BGC- Special Needs Experience

Working at the BGC has been an extremely rewarding and educational experience.  I have had the opportunity to work with a huge variety of kids including those with special needs.  One little boy in particular was a great experience and challenge for me to test my knowledge and teaching practices to make the experience at the BGC as great as it could be.

The little boy that I got to work with was named Noah, and Noah had a high spectrum diagnosis of Autism, and Cognitive Delay.  He was a very sweet and sensitive 4th grade boy and he was very fun to work with.  He often had challenges when I can to simple tasks such as choosing a table to sit at and follow instructions such as lining up, but he made this a learning experience for me to it was very interesting.  He gave me many challenges and tested me as a teacher, but I am thankful for it all.

One day I was just assisting with a lessons so I was able to roam around the classroom and help those who needed help with a project.  We were making posters for "Peace Day" and each member was to make their own poster.  Noah was really struggling with his poster, it was a large blank white sheet and I could tell he felt very intimidated by the instructions to fill the space.  I sat down with him and just talked through the process again, very slowly and one-on-one with him.  I felt him somewhat ease and to understand what he was expected to do.  Noah has very little speech abilities but I began to understand his actions and words to know he was feeling more comfortable.  I even took a pencil and began to draw on the sheet in broad ideas and shapes to explain to him what he was expected to be doing.  He immediately picked up his pencil and began drawing.

This was an "aha!" moment for me.  I had made a connection with him and he was understanding what was needing to be done, even though he didn't at first.  I was so glad to have had the time to sit and talk with him one-on-one.  This was me changing the way the lesson was being instructed and implementing differentiated instruction.  I felt my teacher mode just click and it was an awesome feeling.

I was able to work with Noah a few more weeks and I felt like I was able to make his time at the club more enjoyable. It was a positive way for me to end my summer and I was very grateful for the experience.  Looking back at it now I have had many opportunities to work with those with special needs and I feel that by getting those first hand experiences I have come to understand the importance of truly knowing and feeling for your students.  In this case, by sitting down and helping Noah I was able to make the lesson more understandable to him, and that made all the difference.