Final Reflections on CEC Initial Prep Standard 5

Good Morning! Happy last day of class and on to a new adventure!

CEC Initial Preparation Standard 5: Beginning special education professionals select, adapt, and use a repertoire of evidence-based instructional strategies to advance learning of individuals with exceptionalities. 

Key Elements you will focus on:
5.1: Beginning special education professionals consider an individual’s abilities, interests, learning environments, and cultural and linguistic factors in the selection, development and adaptation of learning experiences for individuals with exceptionalities.
5.2:  Beginning special education professionals use technologies to support instructional assessment, planning, and delivery for students with exceptionalities.

 1. Describe your beliefs about teaching students with disabilities prior to this course.  How have the readings, discussions, and assignments altered or informed your current beliefs, knowledge, and skills related to planning instruction for students with disabilities?

I have always believed that students with disabilities should be given an education that was tailored to their needs. Prior to this course, I had little knowledge about specific strategies and practices, but I never let that stop me. I am the kind of person that follows my natural instincts; I trust them and they do not let me down. The readings in this course have confirmed that I have naturally followed the right path when working with my students who have had learning difficulties and disabilities, but I have also learned a multitude of strategies that I have been able to add to my "toolbox" for future use. Now that I have completed this course, I feel confident that i will be more prepared to not only design effective lesson plans for my own students, but I feel confident that I will be able to assist other teachers in their lesson planning when planning for students with disabilities. 

2. After reviewing the CEC standard 5 and its two key elements and completing this course, what are three identified areas of professional growth?

One area of growth has been the ability to apply what I learned about the various disabilities in my previous course, to this course through the lesson plans by providing details about the needs of my students and their disabilities. Another area of growth is that using the knowledge gained from that previous course, I was able to pick and choose evidence-based strategies for instruction that I felt would best serve my students, pushing them forward in their pursuit of knowledge. Given the feedback from the instructor and some of my peers, I feel confident that I have grasped an understanding of the strategies and that of the various disabilities and can provide my students with what they need. The third area of growth is that I was able to effectively use technology within my lesson plans as a means of instruction for all students, not just those with disabilities; however, I was able to make accomodations for students with disabilities where needed, when additional use of assistive technology would be most helpful or necessary.

3.Based on your experience, current role in education, and/or future role in education how might you apply these concepts to plan effective instruction for students with disabilities? 

Because I live in Georgia, I am currently unable to become a state certified teacher, so working in public school is not currently an option for me; however, I never intended to take that route professionally anyway. My professional goal is to work for Head Start where special education professionals are needed. While a lot of the strategies I learned here will not apply to three and four year old children in the Head Start setting, they will still come in handy when working with my own special needs children at home on homework. I would also like to consider working privately as an early interventionist or therapist in my state and I could apply some of these instructional strategies in that field, as well. No matter where I go, I know that I will be able to apply what I have learned in this class to providing instruction for my students and with my own children at home; I am very thankful for this course supplying me with the strategies I will absolutely need in the future.

Reflective Thoughts

Me on 3 hours of sleep and a super busy Monday.

HAPPY MONDAY!

This week's reflective journal focuses on two key elements of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Initial Preparation Standard 5: "Beginning special education professionals select, adapt, and use a repertoire of evidence-based strategies to advance learning of individuals with exceptionalities" (Council for Exceptional Children, 2012). The two key elements focused on this week are:
5.1: "Beginning special education professionals consider an individual's abilities, interests, learning environments, and cultural and linguistic factors in the selection, development, and adaptation of learning experiences for individuals with exceptionalities", and 5.2: "Beginning special education professionals use technologies to support instructional assessment, planning, and delivery for individuals with exceptionalities" (Council for Exceptional Children, 2012).

1. Discuss your prior beliefs about teaching students with disabilities. How have the readings, discussions, and the assignment altered or informed your current beliefs, knowledge and skills related to planning instruction for students with disabilities?

Prior to the past year of my life working with my son and then my daughter, I did not think I would ever have the patience or ability to work with students who had a disability; then one day, it simply occurred to me that I already was with my youngest two children. My oldest son has ADD and even though he has been neurologically mind mapped to show his level of disability since his original diagnosis at age six, I never thought of him as having a disability. Please do not get me wrong, he certainly has had his fare share of academic struggles in school systems that did not provide him with adequate support, but my own definitions of disability were limited and ignorant and this is what had previously shaped my own thoughts about teaching students with disabilities. Despite my limited knowledge and ignorance, I still believed that every child, regardless of the presence of a disability or not, should be able to get the individualized assistance they need in school.

Before knowing and understanding the special education laws, I was also wary of inclusive classrooms where students with disabilities were included; however, now my fears of inclusive classroom is centered on teacher qualifications and experience, rather than concern for the student or students in question. Prior to this assignment, my knowledge of evidence-based strategies has been limited. This week's assignment has allowed me to give a name to strategies that I have used "naturally" while learning about new strategies to use. Now I feel more confident in my abilities to plan effective instruction for students with disabilities.

