Exceptional Learners February 21, 2010

I actually have 4 students with a form of autism.  They are all diagnosed with Asperger’s which is now just classified as autism to the dismay of those with Asperger’s.  It is interesting how different they all are.  Two of them are “high functioning” meaning they do very well in class and with school work.  Issues only arise with these two in some social interactions and some organizational problems.  Another student has some severe social interaction problems.  It is strange to see this student interact with her friends out in the hall but as soon as she gets into the classroom she shuts down completely.  The student, Ms. Anex, and the IA came to the agreement that she (the student) could be called upon for answers and if she didn’t want to respond she simply needed to shake her head no.  We haven’t had a lot of luck with that but she has done it a few times.  It is also difficult to get her to do any work and we will often get responses on classwork or quizzes of “I don’t know, I’m too stupid”.  The last student is more than just autism, his IEP lists ADD and bi-polar also.  He has an IA with him during class which makes things better.  His main goal is to make it through classes with out having “blow-outs” (storming out of class) and to participate as much as possible.  He does pretty well all things considered.  He has hard times in groups because he doesn’t always understand the concepts of sharing and playing of roles.  He often accuses others of being mean if they don’t let him do everything.  It has been interesting having these students in my classes.  I think I have a good relationship with 2 of them.  I am going to talk to the female students language arts teacher after break.  This teacher says she can get the student to participate in class.  I am curious how she does it.  I know the student likes to read so that is probably part of it.

For the most part our goals are to try to treat them as normal as possible.  They have 4 more years of school after I am through with them and then they are spit out into the real world which isn’t full of IEPs, IAs, and caring teachers and probably won’t be nearly as accommodating.  I worry about them.

Reflection for Sept. 14th-18th September 25, 2009

The first full week of classes.  It was good to see the kids in the classroom setting.  The week consisted of mostly of setting  up the classroom and intro activities.  We spent a couple of days reviewing school polices and setting up class norms.  I took the opportunity to make up a simple get to know each other activity for the students.  It was a 5×5 table with interests and questions I thought appropriate for middle schoolers.  In each square there were two lines.  All the students had to get up and circulate around the room and talk to each other to find name to put in their boxes.  I thought it went well and Liese , my mentor teacher, thought it went well also.  The students seemed to be engaged the entire time and hopefully they learned some thing new about another student.  I was good to see how each class has a different personality.  Particularly our 5th and 6th periods.  Ones quiet and needs to be pulled along while 6th period is super chatty and needs to be kept in check.  Right from the start I could see one of my potentially biggest issues.  We have inclusion classes at Eckstein, which means that special needs students are included with the general students.  In my first period we have 2 students with aspergers, one fairly severe.  The IEP (individual education plan) for the severe student calls for the goal of just getting her to keep her head up off the desk and to maybe get her to shake her head yes or no to an asked question.  I am nervous  about having to interact with these students, particularly when they may be having a bad day.  We have an IA (instructional assistant) to help with our first hour students which will take some of the pressure of the primary teacher.  We will see how these issues develop over the course of the year.