Amazingly in my 15 years of teaching I have had only one low-incidence disabled child in my room. I was teaching 5th grade and this student had low vision due to congenital glaucoma. Her vision was not low enough to need any help when walking, but assistance was needed for reading. We had a large machine connected to a tv screen that projected whatever she was trying to read onto the screen. That was eight years ago and fortunately the new devices are much smaller and easier to use.
While I haven't had much experience with low-incidence disabilities, there have been several in the schools where I have taught. Currently we have a student in kindergarten who has an autism spectrum disorder. He has a shadow that spends the day with him and many accomodations are made for him. My child was in his class last year and it was so wonderful to watch how she and the other students loved him and helped him. His outbursts when something upset them didn't bother them at all and they always tried to help. One example is that he couldn't handle walking down the hall with so many students in the hall in the morning, so he would stay up in the office and when everyone had cleared the halls, the teacher would send two students to get him. It wasn't the same two everyday, but you could tell they had been instructed on walking slowly and talking calmly to him on the way. What a great lesson in compassion those students learned! There are several other students in the school with autism, but none so severe. We have another student who is legally blind. He has a machine that goes where ever he goes to help him see. He also has a machine that allows him to write in braille.
Again, I think it is important for teachers to have many strategies available when a student with one of these low-incidence disabilites is placed in our room. There is so much to know about each of these disabilities and yet no two will be exactly alike. Spina bifida was mentioned in this chapter. I have seen children with spina-bifida that also have other impairments which make learning difficult, but I also had a cousin with spina-bifida who had none of the learning problems. He graduated from college and worked for several years before complications from the spina bifida took his life. There is just so much to know. I think we need to make sure plenty of information and strategies to help these students need to be at a regular ed teacher's disposal.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Chapter 2 High-Incidence Disabilities
The high-incidence disabilites discussed in this chapter are so common that I would imagine most teachers have several in their classrooms each year. The most common one I see each year is ADD and ADHD. Learning disabilities and speech and language impairments would be the second most common that I see. Emotional and behavioral disorders seem to becoming more and more common each year and is something I feel the regular classroom teacher often doesn't have the skills to effectively handle. I have not had a case of Asberger's in class, but I have interaction at church with a child who has this disability.
Each year in my class I have several students with the ADHD or ADD diagnosis. While I think these disablities are grossly overdiagnosed there are some students that have a true diagnosis. For these students I try my best to find accommodations that will help them. Having them work at my reading table with me sitting there with them often helps when they are having a praticulary difficult time focusing. Just being in close proximity helps those with ADHD as well as the students with behavioral issues. Students with learning disabilites usually are pulled for one to two periods as day for extra help, and I find putting assignments on the computer that fit their particular needs also helpful. They usually enjoy these assignments and they can do them on their own.
There are many challenges each day with these students. With my ADHD students finding one on one time with them can really be beneficial, but finding that time can be really difficult. The biggest problem I face is not only trying to help them focus, but keeping them from distracting others. Another challenge I have this year is a learning disabled child. She is functioning on a kindergarten/first grade level academically and at about a kindergarten level socially. She leaves for two periods a day for reading and math help. When she is in my room I have computer programs for her for her math and reading practice, but social studies and science is another story. Everything must be read to her. For tests this is no problem, but on a regular day when I give an assignment I feel all my attention must go to her. Our social studies and science curriculum are difficult for the average student and impossible for her on her own. Other students also need my help and I feel they are not getting the attention they need. I have tried getting another student to work with her, but because she is socially so far behind the other students she cries and gets upset very easily or she gets silly and disrupts. This is one I struggle with daily and would love some help with.
Some of the things I would like to improve on would be finding more strategies and better strategies to deal with these disabilities. Very often what works for one child will not work for one with the very same disability so an arsenal of things to try is needed.
