"He Can Be Taught"
-Genie from Aladdin
Learning can be defined as "the relatively permanent changes in behavior". One major aspect of CAPES! is to help children with disabilities learn physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral skills. The other major aspect of CAPES! is to help WSU students learn about themselves and to learn about learners with disabilities. After 6 weeks of CAPES!: 1) what has the child you have been working with learned?; 2) what do they still need to learn?; 3) what have you learned?; and 4) what do you still need learn?
I finally feel like my child is learning from me and understanding what I ask of him. He has learned to look at me when I am talking and that I'm not going to chase him when he runs away from me (that one took a little bit for me to learn too). Just this last week he was able to work with another child in the activities that we were doing and he was doing pretty good at being social, but there is room for improvement with that. I would say that he still needs to learn how to respond to me. He struggles with his words sometimes. I've learned a lot. Mostly that I have more patience than I expected. I've also learned that if you put these kids up to the challenge and you expect them to actually do it, then they will expect more out of themselves and do it. I think I still need to learn how to talk to my child a little better. Sometimes I give him the choice of doing something (like helping me clean up) when it's actually not a choice. There's room for improvement with me on that aspect. Overall myself and my kid are learning a lot from each other and CAPES!
ReplyDeleteAfter six weeks in CAPES! my child has learned some skills in a new sport he has never played in racquetball. He has become more comfortable in the pool and is starting to learn to tread water. He has developed his basketball skills of shooting and dribbling. We have been working on him being more verbal and have made small steps in this aspect. He is using a lot more please and thank yous than the first week. I still hope to teach him new sports and the skills involved with them. I hope to develop his defense skills in basketball. I also plan to help him float on his back in the pool and continue to gain comfort in the pool. I wish to try and make please and thank yous something that comes automatic for him. Finally I hope to help him communicate more effectively.
ReplyDeleteI have learned a lot about down syndrome and the different types of challenges one with down syndrome faces. I have learned how to be a more effective communicator with someone like down syndrome. I have become better at being the "boss" and trying to keep him on task. I have learned that he has a great love of learning new things and that when he does learn new things he loves to develop skills in the activity. I still have a lot to learn. I need to learn how to better develop communication in children with disabilities. I need to learn how to get him more involved with others and develop strategies to show the importance and values of sharing.
Brian Dean
Six weeks already? Wow it's going by really quickly! I have been working on a few things with A that I think she is understanding really well. At home she has been working on directional phrases (such as under, over, beside, etc) and so I have been trying to incorporate those into our night! When we are in the pool I ask her to swim under and over and between objects and she seems to be grasping the concept well. I also plan to set up an obstacle course in the gym to help incorporate those phrases in to our land time as well! As for me, I have learned a lot from watching A interact with her cousin. She is very patient with her and always willing to let her cousin decide the plans so there isn't any conflict. She is only 5 which is why it's so surprising to me that she would willingly let a peer make decisions first! It's inspiring!
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ReplyDeleteThis week I got to work with L, a different child for the night. It’s difficult for me to gauge what he has learned over the course of CAPES!, but we did work on the climbing wall. He loved putting the stuffed animals on the wall in the hopes of climbing and rescuing them. It was awesome to see him challenge himself. He learned to overcome the fear of climbing and still gets to learn to trust his strength and balance while he climbs. We colored pumpkins and worked on social skills and then went to the pool. In the pool, we worked on floating and kicking. I did notice progress while swimming and would like him to focus on socializing and playing with other kids in the water. It was really cold in the water so that impacted things a bit. I have learned to trust myself and to be more clear in my instruction and lesson plans. I would like to still learn skills to teach and gauge their learning. In a lot of ways I feel like I am winging it.
I remember at the very beginning of CAPES! before we got our student, we had a meeting with all of the WSU students and we were told that one week we may feel like we just taught them the world and the next week they would come back and remember none of it...I must say that has been quite true. However, I have learned that it's not always about the 'tasks' I try to teach her, such as learning coin names and values. It's more about her skills such as following directions, and learning to trust people. Skills are a little more difficult to gauge their progress, but now that I look back on it I realize that she has improved drastically. The things I would really like her to learn before she leaves CAPES! are tying her shoes, and learning the names and values of all of the coins. I still have so so much to learn. I feel like I am just barely scraping the top of teaching, making lesson plans, and disciplining. There is so much to teach and so many ways to teach it. I am excited to learn more about the 'how' of teaching and practice carrying it out.
ReplyDeleteMy CAPES participant has learned a great deal. It has surprised me every week that he knows and remembers what we have worked on. The biggest thing that I have noticed is the change in his listening and responding. He has learned a great deal in this area. I remember the first couple of weeks were difficult because he listened to me, but never responded. I never knew if he was understanding what I was saying. Now we can have full on conversations while doing puzzles. I still hope to teach him more about socializing with other CAPES children. I have learned even more! I never thought that this class would honestly change me. I have become much more confident in my teaching ability. When this class first started, I was beyond nervous and honestly thought that I would not be able to do it. Now I know that I can! I still hope to learn more about working with disabled children and what works best in trying to reach them.
