reply to struggling student

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Home : 2002 : March : 28

reply to struggling student
By Janice

I commend you for not giving up on this student! Regardless of what the parents belief system is, you still need to reach this child in the time you have left.. I have worked with autistic children in the past.. and it is
very hard to make specific suggestions as each student's from of autism is so different. but here are some suggestions I have:
if the child is not below grade level at this time, then congratulations, you have reached him in some way..go back to analyze/observe/document when the child does respond- what are the situations he does this in? What is happening and how are you teaching that

lesson at that point in time (visual, tactile, auditory..)also,consider reactions to seating arrangemnents and the environmental factors (yes, I know, we cannot control all these factors in our classes for one student- at this point, observe how he reacts to these environmental factors)..also, with whom does the child seem to relate the best- a particular student or groups sitting near him?..I would observe all these factors and you just may find a common thread that will help you to see when the student is the most repsonsive to learning.
Also,I imagine, although you did not state so that this child, may have a higher level of performance in math than in the language arts areas,,use this to your advantage.. establish a rubric system for your student and set one or two simple goals to work towards on whatever task the child needs to accomplish- this may be a motivation for him to complete a task if he can see the points himself.. start off simple, then gradually increase expectations.For example: projects using diaramas could help your child to depict characters/scenes from a story that he may have listened to on a prepared tape of a story. Set up a rubrics for what should be included in that diarama. Also, do you have a computer in your class? Perhaps this child would respond better to completing "worksheets" on the computer.. all you need to do is scan it onto the computer and set it up..and of course, there are so many good programs out there to choose from that you do not need a scanner for.. If your student needs graphic organizers to get thoughts together prior to writing a story, the program Kidspiration works well in my first grade class! It is amazing to see what kids do on their own as well,, stories using the word processor seem so much more creative when you can add images from the computer- maybe the parents would provide a laptop for him to use in the classroom.. well, good luck and I will look forward to hearing updates on how your student is doing.as a last resort, try videotaping a lesson done in your classroom then analyze his reactions.share it with his parents (oh yeah.. get parental permission to tape first!). hope some of these suggestions help your little guy..don't ever give up!!!Document everything and that second grade teacher will not need to start from square one in September!Let me know how you are doing! Janice