Thursday, August 28, 2014
CSD 764 - Week 2 Post
Educational Placement:
1.) Educational placement for students with hearing loss has been a long debate. What are your thoughts about educating students within the "mainstream" versus in a centralized program/school?
2.) What are your thoughts about push in and pull out?
Educational placement can be one of the most difficult decisions a parent of a d/Deaf or hard of hearing child may have to face. There are so many factors that play an important role in the placement of the child such as the degree of the hearing loss, amplification if any that the child uses, and modes of communication that the child uses. These factors could help parents answer the big question on deciding if the child would succeed better in a mainstream classroom or a centralized program or school. I think it would also be helpful to the parents to talk with the child's past educators and other professionals that have spent time with the child to get an idea of their opinions as well as visiting several schools and observing their environments to see how teacher and student interaction is in each school environment. I think the parents then would have a better idea and be more confident in determining where they want their child to be placed to get the best educational experience. Ideally it would be best for the child to be in a setting where they are pushed to succeed with their typically developing peers. If the child needs additional focus on certain subjects there is always the option of mainstreaming the child and providing them the push in and pull out method. The child would then be pushed in for classroom instruction with the child's classroom peers and then pulled out to spend more time focusing on that subject with the deaf educator at his/her school. Although I'm not completely knowledgable on this topic yet, I think it would be very beneficial to the student and provide them a time of independence with their peers, but allow them to focus on the topic in a smaller setting as well, allowing them to ask questions and receive more focused instruction. The school I will be placed at for practicum this semester uses this method and I'm excited to get to become more familiar and observe how the push in pull out method works and observe the results of the student.
Attention Span & Problem Solving:
3.) What are your thoughts on attention span/problem solving? What if you're doing push in, in a regular education classroom, how do you approach student if he/she is struggling?
In class we discussed that a child that is d/Deaf or hard of hearing has to focus on the teacher, the interpreter, and their handout/notes simultaneously during classroom instruction which can be exhausting. Therefore it may be hard to keep their attention for a long period of time. I think it's important for the educators to have their " bag of tricks" when they notice that their students are beginning to lose interest. From past observations I have seen teachers incorporate a "Wiggle Time" when they play a Just Dance YouTube video allowing their students to get up out of their chairs and dance along with the video to allow them to stretch and give their minds a rest. I think it's important for educators to have a strong relationship with his/her students and incorporate topics of interest into the curriculum as well as using positive reinforcement to reward them on "A Job Well Done."( but be sparingly with this system) I think that students have more respect for their teachers when they trust them and feel like they could talk to them about anything. Getting to know your students is key!
When it comes to problem solving I think that it's important to push our students to use critical thinking to try and figure out the problem independently first before asking for help. If the child is still struggling to find the solution to the problem I think it is then okay for the educator to step in and act as a model to help the student solve the problem. In many of our previous classes we have discussed how important it is to push our future d/Deaf and hard of hearing students to be independent. I think this will best encourage them to be successful in their studies and educational experiences and eventually become successful adults in the future!
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I agree that educational placement is a big decision for the parents. There are so many factors that play into this decision. One point you mentioned I thought was a very good idea for the parents to participate in before making this decision. That was, they should visit the different schools. This is very important for the parents to do. They need to experience the classroom themselves to see if it is a good fit for their child. They really need to see everything that goes on in the classroom to see if it truly is the best option for their child. Like you said it is very important that the parents feel confident with their decision and confident in the educators teaching their child. I like that you referred to push in as a child to show they are independent. I think this is a good way to look at it. The child should feel they can do things on their own rather than always being helped or pulled out to learn on their own. I agree that push in/pull out will be interesting to experience this semester during practicum! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the educational placement for a child who is d/Deaf or hard of hearing can be a very difficult thing to do. In our classes we have talked about this situation numerous times. WE also were lucky enough to have a mock parent meeting about a child to discuss where we believed an appropriate educational placement would be. This was a huge eye opener to see all of the situations and circumstances that must be considered before deciding where the best educational setting for the child would be. I am also excited to experience the difference between push in and pull out in our practicums this semester. I also mentioned how important it is to give children a short break throughout the day at school. Younger children will be required to have more breaks than older students, but all individuals will be able to focus more in the classroom if they have a short break in between lessons. Thank you so much for sharing your opinion on these topics. Great read!
ReplyDeleteEducational decisions are difficult and your intentions are always whats best for the child. You have some good points and I like how you are processing the information. Decisions that are made are not "set in stone", so if it doesn't work then reconvene and try something different. The important key that you mentioned is knowing your student and having a good relationship with parents and student. Remember to keep observational as well as performance data to use in the meeting, so you have evidence to show the team.
ReplyDeleteAs for attention--the wiggle time is good for the younger students, but what could you do for older students like you will be working with in your practicum???