ReplyDelete1) So far, My CAPES! student has learned how to accept being with other kids sometimes, and she has learned how to interact better when my attention is somewhere else. Most of her physical skills are right where most 11 year olds physical skills are, so that's not really something I've been to worried about working in with her.
ReplyDelete2) She still needs to keep working on the social skills, and how to emotionally act if we don't do something she doesn't want to do instead of just telling me no. It's really just going to be working on being with other kids and accepting that they have different thoughts than her. But I'm guessing she just hasn't quite grown out of the stage a lot of young kids are in where they believe everyone thinks like them.
3) So far I have learned how to make a lesson plan and I've learned that even at CAPES! students can get a little bored and have off days. I have been trying to find new ways to make me student have fun, yet interact with others.
4) I still need to learn how to work with and plan days with students who have a much more serious, and obvious special need than my student. That will come with time, and as I work with more students who have a higher need for special attention.
My participant has learned to trust me. That has been great! They have learned that we are friends. They have learned how to chew on themself less. They have learned some of the terminology of the exercise world. They still need to learn how to run continuously, and how to watch a ball move around in space.
ReplyDeleteI have learned just how capable a person can be just based upon a small number of things they can do. I have learned how to more effectively communicate my thoughts and expectations. I have learned how to modify my teaching to the needs of an individual. I still need to learn how to help condition the muscles and brain more effectively. I still need to learn how to better motivate. I still need to understand my participant more than I already do!
He’s learned how to go down the stairs with one foot on each step instead of both feet on each step. We’ve been working on helping him balance better. He’s learning how to swim forward and backward with big arms instead of just doggy paddling all the time. He still needs to learn how to listen and pay attention while someone’s talking to him. When we’re in the pool he’ll often go under the water and splash while I’m trying to give him instructions. I’ve learned that every little thing helps. I’ve learned that I’m better at this than I thought I would be. I’m not perfect by any means but I’m more patient than I thought I would be. I still need to learn how to manage and encourage when he doesn’t want to do something. Once I get him to finally try something he hasn’t done or doesn’t want to do he ends up liking it. I just want to help the process happen more smoothly.
ReplyDeleteHe’s learned how to go down the stairs with one foot on each step instead of both feet on each step. We’ve been working on helping him balance better. He’s learning how to swim forward and backward with big arms instead of just doggy paddling all the time. He still needs to learn how to listen and pay attention while someone’s talking to him. When we’re in the pool he’ll often go under the water and splash while I’m trying to give him instructions. I’ve learned that every little thing helps. I’ve learned that I’m better at this than I thought I would be. I’m not perfect by any means but I’m more patient than I thought I would be. I still need to learn how to manage and encourage when he doesn’t want to do something. Once I get him to finally try something he hasn’t done or doesn’t want to do he ends up liking it. I just want to help the process happen more smoothly.
ReplyDeleteThe child I have been working with for six weeks has learned to accept me as his friend, which I think is the most rewarding for me. He has learned to more of less go with the flow of things lately. He does not always have to be in charge of what we are doing. He will listen and actually participate in an activity that I have planned for him. He also has done a lot better with less of his freaking out if we have to change an activity or go to the pool and leave our what we were doing or to get out of the pool and go home. He still needs to learn to follow instructions better. Especially listening to them the first time. He also needs to work on some form of communication to allow him to be better understood. I think that comes with a lot of practice and time that is dedicated to working on communication. I have learned how to modify specific drills to fit the needs of someone like him. He can do so many drills and activities just with a little extra help. I think that is so key to understand when building lesson plans in our classrooms because of the modifications for individuals with disabilities. I still need to work on giving him less things at a time. I think that I overstimulate him sometimes and he can't focus on what I am trying to tell him. I also need to work on letting him explore more and try not to prompt him so much when performing an activity.
ReplyDeleteOther than my hard to pronounce name, R has done a fantastic job learning the different swimming techniques he can use in the pool. R does a good with recognizing the techniques when I call them out and he performs them very well. Something that he still needs work on is his communication skills. The communication that we have during our time together are mostly questions that I ask him and his responses. So something that he still needs to work on is his ability to communicate with others on his own.
ReplyDeleteDuring my time at CAPES I have learned a lot especially about autism. The information I have learned about autism has given me a better understanding about the disability. It has also helped me learn different ways of helping my participant. What I still need to do is find better ways of helping my participant participate with others. Whenever he's around other kids he seems to be confused on what to do, so if I can help him play with other kids it can help him with his social and communication skills.