
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