As you continue implementing your own lesson plans and activities that will eventually assist the students with whom you are working to be as independent as possible, you are bound to encounter some challenges. Challenges which were unforeseen and only realized once you were in the moment. For example, when Dr. Z. had a summer camp for disadvantaged youth he was unprepared for the daily demand it would require (over 13 hours every day!) However, he figured out some ways to overcome this challenge in order for the camp to be successful.
What were some challenges you observed and how do plan on meeting these challenges in the next few weeks so that your learning environments go smoother and you are more prepared for them when they come up again?
This is the perfect post for this week at CAPES for me. I typically have a partner and together we do wonderfully. However she was not here this week so I was left alone for the first time. It was a little bit of a challenge because A likes to bolt unexpectedly. We have been working on saying "walk please." when she starts to run away from us. It is also a challenge to communicate. I am not sure how much of what we say she understands. She does know a few basic signs (which we are still learning) We have also really been working on eye contact to help with the lack of communication because sometimes you can tell by her facial expression if she understands you or not. I few things I can do to prepare are, learn a little more basic signs so I can see if she is understanding what I am saying. I also think that it would help to have her hold our hands so she does not bolt unexpectedly
ReplyDeleteA challenge that I have faced with G is trying to have activities that are not only going to help her learn life skills and challenge her, but that she will enjoy too. I feel like things have gone very smoothly with G and she seems happy with the activities we have done, but I feel like I have mainly spent the time getting to know her and building our relationship. Although she has been communicating a saying a lot more words with me when we play games than the first couple weeks. I think the biggest struggle, and I’m not really sure I would classify it as a struggle, is getting G into the pool. I’ve pretty much had to just carry her in once she’s come down a few steps. She is nervous at first and clings to me, but after a couple minutes she seems to really enjoy swimming around with a flotation device. I’m going to try to focus more of our activities on building life skills.
ReplyDeleteOh boy this topic hits home this week and last week for me. This week, I was sick, and I wasn't functioning on the level M needs to stay engaged in our activities. She tends to get off task, and I sat out on the edge of the pool this week too. My partner was swimming, but seeing me act differently had a major impact on how M acted. I think something important for me to remember is that M picks up on the little things; I cannot slip up even once in my countenance or enthusiasm because she knows when I'm faking it. I think a challenge I need to overcome in CAPES! and especially for when I'm a teacher, is that the kids feed off your energy, and you can either pretend for a day that you are feeling well when you feel terrible, or you can slip up and spend the whole day fight against unenthusiastic students. A challenge that we are working on with M to help her become independent, is letting us know when she needs to go to the bathroom. We had an accident last week after the pool with M; she went before we got in the pool so we weren't asking her if she had to go potty at all. She did, but we had absolutely no idea. She doesn't have any cues for when she needs to go, she just goes. This week my partner and I made it a point to tell M she has to tell us. We got on her level, looked her in the eyes, and told her. I think we will still have to remind her in the next few week, but we think that reminding her she has to remind us should help.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that T does not like change. I learned the hard way when we did something completely different from his routine that he was not used to. He was not happy. I want to get him used to the idea that change is okay. My goal for when I write my lesson plans is to begin with things that he is familiar with and gradually add new things. I started to try this the past couple of weeks and it has been working. After he does things that he is familiar with I let him know that we will be doing something different and he has been fine with it. I think it helps to tell him that after we do the new activity he will get to go swimming. This is a huge motivation for him and he usually carries out the tasks.
ReplyDeletefirst off being at capes was great I had a good time. some challenges I had with my kid was that he was unable to focus he was always getting distracted by the other students. We had to tell him to look at us while we were getting out the materials. I plan on meeting my challenges by making sure that i got my materials set up so there is no need for him to be unfocused with anything that we do.I'm going to be setup and made sure that I am ready next time for sure.
