Smarter than Me!

It can be a bit humbling when your student, who is considered to have a severe cognitive disability, proves to be smarter than you. Let me set the stage. In our classroom we have been doing some market math worksheets that encourage the use of the calculator to complete the problems. Students complete problems by referring to a page that has prices from a grocery store. They take these prices and add them together to find out the total cost of combined items from the grocery store using a calculator. 

A couple weeks ago when we were starting these pages, I was working with a student. He requires a hand helping hold his pencil steady when he is writing, but he does the actual movement. We were on the easiest sheet which just required reference the price page and writing down the price for items. He would start writing down the next price without even looking at the page. At which point I would stop him and make him find it physically on the page. However, this caused great frustration. It started to dawn on me that maybe he had memorized the page and was doing it from memory, so I tried to keep up. Later my instructional assistant was finishing up the same page with him and told him "I can't find it as fast as you." So, he started pointing to the menu price with his left hand, while writing with his right hand as if saying "here you go ... I'll help you find it since you're so slow."

Fast forward a few days and we were on to problems that required adding two items together. Most of us would look at the price list and put the prices in the calculator one at a time until we got the total to write down. This student just started writing on the answer blank. Of the 10 or so problems, he got 9 correct. All this without using the calculator and periodically referencing the price page (when he had forgotten a price). However, when we tried to video tape him doing the same thing for his parents, he got every answer wrong. He is one who will not perform for anyone else which can be ridiculously frustrating.

The lessons I am continuing to learn:
1. When a child refuses to look at the paper after a quick glance (price list, reading assignment, etc.) it might be that they have a photographic memory and are reading the list in their heads while looking into space.
2. When a child is frustrated, maybe it is because I am the one holding them back.
3. Forcing a child to use a calculator when they can do the problem in their head is ridiculous.
4. Don't be afraid to admit to a student that they can do the work faster and better than you can and ask for help.
5. When a student doesn't complete work successfully, it might not be because it is too difficult.

Blown Away

This week I have been blow away by several of my students. When I think about where they have come in just a few short weeks of school I am both excited and overwhelmed. I am excited because there is so much potential and some of my students are finally showing a desire to learn and interact with those around them. I am overwhelmed because my task of trying to unlock that potential has increased in difficulty considerably. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the responsibility that has been given me. I have three short years to try to unlock as much potential in these students as possible. I am thankful that this responsibility is not mine alone, but is shared with staff in my classroom, others in my school, student families, and friends.

Yesterday I saw a joy that is beyond the joy I usually see in my classroom. At one point, a student was running around my room, clapping his hands, and smiling in a way that lit up the entire room and had the adults in the room fighting back tears. All this from a text to mom .... here's the backstory.

I have spent the last several weeks completely frustrated by this student. He is so smart, yet chooses to pretend he isn't. For example, on day one of school he indicated he wanted to change from wearing pull-ups to underwear. This is not something we usually do on day one ... but we figured we would honor his wishes. Well, he stayed dry all day! Then in the coming weeks he would go into the bathroom right before lunch (multiple days) and choose to urinate in his pants while standing by the door in the bathroom.

He wanted help with everything and would act like he wasn't capable of doing anything on his own. I knew this was not true, as I had been in his elementary school classroom and spoken to his teacher. He seemed to thrive on the attention he got (negative or positive). When frustrated, instead of pushing through, he tended to just give up. One of the most frustrating things for us was seeing that he likely knew more than he pretended to know (he acted like he didn't know the alphabet or his numbers), but having a difficult time getting him to actually be willing to show us what he knew. 

To compound his challenges, he is non-verbal. Even so, he has an uncanny ability to express what he wants through signs, facial expressions, etc. He has started carrying a classroom communication device with him everywhere he goes (including taking it home in the evenings). He is quickly learning new words, of which his favorite are bike, mom, help, granola bar, hot dog, chocolate milk and bathroom. Each day seems to add at least one word to his expressive vocabulary.

This week has seemed to be a turning point for him.  We figured out that his greatest motivator is his mother. He loves to share things he does with his mom and is willing to work to make her proud. He will point to our cell phones when he is working to indicate that he wants us to send a picture to mom via the Seesaw app that we use in our classroom. His second greatest motivator is the exercise bike. He loves riding it and will work to earn classroom dollars for a chance to ride.

We work on spelling and dictation in small groups in our classroom. Up until yesterday, he had refused to participate. However, yesterday he sat at the desk and as I said letter sounds, he wrote the letter that made the sound. Due to physical challenges, he has to have someone provide some support over his hand when he writes. However, my instructional assistant providing the support was not the one moving his hand. He wrote every letter correctly. We then moved on to spelling words. He wrote each word that I said correctly as well. 

At the end of the day, he took his spelling paper out of his folder and stuffed it in his backpack. I then told him how proud of him I was for his work and proceeded to text his mom. As I was typing the message, I was reading it aloud so he knew what his mom would be receiving.

The message I sent included ".. worked great today. He wanted to bring home a paper we did today. ... As a result, we are realizing he knows how to read and spell." When I got to this part, he clapped his hands, got a HUGE grin on his face and started running around the room out of sheer excitement. I pulled him over and told him that we would continue trying to find out what he knows and making it harder so that he could keep learning. He took off running around the room again. I'm hoping he continues his quest for learning and doesn't go back to wanting the easy way out.

This was just another reminder of the power of positive reinforcement and not underestimating the potential of my students. Some of the hardest (and most rewarding) students I get to teach are those who refuse to do work if it is something they already know. It makes it extremely difficult to figure out where to start and what to work on next. Although I am overwhelmed at times, I am also really excited to see what this school year will bring in our lives.