Low Incidence Disabilities

      Autism is a spectrum that ranges in severity from mild to severe. It is a general umbrella term for many disorders including Aspergers Syndrome. One defining characteristic is difficulty with social skills and interaction. They tend to struggle with understanding emotion and don't embrace human contact. These children tend to have a narrow range of interests and don't process verbal and non-verbal communication very well (which is why social interactions are difficult). These children tend to overload on stress rather quickly. In fact, sensory overload is very common where too much noise or stimuli becomes overwhelming and those with autism look for ways to neutralize that stimuli (ex. hitting oneself). There is much diversity in those with autism with various strengths and weaknesses. 
     Those with intellectual disabilities tend to have a very limited learning capacity and/ or their rate of learning is slower. These children tend to need a lot of review, practical application, and slowness when learning. Practical application is essential because these children tend to struggle with connecting what they have learned to other things. For example, they may struggle to connect a story about sharing with an opportunity to share in their own life. Review is essential because not only is learning slower but retaining information I can be a struggle for them. These children won't always be able to learn the same information as other students and modifications will be varied based on individual needs. There are many natural supports like peers and classroom structure that can ease and reinforce learning.
     Students with multiple disabilities often have an exceedingly high number of needs. Usual these disabilities are an intellectual disability along with a physical or sensory impairment. Extra professionals like physical and occupational therapists are often needed to support these students. These students often have limited speech and struggle to express their needs to others. AAC systems are one way people compensate.
      Deaf-Blindness is a double sensory impairment where the child is typically not totally blind or totally deaf. These children struggles to move around the classroom, engage in activities, and understand how to perform simple tasks that others take for granted. Some have above average intelligences, but often they have intellectual disabilities (partially due to their two other disabilities). 
      Sensory Impairments are when vision or hearing loss affects the child's education. Visual impairments are when a child cannot see, cannot see well, or cannot see well without assistance of some sort. These children vary in intellectual ability but find visual learning less accessible. These children need help being oriented around the classroom and need help with modifications in learning materials and instruction to help compensate for visual loss. Students that are deaf or hard of hearing have the same range of intellectual ability as anyone else. They too struggle to access their world and find ways to compensate through techniques like sign language and mouth reading. These students can sometimes be socially and emotionally immature because they lack the etiquette needed to listen and they have lost a channel to help them develop social skills. Subtitles for movies and writing on the board are two ways to compensate. 
       Orthopedic Impairments are those that effect the mobility of the child in the bones, joints, and muscles. This includes cerebral palsy which is the largest group of those who have orthopedic impairments. Palsy comes from a brain injury before, during, or after birth. Some of these children need head supports and wheelchairs, while others just have a minimal loss of control. some lose control in various places like the arms or neck. Spinal cord injuries most often come from automobile accidents and can result in partial or full paralysis.
     For students with health impairments, it's important to find out which students have the most difficult problems, provide materials for those students about others with that disability, consider death education in your curriculum if you know the child's impairment to be life-threatening, and work closely with families. Traumatic Brain Injury comes from external physical force exerted on the head, which leads to brain damage. This can happen from issues like shaken baby syndrome, falls, automobile accidents, sporting accidents etc. These people can look like they did prior to the injury but have significant learning and social issues. These children may struggle to remaster skills they once knew. There may be accommodations needed in the classroom, but those will vary greatly from student to student. Work in partnership with parents to find out the exact nature of the child's struggle.
       Poverty is a very interesting issue because the effects can be subtle and less easy to address. Children can be labeled as disabled when really they just don't have the temporal, cognitive, emotional, or social resources needed to represent their knowledge. However, when these deficits are too wide, especially during early childhood, then poverty can create a disability. For example, nutrition deficits in early childhood can cause cognitive delays. 

