Reflection

During this course I observed/worked with students that were diagnosed with the following disabilities:

• Developmental Delay

• ADHD

Some specific things I observed about these students' behaviors were:

• They were friendly and kind with an outgoing temperament. They needed help with acquiring certain skills. For example, they needed help in asking for help from an adult when they didn't know how to do an activity.

• They had a hard time staying on task, as well as completing a task. They would rather be the first one done, and run through an assignment.

• The student with Developmental Delay, needed help with speech and was doing occupational therapy. The OT was working on sensory motor skills and learning how to use a pencil and pen to draw basic shapes.

Some specific things I observed about these students social skills were:

• For the student with ADHD, she was very friendly and emotionally engaged with her peers. She had normal social skills and enjoyed playing with the other students.

• For the student receiving Occupational Therapy, he did not talk very often. He enjoyed playing and moving around going from activity to activity. However, when asked a question by the teacher, he seemed relatively quiet still. He had a disposition towards not being able to express fully about what he was thinking.

Some things I learned about myself while working with these students were:

• I learned that some students have tendencies and natural inclinations to react certain ways in certain situations. It can be a biologically driven factor, or an environmental factor that causes the tendency in children to occur. For example, one student was naturally so competitive and wanting to be the first student done with a task. She would just check boxes and not even look at the questions. What is the reason for this, it could be a neurological factor in the way her brain is wired, or it could be how she was raised at home, or it could be ADHD. Figuring out the reason for the behavioral challenge is a key in helping to resolve the issue.

• I learned that I am a quiet natured person. In and of myself, I tend to enjoy one-on-one conversations; and I enjoy serving quietly. I also enjoy encouraging students and giving them positive, constructive feedback!

After working with students with disabilities, I feel that the ultimate goal of special education may be:

• The ultimate goal of special education should be to treat all students with dignity and honor.

• Another goal of special education is to equip our students with the programs, assistive technologies, instructional strategies, accommodations, modifications and tools necessary for them to be successful.

I can do the following things to make sure students in special education are supported, encouraged and included in class:

• In order for students to feel encouraged, confident and included in class, I will facilitate group discussion that will support and nurture positive feedback responses from peers and educators alike.

• Students will be expected in my classroom to use words of kindness with their peers at all times. They will be expected to treat others how they would like to be treated.

• Students will have an active participation grade where they will be expected to do their project objectives both independently as well as with their peers.