Megan came into the room enthusiastically and very willing to communicate. She is a very happy and confident girl who says that she loves school. We had a casual conversation where I explained that I would be doing everything that I could to help her in school. I explained that I needed to find out exactly where she was having difficulties in order to help and to do this we would have to do some tests. Megan agreed to this without hesitation. as part of the interview process I asked her what her favourite part of school was, she said 'writing stories and playing with friends.' This shows that Megan is unaware that she is having difficulty with her writing. Usually, if a child is struggling with a topic it will not be their favourite thing to do in school. …show more content…
She explained that ' spellings are hard to learn as they are difficult to read. I have to ask someone to read them for me before I can learn to spell them.' Her class learn spellings from a spelling workbook which is based on phonic patterns and word families. Megan said that she learns the order of the spellings and not the words e.g. the first four words have 'at' at the end and the next five words have 'et' at the end. She said that she can get all her spellings right in the test but she forgets them a while later. 'I spell the words wrong when I writing something else a while later.' This seemed to frustrate her.
I learned that she is often tired coming to school as she gets up every second morning at 6am to go to Granny's house before school. Megan and her brother spend every second day with their Mum and the other days with their Dad. This explains why she can have some good days and some bad days. Her work can vary enormously from day to
Torgesen (1998) claims that the top reasons students have difficulties with reading is because they have issues correlating letters and sounds in words, or phonological awareness. Many students also have trouble memorizing sight words and many also have an
As students read, the teacher makes notes focusing on the words they struggle with. The teacher indicates which words the student has substituted, repeated, mispronounced, or doesn’t know. These words are called miscues. After the miscues are marked they are classified. “Only the words that students mispronounce or substitute can be analyzed; repetitions and omissions aren’t calculated’ (Tompkins p.85). Once the miscues have been evaluated, the miscue analysis will indicate which cues the reader over relies on and which they need to further develop. Running Records also helps calculate the percentage of miscues to determine whether or not the book is at the students reading level. The goal is to give students appropriate books for their reading levels. After the running record and miscue analysis, the teacher can analyze this information to introduce personalized strategies and lessons to develop a more fluent
This is why I would focus on a word study instruction that incorporated diagraphs for this particular student. This assessment process using a spelling inventory was new to me, and I did not fully understand the process in the beginning. I was a little confused with the students familiarized of the th and sh sounds in some words, but not in others. This caused me to second guess the stage I was going to place her in until I received clarification on the various ways that students may spell words correctly from
Along with many other topics of special education, the topic of inclusion has been surrounded by uncertainty and controversy for as long as the concept has been around.
Adapting and using language which is appropriate to the person you are talking to is a very important when communicating with children and young people. Children of different ages will
Melinda starts school off in a bad way. She continuously gets in trouble with numerous teachers. She never does any homework. She mostly takes naps. Worst of all, in her mind, she has no friends. This does not change until she meets Heather, the new girl. Heather is...
Adults with Learning Disabilities The field has not quite reached consensus on definitions of LD, and there are professionals as well as members of the public who do not understand them or believe they exist. For example, in a Roper (1995) survey of 1,200 adults, 85% associated LD with mental retardation, 66% with deafness, and 60% with blindness. In Rocco's (1997) research, faculty "questioned the existence of certain conditions or if they existed, the appropriateness of classifying the condition as a disability" (p. 158). However, most definitions describe learning disabilities as a group of disorders that affect the ability to acquire and use listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or math skills (Gerber and Reiff 1994; National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center 1995a; National Center for Learning Disabilities 1997).
I interviewed a woman who has a child with special needs. The child is now in kindergarten. The mother reported having a normal pregnancy with no complications. This was the second child for the mother, who has another child who was five years old at the time. The mother disclosed that during the pregnancy, she was in the process of separating from the child’s father and that this caused a moderate level of stress. At the time of the pregnancy, the mother was also working full time as a waitress in a local restaurant. The mother reported that her job required her to be on her feet for long periods of time. She was able to work until around a week before her child was born. The mother reports that the child was born around two weeks early but that labor was easy and the child was born healthy.
