Critical Reflection #5: Making Friends is Hard

At my field placement I have witnessed some bullying among the kids with various disabilities. They often like to tell one of the students that she is stupid, that she needs to shut up, and that no one likes her. Although the teacher tries to get the students to be nice to the girl, they all seem to keep bullying her and I have witnessed this on multiple occasions, all of which I reported to the teacher. So, this got me wondering, because it has even been said in class that students with disabilities have a hard time making and keeping friends, how can we teach students to make friends and to engage in meaningful reciprocal relationships?

The First article that I found on the topic was this one : Helping the Socially Isolated Child Make Friends | LD OnLine. And it basically said that in order for a child with learning disabilities to make friends, they must first understand the nature of friendship. This can be everything from intimacy, affection, and loyalty to similarity and proximity, to reciprocity and support. Although it is written mainly for those with learning disabilities, it can easily be applied to any socially isolated child, including those with autism.

I also found this video about a distinguished professor who is helping kids make and keep friends and uses developmental milestones and direct instruction of social skills to help kids understand the fundamental aspects of having and keeping friends.

Then finally I found this article which was put out by the Michigan Department of Education Office of Special Education  and Early Intervention Services called:
Study Explores How Children With Disabilities Make Friends: How Can Parents and School Personnel Help?   It was a study about children with disabilities  and making friends and it also gave suggestions on how to encourage socialization in students. The suggestions that the article made were for teachers and parents to:

• Find out the factors important to your individual child’s quality of life and let the child have a reasonable amount of input—don’t buy video games for a child who wants to play soccer, but if all a child wants to do is play video games (as many are prone to do), don’t over-indulge. Try to steer children toward more social activities with family or friends.

• Children with disabilities find that they need physical play to improve their quality of life. Search for adapted sports in your area. Find ways for your child to be active and to play. Therapy sessions can provide opportunities for play and interaction. Therapists can make exercises into games that feel like play. Bring friends to therapy sessions.
• In the school setting, it is important that a child with disabilities not be isolated. It is important for  teachers to discourage any behavior in class that can lead a child to feel isolated. Aides need to be especially aware of the need to integrate the child socially, asking other children to help with school work, when possible.
• Work on socialization in the home as well. Arrange play dates whenever possible—even once a month. Promote social interactions by enrolling children in activities they enjoy.



I noticed that the third suggestion in the article sounded a lot like what we discussed in class about the little boy who didn't know how to play a game in gym class and typically relied on his TSS to tell him what to do. Eventually the TSS realized that she couldn't allow him to ignore other people who talk to him so instead of telling the boy the directions to the game, she found a classmate who was in the gym class to explain the directions for him and show him how to play. This then shifted his reliance on adults to socialization with peers.

Critical Reflection #4: Least Restrictive Environment

                                                      where i found this picture :)
In my placement, I have noticed that the group of four sixth grade learning support students are always together in every class (Reading, Math and Social Studies). This fact got me wondering why these students are not placed in inclusive classrooms with other students their age to receive instruction.
In class, we learned that the LRE of students is essential to IDEA and must be obeyed in the biggest kind of way and that the LRE is the environment that is the most beneficial for a student to learn and develop alongside their typically developing peers. But, we never really mentioned how exactly LRE is determined. So that is where my quest for knowledge about LRE began.

The first bit of information that I found about the LRE is this video where I found out that in IDEA  It isn't exactly clear where the child's least restrictive environment is, but the decision is made by the IEP team and placement is then written into the student's IEP.

I then found a LRE decision flow chart that shows how the team arrives at their final placement decision. I found this resource at http://www.ciu20.org/deptDocs/SPED/procedure-manual/LRE%20Decision%20Flow%20Chart.pdf.

So, then I wanted a little more information on these steps and found an explanation of the flowchart at http://www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/agenda/Tuesday,%20November%2018,%202008%20School%20Board%20Meeting/AC5F0F47-722D-4092-AB96-71368810CD0F.pdf

This explanation said, 

The "LRE decision flowchart" structures the placement decision consistent with the 

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Here is what is intended by the 

chart: 

The question of what will be provided for a student comes before the question of 

where it will be provided. 

Each educational setting is examined not only as is, but also as it might be modified 

by supplementary aids and services 

Each educational setting is examined one a_t a time in a particular sequence - along 

the continuum from least restrictive to most restrictive. 

Even after the primary placement is determined, additional opportunities for part-time 

integration, including integration during nonacademic periods, are considered. 

Specifically, here is how to apply the chart to a particular case: 

Step 1: Define and articulate educational goals, as well as what educational services the 

students needs. 

Step 2: Ask whether the IEP goals and services can be achieved in a general education 

classroom in its current form. If the answer is Yes, that is the Primary Placement. If the 

answer is No, go to the next step. 

Step 3: Ask whether the IEP Goals and services can be achieved in a general education 

classroom by providing supplementary aids and services in the general education 

classroom. (See attached list for sample supplementary aids and services to be 

considered.) If the answer is Yes, that is the Primary Placement. If the answer is No, go 

to the next step 

Step 4: Move one step along the continuum to the next more restrictive setting and ask 

whether the IEP goals and services can be achieved in that setting in its current form. If 

the answer is Yes, that is the Primary Placement. If the answer is No, go to the next step. 

