Sammie Cohen

MUED480

Students With Special Needs or Exceptionalities Background Profile/Reflections

My experience working with special education at this placement was very informative in

teaching students with special needs and exceptionalities. In addition to reviewing the IEPs and

504s of band students, I had the opportunity to discuss and ask questions about special education

with the special education coordinator at my cooperating school. I learned quite a bit about the

methodology, language, and logistics of the special education program and how these programs

operate state and nation-wide. I also learned specifics about special education at the high school

level and how accommodations and special services are worked into students’ academics. I

Student A has been diagnosed with autism and, according to their IEP, displays deficits in

communication and social interactions and restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns in their

behavior. They also experience executive functioning deficits including time management,

planning and organization, work completion, and prioritizing. Though Student A has more

special services and accommodations, the ones I found most applicable to the band classroom

included providing a checklist or sub-steps identifying priority items, chunking of learning time

or visual breaks to reduce cognitive overload, and frequent checks of understanding in which the

student is asked to explain concepts. Some ways this could be carried out include writing a

checklist reduced from an existing lesson plan, outlining clear sections of instruction through

explanation of material or objectives to be worked on, and regularly check in with the student as

part of group or individual instruction.

Student B has ADHD and their accommodations and services are quite different from

those of Student A. These include providing wait time for answering questions or a reminder that
the student will be called on to answer questions aloud, providing preferential seating close to

instruction and away from distractions, as well as repeated check-ins to ensure understanding of

directions. Student B is in the percussion ensemble class, so some examples of how these

accommodations could take place include repeating the description of certain percussion

techniques, having the student placed among students who are focused, and having classwide

check-ins of for understanding so as to assess the individual’s understanding without singling

them out- this idea of avoiding singling out was something I discussed with the special education

coordinator and I believe is very important for accommodations and creating an equal, inclusive

environment in the classroom.