Today was the second day shadowing Mrs. Black, and again I started at 8:30. We first started with three second graders, and worked on a spelling pre-test and the sounds of the vowel team, oo. Then we had group again just like yesterday, but with one more student. We worked on similar things as yesterday, such as the sounds of the letters of the alphabet, and the vowel sounds oa. Mrs. Black and I then talked about a student in the group with A.D.H.D. He has A.D.H.D. that is untreated, but able to be helped by structure and being outdoors more. An educator can identify characteristics of A.D.H.D. but can’t diagnose it. Mrs. Black also showed me a communication book, which is used by many children with autism. It is filled with mostly nouns and feelings. A system is used in which you type a word, and a visual picture comes up. I found it very interesting when Mrs. Black told me that it used to be around 1 in 1000 kids were born with autism, and now it is 1 in 150.
We then worked with the same student as yesterday in the small room with minimal distractions. It was difficult in the beginning because he thought he had an earache, but he was much more focused by the end. We worked on reading the names of foods, and placing them in the right categories. After, we worked with the same two girls as yesterday on reading poetry. They are working on reading and writing poems for their class. I was given the task to pick a few poems from, “The New Kid on the Block,” and read them with the girls. Lastly, we worked with a student from “group” earlier in the day. He tends to talk in a baby voice, and it’s hard for him to present himself like a first grade instead of younger. We worked with him on letter sounds and reading.
Highlight of my day: I really enjoyed seeing Mrs. Black work with the student in the minimal distraction room. She knows the student and his needs so well that she was able to get him to work much better with her by the end of the session. While he started out resisting Mrs. Black and not wanting to meet with her, she used different methods, such as counting to three, and he eventually cooperated.
We then worked with the same student as yesterday in the small room with minimal distractions. It was difficult in the beginning because he thought he had an earache, but he was much more focused by the end. We worked on reading the names of foods, and placing them in the right categories. After, we worked with the same two girls as yesterday on reading poetry. They are working on reading and writing poems for their class. I was given the task to pick a few poems from, “The New Kid on the Block,” and read them with the girls. Lastly, we worked with a student from “group” earlier in the day. He tends to talk in a baby voice, and it’s hard for him to present himself like a first grade instead of younger. We worked with him on letter sounds and reading.
Highlight of my day: I really enjoyed seeing Mrs. Black work with the student in the minimal distraction room. She knows the student and his needs so well that she was able to get him to work much better with her by the end of the session. While he started out resisting Mrs. Black and not wanting to meet with her, she used different methods, such as counting to three, and he eventually cooperated.
2 comments:
I hope you will consider doing some additional research on Autism.
Madde, I would like to hear a little bit more about the "minimal distraction" room and what additional specific strategies the specialists use to help young children with ADHD focus better on academic tasks.
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