Last Reflection

This was the last week of class for SPED310 and I will truly miss this class, I have learned so much and I am so thankful for what I have gained from it. I really enjoyed having a last essay exam about children and their disabilities, it was really easy to apply the knowledge I learned from the course to the essay. I think I would recommend this class to everyone because we are all affected by people that have needs and accommodations.

FLUENCY DISORDER (STUTTERING)

I first thought that I would practice stuttering with my husband because I never tried to stutter before. That was a good and bad idea. I realized that when trying to do something I am not good at, I begin to laugh. I didn't want to laugh in real life because I didn't want it to see like a joke. I tried stuttering in front of a mirror and that helped more. but I was nervous to stutter in front of a stranger. Well I went to the restaurant Wendy's and tried ordering a Jr. bacon cheeseburger. I then asked what came on the cheese burger. The employee was nice and waited for me to finish but seemed very confused at first as to why I was talking like that. They had a concerned look on their face and it made me feel embarrassed. I don't think I was the best at stuttering, and It probably came off as being incompatant than just having a fluency disorder. But I tried my best. I then went to the library on campus and asked a student working there, where to find a certain book. I felt embarressed because they cracked a smile when I first started talking. I don't think they had been exposed to a lot of people with disabilities before. I think they thought I was joking with them. But then they became serious and focused. They were staring at me in shock and awe that I was stuttering my words. After I finished, they helped me find my book but hurried on their way. I think I scared them..... It was a very interesting experience.

LEARNING DISABILITY

I knew I had to do the Learning disability stimulation but I was very nervous and didn't even think I could correctly do it because I would slip up when trying to speak. Well I decided I would go to Winco to go shopping and get my groceries for the week. I planned out before what I would ask an employee for once I got there. My sentence was going to be... , Which Isle are the pineapples on" but that wouldn't work because that uses "L", next I thought of the sentence of " Can you show me where the Pineapples are", but I couldn't say that because of the "N", S I settled with asking this way..."where are the pineapples?" When I got there and asked the employee, it went different than I had expected. After asking her, she replied fresh produce or canned?..... I really wanted the canned pineapple but I couldn't reply "Canned" because it had a "N" in it. I freezed up and tried to think of how to word it. I thought I would say, "the ones in the tin" but that still had a "N" in the word so I coulnd't use it I felt my face turn red because it had been a long time and I couldn't answer a simple question. I realized that I didn't know how to answer and out of embarrassment I replied, "Produce" I gave in because I was embarrassed,But I realized that If I had a real Learning disability that I wouldn't be able to do that. I really felt for these people. I then went to the book store on campus and asked them where the dresses were for girls, This time, the employee didn't ask me any questions but just walked me over to where the dresses were located. It wasn't as hard at the grocery store but I still felt the anxiety of knowing they could ask me a question and not feeling prepared to answer it. I realized that people with learning disabilities must feel anxiety frequently.

VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

When I put on the masks, I was very surprised on how I could hardly see anything. The masks really disrupted my view, More than I thought so. I thought that I would be able to see more than I was able to. It was very hard to be able to focus on m work because of the mask. I put on the first mask with the little holes and it started giving me a head ache. I didn't want to put on the other masks because it was making me a little dizzy. But I continued with the assignment. I thought that it was more difficult than I thought. I put on the other masks and noticed they each had a huge difference with my vision. It didn't help make me feel better because I am pregnant and felt very nauseous, Wearing the masks made me feel dizzy and want to faint. I had to take longer time doing my assignment. I was also embarrassed having other people stare at me and wonder why I was wearing those masks. It was hard not to take them off but I kept them on to know what those feel like that have a visual impairment. I can see how those would feel with a visual impairment because they would struggle to do assignments. It would take them longer time to do their work because they would have to focus more.

Service Learning

When I went to go do the service learning, I was nervous to go because I went by myself. But once I got there, I actually had a lot of fun. I went with a group out into the community. There was another worker and then two adults with disabilities. We first headed to the dollar store and that was interesting because we looked in the store for a good hour before checking out. The two adults with disabilities were very high functioning. I thought  that it was really nice to have a conversation with them and be able to ask the questions about their lifestyle. The one woman worked at a hotel cleaning rooms and the other man worked at Arby's. I thought it was great that they were working and still tried to do their part. After the dollar store, we went to Walmart and walked around there, they practiced talking to the employees and asking them questions. I thought that this was a great way to introduce them to new situations. We then headed back to the building once again and I had the opportunity to sit in on a class. But this wasn't a typical class that I thought I would be sitting in on. When I was observing the class, we talked about politics and worldly issues. I thought this was interesting because they knew more about what was going on in the world than what I thought. They really understood problem going on in society. I was very impressed with them and the way they communicated. After we had the class, we went to the main room and then watched a movie for a little bit. But I mostly kept talking to the adults there and we worked on a puzzle. I really enjoyed my experience volunteering there.

