Chapters 6 and 7

Autism

The first presentation was on autism. The majority of my work with preschoolers has been associated with this disability. I enjoyed seeing the connections that the group made and the video that they shared. Too often, we try to make choices for people that have a disability instead of being patient enough to let them make their own decisions. I know for me, it is much easier to just make a decision for some of the students I work with, but in the end, this is just enabling them to rely on me to make their decisions for them.

Autism is characterized by a lack of social skills (taking things literally), avoidance of eye contact, parroting behaviors, and often being extremely gifted in specific areas of learning. People with autism can be overly stimulated easily and can have trouble focusing on a single thing if they have too much stimulation (hence why they avoid eye contact because of the stimulation given when looking at a face).

To help students with this disorder, I can limit stimulation, give them breaks from learning, and help them find their niche of interest. I can help them by not allowing their para-educator to invade into their social circle so they can develop these skills.

Visual Impairment

A piece that stood out to me from visual impairments was when Garret shared his story about having a tumor around his eye and how bad his vision was. It reminded me of the importance of having understanding for the people around me. How easy it is to just pretend like we know the lives of the people around us, failing to get to know them well enough to understand some of the trials they face each day.

Visual impairments need to negatively affect academic performance in order to receive services under IDEA. I worked with a boy at American Fork High School who was legally blind and he had the service of technological supports that helped him to read and write independently. One thing I noticed was that when things didn't go according to plan, he would become frustrated and would need time to cool down. Visual impairments can accompany other learning disabilities.

I can help the visually impaired by making clear assignments that have enlarged print and additional spacing. I can seat the child in the front of the classroom and write with a bigger font. I can also pair them with a buddy that can help them to read material that is too small for them to see.

Speech Impairment

There was so much material in the chapter for this week! I enjoyed the presentations from both of the groups. I nearly choked on the three marshmallows and Britley couldn't understand a word I was saying! The only reason she guessed the three statements that I shared with myself was because I made hand motions while I "spoke". I thought it was interesting to make the connection between showing patience for those who have speech impairments and how difficult it can be for them to get their message across.

The general application I took away from this was to show patience for students with speech impairments. It is a disservice for me to always speak for them or to supply words for them, but I can also be sensitive to their needs and help them avoid embarrassing situations by not asking them to answer a question in front of the whole class. I can use white boards as well as think-pair-share.

Speech and sound disorders come in two types: articulation  or phonological processes. Articulation problems are when a child produces sounds incorrectly (possible a lisp). Sound patterns, or phonological processes can come as word substitution, omission, addition or distortion of speech sounds.

Learning Disability

The second presentation was about learning disabilities. They did a great job of showing us how difficult it could be to read if the letters were jumbled up all of the time. A little girl I work with at the elementary school seems to have an acute problem with this because she likes to sometimes read the word backwards or spell words backwards. She gets frustrated fairly easily because she can't seem to read like everyone else in her class. I am grateful that the presentations have translated over into real life.

The general application from this presentation for me was that I need to meet the child where they are at. It doesn't make any sense for me to go outside of the childs' zone of proximal development because that is where the frustration comes in for them. If they don't love learning, then they aren't going to have very much motivation to try.

Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

A girl from my class shared an experience where she suffered from severe anxiety to the point that she would pace her house at night to make sure that everyone was going to be safe. These disorders can range from depression, to OCD, to anxiety to Bipolar to Schizophrenia. 

My family has a high incidence of depression. One thing that my family has tried to do is to set goals for future events. Having something to live for can help a little bit. 

I liked the video this group showed because it talked about the lack of understanding our society has in relationship to these disorders. How often do we use these terms without a full understanding of what that actually looks like? I worked with a girl in a Life Skills class that constantly was worried that people were going to kidnap her and that she smelled gross. These are real disorders that affect a large percentage of the population. 

The statistics for Schizophrenia are very low. I found this interesting because a person can't be diagnosed with this disorder until the age of 18 because of how rare it is. This made it hard in the Life Skills class because there was a girl with high symptoms of this disorder, but she couldn't be treated for it until she turned 18.