ReplyDelete-Jeremy Maxwell
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ReplyDeleteSome of the challenges I have had with B mostly are due to communication. There are times when I get so frustrated because B isn't really listening, he's distracted by other things that are going on and pays attention to them instead of what we are saying. I also love to talk and it is so hard working with a child who doesn't communicate verbally. Working through that has been really hard, I've had to learn different ways to read B and also have one sided conversations and ask lots of yes and no questions. Last week we played with the sand and as B was playing with it, he would start to eat the sand and lick it off his fingers. I started to say 'don't eat that' and he'd repeat that as he ate more sand. We were using the sand to try and understand more about how he grasps objects and while he does fantastic at that, there is a problem with licking and eating many objects that are not meant to be eaten. I don't really know ways to stop this other than taking away the object or saying no. It's something to look into and see what can help, because it isn't the most sanitary thing to do. I think we also need to do a better job of watching as he bring objects closer to his mouth like he's going to test it out and stop it before it happens.
ReplyDeleteI think that in the beginning I should have been more guiding in the beginning of capes, instead of trying to let A do whatever. I think that we both have more fun when the activity is a little more organized and structured. The good thing about being more structured at first is because then I could have given A more choices as he started to make better decisions. I think it is important to make sure that anything that we are not using immediately needs to be put away. Like any other kid, A will start playing with any toy, even if it wasn’t what we were going to do. I need to have all of the material ready to go when A gets there, if we aren’t always doing something, he will find something else to play with. I try to avoid him coming into the equipment room because he gravitates to things with a longer handle so that they can be used for light sabers… we can’t play light saber battles every time.
ReplyDeleteAmber Seidel
Capes has been a great experience, I have learn much with working with C, one of the challenge so far is coming up with activities and skills to teach him. With C the question is not what he can do but what can’t he do. It has keep us on our toes thinking of new ways to teach and entertain C. Another challenge that we have had to work with is playing games and references that keep him engaged, the only way that we have found that has solved that problem is to apply Pokémon to everything. When we do that he seem to listen and enjoys the activity a lot more. The big challenge that I want to work on and hope to improve is C communication skills.
ReplyDeleteChallenges for me with my participant started on the first day. She came in and was extremely over-stimulated and I wasn't expecting that. Once I realized that I wouldn't be able to help her until I implemented a behavior management option and a visual schedule, things calmed down a lot! I haven't really had a challenge with that since the beginning and things have been a lot smoother. Another challenge is trying to find activities to do with other participants when mine isn't here last minute. I've realized that being open to getting to know the participant as a person first opens up a lot more ideas and makes it a lot more fun for both of us!
ReplyDeleteThe main challenge that I gave with S is that the individual has a hard time communicating with me. This creates a barrier of understanding if I am not careful. Anytime S says a word, 3-4 words run through my mind since She has trouble speaking clearly.
ReplyDeleteWhen S says something, I have learned to wait and contemplate what S is trying to say before I respond. This eliminates frustration and leaves both parties happy and understood.
Rohan Vajupeyayajula
For the most part, the challenges that we've had have been minor and easily worked with. For example, this last week we had several activities that we were going to do in the classroom. However, there were two other groups in the room whose activities were distracting. So, I had to throw our plans out and use a backup plan. Most of our problems are quickly solved with a backup plan.
ReplyDeleteChallenges for me have been different. My participant lately doesn't really want to do anything I have planned for him. He complains or tells me he wants to do something else, or while we are doing the activity, he doesn't try as hard as I want him too. His parents want him to work hard and get out of his wheelchair and he just wants to play different sports and games. This has just started the last 2 weeks. I am hoping if I plan some better games and activities, he will be more willing and happy to participate and try harder. I also think a better reward/incentive would help as well.
ReplyDelete-Makell Hull
We have been trying to get K to float on her back.I thought it would be easy to get her to do it but, trying to motivate her to go on her back has been difficult but taking small steps seems to help. We had her look up at the ceiling to show her that it isn't as scary as it seems. With K Small steps seem to work the best.
ReplyDeleteJill A. Arave
It has been easy to stay excited because every week is so different. This week another class brought games and so me and A played giant janga, it was something very totally new. We have been hanging out with other kids, to shake things up. I have noticed that when I am willing to look silly, it gives A the opportunity to be silly too. I think that when working with kids, there really isn’t any “normal”.
ReplyDeleteAmber
Challenges have pretty much only been communication and getting her to participate in more activities. She didn't like going out of her comfort zone and it was hard to get her to try new things. We tried rock climbing and would take walks to try to peak her interest in different areas but our attempts were usually not successful. She loved playing with the big yoga balls and being the dance studio with mirrors. We tried to incorporate different games with her and include the things that she liked.
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