ORTHOPEDIC IMPAIRMENT

For SPED310, We were assigned to be in a wheelchair for four hours so that we would put our selves in someone's shoes. We could see what it was like to have a disability and have to be in a wheel chair. To be honest, I was very nervous about being in a wheel chair, I was afraid what people would think of me and how I would move around. I procrastinated as long as a could because I was scared but finally realized I had to do it and get the courage. I didn't realize how hard it would be to be in a wheelchair. I started out in the Hinkley and went down the elevator. It took a really long time to have the elevator come and get to the floor I needed. I started down the hill outside of the Hinkley and that was the scariest part of the whole time I was in the wheelchair. As I started down the hill, I was picking up too much speed and when I went to grab the handrails, My hands were on fire. I couldn't grasp on tightly to stop myself and I ran into the tri-fold news stand. That hurt pretty bad. I tried adjusting myself and realized that I hadn't even made it down the steepest part of the hill yet. Luckily I remembered that I had my work shirt in my backpack, I grabbed it and used it on the wheel and held it with my hand to help me slow down. I made it down the hill but with some difficulty. I was heading to my next class in the clark and went to the wrong side of the building, I realized there was no automatic button. But silly thought that I could open the door on my own. I tried opening the door and bumped around quite a bit. A girl sitting right on the inside of the building noticed me struggling and came to my rescue. Sadly, once inside the building, I noticed a set of stairs with no way around them! Duh!!! I went the wrong way of course, I had to go back the other way and exit the building and then go around. I had to travel up hill in order to get to the other door. Luckily this side had the automatic door opening. I went to my classes for the day and a lot of people were actually sincerely concerned about my well being which I thought was sweet. I then Not only went to the bathroom once for the requirement of the project but I had to go multiple times because I am pregnant and cannot hold it at all. I went to the bathroom multiple times and it was a true struggle, It took me triple the time to use the bathroom because of having to get on and off of the chair. But I headed back to return the wheel chair because My time was up. I then realized that I would have to make my way back up the hill because I had to head to the Hinkley. The hill was huge!! I barely started up the slope from the smith and I was trying to push my way up but because it was so steep, I was hardly budging an inch. I was really embarrassed because it was passing period and there were  alot of people walking past me. I just wanted to disappear. Luckily, There a sweet girl that asked if I wanted a push, I politely refused because she was heading the opposite way of the Hinkley, She refused my poliet no thanks, she pushed me all the way up the hill to the Hinkley, I felt so bad that she was pushing me when I was fully capable. of walking. But It was so sweet of her to help me when I needed help. This experience has shown me that I am very blessed. I think that This has really opened my eyes and shown me how People feel when they are at a different level. I realized how much respect we need to give those that are in wheelchairs.

Reflection 12

In class, we did another vote with your feet. I love doing these because we get to read scenarios and are able to voice our opinions on the matter. I realized that I can have alot of opinion on certain matters that I thought I would be unsure about.  I think that it is good to always hear different perspectives and get a good view on all sides of the matter. This allows us to keep an open mind and make sure we don't become closed off to other people's opinions. I think this is a very important skill to have, especially going into the work force that we are going to. Teaching can be rough but we need to always keep changing up how we teach our classes to accommodate for those who need help.

A group also taught on Friday about emotional disorder disabilities. I thought that these were very interesting and are topics that not alot of people address. I think society tends to hide these parts of ourselves from the world because they are scary and hard and ugly. But if we don't talk about it then we don't realize how many people actually fall in these categories.

Depression is when you get feelings of guilt, sadness and anger for a long period of time, because of this, you can have social withdrawl and leave the group you are in. Some accommodations are to make the classroom fun with lots activities.

OCD
Can make you count numbers over and over again. Clean excessively, or having a strict routine
Making accommodations could be having hand sanatizer and making small goals.

I realized that we can all help those around us and be friends. Life should be enjoyable and not something to dread.