Each year in my class I have several students with the ADHD or ADD diagnosis. While I think these disablities are grossly overdiagnosed there are some students that have a true diagnosis. For these students I try my best to find accommodations that will help them. Having them work at my reading table with me sitting there with them often helps when they are having a praticulary difficult time focusing. Just being in close proximity helps those with ADHD as well as the students with behavioral issues. Students with learning disabilites usually are pulled for one to two periods as day for extra help, and I find putting assignments on the computer that fit their particular needs also helpful. They usually enjoy these assignments and they can do them on their own.
There are many challenges each day with these students. With my ADHD students finding one on one time with them can really be beneficial, but finding that time can be really difficult. The biggest problem I face is not only trying to help them focus, but keeping them from distracting others. Another challenge I have this year is a learning disabled child. She is functioning on a kindergarten/first grade level academically and at about a kindergarten level socially. She leaves for two periods a day for reading and math help. When she is in my room I have computer programs for her for her math and reading practice, but social studies and science is another story. Everything must be read to her. For tests this is no problem, but on a regular day when I give an assignment I feel all my attention must go to her. Our social studies and science curriculum are difficult for the average student and impossible for her on her own. Other students also need my help and I feel they are not getting the attention they need. I have tried getting another student to work with her, but because she is socially so far behind the other students she cries and gets upset very easily or she gets silly and disrupts. This is one I struggle with daily and would love some help with.
Some of the things I would like to improve on would be finding more strategies and better strategies to deal with these disabilities. Very often what works for one child will not work for one with the very same disability so an arsenal of things to try is needed.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Chapter 4 Collaboration
Collaboration is something we do a lot of at my school. Some of it is very informal such as two teachers talking in the hall before or after school about some problems a student may be having. Talking to another teacher who has had a student with a similar problem can be very helpful. Collaboration is sometimes more formal such as our weekly grade level meetings where we talk about what we will be working on in class the next week and upcoming important events. We also have Tuesday meetings as a faculty as well as once a month where we meet with the other teachers in the district at our grade level. Our most formal collaborative meetings would be when we have in an author or math specialist to work with us on new ideas and strategies. We collaborate when we conference with parents at conferences, and with phone calls and e-mails. Another type of collboration we have is our CLT meeting. This stands for Concord Leadership Team and it is made up of the grade chair person in each grade level. This group meets once a month and brings any concerns that may have come up in our school. Probably the most important type of collaboration we do is I-Team meeting where we deal with the specific needs of a struggling child. This type of collaboration involves the teacher, the parent, a councelor, agency representative and the school psychologist who has or will be doing the testing.
I think we do a great job of collaboration at my school. We have an essential agreement for our meeting times that we come up with each year together. One of the agreements state that we listen respectfully to others, a very important part of any meeting. We also agree to be open-minded to others ideas and to stay on task with the issues we are dealing with. In all of the meetings of every type that I have been involved with everyone has followed these agreements. It makes everything flow and certainly helps us accomplish our goals for that particular meeting. It's very important to come into every meeting with an open mind and a positive attitude. That's not always easy when you may be expecting a difficult situation, but usually even if there are some difficult feelings having a positive attitude and body language can do a lot towards making the meeting a productive one. Follow ups are also very important and while we do these they are not always in a timely manner. I would say this is our weakess in collaboration.
Time, I think is our biggest down fall. When it comes to the referral process, in my opinion, it is way too slow. We are all busy and have many children to take care of, but this is a process that needs to move as quickly as possible so that the student gets what they need in a timely manner. Finding the time to have the meetings that fit the teacher and parent schedules can also be really difficult. The worst scenario here is an I-Team meeting that takes a teacher away from his or her classroom during the school day. This seems to be happening more and more with parents work schedules and so many children that need some type of help.
I try to work my schedule with my own children so that I can make myself available to parents before and after school at times that will work for them. I usually let the others involved in the meetings set a time that works for them and then I make it work for me. I am a peace maker so keeping a good attitude and being open-minded usually isn't something that is difficult for me. There is always room for improvement however!
