Special Education Observation

I had the pleasure of visiting Mrs. McCotter’s Autistic classroom. I arrived at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, November 27th. Her classroom is at Ealy Elementary in West Bloomfield, which has a wonderful special education program. I chose to observe in an autistic classroom because it is something I had never experienced before until now. The classroom was incredibly nice and everyone was so welcoming! The classroom is arranged with a variety of stations. There is the play station, the movement station, their independent work stations, and a table and chairs. There were three paraprofessionals along with Mrs. McCotter working with the students. There are six students in the classroom, however only five were present that day. The ages range from 4 - 5. There are five boys and one girl in the classroom. Three of those students can work independently, while three of the students need one-on-one work. Five students were Caucasian and one was Hispanic. Three of the students are cognitively impaired, but I was told that autism is primary for them. When I first walked in, the students were busy playing at the play station. I observed them playing at their play station. There were a variety of stuffed animals, trains, and puzzles there for them to play with. The students were very quiet and did not respond back to me when I talked to them. After they played for a bit, they went over to the table where they had their sing along. The sing along occurs every day, and helps the students get used to working in a group as well as using their voices to sing. Mrs. McCotter goes to each student and sings to them and tickles them. The students seem to enjoy the attention they received. The students started to get a bit tired of sitting there, so they moved onto their work stations. Calm music played in the background, while some students worked independently and others worked with a paraprofessional or Mrs. McCotter. The goal of these activities was to sort objects or work on puzzles. This helps the students get acquainted with similarities when it comes to sorting and fitting pieces of a puzzle together. The work stations are effective in getting the student to learn to work independently and to focus on individual tasks. I was able to work with one of the students along with Mrs. McCotter on the alphabet. I pointed to the letter and the student was to pronounce it. It went by so quickly because they student was so great at it! I also worked on counting with the student. These basic tasks had the goals of learning the alphabet, counting, and making use of the student’s voice. I felt the arraignment of the classroom was effective. I felt that the play area should have been more off in the corner because it was distracting for some of the students. I noticed they would look up at the area in hopes of playing there. I felt that a better transition to the various activities would be better. There weren’t really many transitions involved and I felt it was too much at times for the students to handle. I feel the students needed some down time in between their activities. I was happy to observe here because Mrs. McCotter has some great techniques. She is incredibly loving and kind and makes sure to give all of the students equal attention. I feel that she effectively teaches them and inspires them along with her fellow paraprofessionals. Being in her classroom helped me to learn a bit more about patience and how far it will take you with your students. I left her room at 3:00 PM after being there for two hours. I was filled with newly gained knowledge and inspired by her loving and caring nature towards her students!