Running Head: REFLECTION 1

Part Three: Reflection Assignment

Amber Kalender

Fresno Pacific University

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As a special education technician, I know first hand many reasons why it is important to

include children with exceptionalities into the classroom. Depending on the type of

exceptionality the general education classroom may be the best fit for a child to be in all day or

for a child to be in for certain times of the day.

I work with children with exceptionalities who are in the general education classroom all

day with assistance due to physical exceptionalities. The first reason that the students need to be

in the general education classroom is it is the best fit for their cognitive abilities. The children in

my care can do the same work at the same pace of their peers cognitively however they need

assistance with the physical aspects of the classroom such as writing, and seeing. It would be

wrong to exclude a child from the proper placement cognitively based on their physical

limitations.

Strategies with my students that I use are accommodations. For example, my student who

is currently in fourth grade has limited movement in her hands and arms. Because of this it may

take her much longer to write an essay so instead of handwriting it I can accommodate her and

allow her to type her essay which is much faster method of writing for her. Another way to

accommodate her writing is to scribe for her when her arms are tired from typing. When scribing

for her it is important to write down her responses exactly as she says and spells them to ensure

accuracy for grading.

Another example of strategies in the classroom to use comes from my Kindergarten

student who is blind, and wheelchair bound. Because of his age, health condition, and vision

impairment he has many more accommodations and at times modifications. One accommodation

for my student is that all of his classwork is enlarged to 133 percent, so he can see the material.

My student also his minimal fine motor development so most of his writing is hand-over-hand
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until he can develop his fine motor skills to hold a pencil and write independently. When it is

time for games with his group my student has trouble engaging with his classmates

independently at stations and has difficultly participating in groups settings, so we have provided

him with another choice of free book time.

Having students with exceptionalities isnt only beneficial to the child with

exceptionalities but is also beneficial for their peers around them. In my experience students who

have a peer with exceptionalities in their classroom get additional educational support and

develop important social and emotional skills.

In classrooms that I have worked with students with exceptionalities such as autism, and

physical exceptionalities their peer group also receives additional academic support. When

working with a kindergarten student who has autism the teacher would include other kids who

were low in math during my time with the student. Being in a group helped my student to learn

how to interact in a group setting during work time. He would often refuse to write his name but

when he saw his peers writing their names independently he began trying to write the letters of

his name on his own. The students also benefited from being with me and my student because I

would reteach the math lesson that the teacher had taught that day but at a slower pace which

allowed them extra time to complete the work and work through confusing parts of the lesson

with me and my student. Along with the extra academic support students who have a classmate

with exceptionalities also develop key social emotional skills.

In the fourth grade classroom I work in the students have been with my student with

exceptionalities since they were in Kindergarten. The students have learned to be kind, patient,

and considerate of my student and their friend. At class parties they will help her eat her deserts

if there is no aide present, they will tell other students to stop or watch out when they are walking
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with her, and they will sit with her and help her with classwork and writing when she is without

an aide in the classroom which is more often now that she is older. Her classmates demonstrate

compassion, caring, and understanding on a level that is special for a group of ten-year olds. My

experiences in the classroom has taught me that when a child with exceptionalities is placed in a

general education classroom everyone is better because of it.