I have only been teaching for a couple of years. Previously, I worked as a K5 assistant. In those seven years, I have seen several cases of low-incidence disabilities. One of my first years in the school system, we had a student that had tramatic brain injury due to being shaken as a baby. Due to the violent shaking, his eye sight was very bad. To accommodate him, we sat him in close proximity to the Promethean board and provided one-on-one help when possible. He repeated K5 and began receiving some instruction from the resource teacher. Another year, we had a student with an orthopedic impairment. This little boy had a form of dwarfism. His hand and fingers were not properly developed. He also needed a lot of one-on-one assistance. He had special writing utensils and scissors that he used. Then last year, I had a student with a hearing impairement. She wore a hearing aide and received instruction from the itenerant teacher. To accomodate her, I sat her in close proximity to me and the board. I put her in a position where her right ear (her better ear) was turned toward me. Since she read lips, I tried to look directly at her when speaking to her.
After reading this chapter, I realize that there are many other things that we could have done for these students. For example, for both the student with visual impairment and the student with hearing impairment, I should have paid more attention to the lighting in the classroom. It is obvious that someone that has trouble seeing would need optimal light, but so does a person that depends on lip reading. I also never really considered that the student with the hearing impairment might have trouble understanding videos and lessons on the Promethean board since it was more difficult for her to read lips.
In the future, I will be more conscious of the lighting and noise distractions in the classroom. I will also consider using an amplification system and other technology to assist learnings with hearing impairments. If I teach an older grade, I will use close captioning with videos and more graphic organizers for instructional content. I will also advocate for techology assistance when appropriate. The student mentioned earlier that has the orthopedic disability was promised a "special" computer to help him with his work. He was in our classroom for two years and we never received it. He is no longer at our school. I hope he is receiving the services that he needs at his new school.
Michelle, I think that the accommodations you provided these students were great. I have never had students in my room with these types of disabilities before. I like how you provided the students with his on pair of scissors and pencils. This is great because it still allows the students to participate in class.
ReplyDelete