I think we do a great job with all of these collaborations.
I think we do a great job of collaboration at my school. We have an essential agreement for our meeting times that we come up with each year together. One of the agreements state that we listen respectfully to others, a very important part of any meeting. We also agree to be open-minded to others ideas and to stay on task with the issues we are dealing with. In all of the meetings of every type that I have been involved with everyone has followed these agreements. It makes everything flow and certainly helps us accomplish our goals for that particular meeting. It's very important to come into every meeting with an open mind and a positive attitude. That's not always easy when you may be expecting a difficult situation, but usually even if there are some difficult feelings having a positive attitude and body language can do a lot towards making the meeting a productive one. Follow ups are also very important and while we do these they are not always in a timely manner. I would say this is our weakess in collaboration.
Time, I think is our biggest down fall. When it comes to the referral process, in my opinion, it is way too slow. We are all busy and have many children to take care of, but this is a process that needs to move as quickly as possible so that the student gets what they need in a timely manner. Finding the time to have the meetings that fit the teacher and parent schedules can also be really difficult. The worst scenario here is an I-Team meeting that takes a teacher away from his or her classroom during the school day. This seems to be happening more and more with parents work schedules and so many children that need some type of help.
I try to work my schedule with my own children so that I can make myself available to parents before and after school at times that will work for them. I usually let the others involved in the meetings set a time that works for them and then I make it work for me. I am a peace maker so keeping a good attitude and being open-minded usually isn't something that is difficult for me. There is always room for improvement however!
I think we do a great job with all of these collaborations.
Chapter 1 RTI
I currently have two students being served outside of my classroom. I have another with interventions in place, but he is not served outside of my classroom. The interventions I have used range from very simple things such as making sure the child is always at the front of the room to things that require more time such as oral testing and reteaching, and computer programs set up specifically for that child and his or special needs. Then there are the interventions that can be tough to keep up with such as a chart on the desk that I have to put stickers on each time I notice the student on task. The oral testing and reteaching are easy to remember and do. I generally have two or three with this intervention and it becomes automatic to pull them when we are testing. They also know they have this accomodation and can remind me if I were to forget. Pulling students into a small group is also pretty easy to maintain and most of the time students love this one on one time. I've also found this can be done by going to the child's desk individually if time is runnning short for pulling the group. For children with behavioral issues proximity to the child goes a long way. Many of these students are completely different when you have them one on one, so being nearby while teaching can greatly reduce disruptions from them. I feel we do a good job of regularly assessing the progress of these students and communicating that to the parents and student.
One place that I know I need work is in my time management of my lessons. It's amazing how fast time goes when you are teaching a lesson. Too often I do feel pushed for time and my small group time gets pushed aside. I also feel that I need a few more strategies in my arsenal to help students with learning difficulties. With students with learning difficulties spending more time in the regular classroom, the regular classroom teacher needs more special ed strategies to reach theses students. It's so important that these students experience success and I know that it is my job to see that this happens.
One thing I would like to do is to create a notebook of strategies for students with learning difficulties in reading and math areas. This would be a great resource for helping these children in my classroom. I have also thought about setting a timer so that I will stop my regular lesson in time to make sure I can meet with my small group each day.
One place that I know I need work is in my time management of my lessons. It's amazing how fast time goes when you are teaching a lesson. Too often I do feel pushed for time and my small group time gets pushed aside. I also feel that I need a few more strategies in my arsenal to help students with learning difficulties. With students with learning difficulties spending more time in the regular classroom, the regular classroom teacher needs more special ed strategies to reach theses students. It's so important that these students experience success and I know that it is my job to see that this happens.
One thing I would like to do is to create a notebook of strategies for students with learning difficulties in reading and math areas. This would be a great resource for helping these children in my classroom. I have also thought about setting a timer so that I will stop my regular lesson in time to make sure I can meet with my small group each day.
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