2. After reviewing the CEC Standard 5 and its two key elements, discuss three areas you would like to improve upon professionally during this course.

Goal 1: I would like to become more familiar with the various types of strategies and begin a "toolbox" for me to have available for quick reference, even though my professional goal is to work for a Head Start program, some of these strategies will come in handy; in addition, having a knowledge of the various evidence-based strategies will also help me as a parent when working with my own children at home, or talking with their teachers as a foundation for understanding them.

Goal 2: I would like to learn from my peers, and the readings throughout the course, how I can connect with families to learn more about the student as an individual. Talking to the families is certainly a great start, but some families are less likely to open up and share than others. This lack of shared information could be due to cultural differences, or just a general sense of uncomfortableness between all parties, for one reason or another. How can we respectfully overcome these differences and work as a team?

Goal 3: I have taken an assistive technology class before, but I am hoping to improve my ability to apply my knowledge of AT to the evidence-based practices within the text or other sources throughout this course, while learning about additional options for AT that I may not have considered before.

3. Based on your experience, current role in education, and/or future role in education, how might you apply these concepts to plan effective instruction for students with disabilities?

Working for Head Start is similar to working in a day care classroom, where play is the primary learning strategy used. Even so, there are structured times for specific learning activities and this is where my knowledge of evidence-based strategies will be needed. I will need to know how to reach the student with the visual or hearing impairment, communication delays, behavioral or mood disorder, etc. I plan to utilize what I learn throughout this course, in my classroom and provide appropriate instruction for my preschool aged students whether I am in a child care, Head Start, or a Pre-K classroom.


Council for Exceptional Children. (2012).  CEC initial level special educator preparation standards. Retrieved 7/13/2015 from http://www.cec.sped.org/sitecore/shell/Controls/Rich%20Text%20Editor//~/media/Files/Standards/Professional%20Preparation%20Standards/Initial%20Preparation%20Standards%20with%20Elaborations.pdf.

A little something about me.

Salutations!

My name is Kristi Pingleton.

This is me.

I am a pushing 40 year old wife and mother. I am married to a wonderful man who happens to be the best chef I know! It is very difficult to go out to eat and find something he cannot go home and cook better! I love his originality with his own dishes too. I am a mom to six children; four from my first marriage and two from my second. We'll talk more about them later.

This is me drinking my first of many cups of coffee THIS morning!

My current profession is being a full time wife, mother, student, and self-proclaimed professional coffee drinker. I also serve as the parent committee president and a policy council representative for our local Head Start program. I love being involved with my kids' school. My professional goal is to work for the local Head Start program after I complete my Masters degree next spring. In the meantime, I will continue to volunteer for Head Start as a parent, getting my foot in the door. My daughter Bella just completed her second year there and this time, it my baby's turn to begin his journey there!

I was born and raised (mostly) in the west part of Texas. When I was 15 and just out of my freshman year of high school, my family moved to Douglasville, Ga., to be closer to my mother's parents. I currently live in a small Georgia community about 20 miles outside of Athens and about 45 miles outside of Atlanta. My dad is a retired music teacher/band director. My mother stayed at home and worked various secretarial positions over the years, before taking up a career as a dental assistant. I am the oldest of 3 children; one brother and one sister. I love my sister like crazy and we look a lot alike, despite 9 years between us. My brother, I am proud of him, but boy is there a lot of sibling rivalry between us. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 2003, he published a book titled, "Daddy and Me Go To a Georgia Tech Game", that features his first child; proceeds of this book go to charity in honor of a classmate that left earth too soon, and now he is a stay at home dad for four wickedly talented in sports kids. My hobbies include spending time with my family, Facebook, singing, volunteering at Head Start, Pinterest perusing and pinning, watching Hallmark movies, and occasional Netflix binge watching.

I have three reasons that I chose a specialty in special education: Jaxon (Jax), Isabella (Bella), and Stephen. 

Jax is my youngest, at 3 years old. He developed somewhat normally but he never really did pick up on speech development. After his second birthday, he still was not speaking many words and the few he did have, he stopped using. He very quickly developed an obsession with trains and he began creating lines with various objects. In February following his 2nd birthday, he spent a little time watching Super Why and in a week, he had mastered uppercase and lowercase letter recognition; numbers and shapes very quickly followed. At 3, he's learning sight words, addition, and subtraction; but he struggles with learning colors. Aside from the alphabet, he still wasn't talking and there were several other concerning behaviors. We were given a referral to the state's early intervention program and the Marcus Autism Center. By May, we were fully invested in speech therapy and were on the wait list for the Marcus Center with a November appointment. In November of 2014, after a series of evaluations and just ten days after his 3rd birthday, he was diagnosed with autism and global developmental delay. Today, he will watch TV while sitting upside down and he listens to the sounds of trains, like we listen to music. He is amazing and through him, I have learned to celebrate the ordinary. 

