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Many things are understood about teaching students with disabilities in any field. I believe that I have a special job, one that most would deem impossible. Working with students who have disabilities gives teachers a different kind of responsibility, because not only are you teaching them, you are giving them access to a world that a lot of people would say that they couldn’t have. Judging from my experience, a lot of teachers see students with disabilities as less capable students than those ‘normal’ students. I believe that those teachers are absolutely wrong. In that situation, I believe that those teachers are just doing it wrong.
Being given the responsibility of teaching a student with a disability certainly has it challenges, but it also sees bigger rewards at the end. Knowing that you overcame the challenges that this student has, and given them a way to understand something, is more powerful than anything in the world. Knowing that you gave a student access to an education, who has additional challenges is the most rewarding experience.
Working with students with disabilities presents a lot of challenges up front. What special accommodations does this student need? What is difficult for this student? What is this student really good at? How do I approach this student? I look at this like a puzzle. The student has so many facets, unlike most ‘normal’ students, and finding the right recipe can be quite challenging. As a teacher, you have to build ways for this student to understand. You have to write lessons that engage this student while simultaneously downplaying their weaknesses and highlighting their strengths. You also have to take into account their disability and find a way to use it to the students advantage.
One challenge I will most certainly face is the full inclusion piece. I fully endorse students with disabilities being placed into a traditional classroom setting, but it does come with its own set of challenges. As IDEA states, students are entitled to a free public education that is appropriate for their needs. Students need to be with their peers, which leads me to support full inclusion in the classroom. I know that as a teacher, I would look at this student no differently than my other students because they are part of our classroom; they are just the same as every other student in the classroom. Just as I differentiate for visual and auditory learners, I would differentiate for each student with a disability.
My challenge would be in establishing an environment where the students feel the same way. In my student teaching placement, I got to see this first-hand. ZS was a new student the week before I began coming into the classroom. I watched as my mentor teacher began teaching signs to the students and including ZS in everything that we did. The students took to her immediately and most of them did not see her as being different. I believe that since my mentor set up a community in which all students are friends and accept each other, ZS fit right in because the students didn’t mind her differences, they embraced them and were excited to learn new things.
I believe that my biggest challenge will be pouring all of my time and effort into these students and not focusing on my class as a whole. I am the type of person that puts everyone before myself and often times I give myself a lot to juggle. Quite honestly, sometimes it’s too much. I’m afraid that I will become too involved with a particular student and neglect the main classroom teaching. I will have to find a way to balance my time between accommodating for and teaching this student, and teaching my class as a whole and differentiating for their needs as well.
The challenge presented above is also one of my strengths. Because I am so passionate about students with disabilities, I will advocate for these students and pour my heart into everything that I do for them. There isn’t a lack of passion when it comes to working with students with disabilities and I believe that each and everyone has the capacity of learning. I believe that I can always find a way to make it work. I will work day and night to ensure that these students, along with all of my students, are learning to their full potential, despite the challenges that I may face.
ZS and MB reading a book together in the library.
ZS is a beautiful little girl whose desire to learn far surpasses that of any of her classmates. She is full of energy each morning and doesn’t hesitate to explore her surroundings. She is on an IEP for a diagnosis on the Autism spectrum as well as a hearing impairment and a cleft palette. She works with a one-on-one aid each day, who facilitates her communication, takes care of her personal needs, and manages her behavior.
During a typical day, ZS will have a few meltdowns which involve dumping markers or manipulatives on the floor, followed by a laugh, a smile, and her running away. Often times this behavior signifies that she is done with the activity and wants to move on. She arrives at school an hour after the other students and joins our morning meeting. She thoroughly loves to sing and dance during morning meeting. Most often you will find her in the center of the circle watching the other students, mesmerized by their movements and words. She goes with the class and her aid to unified arts; music being her favorite. During the student’s math time, she works with her aid on individualized math problems, often times this includes counting and writing numbers. She then leaves early for speech therapy where they are working on visual cues and a visual schedule. They are trying to incorporate speaking and signing into her language. The teaching of this is done using a lot of visual prompting. She rejoins the class for recess and lunch, where she loves the swing and plays well with the other students. She has gotten much better at sharing during the time that she has been a part of the class. In the afternoon, she works with either the para-educator, or the classroom teacher while her aid eats lunch. They read books and play at the dollhouse. ZS is absolutely fascinated with water and fish. Her favorite movie is Finding Nemo so during this rest time, you will find her with a fish or and ocean book in her hands. After rest time, MB, her aid, takes over and they do lessons on their own. A lot of time is spent at the computer watching videos, responding to questions, or learning her letters and speech sounds. She is particularly fond of one website (www.starfall.com) where she can see animations of the different letters and play games to learn their sounds. At the end of the day, ZS is exhausted. But her exhaustion doesn’t keep her from running around on the playground with her little brother and sister.