Step 5: Ask whether the IEP Goals and services can be achieved in that slightly more 

restrictive setting, if it is modified by providing supplementary aids and services. If the 

answer is Yes, that is the Primary Placement. If the answer is No, repeat step 4 for the 

setting that is yet a bit more restrictive, and then (if necessary) repeat step 5. 

In this manner, the decision process moves along the continuum of alternative placements 

one step at a time, repeating steps 4 and 5 until a Yes answer is obtained. 

Step 6: Ask whether, in the context of the primary placement? there are additional 

opportunities for integration for some portion of the day. 

So, through this research I found out that even though I do not witness this sixth grade group of boys and girls interact with other typically developing students, they must have at least their specials outside of a learning support classroom as I know they are most certainly capable of doing so.

Critical Reflection #3: The Use of Categorical Labels

Recently in my field placement, my cooperating teacher sat me down and discussed the labels that were on the students in the class along with other opinions that she has about the students and their lives. She told me that one student was labeled MR, which we now call cognitively impaired, or intellectually disabled. Another student's diagnosis falls under IDEAs category of Other Health Impairment, there is a student from Puerto Rico who was tested in Puerto Rico for dyslexia which they determined that he had, and another student who my cooperating teach just said had a low IQ and fell under the EBD category.She also told us that she has NEVER had a student go to college and only a few ever go to Vo-tech. 
As much as I find these different things to be very interesting,  I can't help but think of the impact of these labels on the students. The student who has the label "MR" desperately wants to be a United States Marine like his two older brothers. He is highly determined and actually appears to be a very intelligent person. His social worker is currently in the process of having him retested because she does not believe that the diagnosis that has been placed on him is correct, nor do I. From what I have witnessed, the main difficulties that this student posses are simply reading and speech ones, leading me to believe with the limited observations I have had, that he might simply have a processing disorder (some kind of learning disability)and possibly a speech disorder. But, with the MR/ID  diagnosis this kid would never be able to achieve his dream, or anything that he would actually really enjoy doing. However, with a reading or speech disability there is a much higher chance of him being accepted into a military program.
In class, we learned about these labels and even at that point I believed that in a perfect world students wouldn't need these labels to receive services. Everyone has weaknesses and everyone has strengths  if the schools do not change to meet this fact and provide high quality instruction to all students, labeled or not, than these students who do not necessarily need a label, will continue to be stigmatized. That point that I just made is also made in the following video. 

In this article (http://www.intellectualdisability.info/families/overview-of-learning-disability-in-children), they discuss what exactly the label intellectual disability means and my favorite quote that really relates to the student in my field placement was, "People with intellectual disabilities and their parents are at risk of being undervalued and stigmatized." I think that is exactly what is going on with students like the one I have mentioned before. The stigma associated with his diagnosis often gets his abilities and strengths to be undervalued. 

critical reflection #2- Alternative Testing

1. Last week at placement, my cooperating teacher told Emily C. and I that we will be unable to come to placement this week due to the administration of the PASA tests because the state does not allow observers in the classroom. This made me think a lot about the students that I am used to seeing while at placement and immediately figure that it must be a different group of students that she will be administering this alternative assessment to.
2. I thought this because when we discussed alternative assessments in class, we determined that only a very small number of students were able to take these assessments and their disabilities had to be severe enough that they wouldn't show any abilities on the other test with or without accommodations and that no more than 1% of students in a school district can take this assessment, but that is about all that we mentioned about alternative assessment. So therefore I wanted to learn more about alternative assessment and which students are able to take it.
3. On the next page of this mag, I found out who the PASA is for and the following page tells the criteria for determining who should take the alternative assessment article. Then I found a video that tells how different states adhere to IDEA by assessing all learners, even those with special needs.
4. By the end of this research, I have completely determined that the group of students I typically observe are definitely not the students receiving the alternative assessments because they do not meet the criteria listed. The students that I typically observe would be taking the PSSA with accommodations that have guidelines  which will hopefully be linked to this reflection either as new content or its own piece. 

Critical Reflection #1 Comorbitity

At my first placement on Wednesday, I was introduced to Ms. Nelson's 6th grade learning support class. In this class there are four students, all of which who have learning disabilities and some also have other issues as well. The student who I performed the ORFs and Maze tests with is in 6th grade and reads at a grade 4.9 reading level. There are two  students who have ADHD with their learning disability, but come from very different backgrounds, and there is also a student who has a learning disability and is also an ELL.  This bunch of students makes for a very interesting class and I can tell I will be learning a lot from them. 

While I was at the placement, I observed students writing poems, conducted ORFs and Maze tests, and then helped the group of students with their picture poems. I was very grateful for such a laid back placement because it gave me the opportunity to begin building rapport with the students which I find to be very important. 

This placement got me wondering about comorbitity with learning disabilities and ADHD. We talked in class about how ADHD itself cannot be serviced under IDEA, but if comorbity exists it can. We also talked briefly about learning disabilities themselves and how they are issue that is most served by IDEA and special education. Nearly half of all students in special education have a learning disability. 

article 1

article 2

another article

article