Extra Post

Didn't observe Margaret last week because of scheduling conflicts etc, but I will be observing her tomorrow.  I realized that while I mentioned the tactile map I made for Stacy previously, I didn't post any pictures of it!  The last time I worked with Stacy we looked at the map together, and I believe she still has it in her classroom.  Will find out tomorrow if she's still using it.

The first picture is of the actual map, with the top being oriented to the North, etc.  The bottom piece of cork represents the school and has the letter 's' on it in braille.  The top piece of cork represents the church and has the letter "c" on it.

This is the key, which I put on a separate page.  That wasn't fully intentional, but I think it worked well for Stacy's small hands.  At the time, not putting the church and school in the key seemed logical, but now I feel like I should have included those two things as well.  Oops!  At any rate, she seemed to be able to tell what each material represented.

Week Eight

Today I got to go back to a local elementary school and see Jim, a first grader that I have observed several times in the past.  This kid has a great sense of humor and is so creative.

Margaret and I were standing in the cafeteria waiting for Jim to finish his lunch and noticed that Jim's long cane was hanging on the fire extinguisher by the exit (eek!).  There had been an adhesive hook for his cane on the wall by the fire extinguisher, but the hook was missing so apparently the fire extinguisher was now the best alternative.

Margaret was looking at this and trying to come up with a different place for Jim to keep his cane while he ate lunch.  The fire extinguisher is on the right side of the entrance doors, which is also where all of the students line up to leave after they finish eating.  So I suggested, "why not put a hook on the opposite side of the double doors, away from where all the kids stand so they're not tempted to pick the hook off the wall?"

Margaret didn't want Jim to have to cross this heavy traffic area, so we thought some more.  Then I thought of Stacy's (Margaret's preschool student) cane and how it has a rubber hook on it so you can hang it off of a  desk.  It basically allows the cane to defy gravity:

http://www.ambutech.com/product-catalog/accessories/cane-hook-small/

Aha!  I mentioned this to Margaret.  It seemed like the perfect solution.  Jim could just hang his cane off of the lunch table and keep it near him.  We got one of these handy contraptions out of Margaret's car and attached it to Jim's cane.  It took some explaining to show Jim how it works and how to place it on things so that the cane is stable.  Margaret placed the hook on several things (a car bumper, the push bars on the cafeteria doors, and a lunch table).

Apparently we opened a can of worms.  Jim now wanted to hang his cane from any possible spot (his glasses, the back of someone's shirt).  The winner was definitely getting it to hang off the bark on an oak tree (really??).

Margaret was concerned that this was going to become a distraction for Jim, but I think he was getting a chance to learn and satisfy his curiosity.  I'm assuming that after a few days the novelty will wear off and he'll stop using it as an oversized ornament (hopefully).  This whole experience also allowed Margaret to talk to Jim about "problem solving" and "trial-and-error" (I love how she always goes back to skills like this in her lessons).

Next we went to the middle school to work with Ralph (who has light perception) and Jake (who has CP, low vision, and uses a power wheelchair).  I made a tactile map of the school campus for Ralph using the Wheatley Picture Maker.  At first I thought maybe the map was too large or that I needed to add a key, but there doesn't seem to be an easy way to incorporate a key onto the Wheatley Picture Maker (probably not something it's intended for).  The white lines are the corridors the classrooms are in, and the yellow lines are the main hallways:

I sat down with Ralph on a couch and Margaret had me show him the map.  At first it was hard to direct his attention, but by the end he was able to say what the different shapes/textures on the maps represented (yay!).  He did have a hard time answering some of my questions though, which might have been because of the way I worded them ("which hallway is the teacher's lounge across from?").  Overall I thought our mini-lesson went well.

Margaret and I also went for a walk with Jake to the teacher's lounge.  One of his aides gave him the key to the lounge, so when we got there Jake had to put the key in the lock and open the door on his own.  This was definitely a challenge for Jake, but Margaret just waited and gave him some verbal reminders.  We talked some more about the challenges of teaching students in wheelchairs and how a lot of it is just learning as you go.  Still, it would be nice if there was a training that I could take on this subject!

Week Six Part Two

My last post was pretty off topic because of the subject matter, but today I'll try to get back on track.  Margaret and I spent most of our time today with the group of middle school students that have multiple disabilities (Joe, Ralph, and Todd).  Ralph and Todd are twin brothers who have retinopathy of prematurity, and Joe has light perception and balance issues.  

