Somebody Else's Kids

I am planning for class with a student to have in my classroom from Somebody Else’s Kids by Torey Hayden and the student I am choosing to work with is Lori. Lori was an adopted twin child who lives with a now widowed father. Lori is full of energy and kindness and hardly seems like a child with a learning disability when you simply communicate with her (Hayden, 1981). Lori is a hyperactive student who struggles to learn or even copy material due to lesions in her brain. She struggles to process written symbols, but does very well with oral mathematics at or above her grade level (Hayden, 1981).

Accommodations

In order for Lori to be successful in my class, it means that I must make the proper adjustments to my lesson plans so that Lori has a fair opportunity to succeed given her learning disability. For instance, in order to address Lori’s hyperactive nature I would plan on her sitting in the front row of my classroom as well as allowing her to stand and walk around during any activities that were not direct instruction so long as she did not distract other students. By keeping Lori in the front of the room, she is more likely to stay engaged and pay attention and by allowing her to walk around and move she will be able to burn some of her hyperactive nature when in the classroom and trying to learn.

Furthermore, I would make changes in my lesson plan for Lori by not making her write down problems in walk around activities but rather already have the problems printed out for her. This would keep Lori from wasting time to write down problems while she already struggles to copy material down.  Lori would also benefit from guided notes so I would print out handouts for her where all the notes require her to do is fill in a few blanks for definitions rather than write the entire definition down. Having Lori using guided notes would allow her to access all of her notes in a well-organized format. Additionally, I would provide Lori with interactive practice problems through Khan Academy or look into purchasing Algebra Tiles so her learning is hands-on and helps her identify symbols better.  

In Lori’s situation I feel that it could be beneficial for her to have the option of watching video or hearing the lesson/lecture afterwards as compared to review notes, so I as a teacher could create a video the evening before the lecture explaining the material for Lori and then have the material sent to her through e-mail or the school website. Moreover, Lori could be given support on her tests by allowing for oral examinations where one teacher asks the questions and another proctor can assist her through the test in writing down the material to show that she knows it. By allowing Lori to take her exam in the format that she is most comfortable with, she has the best chance for herself to be successful and demonstrate her knowledge of the material.

Since Lori has a twin sister who does very well academically, I could look into having her sister and her father support her outside of the classroom to help her academically with her struggles to understand written symbols and communicate in writing. By communicating with her family, Lori can have a support system at home as well as her teachers and peers at school to help her learn and succeed (National, 1997).

Lori’s academic success is the most important thing for me as well as leading her into the world with the skills necessary for a career that she can love pursuing. In order to meet those goals, Lori should be given support in class research projects as students work to find careers in mathematics that interest them with Lori receiving help writing her paper from myself or a teacher with student services who can write down the spoken word that she delivers for her paper.

Drawbacks

Some of the accommodations that are being made for Lori have drawbacks that have to be taken into consideration with the benefits as a teacher trying to help a student with a learning disability. For example, by allowing Lori to simply fill in the blanks for definitions she is less likely to think about this definition in a way that will stick in her mind. By forcing the students to write down the entire definition they are forced to read the definition at least once and proceed to write it down so the definition is in their mind by reading and writing whereas copying down a few words to fill in blanks can become lazy and unengaging.

Another drawback of the mentioned accommodations for Lori is the idea of how she struggles to copy down material and interpret written symbols. In mathematics, symbols are involved in almost every mathematical step so giving oral examinations would be helpful, but some things would need to be given with paper like graphing and plotting data plots and performing data analysis.

Lori’s learning disability makes direct instruction for the class hard to complete while supporting her without using guided notes all of the time. Mathematics is a subject that teachers can present in a very clear manner through direct instruction so having to use a student-centered learning environment more often means that Lori may miss out on some of the information that students will discover through inquiry based learning experiences. This loss of an opportunity would mean that it would be my responsibility to help Lori through those conversations and to ensure that she understood the material. In order to make sure that Lori can comprehend the material, I would make it a point to include her in the discussions whenever possible.

Additionally, because Lori cannot sit still for long periods of time it is unlikely that she will have the focus to sit down at home to review material or visit sites like Khan Academy for extra tutorials or practice problems when she is struggling. This means that Lori, even when she is having a tough time, may not have the ability to help herself study difficult material. This issue with study can become even more troublesome when we think about Lori taking an exam and having not study for that exam and being asked to take the test without preparing on her own for the material. Lori would need reminders and support from myself and at home to help her prepare for tests and quizzes.

Potential Issues

While trying to help Lori, I may run into some potential issues. One issue would be that Lori requires the help of a special education teacher, but did not meet the evaluation requirements for special education services so she is not recognized as a student with a learning disability (National, 1997). Another possible challenge is that Lori cannot get any peer support from her classmates to assist her in learning this new material and struggles without peer help.

In addition, I have not had an experience in the classroom yet with a student with a learning disability before so this would be a learning curve for me trying to help them to the best of my ability. This struggle would encourage me to seek help from my school’s STAT teacher who acts as an assistant to teachers with questions about how to best teach their students.

More issues include Lori’s self-esteem and motivation to succeed if she is still struggling. Throughout the book she gives everything her best effort, but what would happen if she eventually just gave up? Being unsuccessful can be frustrating for students who have never experienced it, but it can be even more frustrating for students who experience it constantly. They could begin to have low expectations of their abilities and have a fixed mindset where their mental capacity is stagnant and they have no way of changing it. As teachers for struggling students like Lori, it is our duty to stay with them and push their expectations and meet them where they currently are and inspire them for growth in the abilities through class growth mindset activities.

When we think about Lori’s issues with learning through writing and the lack of an ability to copy down information, it really makes teaching much more difficulty because these two skills are the building blocks of education and learning for students without disabilities. Students write down definitions and make connections to these words and then through copying down notes can review these materials later. Lori’s disability makes learning difficulty, but not impossible. Lori needs a system to meet her where she is academically. This would require a teaching aid for her in all of her courses as well as an alternative method to learn the material through online and interactive means.

Sources

Hayden, T. L. (1981). Somebody else’s kids. United States: Putnam Pub Group (T).

National, the. (1997). Addressing students’ needs: Importance of knowing your students. Retrieved August 11, 2016, from Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning, http://www.cirtl.net/node/2543