Disabilities+Presentation


 * Artifact #3 - Students with Disabilities Presentation

Use of Presentation**:

I am currently doing my practicum in a K-8 library media center in a Chicago Public School. Every Wednesday, I work with a particular class of first-grade students. Typically, either my site supervisor or I will read them a book, talk about different aspects of the story, and then work with them on an activity that corresponds to the lesson we learned from the book. In the last month, however, this class has been joined during their library period by another class made up of five special education students. These students have profound disabilities and the first grade class frequently becomes distracted by the special education students’ appearance or behavior. They are confused about how to interact with the new students and have a difficult time focusing when they are all in the library. I would like to prepare a short presentation for the original class on what it means to have a disability. Ideally, once they better understand the new students’ circumstances, they will be more willing to accept them and focus during their library session.


 * Warm-up Activity**:

When taking attendance, my site supervisor usually asks each student one question such as “What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?” or “What color is your bed at home?” For this activity, rather than these questions, I would ask the student “What’s one thing that makes you different and special?” I would offer examples to them such as “I’m tall,” “I’m left-handed,” and “I wear glasses.” As I take attendance and call on each student, I would listen to their answer and give a response – “I love your purple glasses!” or “I bet being short makes it a lot easier to go through the tunnels on the playground!” In other words, I would try to find the positives within each difference.


 * Presentation**:

Book: __Susan Laughs__ by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross

Since this is the library period, I will open by reading a book about a girl who uses a wheelchair.


 * We will see that "Susan trots,/Susan rows,/Susan paints,/Susan throws" and, above all, has a lot of similar experiences with most of the children in the class. By the end of the story, children will see that Susan is “through and through-/just like me, just like you," even if she happens to use a wheelchair, as shown in the final illustration. Thus, we focus on her abilities rather than on the things by which she is limited.
 * As I read, I will periodically ask questions to encourage the children to relate to Susan. “Do you ever paint?” “When is the last time you got mad like Susan?”
 * The book is not condescending or preachy but rather matter-of-fact about Susan’s wheelchair. Therefore, I will not make a big deal out of the revelation that Susan is physically disabled, but will approach it in the same frank manner the book uses.

Discussion:


 * Review some of the things that made Susan unique – her red hair, her wheelchair, her dancing skills.
 * Relate these attributes to things the children mentioned earlier. “Antoinette, you and Susan are both left-handed!”
 * Reiterate that everyone has differences, but everyone has similarities as well. At heart, we are all people.
 * After this general talk about differences and similarities, begin to focus on disabilities and the five students in the special education class that join them.
 * “Like Susan, Trevaun is in a wheelchair. Do you think that he does some of the things that Susan does? What kinds of things can you do when you’re in a wheelchair?”
 * Discuss why a student might be in a wheelchair. Talk about the term “disabilities.”
 * physical disabilities – when part of someone’s body makes it hard for them to move or easily function.
 * emotional/behavioral disorders- when a child or person has a hard time keeping control of their actions and moods.
 * communication disorders – when someone cannot speak or listen in the same way that we do.
 * Stress that while it can be difficult, children with disabilities can do most of the things they can do //and// can do some things they might not be able to do. For example, play wheelchair basketball.
 * Tie the two threads together – “Since children like Susan are so much like us, how do you think they feel when we laugh at them or stare at them? How would it make you feel if someone teased you for wearing glasses? How do you think these children and you would like to be treated?”
 * Brainstorm appropriate ways to interact with the special education class. Discuss how each idea might make them feel. Ask the class to agree on productive ways to interact with the five students and make them feel welcome.


 * Closing Activity:**

I will ask students to think of one way that they will make everyone in the class feel welcome and included. Then, I will let them go back to their desks and color an activity sheet. They will write what they plan to do (spelling does not matter and they will just do the best they can) and then draw a picture of how they will do that. I will offer suggestions such as “smile at new classmates” or “don’t laugh at students who are different than me.” The students love opportunities to color so this will be enjoyable for them while it reinforces what we spoke about. Later, I will refer back to the appropriate behaviors we brainstormed if students need reminding once the special education class returns. I will remind students to remember how we talked about making everyone feel welcome.




 * Future Use:**

As mentioned, I see an immediate need for this presentation with the students at my practicum. I think they will strongly benefit from discussing ways in which to interact with the students that have disabilities. I think this presentation will also benefit me in the future, however. I plan to be a school librarian and, at many schools, the library is a time when special education classes are integrated into mainstream classes. I anticipate reencountering the problems we are having now and I think it will be extremely useful to have a lesson prepared to help students deal with those that are different from them. This can also be adapted to fit an older group of students by changing the closing activity (perhaps to writing a paragraph rather than coloring) and by changing to terms and vocabulary I use. Even though Susan Laughs is a picture book, I believe it could still work with older students as the message within it is fairly universal. Above all, I think that by compiling this presentation, I will be able to use it in the immediate as well as the more distant future.