Thank You!

I would like to thank you for the support you have given me throughout the course. I really appreciate all the positive feedback that you given me on the discussion board , my blog, and the student lounge. I had many obstacles to jump over this course because of the research paper. I believe I overcame most of them in the last three weeks or so. Again, I thank you and hope you continue to be an advocate for children.
                                                                             Thank you,
                                                                          Sandra Bowman

Module 4 Blog

During this module, I was able to interact with two people that helped guide my research for my paper. The first person I interacted with was an observer from the state. She came into one of the classrooms to observe and we begin discussing how the children have change over time. She stated how children are faced with more problems today than ten years ago. She said," our children are not getting what they need early so it is having an affect on their learning." This statement alone gave me something to think about.

The next person I observed was a five year old boy. This child was able to complete tasks around the classroom but have problem with making friends or building relationships. He did not want the children to sit next to him at the table or on the rug. When the teacher tried to talk to him he never gave eye contact or a verbal reaction. I did observe him talking during his play time so his communications skills is fine.

The one thing that I was surprised about is the lack of time the teachers was giving him. He have been in the program for seven months so I think he should be interacting a little better now. The teachers should be modeling or providing activities to him him become engaged with others. I even thought about maybe he is having hearing issues but that was not the case. As a teacher and an observer this was mind bottling.

Module Three Blog

In the last week or so, I have learned two things that is beneficial to the topic I am researching. I was talking to the director of the center and found out that she was a Special Education Teacher Assistant in the Chicago Public Schools some years ago. This is the first piece of information that is good for my paper. She stated how she did face challenges as an assistant. One of them was not having the collaboration and cooperation of the administrative staff to help meet the needs of the students.

The second thing that I learned, was the lack of preparation as an assistant. She stated that she felt that she needed more training to help children with special needs. She talked about how she became stressed because she was helpless to the students. This was her guide to open her own center. This information was useful and knowledgeable to the topic I am researching, which is inclusion.

Observing and interacting with Professional


During the last two weeks, I have interacted with several people about the area for my research paper. The area I will be doing research on is special needs/disability. This is an interesting area because I need to learn more about it so I can help all children. I will be focusing on the appropriate assessments, inclusion, and resources for parents. These topic will help enlighten the parents, children, and teachers about special needs/disabilities.

I learned a lot from talking to two teachers and a parent that work with special needs children in Chicago Public Schools. The two teachers together have three children that receives services for speech. The majority of the children the parent work with also have speech problems. I found this to be very interested and mind blowing. This could change the direction of the topics for my research paper.

Another thing that I learned, was about hospitals providing the services for children. I always thought that the children need to go to their home school to receive the services. I was informed that hospitals can give the children the services and also return to school. I always saw children coming to the centers after an half of day at public school on a school bus. I guess we do learn something new everyday because I did.

It is finally coming together !!!!

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