Personal Narrative: My First Day Of Clinicals

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Walking into our first day of clinicals we were warned that it may be difficult, and it’ll be “quite the show”. My child study student ended up not being there on the first day, and the teaching assistant in the classroom said it was a blessing. I found it shocking to say the least. I was ready to meet this student that was so uncontrollable that teachers looked forward to the days he missed. I spoke with my CT during the interview and asked what she believed to be his specific needs. She explained, “Pete has high behavioral needs where he yells and screams and runs around the room. His current medication is helping with these behavioral needs. He does not like to sit and listen when on the carpet.” After meeting my child study student, it …show more content…

My CT stated in our interview, “Pete is very smart and academically gifted. He can be very compassionate for other students and teachers.” This had not been the initial impression we were told to expect, but after spending time with him it is clear to see he is a lover. I also interviewed his special education teacher and she too stated, “Pete is very high academically. He can be very kind and helpful with peers.” During our interview we spoke about Pete helping another boy with special needs in our classroom every morning. Pete can have outbursts, and sometimes seems uncontrollable, but if you look at all of his assets, teachers should fight over having him in their …show more content…

Those two characters help him push through his day, if he is having a rough time I have seen Mario and Sonic being used to help change his mood. When speaking about other things that have been helpful in working with Pete, the special education teacher stated, “Having him be a helper/leader, giving him expectations prior to transitions, and medication.” My CT said similar answers but she added in that he fills out a behavior chart and for every four squares he fills in he gets a prize. This helps him work hard during class time to ensure that he will get the prize at the end. I have noticed that giving him choice in the prizes that he gets for the day is helpful. For example, during his morning meeting with the special education teacher, she asked him what prize he wanted to work for first and his face lit up when he was able to put “play on the I-pad for 5 minutes” as his first prize. He worked hard for the first four specials of the day and had few outbursts. The choice of prize for him gave him the push to succeed during academic time, and helped regulate his

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