One thing I want to be better at is having understanding towards those who suffer from this disorder. I can't understand what it is like to want to wash my hands dozens of times in a day or to want to take my own life, but these are real disorders. I don't need to judge others just because of my lack of understanding.

ADHD and ADD

These week, a group presented on ADHD/ ADD. Before this presentation, I wasn't aware of the medical implications of this disorder. I learned that when a student is affected by this disorder, the cortex of the brain shuts down during time of instruction so while a student may be able to complete an assignment one day, the next, they won't have access to that information. I felt like this lesson was good for me to realize that this is a true medical condition and just because I haven't experienced it, doesn't mean it isn't real.

I took the general application that I need to accommodate for this disorder by limiting the distractions for this student by having them sit in the front of the classroom, giving them more time to complete assignments, limiting the quantity of an assignment (not the quality), giving verbal explanations as well as written (by putting up a powerpoint after verbal instructions so all students know the basic instructions for the current assignment), and offering opportunities to move around in the classroom.

I also need to let the parents know what I have observed (which doesn't mean that I tell them to get their child tested, just that I let them know of the symptoms I am observing). Some parents may be in denial that their child is having these symptoms. I can have patience with the student and the parents as they struggle to find what will work best for them, whether that is medication or social support through counseling.

There are three types of ADHD: inattentive, hyperactive, and a mixture of the two. The inattentive ADHD is found in girls twice as often as it is in boys. The other or mixture of the two is found three times as often in boys then in girls. Around the world 5.2 million people have ADHD.

Cognitive Impairment

Some characteristics of cognitive impairments include forgetting basic information (like their age or names of places), a tendency to get overwhelmed easily, trouble reading despite normal intelligence, impairment of communication, and a high level of motor activity.

These children can be helped by teaching life skills in how to appropriately communicate with others. One way I have seen this done is through role play. The students practicing their social skills are asked to act out different scenarios of how to ask if they can join in a game or how to alternate asking and answering questions in a conversation. 

This impairment is caused by an outside force, usually a violent blow to the head. These students benefit from having more time to understand concepts and to complete assignments.

Poverty

Poverty is so much more than not having money. Poverty also comes in the form of not having proper stimulation from the beginning of life and ranging into adulthood. One way to combat poverty is to give environmental supports from a very young age. Stress and anxiety are a part of life, but there can be toxic stress when children or adults are placed in environments of abuse, neglect, or organized crime. Without these emotional supports, these people will suffer developmentally and will continue the cycle of living in poverty.

In 2013, Idaho was ranked at having 47% of its population falling below the poverty level (meaning a family of four would earn less than $22,000 a year). Half of our students were qualifying for free or reduced lunch at school. 

One way I hope to combat poverty in my own classroom is to never take away recess privileges from a child. Children need to be able to play to develop socially/emotionally, cognitively and physically. Another small way is to create a classroom environment where we are safe to make mistakes and where it isn't okay to look down on others because of their family circumstances. 

I loved the story Brother Cloward shared about the teacher who organized clothes, glasses, and shoes to the point that when the built the new school, they built rooms to house all of those things. It can be hard to do the right thing and to stand alone, but it is worth it. Poverty affects such a large percentage of students that it cannot be ignored. I can make sure my students have opportunities to enroll in programs designed to help their needs. 

ELL 

It used to be thought that we should just submerge ELL students into the classroom and that they would figure it out after a while. A girl in my SPED 310 class had that experience when she came to America and said that she was quiet for about a year until she learned Spanish. Today, we have separate classes for these students to help support them academically as they transition into the American culture.

I want to be good at communicating with the parents of my students and because I don't speak Spanish, this is a potential barrier. My husband speaks Spanish and so it is my goal to learn enough Spanish that I could have a conversation with them over the phone or during a parent teacher conference so they feel comfortable enough to attend and talk about their child.