Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Chapter One - "Stories from Ms. Moyer's Classroom"

A Story for All Ages - "Stories from Ms. Moyer's Classroom"

9/9/2018

Heather lived with her grandmother because her father left them after she was born. Her mother had lost custody of Heather to her grandmother for some unknown reason. The first time I met Heather, she was coming off a special needs school bus and being lowered to the ground in her wheelchair.  She was clean, well dressed and kept her pretty face down while tapping her fingers together.  

She was a 13-year-old Afro-American 6th grader with an extensive IEP history that I had read and reread before meeting her.  What the school paperwork told me was that she was functionally blind and suffered from spina bifida. She could not stand or walk, nor could she read braille, or write it but she had a good memory.  Since Heather was diagnosed as being “Legally blind,” she needed to be learning to read via braille or from other non-visual educational media.

During the first week of classes, while I was getting to know Heather and the other students in my contained classroom, (which means they were not included in any other classrooms for any subject) I became familiar with her strengths and weaknesses. Heather’s hearing was very acute, and she appeared to tap her fingers to help to center herself and maintain self-control.

She also had an excellent memory and could remember instructions word for word.  However, her perceptions were frequently erroneous.  She could repeat words but could not always understand what they meant.  Her lack of vision severely affected her understandings of her environment.  She needed to touch and feel everything in the classroom to learn. 

Given the tactile needs of most of my pupils, I had an extensive collection of tactile educational material.  Plastic fruit, vegetables, large Styrofoam alphabet letters, uniform hats, easy reader braille books, Lego blocks, stacking blocks, plastic shapes, stars, circles, triangles, squares, tactile readers, art supplies with clay, pipe cleaners, sparkles, plastic eyes, ears, lightweight wigs of different colors, educational software and a large wireless mouse with interactive educational software were used to assist with their educational programs. I also raided the closet in the science room and received permission to use a human-size plastic doll with removable organs. 

Every day we started with a silly alphabet recording with a large book and large letters to sing along with. By learning the sounds of letters and sounding out words Heather quickly learned all the words to the alphabet song and could sing the notes perfectly.  However, when we put a muffin pan and tennis balls in front of her and attempted to teach her the braille alphabet, she would throw the balls as far as she could and then laugh in a very self-controlled manner.   

I came to realize that although Heather would not understand her environment in many circumstances, there was something she always knew.  She had an uncanny skill for determining the truth from people.  You could not lie to her, or even stretch the truth, she always knew. 

When I told her that learning to read was important, she would respond that her grandma and others would always read to her.  When I told her that reading would help her learn more words, she said that others would explain words to her that she did not know. Finally, when I informed her that if she could write braille, she could share her thoughts with many other people that she could not see or talk to.  She said she had nothing to say to anyone else.  She then continued to throw the tennis balls daily, instead of spelling braille words with them.

One day while listening to her singing the alphabet song, I had a thought.  That afternoon, I sat next to her and listened while she tapped her fingers. She was singing songs in her head that she had heard from others and memorized.  The finger tapping was the beat to songs in her head.  Wow, how could I get her to open up and sing I wondered?

During lunch every day  I started playing gospel songs and my aides and I would sing along with them.  Within a couple days, Heather started singing along with us.  She had a beautiful voice and she could remember the lyrics pitch perfect.  One day I recorded her singing, then played it back to her the next day.  Everyone that heard her applauded and complimented her. She was surprised that everyone enjoyed it. 

The following day when I asked her if there was anything she would like to share with all the people in the world that she did not know? She finally smiled and shook her head yes.  Heather took the tennis balls and spelled the word, “I,” then she spelled the word “can,” then she finally spelled the word “sing” in braille.  She had learned this truth about herself.

I hugged her and told her, “Yes Heather, yes, you really can!”


Visual Aid:
   Ii

  Cc
 Aa
 Nn
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C:\Users\clmoy\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCacheContent.Word\20170124_160805.jpg
C:\Users\clmoy\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCacheContent.Word\20170124_160749.jpg
C:\Users\clmoy\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCacheContent.Word\20170124_164710.jpg

   Ss
   Ii
   Nn
  Gg
C:\Users\clmoy\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCacheContent.Word\20170124_164936.jpg
C:\Users\clmoy\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCacheContent.Word\20170124_160831.jpg
C:\Users\clmoy\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCacheContent.Word\20170124_164710.jpg
C:\Users\clmoy\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCacheContent.Word\20170124_160822.jpg


Note:

 (Heather's name was changed to protect her privacy.)

Chapter Two: "Jennifer"