Bella is turning 5 in one week! I cannot believe how fast the last five years have flown by; it seems like yesterday that I was bringing home my little "peanut" (5.5 lbs birth weight) home from the hospital. She is amazing and boy does she have attitude!! She loves to color, draw, paint, and sing. Centers are her favorite at school and she loves all things Frozen. We are currently getting ready for her huge Frozen Fever bash, next week. This past school year was really tough on her. There was a lot of turnover at the center and her new teacher was awful! There were some problem behaviors exhibited from other children and absolutely zero effective classroom management. Her two best friends, were pulled from the center and enrolled elsewhere, but we chose to stick it out and we ended up with a great, but yet a third teacher by March; however, the damage had been done to my little girl. Not to mention two rounds of stitches, a broken finger, and brother's diagnosis. We noticed a significant change in her behavior around December when her friends left the class, and things only got worse. We received a referral to a psychologist for her and went through a series evaluations with her in May. She was diagnosed with Disruptive Mood Dysfunction Disorder. This is a new term in the field of psychology, and is better known as a bipolar disorder. 

Stephen is my 13 year old son. I have not been able to see him since January. In February, the day before his 13th birthday, in February, he had an episode at school and was hospitalized. He is now in state custody and my parents are in the process of gaining guardianship because they live near the mental health facility. My son was diagnosed with bipolar depression and PTSD about two and half years ago and it has been one heck of a ride. But that boy has my heart; he always has. For the first six months of his life, all he did was scream unless I was holding him; no one else could hold him. He had a speech delay, especially in expressive language, but it was determined that he didn't need services and that it would work itself out when he started school, which it did. He also has GI problems; has had them since birth. Let me tell you that I am certain that he has PTSD because he's been separated from me for the past six years, but I'm not certain that he is bipolar, and neither are my parents. One of their goals, if they gain guardianship, is to have him reevaluated by a new team of professionals.

They are the reason I chose a specialization in special needs.  

Matthew - My oldest; a senior - finally!

In late June of 2009, I became very sick; but I didn't realize how sick I was, until I left work on July 2nd to go home and rest, and then woke up in an MRI machine on July 5th. I had meningitis, stemming from a very bad and underlying inner ear infection, that had been there for a year. People, if your ears hurt, get them checked! In any case, meningitis does to the body, what a stroke can do. I had to learn to walk again and I felt completely disconnected from my body. I do not have the energy I once had, which is a shame considering I keep up with my kids the way I do. I lost a significant amount of hearing in my left ear and I lost some short term memory.

Savannah - ROTC member all AP classes.

Given the circumstances of my health and my marriage at the time, I had to make a drastic life change for all of us. I could barely care for myself and I was not supposed to go back to work for at least a year, although I did. The last years of my marriage had been emotionally and mentally abusive and I could not go back to that or let my kids go back to it. I made a heart wrenching decision and signed temporary guardianship of my children, over to my ex mother-in-law and her husband. Unfortunately, due to the multiple issues surrounding my family when I had signed guardianship away, I was thrown under the bus for my husband's problems and I did not regain custody when I tried. Instead, the judge made judgements against me without all of the information. I was the kind of mother that pushed to do everything for her kids and not herself. My children were fed, clothed, had a roof over their head, and were well cared for; but I was not well cared for. 

Andrew - Going to middle school!

There was a lesson to be learned here, no matter how much I put my children first, or even my husband, sometimes, mom has to put herself first. If you don't take care of yourself, you won't be there to take care of anyone else. When I'm tired, I rest; when I feel sick, I am proactive about getting better and I no longer hesitate to see a doctor. I pay child support on my older four children, as I should, and I have visitation with all of them, except Stephen. I know this lack of visitation contributes to his problems, but the judge won't listen. One day, I will get to see him again and make things right. I know God has a plan and as hard as it can be, I have to trust it; I must have faith. 

My family!

I had always wanted to be a teacher but life takes us on journeys we do not always plan for, and I became a single mother instead. I first married 7 months after my son's birth and from there our family grew. Professionally, I began working in the field of early childhood care in the spring of 2001. I fell in love with working with two year old toddlers. I miss working in the classroom, but I know that home is where I am needed now. In the meantime, I will continue to prepare myself professionally to return to the classroom while also learning first hand, about strategies and tools that I can use with my children at home. I hope that I can bring to this classroom, my knowledge of working with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers; although the focus is more on  . Achieving my goal of gaining my Masters will not only support my professional goal of working in Head Start, because they need more professionals with special education knowledge, but it will also feed my need for some good old fashioned sibling rivalry. Truth be told though, when I made the decision to go back to school and pursue my BA in early childhood education, I never thought that I would be continuing my education and working for a Masters too. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself.