Running head: COMMUNITY ENGAGMENT PROJECT
Carmen Zuniga
Community Engagement Project: The Journal, Log, and Assessment
Liberty University
EDSP 521-B50
Dr. Taylor
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COMMUNITY ENGAGMENT PROJECT2
Introduction
Over five school days, I was fortunate enough to visit the high school I used to teach at
and observe students with special needs. Each day I was able to spend two-three hours observing
the students and their behaviors, as well as the special education teachers and how they
responded to the students to meet all their needs. The special education department was very
cooperative through out my stay and provided me with different classrooms with students of
different disabilities to observe. I was able to observe students with Specific Learning
Disabilities, ADHD, Autism, and hearing impediments. What was remarkably interesting about
this time was witnessing how much COVID has changed education. Students no longer bring
bookbags, they complete all their work on computers, even the special education students. This
change caused a lot of stress for special education teachers because as we already know, some
students cannot effectively learn this way.
September 22, 2020 Study Skills Classes
This class consisted of two teachers, both of which stayed very busy through out each
class. Mrs. Cooper was the main teacher and Mrs. Joyce was the para. Study skills is a class that
teaches students with leaning abilities ways to study and helps them with their homework. They
also help them prepare for upcoming tests. This class is extra support for students who perform a
little slower than the regular education students. The first class that came in only contained three
students. The teachers told me that study skills classes usually have about six students, but due to
COVID the number of students decreased. The students were on their computers while the
teachers walked around and helped them with their assignments. They asked them questions like,
“What tests do you have today?” and “What are you learning about right now?” The teachers
also got them caught up on homework that they did not complete, or they are behind in.
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The students in this class appear to be “normal” and on the outside one wouldn’t be able to guess
that they had a learning difficulty. A study skills class is also used for students who have
accommodation like extended time on tests. Their teacher will send their test to these teachers
and the students will complete their test in this classroom.
There was one student in this class that stood out to me. He has ADHD and his behavior
was particularly difficult. He did not want to work on any work or even open his computer, and
the symptoms of his ADHD were obvious. Our text tells us that these children “avoid, dislike, or
is reluctant to engage in tasks that require mental effort such as schoolwork or homework (Kirk
et al., 2015). He also refused to wear his mask and the teachers had to keep telling him to put it
on correctly. In my opinion, these teachers were angels. They motivated him to get his work done
so he could have the grades to play basketball, they were kind to him and spoke uplifting and
encouraging words even when he was disrespectful and defiant. Eventually he opened his
computer and did his work, but it took a lot out of the teachers to keep him on task.
September 23, 2020 Geometry (Inclusion)
Today I observed students in a Geometry Inclusion class. An inclusion class is a class
with both students with disabilities as well as students without disabilities. It is a way to meet
the least restrictive environment. Claxton does a good job in her book describing least restrictive
environment. She explains that the word “restrictive” describes the degree in which special
education services hinder a student from receiving instruction in a regular education classroom
setting. In other words, when a student receives special education services, he or she may be
“restricted” from receiving regular educational services. Therefore, a student receiving special
education services should be placed in an environment as close to a regular classroom as
possible, and this is what an inclusion class is. These classes include the special education
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student with their peers .
This class consisted of six students total, three with learning disabilities and three regular
education students. The disabilities included motor delay, ADHD, autism, and SLD. Like the
study skills class I observed yesterday, these students appeared from the outside as to be
“normal”. I say this because when many people think of special education students, they
sometimes don’t realize that these students can look to be just like a regular education student on
the outside. I witnessed a lot of off task behavior such as playing with hair, doodling, moving
papers around, and fidgeting with pencils. When the teacher checked their bell work, they
followed along and checked their work. However, many times students with ADHD would blurt
out answers and kept having to be reminded to raise their hands.
The teacher explained to me that these students receive more time for assignments than
her regular education Geometry classes. For example, bell work in a normal class would take
students about five minutes to complete. However, in this inclusion class the students were given
around ten minutes to complete the work. The teacher also had to re explain the instructions
several times to be sure that everyone understood. She provided verbal instructions as well as
written instructions, and for some students she was required to give teacher created notes.