Simulations and Reading

This week I did my stuttering and learning disability simulations. I decided to do the learning disability first because it seemed a little less daunting. I went to the post office to send a package. The process of trying to speak was really interesting. It was so much more of a process and so much more complicated. I started by trying to ask the post office lady something but I kept accidentally using the "l" and "n" sound which made me more tense and stuttered. One patron helped me with the question I asked the postal worker and I couldn't think of a way to say "Thank you" so I said other round-about phrases and expressions to express pleasure. I also complimented her baby to help compensate. The lady in line at the post office showed some of us a picture but by the time I thought of what to say the moment had past. I noticed myself getting quite during the experience. I planned what I would say to the other post office man, but the whole conversation was really awkward. Unreplaceable words like "when" "also" "and" "no" were off-limits. For "no" I said "It's ok."My conversation was really vague and round about. I didn't want to look him in the eyes.

I then went to Broulims where I tried to ask a worker more than one question but they were so fast and efficient in answering my questions and directing me to the right place that I just decided to ask multiple people where things were. For one worker I asked where, "the chips and dip" were. Since I could use "and" I made mumbling filler sound. In fact, I ended up using a lot of filler sounds and noises either to compensate for what I couldn't say or because I was nervous. I use a lot of "ums" and "uhs" and "ahs." I couldn't ask a worker where the salsa was so I asked if he knew where the 'Pace' (its a salsa brand) Pica was. I pretended I didn't couldn't remember the last part of the wor was because it had l's in it. The worker guessed I meant pica de guillo and led me to the fresh pica. However, this wasn't the place I was looking for, but I acted happy (I knew where the salsa was though so it didn't matter). In the check-out line I thought I'd try asking the lady about renewing my Broulims card and getting a roll of quarters. I had to get creative when asking for the roll of quarters and she still needed to guess what I was thinking.

I then went to the library for my stutter. By the look of the front counter woman's face she was slightly confused at first and then her face shifted and she became pleasant and showed me where the parenting books were. I asked the woman at that section of the library if she knew where the parenting books were. She seemed a little more odd about my stutter, possibly because I don't have the gift of acting, maybe because she took the class, but most likely I was just reading her wrong. I asked her some other questions like where to put the books when I'm done and if I needed to be a resident to get a library card. I then went back to the front desk to ask the front woman about the library card and told her I would come back. They seemed more at ease with what I said over time. In the mini-bookstore I had to be quiet during this one woman's comments (luckily she was mostly talking to someone else) and just make affirming noises because it was a struggle to think of what to say that was appropriate.

After that I went to Taco Bell. I hope the person at the front guy didn't recognize me because I have been to Taco Bell before (luckily I'm graduating this semester so I don't have to run into any of these people again). Either way, I asked questions about my order and the guy was pretty nice. He too seemed to make slight shifts in our conversation. I later asked what his preference was between the two desserts and made a slightly funny comment at the end but it came out more mumbled and backhanded so he didn't respond. 

After this experience I definitely see why some of those people I have known with special needs have been more quiet, reserved, and didn't look at people during in their conversation. It took significant mental effort to speak, saying the right thing and not being misunderstood was always a concern, and I feared being judge. I definitely would prefer having a stutter to having a learning disability because I feel I would be less misunderstood. The disability is obvious and less misconstrued as other things. In fact, I found myself more comfortable stuttering because I didn't have to worry about using the wrong words. I was free to say what I want. I definitely feel more for those who have those struggles.

      Chapter twelve touched on positive behavior guidance (PBT). As skilled we may be at handling children's behavior, nothing compensates for prevention, which involves creating a stress-free environment and classroom structure that doesn't ware on children's emotional and cognitive resources. The emotional environment involves strategies like catching children being good, having positive and clear communication, building a relationship with the students, and creating a foundation of respect and trust, use humor to diffuse tension, and make high-probability requests first (ones that they can easily accomplish). It's best to be as gentle as possible with children. Children can internalize and remember sharp words regardless of whether or not we have apologized. Some of these softer preventative and standard PBT methods are social reinforcers like positive peer models and giving small group and large group rewards if everyone meets the standard. Removing things that reinforce the negative behavior is another effective method. Children can have factors in their environment that encourage children to react in certain ways. It's not just the class environment but the overall school environment can really set the tone for children. 

