Differences I have noticed working in a school for children with disabilities Name: Jaci Anderson Date: September 26,

2 !2 "ime: #: a$m$ % !: p$m$ &alking into the classroom for the first time I didn't see an(thing that looked terribl( different from an( of the other classrooms I have worked in$ Jenn( and I had a few min)tes to go over the orientation checklist and right awa( she mentioned that the philosoph( of the school was b)ilding independence and thro)gho)t the da( I noticed e*amples of this$ +earning to eat with manners and )tensils is a big foc)s of attention at l)nch and dressing and )ndressing is a big foc)s for recess$ &hen the children arrived, most came b( b)s, b)t the difference was each teacher has to walk o)tside and on to each b)s to walk each child to the classroom, so right awa( I saw how m)ch more these children wo)ld be dependant on )s as teachers$ ,nce all the children were in the classroom I noticed that we had a small gro)p with varied ages$ After talking with Jenn( later she told me we had an age range of fo)r to nine (ear olds in this partic)lar class, b)t rooms are not divided b( age b)t b( abilit($ -ost of the children have Downs S(ndrome, one bo(, ./harlie0, has a more severe ph(sical disabilit( which re1)ires him to )se a walker or a bike that he is strapped into at recess$ "he first activit( of the da( is circle time$ "his incl)ded the t(pical goings on: calendar, attendance, pledge of allegiance, with a different child is chosen to lead each activit($ "his incl)ded man( differences$ Some children were given a .chew(0 2I'm not s)re if that's the act)al name3 which is a r)bber t)be that gets attached to the collar of the wearer's shirt so the( can chew on it$ Another child was given a r)bber to( to hold d)ring this time to b)s( his hands$ And at one point it was /harlie's t)rn to lead an activit(, which re1)ired him to get )p from his chair and )se his walker, and he reall( did not want to do it$ &e waited several min)tes for him to get )p which he event)all( did with help$ After talking with Jenn( later she e*plained that he is working on gaining m)scle to become more independent ph(sicall($ She e*plained that at home he is )s)all( carried and it takes a lot of effort for him to move abo)t on his own$ After circle time we have work time where each child has a folder of what the( are c)rrentl( working on and a bo* of s)pplies$ Jenn( had me work with ."omm(0 and we worked on coloring inside the lines and the color (ellow$ It was a ver( big challenge to get "omm( to want to color at all$ 4ach time he wo)ld color it wo)ld be a small b)rst that lasted abo)t five seconds and then several min)tes before he wo)ld color again$ 5e seemed ver( distracted and to not f)ll( )nderstand what we were doing$ I can see that this is a whole new thing re1)iring of me different lang)age, e*pectations, and tactics$ &hen I wo)ld get him to color, I wasn't s)re it felt like he grasped what we were doing$ It felt more like I was convincing him to do this thing he didn't )nderstand and then I didn't know how to feel abo)t the fact that he had done it$ +ater on when I asked Jenn( abo)t it she said she was sitting b( )s and listening in and said that I had worked reall(

well with him so I g)ess I am at least off to a good start$ I will 6)st keep tr(ing and keep asking 1)estions$ Ne*t we had recess which was reall( nice$ 4ach change or new setting re1)ires a lot of work to get the children to follow instr)ctions, so the transitions are a ver( big part of the da(, b)t most of the children seem to reall( like doing things for themselves$ ,nce we got o)tside it was a reall( bea)tif)l da( and all the children seemed to reall( en6o( being o)tside$ -)ch of the pla(gro)nd was the same as an( pla(gro)nd, b)t a few differences were the swings all had seatbelts and the sandbo*es were small and high )p 2abo)t waist7 level on me3 and wheel chair accessible$ At other practic)m placements I've been at the teacher's attention was mostl( keeping an e(e o)t for children breaking r)les 2going )p the slide, etc$3 or b)ll(ing other children, b)t here the children we all prett( 1)iet and en6o(ing the e1)ipment$ "he iss)es teachers seem to deal with most are safet( iss)es having to do with disabilities themselves$ 8or e*ample making s)re other children don't accidentall( b)mp into /harlie while he is on his bike$ "here seems to be ver( few incidents of intentional r)le breaking or h)rting of others$ Ne*t we went to l)nch, where as I mentioned, the big foc)s was on eating with )tensils and table manners$ I noticed that ./assie0 kept screaming e*citedl(, when this wo)ld happen the teachers wo)ld give her words to describe her feelings$ "he( wo)ld sa( .Are (o) h)ngr( /assie90 She wo)ld nod and the( wo)ld tell her ."hen sa( :I'm h)ngr(;', which she wo)ld repeat$ "his was a time where I sat b( "omm( again and worked with him on )sing his fork$ "his time however, he reall( seemed to )nderstand what was e*pected of him and I co)ld see improvement 6)st in that one meal$ I was helping him to spear things with his fork and when he wo)ld have tro)ble with the peaches he wo)ld t)rn to me and sa( .5elp, please0 instead of )sing his fingers and I wo)ld g)ide the fork with his hand and we wo)ld get reall( e*cited when he got it$ It was a ver( nice e*perience$ "ho)gh after he was finished eating and he needed to wait for the other children to finish, he kept p)shing the table$ I reall( didn't know what to do and the teachers kept giving him little 6obs to do like throwing something in the garbage, which he seemed to en6o(, b)t as soon as he was sitting again he wo)ld p)sh the table$ Jenn('s assistant wo)ld then do something she called .calm hands0 where she wo)ld to)ch his hands and arms reall( lightl(, then have him do it to her$ I tho)ght this seemed like a reall( good approach, b)t as soon as she wo)ld stop he wo)ld p)sh the table again$ &hen we got back to the classroom the children all br)sh their teeth$ "hen we did more work$ I sat with /assie while she sorted colored animals into corresponding colored c)ps$ "here were fo)r colors$ She did not seem to )nderstand the colors or the p)rpose of the activit($ She seems to have a sensor( thing where she likes to be holding something or manip)lating something in her hands all the time beca)se she was ver( grabb( with the animals, alwa(s needing some in her hands and 1)ickl( p)tting them in whichever c)p she wanted and 1)ickl( d)mping the c)ps back into the container$ She wo)ld la)gh ever( time something fell on the gro)nd$ I tried to slow her down b( holding onto the container of animals and hand them to her one at a time asking what

color it was and she wo)ld name a color and it wo)ld sometimes be right b)t it seemed like g)essing beca)se sometimes she wo)ld name several at a time$ So I started asking which animals matched the c)ps and she wo)ld sometimes get it right, b)t again, it seemed like g)essing$ Jenn( s)ggested to me that if it was too challenging I co)ld give her two colors of animals and two c)ps$ "hat seemed to help a little b)t she still seemed more foc)sed on 6)st dropping the animals into the c)ps at random$ ,ne thing I noticed was that she co)ld alwa(s identif( the animal, 6)st not the color$ "his was a trick( thing for me to know how to handle$ "alking with Jenn( later we talked abo)t sometimes needing to scale something back if it is too m)ch at that time, (o) want to have high e*pectations b)t (o) also want them to be s)ccessf)l$ She said that /assie is a new st)dent and the( are still fig)ring o)t where her abilities are$ <erhaps she needs more practice with colors than the( tho)ght$ After this we had recess where Jenn( and I got to talk and I got to ask her man( of the 1)estions I had thro)gho)t the da($ Afterward I left$ It was a ver( )ni1)e da( for me with man( new e*periences$ I am reall( looking forward to learning more abo)t this aspect of teaching= I can see that there is a lot for me to learn$