The Fundamentals of Fading

I have never heard of the term "fading" until I read about it in June Downing's Teaching Literacy to Students With Significant Disabilities.  Since becoming more familiar with what fading is, I am continuously visualizing a child riding a bicycle with training wheels.  As the child first first learns to ride a bicycle, she needs the extra support and aid that the training wheels provide.  As she continues to ride her bicycle and becomes more familiar with the mechanics, balance, and over all feel for steering and pedaling she hold the capability of eliminating the extra aid those training wheels have provided her. Through development and practice, she has the ability to eliminate that extra support and ride a two-wheel bicycle.  With this said, efforts to fade the level of support for students with significant disabilities should be made so that the student can acquire as much independence as possible when performing a task.  For fading to be most affective, it is best to implement the support in a way that it is not taken away too quickly so that a child will not benefit the instruction or have the support remain present even after the child has mastered a particular area and the support is no longer needed.  

This concept is critical for any student, but it seems to be a vital factor in the developmental growth of those with significant disabilities.  Teachers strive for their students to be independent and accomplished and this is an affective way for students to make achievements.