September 25, 2020
Today I was placed in a regular education classroom where there were several students
with IEPs. One student had a vision problem, so the teacher had to provide very largely printed
notes and assignments for him. He was not able to complete his work on his computer like the
rest of the students. Coincidently, today was a quiz day for the students, so I was able to see how
the teacher handled this with the students with IEPs. The student who had vision problems had a
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test with exceptionally large print, while the other students completed their tests on the
computers. One of the students had an accommodation to have his tests read-aloud to him
because he struggled with reading and comprehension. The teacher previously recorded herself
on tape reading the test and gave him headphones and the tape player. He could rewind the tape
when he needed and proceed in his own time. I am sure that this helped him because a large
chunk of the test was reading and answering comprehension questions. In the most recent issue
of Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice (fall, 2014), two studies report meta-analyses
of read aloud accommodations. The good news is that across the numerous studies, the read
aloud accommodation had a positive effect for all students, particularly when the task was
reading. More good news is that students with disabilities had a greater effect (benefit) than
students without disabilities (Mellard, 2014).
The third student with an IEP had an accommodation to have extended time on tests. So,
when all the students were complete and he was still working, he was able to bring his test to his
study skills class and complete it there with out penalty.
September 28, 2020
Today I observed students diagnosed with low-function Autism and Asperger’s
Syndrome. I described in previous entries that the students appeared “normal”, but it was
obvious in the students I got to observe today that they had a learning disability. This class
consisted of six students. Two of the students had hearing aides and one of them wore
headphones because he was sensitive to noise. These students all had computers and the teacher
used the smartboard to go along a PowerPoint with them. There were two paras in the class as
well that walked around monitoring the students to ensure they were following along on the
PowerPoint. The teacher used a program that read the words aloud to the students as they
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followed along. I was curious how these types of students responded to the use of technology,
but I read in our text that they greatly benefit from it.
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(Kirk et al., 2015).
The presentation was about classroom procedures and routines. It was presented in an
easy to understand comic book format with illustrations and large words. As they read along,
they identified words like “goals” and “projects”. When the students answered correctly, all the
teachers gave them verbal praise. One student made coo-ing sounds through out the class and
blurted things out. Another student complained because he would rather read his book than do
the classwork, but the teachers kindly redirected him to the task that was given. It was obvious
that the students lacked social skills. For example, one student waved at me and when I waved
back and smiled he cracked up laughing (which definitely put a smile on my face!). I did notice
that many of the students in this class were obese, but apparently this is a common problem with
adolescences and adults with mental and intellectual disabilities (Salomon & Trollor, 2018).
Conclusion
Throughout these observations I was able to witness how much is expected from a special
education teacher. It takes a special person to have the patience, wisdom, and personality to
provide these students with the love and education that they need. I learned many things
throughout my time at the high school. I learned what a study skills class consisted of, what the
teachers did, how a teacher can successfully teach both regular ed students and special ed
students simultaneously in an inclusive class, and how even the most low functioning Autistic
Low-tech devices include communication
boards and books with pictures, words, or more complex and abstract forms of communication.
Some worry that the use of argumentative and alternative communication (AAA) will suppress
speech; however, research indicates AAC increases communication skills and speech production
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students can learn. This experience also increased my awareness on how much accommodations
are needed and used for many students. I was able to see what kind of help I am going to be
doing as school counselor in my future and the importance of it. This experience also motivated
me to address all the academic and social needs for the future students I will encounter.
References
Kirk, S.A., Gallagher, J. J., Coleman, M.R., (2015). Educating Exceptional Children, 14th
edition. Cengage Ebook.
Mellard, Daryl, (2014). Read aloud as an accommodation: Valuable approach. LINCS
Community for Adult Educators.
https://community.lincs.ed.gov/group/108/discussion/read-aloud-accommodation-
valuable-approach
Salomon, C., & Trollor, J. (2018). Young people with an intellectual disability experience poorer
physical and mental health during transition to adulthood. Evidence - Based Nursing,
21(1), 20. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1136/eb-2017-102838