Margaret and I started our day with Joe.  I've mentioned before how his hand preference seems to be in question and that he requires "spotting" when he walks.  I haven't seem him in a little over a week, but it's amazing to see again how much he's progressed.  When Margaret handed Joe his cane, he grabbed it with his right hand, put his left hand through the wrist strap, and transferred the cane to his left hand (no hesitation, no questioning!).  The last time I saw Joe, Margaret was just showing him how to put the wrist strap on, which was something he had difficulty with.  

Joe's PT also told us some of the awesome things he did during her lesson with him (picked up a dropped book, went down stairs, and found a doorway).  Did I mention that this is a student who only used a walker up until about a year ago?  Which brings up the next point.  

Margaret talked to the PT about the fact that when she sees Joe's class about on campus, Joe is usually using his walker with one of the aides towing him along.  In Margaret's words, seeing this makes her blood boil.  So while Margaret is working on all of these cane and travel skills with Joe, the other teachers don't seem to be giving him the opportunity to practice these skills when Margaret is not there.  

Hmm, I wonder how often that kind of thing happens with this population?  

So Margaret told both the PT and Joe's assistant that she would like to see Joe use his walker less, or not at all (apparently this is one of his IEP goals).  It will be interesting to see how successful she is getting the teachers to change.

Margaret and I also talked about me taking over some of Ralph's instruction.  Ralph has some light perception and uses a cane.  He gets distracted sometimes, but he actually seems to do better with his travel skills when he has to concentrate (if there's a lot of noise around, he's in an unfamiliar setting, etc). 

I'm comfortable with teaching him (I think), but I find myself wondering how you know when to give these students additional help and when to back off.  He has an intellectual disability, which makes some concepts more challenging for him.  But at the same time, I don't want to sell him short!  

At any rate, I'm making a tactile map of his school campus for him so we'll see how that turns out...

Week Four

For this week’s lesson with Stacy, I brought home a DRAFTSMAN Tactile Drawing Board which consisted of a rubber mat, plastic paper, and a stylus with two ends.  The goal was to make Stacy a basic tactile map of her school’s campus.  It was to include the school, the parking lot, the church across the street, the memorial garden, and the spiral staircase.  

Having made several tactile graphics already, I was feeling confident and hopeful that I could create a decent map with this kit.  Well, I was wrong.  I planned out the map on a piece of paper first and then proceeded to copy it on the plastic paper using the stylus provided.  As I worked, I had a feeling something wasn’t quite right.  

Once the map was finished, I closed my eyes and felt the page with my fingers to test its legibility (or lack thereof).  Well, apparently this tactile drawing kit is not meant to be used for tactile maps, because what I created felt like a bunch of lines with no distinct areas or borders.  I even tried adding extra lines to some of the shapes (diagonals, verticals), which seemed to make it even worse.  Either that, or I need to go back to Tactile Graphics Drawing 101.  

So I decided to go back to the tactile graphics kit that I made for one of my classes.  It’s full of fun things like felt, cork board, bubble wrap, and popsicle sticks.  I chose three of these textures to use for Stacy’s map, and kept the overall size to half a page to make it easier for her small hands to read.  Unfortunately, I didn’t leave enough room to fit the key on the same page, so I made a second small page for that section (for some reason I always forget to leave room for the key on these tactile graphics). 

I brought my creation with me this Friday, hoping that Stacy would be able to read it.  Margaret sat down with Stacy and one of her classmates and showed them all of the features on the map (she guided Stacy’s fingers using hand-over-hand).  It wasn’t until then that Margaret mentioned that this was Stacy’s first map (yikes!).  But when Margaret asked Stacy what one of the features on the map was, Margaret gave the right answer (yay!).  

Stacy’s classmate was even able to point out which square was the church and which was the school (seems to me all preschoolers would have fun reading a map like this…).  I was feeling quite happy that I stuck with the “keep it simple, stupid” motto, and it looks like Stacy will continue to use the map as she learns more about map-reading and cardinal directions. 

Basically the rest of the day was all about managing off-the-wall behavior and keeping ourselves sane.  Margaret and I convinced ourselves that there was either a full moon/no moon and that getting through the day with our lives would be a bonus: During gymnastics at Margaret’s school, three of the boys were a little "over enthusiastic" about the activities.  At the middle school, we took three of the students for a walk and one was moving like a bull in a china shop (and he’s capable of much more!).  I therefore spent most of the lesson keep this student from knocking another student over or from falling into a pond that we were standing by.  We took Mike (the high school student) out for a community lesson, but he managed to miss his bus and then talk his way out of walking the entire route from the bus stop to his house.  

But even with all of this craziness and a near accident, it was still a great day.