Community Engagement Project: Part 2 – Observation Reflection Assignment Reflective Journal: Compose and maintain a Word document journal in which you are to complete a reflective journal entry after
Spencer
2nd Grade
ASD, ADHD, and Primary Speech Impediment
Total Observation Hours: 5
Total Observation Days: 4
JOURNAL ENTRY 1 - DAY 1 (45 minutes)
4/11/2023
Requires a one-on-one paraprofessional every day.
He uses a daily tracking sheet to monitor his behavior throughout the day, at specific times and activities.
Has an extremely tough time with transitions all throughout the day
While in class he focuses very well to the teacher when the Smartboard is in use otherwise he gets very distracted
He has a great attraction and desire to use his Chromebook all day.
He sits in the front of the room at the front desk where the paraprofessional sits directly next to him during class time.
He gets very distracted and sidetracked easily and when this happens, he talks very loud to himself and or others near or around him such as small items in, on, or near his desk.
He is quick to point out the fact that there are slight changes in the room such as a word or picture was accidentally or purposefully removed from the whiteboard just near the smart board in the classroom.
He verbally must confirm any positive or negative behaviors or actions when holding a conversation with other students, the teacher, or the paraprofessional that is collaborating with him.
His work is split into separated single sheets in which he is to re-write, trace, or write the corresponding word that matches a picture.
While in class and classwork is assigned to the students to do, he has a specific binder located in a small cabinet in the front of the room near the teachers desk that his altered and adopted schoolwork in it for him to do.
While working in the classroom, he struggles to stay on topic due to some difficulties like that of reading or word comprehension and to consistently and carefully trace over and re-write different words to practice sentence construction. As a result, he repeatedly states that he does not want the paraprofessional to help him, and when she does, he gets increasingly upset until the assignment is completed.
When he completes the minor task at hand, he is either removed from the classroom for a sensory break or can play his chrome for a set time.
He struggles with going with the flow during class and adjusting to any change in a day. Therefore, in order to keep him regulated and on task and topic, there is a printed reminder that is adhered to the top of his desk that shows the class bathroom times, warnings until he loses his Chromebook time for the day, and a small penny moving chart that displays what quality of behavior he is at in terms of reminders.
While completing his schoolwork, he was debating about his Chromebook needing to be charged. The paraprofessional reminded him that there was no need for his computer at that time and that they would look at it together after his assignment was completed in his binder prior to completing the work on his Chromebook. Due to several reminders to get back on task, the penny on the chart ( a chart that is used to keep spencer on task to complete small tasks at hand) was moved from the green square at the top to the black middle line (if he continued the same behaviors, then the penny would move to the red section below the line. If his mentality and behavior did not change, he would then be removed from the class and brought to his case manager to discuss his actions) - this did not happen.
He was completing his work in his binder; he then began on the online work that needed to be done. While doing the assignment, the computer battery was becoming low but had enough battery power left to complete the assignment.
He then debated and wanted his charger.
He got his charger - even though the paraprofessional said not to
Moved to an outlet and was attempting to plug it in - even when the paraprofessional said that she would do it and not spencer because he was not following the classroom instructions of when charging Chromebooks, student must use the power strip rather into the outlet directly (spencer was trying to plug his charger directly into the outlet)
While trying to complete his work - He continued to argue about using the charger
Due to his arguing and debate about the charger and his struggles of transitioning, it took spencer and the paraprofessional over 10 minutes to get him on task for guided reading on his Chromebook.
While completing the assignment of guided reading, he became deregulated and was becoming loud due to the story or other classmates around him. This caused him to be a distraction to other students where he needed several more reminders to remain on task - moving his penny chart from the green section to the black section once again.
When doing any action or tasks that are not required / wanted / or any amount of directions are presented, he begins to argue and be upset because he has been warned that there will be another transition that requires him to put away his Chromebook and he still wants to use it even though the teacher and paraprofessional instructed him to put it away.
When instructed to put away his Chromebook, he also stated that he was not done with the assignment and needed to finish - even though the teacher said it was deemed fine if the students did not finish in the allotted time. He has no comprehension of future results of not completing the assignments or tasks, causing him to be constantly stuck on previous tasks (some from the early morning / start of his day).
When using non-verbal instructions, Spencer takes his time to understand and engage in the non-verbal actions that the teacher is asking the class to partake in. For example, the teacher asked the class to clap two times in a row when he displayed each student’s artwork at individual times. Spencer was able to do this after a couple of missed trials. He was not able to comprehend the exact time in which he needed to clap until the paraprofessional would assist him by telling him to “get ready to clap, one and two.” At this point, Spencer was able clap in unison with the other students.
