Special Child Observation

J.R. The Special Boy Who Enjoys Learning My observation was at Lincoln Elementary School, located at 221 Cross Street, Harrison, New Jersey. I observed an atypical child in the Kindergarten Inclusion Classroom, in which had a teacher aide named Collen Sawyer, a general teacher, and a teacher aide assistant. The inclusive classroom had seven students with special needs participating in the Least Restrictive Environment with 14 students without disabilities, in a total of 21 students. Also, the teacher gave them a number from 1 to 21, in which she used to call the number to write on the board, get a book or the homework in the way to organize them in the line. The classroom was ample with reading area, dramatic area, science area, manipulative

The teacher aide helped me to assess the observation by giving the name of the child that I should observe and give all information about the accommodations and extra help that the child with special needs was receiving. Also, the children were receptive and curious about my presence in the classroom. I stayed a whole school day, 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and after one hour of observation, I realized that most of them were behavior management and learning disabilities, and no handicapped student. In sum, the observation was receptive by the teachers, which I feel comfortable to ask questions and interact freely with the student that was chosen for my

are receiving from the Harrison School include: peer help, use manipulatives, preferential settings, repetitive lessons (letters and sounds every day), working in small groups, immediate feedback and routine. To illustrate, the teacher chooses specific books appropriate for his needs, such as each page of the book had the same main words “flying high” and the same main sentence “They were flying high.”, and I realized that he had difficulty in memorizing those words because of his speech deficiency. According Title 6A chapter 14, J.R. was eligible to receive speech-language services two times in the week to improve articulation and phonology development. (76). Currently, the public schools of Harrison, New Jersey are using Orton-Gillingham Phonics, a curriculum developed by the neurologist Dr. Samuel T. Orton and educator, psychologist Anna Gillingham in 1930s; which combines multi-sensory techniques along with the structure of the English Language, in which include: phonemes and morphemes, such as prefixes, suffixes, roots and common spelling rules. “Multi-sensory education incorporates the three learning pathways, which are: auditory, kinesthetic, and visual. This approach is beneficial not only for students with dyslexia, but for all learners. It can be implemented in a large group setting as well as with individuals, small groups, and at-risk populations. The approach allows for the implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI) at all