Essay Example: Special Education Program Report of Darcy School in Cheshire

The extraordinary observation took place at Darcy school located at 1686 Waterbury Road, Cheshire. The public school is highly rated with a team of caring professionals. They have inclusive, responsible practices to support and ensure the successful learning of all students. A wide range of support services comes from certified educational diagnosticians and education teachers.

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Additionally, there are instructional assistants, guidance counselors, nurses, and therapists. They range from standard education to special education, and there are distinct classes to serve their student's needs. The teacher ratio concerning the student's number per class is one to thirteen. The observation was in a class of about thirteen children with an almost equal number of boys to girls. Overall, they seemed to have a mix ratio of all races with a stress-free environment having clean and incredibly organized rooms.

There was embedded learning, and the class was under standard performance with cooperative work from both students and the teachers. There was active participation of students together as a team whereby they would gather ideas from a group perspective and develop it to an individual position. It was possible for this because the teachers use visualization as a mode of teaching to their students. The teachers use visual to bring dull educational concepts to life and practice learning experiences. For the real world, it helps the student understand schooling applications with the outside world. For instance, the teachers used examples such as cookies during counting practice to make it easy and exciting for the student to understand the concept.

Additionally, there was the use of interactive whiteboards and classroom experiments that involved the students in getting off their seats. The whiteboard as an exciting part was sufficient; the teacher would display animated videos and photos asking the students to participate in what they see, ask questions and explain on the same. Goals and objectives were established in class, and students were asked to narrate what was on board together. The teachers would observe each student during the recap and note those that had difficulties. They offered additional help to the students individually during the rehearsal making sure progress is made with the objectives and goals of the school.

Inquiry-based instruction was also in use, whereby the teachers pose questions that are thought provoking to inspire the students to become learners that are more independent. There is gaining of problem-solving skills by students being encouraged to ask questions. The teachers would ask the class to bring forward any queries they had so that they would offer a more profound indulgence of academic concepts. These made the students be subjective and be able to express their unique views. For example, at one point in the class, a child desired to play with play-doh in class. One child picked it and immediately started to play. Another child asked for approval because the child knew that it required teacher's permission to play with the play-doh. The second student was granted the play-doh, but the teacher asked the first child to give it back and ask for it, as it required. Judging by the way that the child looked at the second one, the child knew there was something they needed to do. The student asked for permission, and the teacher offered two additional parts for appreciation of remembering. It shows that children understand effectively by means of their wants, to get something they need to understand what is required of them. It falls under excellent organization skills and helps students to become sophisticated thinker, thereby reducing sensory overload.

There was a responsive interpersonal relationship between the teachers and students during the class, and the teachers would use task analysis to increment their teaching. The new teacher-child relationship at the school helps the students learn by nurturing their dispositions and emerging abilities. The teachers were very attentive on how a child approaches learning, differentiating the skills of the students. There was the assigning of classroom activities by handing out worksheets in groups with varying complexity such as drawing, colouring and objects with different shapes. It much helped the teacher to identify learning gaps individually and as a group through the participation of the task. With the students' unique learning needs, the teachers can stretch the struggling and offer support for higher academic capabilities. During the class, teachers use behaviour management as a strategy to gain full potential respect from their students. The teachers would encourage the students to have a productive learning environment by having no noise from students to students during learning. It created mutual respect and discipline for all and the teacher's incorporated rewards such as fun and interactive reward charts. The students were encouraged by this and showed a lot of effort to achieve the awards.

Disabilities and disorders that were noticed in the class include learning disability, from some and physical disability. Additionally, although it was rear, some students were likely to have a mental disorder. Indicators on the same included difficulties in writing, reading and at some point performing learning-related tasks. Some students had problems to remember because of poor memory, and the teachers would repeatedly teach to the specific student until understanding. Some had learning disability like the case of a child wanting to play. The child was impulsive by picking the play-doh without reasoning about the outcome possibilities. Some students quite a number of them had difficulties in staying organized. They would take out their writing materials and not remember how to return them to the shelves after use. In conjunction with poor memory, they would not remember where they misplaced their work and books.

The diagnosis for disabilities and disorders should include Individualized Education Plan (IEP) with objectives, assessment of progress and timelines for completion. Team members of IEP should consist of a regular education teacher, child's parents and at least one special education provider or teacher.

References

Epstein, M. H., Patton, J. R., Polloway, E. A., & Foley, R. (1992). Educational services for students with behaviour disorders: A review of individualized education programs. Teacher Education and Special Education, 15(1), 41-48.