Spencer was consistently moving in his designated spot on the rug that is in the front of the room near the teacher’s desk and smart board causing a small distraction to those students around him.
JOURNAL ENTRY 2 - DAY 2 (1 hour and 15 minutes)
4/12/2023
When I arrived, Spencer was doing his word and spelling work in his own specific binder.
He was having difficulty focusing on the task at hand. With a few reminders, the paraprofessional moved the penny on his penny chart from the green zone to the Black zone. Spencer quickly recognized this, and he was able to regain his attention back to the task at hand. It was also moving since he was arguing and debating on which classwork he wanted to do, which was not the assignment that the paraprofessional asked him to complete to receive an award of playing games on his computer.
After a quick discussion about what was going to happen, he was able to regain his composure and start the assignment. He did the assignment well without any issues or frustrations. When he got stuck or tripped up on something, he was able to politely ask for help from the paraprofessional.
Once again, Spencer got sidetracked and distracted by a rock in his shoe. He demanded that he remove it from his shoe, or he was not going to finish his assignment. After he removed the small rock from his shoe, he was able to fully complete the assignment.
After he completed the assignment, he was able to move to a different location in the room where he was able to play educational games on his computer with his headphones just as displayed on the white board.
Although he was playing games on his computer and wearing headphones, he still showed vast amounts of movement and loud vocal outbursts stemmed from a digital book that was read to aloud.
Spencer was able to transition to the next class activity easily with a 5-minute and 3-minute notification that the transition was going to be happening soon.
The class then moved on to small to medium social group interaction activities. Spencer was getting frustrated about the next task before it even occurred. It was an activity where he and another student were going to be playing educational hands-on math and literacy games. He did not want to do the activity because he thought that no one would agree with the game he wanted to play and that it happened every time the class did this activity.
He was paired up with another student who wanted to play the same game as him and he did well interact with the other students and played the game.
He did get very upset when the other student won the game. As a result, Spencer politely asked if he could take a break by walking up and down the hallways for a brief period.
Spencer was once again warned about the transition in which he was able to be the example student to display what should be done prior to leaving the classroom. He completed this task very well. He was given a great score on his point chart for that portion of the day. This caused him to get excited. Although he was excited, he still was able to sit quietly for a brief time and listen to the teacher explain what the next thing the class would be doing on the smartboard when they returned from art class. The smart board had the following descriptions of course of action such as:
Need: Math Book
Do: Pages # 4 – 5
Put: Math Book Away in Desk
Then: Read Quietly
JOURNAL ENTRY 3 - DAY 3 (1 hour)
4/13/2023
When I arrived, the class was in the hallway ready to come back to the classroom from using the bathroom. As I was sitting in the classroom by myself, the paraprofessional arrived. Spencer was not in the room nor was he with the class, he left without permission or letting any staff know. He simply slipped out of the room undetected. He was talked to by the teacher and his case manger about his actions and got into minor trouble for the choices he made.
When the class got back to the room, it was time for guided reading / spelling. Spencer was given an expectation that were written on the outside of the binder and got to work without any issues.
While doing the work, he became frustrated with a section and the paraprofessional pointed to a piece of paper that was stuck to the top of his desk that had written reminders on it which Spencer was able to read and follow to change his course of action towards the more difficult portion of the spelling assignment. The piece of paper had the following on it:
Fix It: Right Now
School Brain On
Use We Are thinking.
I Can Be a Quiet Worker
I Want to Act So That Other People Want to Be with Me
I Will Listen to Adults
He did well after reading that which allowed him to finish his assignment. Spencer also does well with “I Statements.”
When Spencer can retain his focus on the task at hand, he can finish in a very timely manner. His work is completed, but it is on the more sloppy or disorganized side of his capabilities.
I noticed that he can be very independent when he wants to be. He was given a choice to make between reading books or having to complete a color by math worksheet. He decided to read books. He completely walked over to the bookshelf and picked out a book on his own. He then found a nice spot on the floor to read the book he picked out. He remained quiet with some minor outbursts (which were still in a soft town of voice).
By doing the tasks and work that was asked of him, Spencer earned stamps on his point sheet that allowed him to earn a reward like watching the flag wave in the wind or more computer time at the end of day.
While reading, Spencer had a question he wanted to ask. He simply started to talk louder then the specified noise level requested by the teacher and with some simple commands like “zero level voice,” he then stopped talking and walked over to the paraprofessional and asked the question to her rather than yelling it across the room. At this point he was then warned about the transition that was in 5 minutes, which was the time in which they were going to clean up and head to gym.