Dyslexia is now a widely accepted condition that is prevalent in many classrooms. However, defining dyslexia is difficult as it can be described as a continuum. Although experts largely agree that dyslexia is identifiable as a developmental difficulty of language learning and cognition (Rose, 2009). Dyslexia can pose a host of difficulties for the child and can make daily activities and school life very challenging. The NCLD (2013) states children with dyslexia may have difficulties with ‘accurate and fluent spelling, accurate and fluent written expression, phonological awareness, memory, verbal processing speed and information processing.’ As teachers it is vital that we are aware of the underlying difficulties as the child’s consistent underachievement can appear on the surface as carelessness and lack of effort (Hodge, 2000). Dyslexia is not only about literacy, although weaknesses in literacy are often the most visible sign, it effects all areas of learning as the ability to read and write sufficiently permeates all areas of learning within the curriculum. ‘Dyslexia occurs across the range of intellectual abilities’ however, the difficulties posed by having dyslexia can affect a child’s ability to learn (Rose, 2009). Every child has the right to succeed and so the teacher must strive to provide the key for learning and implement effective interventions which develop the child’s literacy skills and help them reach their full potential (DCSF, 2007; DfES, 2004).
I was interested in the debate over her taking medication. I, at first agreed with her and her parents about not wanting her on medication. I was also worried about her uniqueness and creativity being destroyed by the medication. I also was excited by the idea of her changing schools in hope that she would make friends. I did not think about the new school working as a substitute stimulus for her. I was very surprised to learn about her lying about her academics and saddened to learn about her social problems. I was surprised at how much the medication helped her in the end and glad it did not hurt her uniqueness.
There has been an increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism or other autism spectrum disorders. It is likely as an educator that you will have at least one child with this diagnosis in your classroom. This paper explores some of the methods used to teach autistic children.
Education is a profession which requires a teacher to be able to communicate with a multitude of students on a variety of levels. There is not a class, or student for that matter, that is identical. Therefore, teachers must be able to identify and help educate students from all different types of backgrounds and at different levels. Teaching a singular subject presents difficulties, but teaching students with disabilities should not be one. There are three main teaching areas that need to be focused on when teaching a student with a learning disability. Teachers need to focus on the strategies that will assist students with reading comprehension skills, writing skills, and maintaining appropriate behaviors in a classroom setting.
As I ponder over my personal professional development experiences as an educator the realization of how one has developed over time is personally satisfying. Educating children especially children with special needs is a challenge within its self. As a teacher it is important that this writer makes a positive influence with students. There are going to be certain ideas that one tries to uphold and other discriminations that one will not allow. Everyone has their own beliefs teachers should do what is necessary not to infringe on others, but show children different way to think so that they have all the information needed to make educated choices. Children are open-minded they have not yet had to deal with or understand the injustices that they will encounter. If children are taught from an early age they will have the ability to succeed especially children with special needs as an educator my main goal is teaching the purpose of public schools, and education reform. It is my purpose to influence children and be positive influence.
A child with a mental or physical disability may not be able to think, work, play, and function like other children of the same age. Someone working in the special needs career will be able to assist these children to function in their everyday lives and to meet goals to encourage them to thrive. In order for someone to work with special needs children, they need to understand the factors involved in a child’s improvement, have a heart for helping others, and be properly educated and trained.
The field of work for the handicapped child is one of exceptional, perhaps even unique, rapidity of change and development. Widening of outlook and better understanding are leading to new tactics and new techniques in approach to identifying the handicapped, in defining their disabilities and in providing better treatment, education, and general care. In this paper I will demonstrate how the handicapped child becomes socialized, has social control and how family, education and the community plays an important role in the development of the social self. Play serves an important role in the all-round development of the child. It is their method of growing in those areas in which they are ready to develop.