Tabitha Locke
Phoenix College
AED/222
1-19-2011
Rusty Lee Roy Cummins is a smart nine-year-old boy in the third grade of school with an IEP (Education Learning Plan). Rusty has all the ability in the world to learn but is behind all the other students. His delay is not because he has issues with reading or because he cannot understand the materials. Rusty’s issues are seizures and medication side effect. Seizures along with other health impairments are important medical issues in which we as the teacher, the nurse, the teacher’s aide (me), Rusty, and you as the parents need to all work together to help Rusty with his health impairment. The goal for Rusty’s IEP is to help him learn through his health impairment with the help of his IEP Team.
Some people believe that health impairments such as seizures do not belong in the classroom. In some severe cases, this may be the case. Some seizure disorders cause violent seizures. If this case, a regular classroom setting could be dangerous because of the furniture in the room. Children with severe seizure disorders may need higher intervention, but Rusty’s seizure disorder is mild enough, the main action is dealing with medication side effects, rather than the seizures themselves.
“The major issue related to serving students with TBI, physical disabilities, and health impairments is determining the divide between the responsibilities of the educational system and educators and the medical field and health care professionals.” (Special education for today’s teachers, 2008, p. 406) Fortunately, we can work together to help Rusty receive a proper education through his IEP, health impairments aside. Rusty’s immediate health care need is Absence Seizures, which requires medication, which causes unwanted side effect such as drowsiness, excessive thirst, and frequent urges to go to the bathroom. Student Profile |
Name, age, and grade of child | * Rusty