JOURNAL ENTRY 4 - DAY 4 (2 hours)
4/14/2023
Came into the classroom and was given time to adjust to another classroom environment from the other room that he just came from.
When given directions, he took a long time to process the directions. As a result, he had a difficult time deciding what game to play. The final decision was made by the paraprofessional as 5 minutes had gone by.
Once the game was picked, he was able to explain the game to a partner.
He was able to comprehend the card game that encompassed creating numbers with two cards to have the bigger number to win the game of war. When he would win a section of the game, he became more excited, but he was calm and stayed focused. The game was played if player one would draw two cards (a 9 and a 4) the player would then try to make the biggest number out of the two cards (94) and try to beat player two who had two cards (a 10 and a 2) as well. Player 2 would then have a bigger number of (102) and would win that round of war.
After the math game time with a partner was completed, due to Spencer’s good behavior and sportsmanship, he was able to play an online math game on his computer as a reward.
He did ask politely for help when he needed to complete a hard question in his online math game.
Playing on his computer is something that Spencer likes to do but can be frustrating and difficult at times because his disability causes his hands to shake. This makes typing and clicking the mouse hard at times.
Spencer was given another warning that a transition was near. A few minutes later, the teacher rang a bell, and it was time to clean up. Spencer had some trouble putting his computer away and needed a reminder, but he did everything correctly and headed to a sensory break in a different classroom.
At this time, a different paraprofessional switched places with the paraprofessional who assisted Spencer all morning. Spencer walked to the DAPE room to have a motion based sensory break.
He worked through and completed four different stations:
Station 1: Knees to chest and hold for 20 seconds (fetal position)
Station 2: Roll on a peanut shaped yoga ball on his stomach forward and backward (10 times)
Station 3: Mini Trampoline Jumps (30 Jumps)
Station 4: Sit on scooter laps (4 laps)
He did all the stations very well until the end when it was time to put the scooter back where he had originally taken it from. When Spencer was asked to put the scooter away in the same parking spot (that was empty) he stated that there was no room even though he could clearly see the open spot. When the paraprofessional asked Spencer to put the scooter back where he got it from, he made a U-turn and placed the scooter in the correct position where the paraprofessional had asked him to place it.
He completed all the tasks as directed but he is fully aware of the time and place. For example, Spencer would look at the clock and ask another question unrelated to the task at hand and at the end if the question were answered or not, he would state how many minutes were left before he had to go back to class after his motion sensory break.
After his motion sensory break was over, he headed back to his classroom and the class was having a snack. They were watching a short video during snack time. Instead of sitting at his desk to watch the video, he had to find out why there were no instructions of what was to come during the rest of the day on the board under the “Need, Do, Put, and Then” section.
After snack time was completed, the teacher asked Spencer if he would like to go use the restroom by walking with the paraprofessional or by walking with the entire class. Spencer decided that he would want to try to walk with the entire class.
After using the restroom, he became very loud as he felt the foaming hand soap hit his hands. This led to a conversation with the teacher about hallway etiquette and how his actions impacted those around him, including other teachers. As a result of the noise level, he had and the number of reminders, Spencer lost his chance to have free choice computer time at the end of the day.
This led him to become extremely deregulated as the paraprofessional went over the expectations of the writing assignment. He only needed one reminder to be quite while working on his spelling assignment.
During his writing assignment, he got tripped up on a sentence about jumping and hopping just like he did on his motion sensory break. By the time that the paraprofessional could regain part of his attention, he was stuck on loudly expressing the saying “3 hops this time”, “100 hops this time”, “50 hops this time”, and “10 hops this time.” With every outburst, he became louder and louder.
By drawing so much attention to himself and causing a disruption in the classroom, the teacher stepped in and made him aware of the multiple reminders that he ignored and did not listen to. After the conversation with the teacher, he completed his spelling and writing assignments and was told to go read a book quietly so he cannot be disrespectful to other students as a disruption.
He walked over and got a book to read and sat quietly on the floor and read the book. He was able to calm his body and mind allowing him to become regulated and ready to rejoin the rest of the class and not be a distraction because of his voice.
Spencer was then warned about another transition before it occurred. The paraprofessional asked him if he would like to go for a walking break to maintain his calmness. He hesitated to go at first but with some persuasion from the teacher, Spencer was finally able to go for a walking break and watch the flag waving in the wind.
