Reflection On April Garcia

Throughout my internship, it was a please to meet and work with several high needs students who needed support throughout the year. One of the students I worked with was name April Garcia. If it was not for one of her 7th grade teachers to report her situation, then I would not have had the opportunity to work with this bright young women. April did an outcry in her mathematics class for about a week and a half, until her math teacher reported the situation to a counselor. When he was questioned on why he did not report her crying earlier, he thought because she was new, he thought it was a phase she was going through. Although, she refuses to tell the teacher why she is crying and he asked if she would like to speak to a counselor but she

She was at Douglass Elementary from 2011 to 2013 (kindergarten to third grade). April was then transferred to Washington Elementary from 2015 to 2017 (4th to 6th grade). This fall semester, she was transferred to Poe Middle School for her 7th grade year. April is a thirteen year old female Hispanic who is turning fourteen in October. She was identified as Special Education, Limited English Proficiency (LEP), Economically Disadvantaged, At Risk and attending a Title I school. Historically her attendance rate in the past years was not very good, it ranges from seven to twenty-six absent days in a year. April took the STAAR Modified test in third grade, STAAR Alternate test in fourth grade and regular STAAR for fifth and sixth grade. She never passed a reading STAAR test and has passed her math STAAR test twice, once in fifth grade (second round) and another time in sixth grade. What makes April unique is that she is also dealing another major problem as a teenager, she is battling stage four cancer. April stated that she was always a target for people to

In the secondary school, April will experience bias, stereotyping and discrimination from her peers. As a counselor, one of my goals was to help her overcome these obstacles. The developmental guidance and counseling I would provide for April in the aspect of Special Education is to build a relationship with April so that she will be able to trust me whenever she is feeling down or needs someone to talk to. The techniques I practiced with April were on her Social Skills and setting goals. We practiced on different Social Skills on how she can meet friends and communicate with her teachers. While we were learning different Social Skills, and we set mini goals on when she will practice her Social Skills with her peers and teachers. At the end of the year, April made eight new friends, asked questions in class and felt confident every day she came to