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Assessment 2- Report

Student name: Amna Alaa Al Bayraq


Course Code: EDU 2803
Course name: Teaching Learners with Special Needs
Course teacher: Antoinette Wiseman
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During my observation on the first day, there is one child who has taken my interest.

The child name is Hamad, he is four years old and from the UAE. I observed Hamad for

one month and I have reached some information about him of the possibility of having

autism.

In my opinion, he has autism. The reason why I think that he is autistic is because I

tried to talk to him but he did not response my instructions which made me think that

he has hearing impairment but after observing him I noticed that he is repeating some

words and songs which assured me that he can hear but my words are not important to

him. Also, I tracked his eyes and I realized that he doesnt have any eye contact. All of his

behaviors are associated with the definition of autism as Autism Speaks website

explained, "Autism, or autism spectrum disorder, refers to a range of conditions

characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and

nonverbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences" ("What Is

Autism?," 2017).

There are two different ways the teacher can use it to help people with the

determination to learn better and to ease their learning. First, the accommodation that

means providing supports for the people of determination to help them to learn without

changing the curriculum. Such as, changing the environment. Second, the modification

that means removing some of the curriculum (General Rules, p. 29, n.d.). For Hamad

who is possibly autistic, I suggest two accommodations. First, seating him beside the

teacher on the carpet or on a chair so as not to distract the attention of other students or

to be distracted by them. Second, picture the rules and the schedule. An autistic child

needs a visual representation to understand the instructions and to know what is going

to happen because they don't pay attention for what we are saying ("Accommodations
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and Supports," 2014). For example when Hamad was eating and he wanted to play we

showed him a picture of a boy eating food and a picture of games and we kept pointing

on the pictures to understand that first he should eat then he will play and it worked

with him. Also, I suggest two modifications. First, I would modify the tasks in the gym

class according to what he likes to do. For example, Hamad like to run in circles more

than walking between the cones thats why I would let him run and skip the task where

he's required to walk between the cones. Second, I would require the student to cover

less complex tasks in the classroom activities students are required to cut the pictures

and to stick them or do whatever the activity requires but for Hamad he must do

something that is less complex such as tearing the papers and sticking them instead of

cutting on the line because he is not ready yet to use the scissor.

There are many strategies that a classroom teacher can use to help her in classes that

include an autistic child, such as, reinforcing the positive behavior. I noticed that Hamad

sit in his place and behave when he sees the teacher is choosing children to put stickers

beside their names which strengths skinners method. According to skinner (1904-

1990), "Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an

individual finds rewarding"(McLeod, 2015). The second strategy is to model what she

wants the autistic child to do. For example, if the teacher wants him to clean up she must

hold his hand and show him that he should clean up (Flynn, n.d.). Also, the teacher

should provide a manipulative such as play dough or a small ball to keep the autistic

child busy squeezing the ball and playing with the play dough instead of touching the

other materials and disturbing other children and its helpful to strength his hand's

muscles as well.
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Every special needs child should have an IEP that stands for Individualized Education

Program. Its a document includes information about the special needs student such as,

his strength and weakness, the goals that he is required to meet, what he needs to meet

these goals and a method to assess his development ("Individualized Education," 2016).

The IEP includes Piagets four domains of development, which they are: cognitive,

motor, social-emotional and linguistic (Bartolotta & Shulman, p. 35, n.d.). The learning

objectives that I would include in the IEP for the autistic child are meant to support the

four domains.

Cognitive: Students will be able to sort the objects according to their colors.

Activity: Button sorting. The child will sort the buttons on the colored baskets according

to their colors.

Motor: The child will be able to perform movements using his hands and fingers

Activity: Music and movements. I will play 'Baby Shark' video song and the child will

perform the movements.

Social-emotional: The child will be able to express his feelings.

Activity: Facial expressions. I will show the child the flashcard that includes a facial

expression and I will ask him to do it in front of the mirror.

Linguistic: The child will be able to answer yes/no questions.

Activity: Flashcards. I will show the child a picture of a color and I will ask the child, is

this your favorite color? If the child did not give me a verbal answer I will repeat the

question and I will reinforce his answer to encourage him to talk and answer my

questions.
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Classes with autistic children should be provided with assistive devices to ease the

learning process. In my teaching practice this semester I did not see my MST using any

assistive device that made teaching the autistic very difficult for her. In my opinion,

teachers should use a variety of assistive devices such as speech-generating devices. Its

a tablet that has been designed to develop language and communication skills. Its

include an app called "matrix training" children can select images and the app will say

what they want to say. In taking into account that autistic children have difficulties with

their fine motor skills, writing words might be exhausting because their hand's muscles

are weak. By providing the portable word processor device it would be easier to them to

write and it would make it easier for the teacher to read what they have written because

this device will help them to correct their writing (Morrissey, 2017).

During all my observations, in conclusion, I think I was successful in identifying the

disorder that I think that Hamad has it because of his characteristics and the way he is

acting correspond to the characteristics of children with autism. On the other hand, I

think I failed in making a variety suitable and interesting activities for Hamad when I

taught the class because he was not interested in most of them. He was doing the

activity for one minute and he is moving because he is done with it. Although I failed the

whole month, I kept trying and I succeed in engaging him one time by grabbing his

attention with the music. According to Montessori (1870-1952), "every child has

musical potential and all children are able to learn and express themselves

musically"(Burns, 2017). Her words worked with me because when I applied her

method by playing The phonics song' Hamad was engaged and he was doing the hands

movements. Which also helped to develop his fine-motor skills by moving his fingers

and gross-motor skills by moving his body part. This strategy worked well for me

because the song attracted his attention and instead of running and hitting his friends he
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wanted to complete listening to the song and doing the movement until the end. Every

child has the ability to learn, applying different strategies and using the assistive devices

will help the teachers to run their lessons smoothly without difficulties.
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References:

Accommodations and supports for school-age students with ASD. (2014).


Retrieved
November 18, 2017, from https://www.carautismroadmap.org/
accommodations-and-supports-for-school-age-students-with-asd/?print=pdf
Bartolotta, T. E., & Shulman, B. B. (n.d.). Child development. Retrieved
November 18, 2017, from http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763747237/
47238_CH02_Shulman.pdf
Flynn, S. (n.d.). Inclusion strategies for students with autism spectrum
disorders. Retrieved November 18, 2017, from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/
editions/every-learner/6692
General rules for the provision of special education programs and services
(public & private schools). (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2017, from
https://mylearn.hct.ac.ae/bbcswebdav/pid-7509335-dt-content-rid-
11905640_1/
courses/201710_12771/201710_12771_ImportedContent_20170827082936
/
201620_25218_ImportedContent_20170108012155/
201610_14563_ImportedContent_20160829015011/
201610_14562_ImportedContent_20160829014819/SNrulesEn.pdf

Individualized education plan (IEP). (2016). Retrieved November 18, 2017, from
http://www.autism-society.org/living-with-autism/autism-through-the-
lifespan/
school-age/educational-mandates/individualized-education-plan-iep/

McLeod, S. (2015). Skinner - operant conditioning. Retrieved November


18, 2017,
from https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

Morrissey, D. (2017, June 12). Assistive technology to improve education for


students with autism. Retrieved November 18, 2017, from
http://blog.ncpad.org/2017/06/12/
assistive-technology-to-improve-education-for-students-with-autism/

What is autism? (2017). Retrieved November 18, 2017, from


https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism

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