ZS comes from an amazing family. They have been there since day one, no expense spared. They want what is best for their little girl, and nothing stands in their way of giving it to her. During our weekly meetings, her mother will ask what she can do at home to prompt ZS and help reinforce the things that we are doing at school. ZS has the ultimate support system.
In the attached pages, you will find an interview I conducted with her case manager, which will explain her history, the services provided, the modifications in the classroom, and the assessments she has undergone. I have also attached a lesson plan that I developed with her aid to first teach ZS and then for ZS to help teach the class.
Interview with Case Manager
ZS IEP Accomodations Page
ZS IEP Accomodations Page
ZS Team Meeting Notes
ZS Team Meeting Notes 2
Birdfeeders
Act 117 – Strengthening of system to provide adequate learning environment for students with disabilities
IDEA 1992 – Gives all students with disabilities access to an equal education
Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act 1973 – Protects all people with disabilities from discrimination in any program or activity that is provided federal funding
After reviewing both federal and state policy, I believe that this student is being provided the services called for in the guidelines of the laws and acts provided by the federal and state governments. As it states in Act 117 in the state of Vermont, students are now monitored and reported upon more frequently, in order to provide all essential services and additional services as needed. In ZS’s case, we have weekly update meetings, in which her parents, the classroom teacher, her aid, her case manager, and her advocate from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Association are present. We discuss her progress and decide what we can do to adapt the classroom schedule and lessons to fit her. We are constantly changing what is being done in the classroom to ensure that she is being provided all the services that she needs. With these weekly meetings, we are able to report back more frequently to the state in order to show that we are doing everything that we can to provide ZS with the best education that she can get.
As I stated above, ZS is being given the very best care at school and she is thriving so much as a student. Under IDEA, she is entitled to a free appropriate public education, and that is exactly what is being provided. ZS is being given services required to make her education the best that it can be. She sees a speech and language pathologist four times a week to jumpstart her speech and her aid works with her each day on recognizing her letters, associating them with the speech sounds, while using signs to give her visual cues.
The learning environment provided to ZS is perfect to suit her needs. There are a lot of materials in the classroom to work with (i.e., manipulatives, toys, games, puzzles, computers, white boards, etc.) All of these hands-on tools help ZS to learn because the visual cues are what help her the most. The students in the class are also beneficial to ZS because she is seeing what behavior is appropriate in the classroom. Not only are the students learning to sign to help ZS, but they also love her as a person and do not hesitate to help her whenever they can.
Having ZS in the classroom has been amazing for the other students. She has really brought their learning to a new level because they have become bilingual. The students have learned many new signs that they use both inside and outside the classroom. ZS has given the students and teachers a new opportunity to learn in a new way and has showed the students diversity at a new level. They benefit each day from ZS because she shows them new ways of doing things and has taught them a whole new way of looking at language.
Because the learning environment is so open, not only physically, but also in the principles set forth by the teachers, allows for the students to express themselves in multiple ways. The students have connected with ZS and each other through the use of sign and through the lessons that ZS and MB have taught the class.
LC making flowers for Mom!
LC is an extremely smart boy who doesn’t quite understand what it means to apply himself. He is curious about his surroundings, but in a technical way rather than an educational way. He is part of the regular classroom, but has some additional modifications throughout the day. He has anxiety problems, which the cause of has not yet been targeted. Most days, he’ll chew on the sleeves of his shirt, which is unsanitary and inappropriate. To mediate this problem, the classroom teacher provides him with gum when he feels like he needs it. At first, the gum wasn’t working because he’d continue to chew on his shirt and the gum would get everywhere. Now, he understands how to use the gum and the chewing on his sleeves has decreased a lot. Another thing that LC has trouble with, is keeping his shoes on. We believe this to be a sensory reaction because he explains to us that he doesn’t like how they rub on his feet. He wears shoes without laces more comfortably, and those tend to stay on his feet more than his sneakers do.
