ANOTHER AMAZING VICTORY
Last week, Damian Jr. experienced a major victory in his educational journey. During a planning meeting at his school, we along with his multidisciplinary team decided that Damian was ready for a full day in a 3rd grade general education class with a paraprofessional supporting and adapting exercises for him, starting in the fall. The pilot inclusion program sponsored by the GA Dept. of Education in 2010 has proven incredibly beneficial for Damian and all involved. Here are a few comments on his amazing progress in 2nd grade where he spends 3-4 hours a day in a general education class:
“Damian is a joy-filled 7 year old boy who loves to learn and enjoys going to school. He currently attends a 2nd grade classroom for three segments per day and thoroughly enjoys being included in the classroom. His strengths are vocal imitation and music. He has recently been exposed to more academic content in the general education classroom. He is able to access the general curriculum using modifications in the assignments. Damian is highly motivated by music which is evident in all environments. The classroom staff tries to use music as much as possible for a reinforcer and for support for learning. Damian's strengths also are in rhythm. This is displayed during calendar time with counting, as well as spelling words in the general education classroom. Damian uses his hands, eye gaze and switches to make choices in the classroom. He uses adaptive equipment to access different parts of the classroom (wheelchair, prone stander and rifton chair). He practices going from sit to stand and does stretches on a mat on the floor to help his range of motion. He uses his parent-supplied communication device as well as other single/multi switch devices to make choices in the self-contained and general education classroom. We have seen a dramatic increase of his imitation and vocalizations in both environments (General and Special Education). Damian has exceeded expectations in the general education environment. No doubt he will continue to do so next year”.