          This week my group presented on poverty. I was drawn to this subject because the impact of poverty can be really overlooked. Children can be labeled as having a special need when really they don't have the social, emotional, cognitive, or temporal resources that come from being in a higher socio-economic status. For example, a child might be labeled ADHD because he or she is lazy, distractible, or rebellious during school when really the child's disinterest comes from a poverty mentality which implicitly teaches that there is little value in schooling and education, partially because the child will most likely end up in a similar situation the parents are in regardless of grades. A child might be labelled as having a learning disability and may be assigned to resource rooms when really the child struggles because he or she didn't have an enriching environment as a foundation to learning new skills. It's difficult to learn to read in school when the child isn't in a home where language development is considered, and where there are no books to practice 'emerging literacy.' When children are hungry, tired from helping around at home, don't have a coat to keep warm or are focused on stresses and struggles at home they tend to focus less on school and the tasks at hand. It's unfair to compare children according to intelligence and aptitude when really one child just has different resources than another. We have to consider what children have to work with when we measure their progress, effort, and success.

         I liked how Brother Cloward talked about how we can effect these children. There are so many ways we can bridge the gaps that poverty creates. Firstly, I like to think that taking control and inventory of resources and managing money allows people to have more to give. I know people who don't feel like they ever have enough money to give but that's partially because they aren't careful with their funds are let money slip in unnecessary ways. There are so many ways to enhance resources in cheap ways (ex. planting fruit trees). Not only should be make sure that we have something to give but we should learn about the resources in the area because the community can have a lot more to offer families in poverty (or those with language and cultural barriers as mentioned by the group presentation before us) than they know about. It's important that we make a special effort to be close to those children so we can know what their struggles and needs are. This will allow us to tailor our assistance for their specific situation. One day a child in poverty might need educational assitance and the next day they may need a coat. If we aren't close we might assist the child in a way that is nice but not needed. 

          The group that presented before us touched on language barriers. I can't imagine what it would be like to try to go to college in another country where I knew minimal words but I assume I would feel overwhelmed and would want to give up quickly. It's easy to see how children in this situation tend to lose interest in learning. Some find innovative ways to barely 'get by' but these techniques render very little real learning. 

          In class we talked about making sure our assignments and tests are constructed in a correct way. We got into groups to fix an assignment that wasn't written right. It's incredible how many times I have misunderstood assignments or test questions because they weren't written well and the ambiguity confused me. We need to make sure that our instruments to assess children aren't misrepresentative of the child's knowledge because the child was tripped up by an erroneous detail.

       This week we discussed ways we can help  students progress. This is an interesting topic because there are so many possible methods to monitor children and have them monitor themselves. However, the most important thing for a child to learn involves children taking responsibility of their own education. Self-Advocacy involves children telling adults what their needs are. This derives from an internal need and motivation that is called self-determination. When children have this self-determination then they can take control of their own learning through means like self-instruction, talking oneself through a concept, self-questioning, asking oneself questions in order to guide learning and comprehension, and self-monitoring, tracking their own progress through various techniques.

     While working with children I have realized that many times techniques to learning are nice embellishments and that the core of learning comes from the child's inner-motivation. It is true that children can become motivated and enlightened by a new technique that illustrates the concept beautifully and meaningfully but generally the drive comes from first understanding why they are learning it and then they will reach out to these techniques in order to more better master the concept or skill. 

     When children have that motivation, it's important to channel it through reading, writing, math and other subject based techniques that allow for more organized and precise learning. It's important that the technique doesn't get in the way of the learning. I found that our in-class self-monitoring activity was more of a distraction and a worry for me than a useful tool. However, others probably disagreed. It depends on the person. Of these techniques strong sequencing is the most essential because it creates a hierarchy for children to create mental structures. This kind of learning is what transfers random disjointed facts into knowledge and wisdom. Children need to know why information is related to each other if they want to use it for good. All truth can be controlled and manipulated for good when the rules and reasoning behind that truth is understood (as President Russell M Nelson says).