Although there is no definite diagnosis for LC, we know that something else is going on with him. During full class instruction, he is often off task, playing with something in the cabinets or on the shelves. He has trouble starting work on his own and needs prompting and help to complete it in a timely manner. He often gets discouraged with reading and writing, claiming that he can’t do it. I believe that this stems from the anxiety he has. He sees his classmates reading and writing without a problem and his anxiety rises because he cannot do it as effortlessly as some of them.
Where LC has trouble with academic tasks, he makes up for in creative ability. He is an amazing builder; with the blocks he was able to create a full castle that the student admired for days. He is also very well spoken. For a student who has trouble with reading and writing, you would never expect to be able to hold a conversation with him. After talking with Mother at a parent-teacher conference, I realized that the reason for this was because his parents just talk to him. Rather than ‘dumbing down’ a conversation, they talk to him and his twin brother like they would anyone else. Some of the things that he says and the knowledge that he has acquired would amaze most people. He understands a lot of things.
For example, a teacher called another teacher a ‘Southern Belle’ the other day and LC said, “A Southern Belle, she’s from Vermont…hahahaha!” He understands very adult concepts and can even explain these concepts to the other students flawlessly. During a skill builder I created for him, the students had to build a signal on a pretend beach so that they could be rescued by a plane flying overhead. I gave then pieces of sea glass to use in their work. Immediately LC said that he was going to make a light out of the sea glass. I asked how he was going to go about doing this, he explained that when the stun bounces off the glass, it will reflect the light back up and will hit the plane, making the people in the plane look down and see them. Amazing!
In the attached pages, you will find an interview I conducted with his classroom teacher about his history, services, and assessments. I have also attached a copy of the lesson plan, which was another skill builder that I aimed towards his strengths as a learner.
Interview with Classroom Teacher
LC Progress Monitoring
LC Progress Monitoring 2
LC Progress Monitoring 3
LC Froggy Skill Builder
Act 117 – Strengthening of system to provide adequate learning environment for students with disabilities
IDEA 1992 – Gives all students with disabilities access to an equal education
Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act 1973 – Protects all people with disabilities from discrimination in any program or activity that is provided federal funding
Given what I know about LC’s abilities and services provided in the classroom, I believe that he is not being given what he needs. It is evident each day that he would benefit greatly from being given a thorough evaluation and given the chance to have services provided to him. You can see that he struggles with the most basic tasks in the areas of reading and writing, and something needs to be done. As of right now, he is only being progress monitored and pulled out for additional help once a week.
It is unfortunate that students need to be in school for a year before given a referral to be evaluated for services. By the time that the logistics are worked out, precious time has been wasted in this student’s development. I understand that he is being monitored for improvement in reading and writing, but what does monitoring do if he isn’t being provided additional instruction to help him improve? When he is pulled out for more help, it is often inconsistent because some weeks, he won’t isn't pulled out and the students he works with are rarely the same. The teacher that pulls him out isn’t the most friendly and he often dreads his time with her. If he were provided services, I believe that he would overcome his anxiety about learning and he would thrive in the classroom.
The learning environment that is provided to LC is positive because it allows him a lot of time to work with his peers and learn from them. A lot of time is spent doing full class work, which gives LC a chance to see what his peers are doing. At the same time, he sees what is peers are doing and gets discouraged because he cannot do the same things as they are doing. The classroom teacher, myself, and the Para-educator work with him as much as we can to encourage his reading and writing and give him extra instruction during free-time in the morning. We have played games with him to enhance his learning, but a lot of this is done in vain because he gets discouraged so easily.
The learning climate for this student both helps and hinders him. On one hand, he is able to learn from his peers and the independence given to each student allows more time for the teacher to spend with him working. But on the other hand, LC sees what his peers are doing and what to join them, and gets discouraged when he cannot work at their level. This adds to the anxiety that this students faces daily.
If IDEA and Act 117 were being followed as they are intended to be, this student would have no trouble with his work. By being provided with services, he would be able to gain confidence in his work, and flourish as a learner.
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