June 27^th,

Chapters 4 and 5 this week have been very helpful and practical.  Chapter 4 focuses on children with ADHD and chapter 5 is about students with intellectual disabilities.  These are two types of disabilities that I see in my classroom all the time, so the information is quite practical.  The biggest lightbulb moment I had with chapter 4, was when I read that students with ADHD often have very poor working memory.  This was very helpful to learn because in the past, I always thought that if I could just get that student to focus for just one moment, then they would be able to complete this triple-digit division problem, or that multi-step science question.  I see now that students with a low working memory, might not be able to do these types of tasks without some kind of adaptation. I had a student in my classroom this year who was the most distracted student I have ever met. He was diagnosed with ADHD previously, but was now being assessed for autism as well.  Through the psychological assessment, it came out that his working memory was in the 0.5 percentile range.  This explained a lot for me, why he couldn't focus on anything! He couldn't remember much that was said around him.   This situation has taught me that it is important for me to be active in helping my students with ADHD by realizing that without such accommodations such as using a calculator, working in a quieter room, having a written instruction list, breaking instructions down into steps, they might not succeed. 

As the text book suggests, there are many students with intellectual disabilities in my school.  I think, because we are a private school, a greater number of parents of children with special needs enrol, hoping for a more positive outcome for their children.  Consequently, I get the privilege of teaching many students with intellectual disabilities (more than the average percentage).  This past year there were three in my grade level. This year was also the first year that I worked with a child that has an intellectual disability and also behavioural challenges.  I wrote about it in one of my responses to the questions from chapter 6.  It was absolutely heartbreaking halfway through the year, when this child was asked not to return to the school.  Knowing the special challenges this child faced, (intellectual disability due to exposure to drugs and alcohol in uterus), and knowing the difficult home situation, the school had to make the decision to not accept back, this student, after an aggressive situation where the student physically assaulted someone.  This child needed the acceptance and love of the school community, more than any other child in the school, but the decision had to be made, to put the safety of the rest of the school before the needs of the child.  This was an incredibly difficult dilemma for the administration and the teachers involved.

 Looking back, I can pick out some strategies from the text that might have been helpful in this very difficult situation.  For one, it would have been nice to see if the “cool down pass,” helped him, (instead of just watching him get up and take off, whenever he felt like it), creating a “safe person,” in the school, might have been useful, and giving more opportunities for him to learn social skills in school might have helped him interact with his peers more appropriately.   One thing the school did right was try to get more “wrap-around” support from the child’s community.  Because the Mom was not allowing many people in the community to be involved in her son’s life, the school made a stipulation that this student could only return to the school if a social worker became involved, if he began seeing a behavioural therapist, and a number of other stipulations that have helped this student gain more support from his community.  The family is now working on these, to be able to bring the student back to our school in the future.

My reflection this week is about a student that taught me a lesson this year.  I am the student worship team leader at my school.  I get to lead a team of 11-13 year olds to lead workship for my school during chapel times. There is a boy in grade 8 who has Down’s that had been asking me for two year, if he could join the worship team and be a drummer.  This incredibly lovable boy, who brings joy wherever he goes, can’t hold a beat to save his life.  For two years I made some excuse why he couldn't join.  This past year, his mom (who happens to be a teacher in our high school) came to me an advocated for him to be on the team.  At first I was quite nervous.  I wasn't sure how it would go.  It was already quite a challenge to get all these young musicians to work together to make beautiful music (and beautiful is the operative word here...), so how was it going to be with the student on the team now.  Well, all my fears where for not.  Within a week or two of practising, I had figured out some percussion instruments that he could play.  While he still couldn't keep a beat, I know that his playing please the Lord, immensely.  I could see that he was using his God-given gifts to bless the Lord and others around him. What a joy!  He was a lot of fun to have on the team, and I am so glad that his Mom pushed for it.  My learning from all of this is that I can’t pre-judge a situation before I actually try it.  I had put this student into a box that he didn't belong in.  Thankfully, I had the opportunity to have my mind renewed and some boxes deleted.