Interested in writing a story
or nominating a friend? Yes
Translate this story into Spanish? Yes
|
Sally, a special needs student, succeeds with the Web
A technology teacher discovers the strengths and weaknesses of the Internet. While mastering the Web can empower a special needs student, the richness of online resources can also be overwhelming. By Sharon Kenagy |
 e are a private
Catholic school, on the edge of the inner city. Although we have
programs to accommodate special needs children, we are not often called upon to
address the needs of children with severe and multiple disabilities. A single mom
of 12-year-old twins with significant disabilities approached us about the
possibility of her children entering our school last fall. Even though it was
clear that both of the twins would have tremendous difficulties in class, we
accepted both. That's how Sally, not being able to read or write, entered the
fourth grade. Sammy, her brother, had more severe involvement. He attended school
with a paraprofessional for the first hour in the morning in order to receive
religious instruction with the other second graders, and then at 9:00 he attended
public school for his special education needs. Sally, however, attended school
with us full-time. |
 Sally at work in the lab. |
 he twins
were adopted at the age of three months, the victims of severe physical abuse.
As a result of the abuse, Sally had learning, speech, and language disabilities. She
also had mild cerebral palsy, which caused her to walk with an awkward, slow gait and
to have difficulty coordinating the use of her left arm.Sally came to the computer lab with her class to learn basic keyboarding very early in the year. She was reluctant, unsure, and frightened. It was her first year in a regular classroom, and she found herself in unfamiliar surroundings, with people she didn't know. She was constantly waiting for reassurance and one-on-one instruction. Though it was difficult, Sally's teacher seemed to understand what Sally was trying to communicate, and she was very patient in explaining and listening. By the end of the two-week orientation, Sally was finding the correct page in the typing manual and entering the practice rows of text with little or no assistance. She became comfortable opening a computer application and saving her document to a disk with the same coaching the other students received. |
 s the year unfolded,
Sally progressed to a point where she was able to enter a few
sentences on her own. Because she used only the most basic phonetic spelling,
sometimes she could read what she had written, sometimes not. Because of this
trouble with spelling, her confidence in being able to communicate diminished.Summer came, and with it, opportunities for enrichment. Our parish provides a summer program for all students, Camp Polycarp. Sally's mother enrolled her in two computer classes on using the Internet. The first session was for grades one through four, followed by a session for grades five through eight. Each session lasted three hours a day for five days. The first session included children from across grade levels with a range of computer abilities. The goal of the week's activities was for each participant to prepare a slide show presentation on a topic of interest using captured Internet images. After introductions, the first day started with group instructions and demonstrations for basic navigation of Netscape. The purpose of day one was to allow the students to look around with several suggested sites bookmarked for easy use. The second part of the day involved using ClarisWorks to set up a slide show. Sally sat, watching the fish on the screensaver, listening to my instruction but not knowing where to begin. "Netscape?" A puzzled, tiny voice said. "Where?" |
|
e were able to move to her immediately to respond to her question. Unlike the school
year class, the summer session allowed greater individualization because the ratio of teaching
assistants to children was very good. Sally was assisted as much as needed by myself and
three junior teaching assistants. The age range of children during this session was five to
nine years. The wide age range created a much less intimidating class than during the school
year. The goals for the presentation were also very flexible and sensitive to the ability
level of all students. Sally seemed more comfortable in the relaxed atmosphere and at ease
at the computer. "Oh yes, the Apple menu! I remember!" she said. Slowly we coached and searched the Web for a subject that would interest her. Sally spent quite a bit of time surfing, but nothing caught her attention. The entire first day was spent visiting sites and staring at the screen. At the end of the day, from my perspective, having Sally develop a slide show presentation seemed an impossible task because nothing seemed to connect with her. On the second day, steps for accessing the Internet were still fresh, and Sally could open Netscape with minimal assistance. She surprised us all when she reached over to help a younger student. This participation was encouraging, but her interest still wasn't sparked. Because of her limited reading ability, she was unable to understand much of what she saw, and though the graphics were nice, they were not enough. |
n order to move all of the students along more quickly, we decided that the shows would be
titled "My First Trip on the Internet!" Each student brought a personal photograph to be
scanned and used in the slide show on the introductory page. Everyone enjoyed this, including
Sally. The next step involved writing something about yourself. Since we were using a large
text size, 48 point, only a few words were necessary to complete the page, a definite plus for
Sally as well as many of the younger children. The rest of each child's slide show was to be
filled with downloaded graphics from sites of interest. We suggested pets or the weather as
topics for those who were at a loss for an idea. The first two topics were foreign to Sally
and of no interest. She didn't have a favorite pet and wasn't interested in the weather site
we had chosen for the class. She continued to spend time sitting at her work station,
watching the other students. On the last day, we were getting worried about the finished project for several children, but especially for Sally. Mothers, friends, and relatives were coming to watch the slide shows on Friday morning, and, at this point, Sally had nothing to show. |
|
"We had finally connected, and the rest of the task, though demanding for her, held her
attention." |
sat down with Sally that day to explore more sites and explain the goals of the project.
Today we were exploring museums. Sally looked up, smiled, and asked if she could go to
the University of Kansas (K.U.) museum. I said, "Sure, have you been there?" Her response
rushed out. "Oh yes, I have to spend a lot of time on the K.U. campus, I know it by heart. My two older sisters go there." She quickly typed "K.U." in the search text box. Following a few links, she saw a campus very familiar to her. She was openly excited, and she decided to do her whole project on K.U. We had finally connected, and the rest of the task, though demanding for her, held her attention. Sally needed assistance with the mechanics of her slide show. The copy and paste took some practice, as well as the use of the scroll bar and searches for images. But she did it! On Friday she stood up and verbally guided the audience through her tour of the K.U. campus. The spelling was weak, and as she presented she found it difficult to read some of her writing, but she knew what she was doing and she was proud. So was her mom! |
ally enrolled in the second session of computer camp. This camp was designed for older
children, grades four through eight, more her chronological peers. It was extremely
rewarding to watch Sally approach this week with confidenence and eagerness. Several
times we noticed her cheerfully giving instructions to the other children."Here!" she said pointing to the Apple Menu Icon, "This is where you find Netscape." She could now navigate the Internet with some degree of ease, exploring new territory. She used the same slide show she had developed earlier and spent her time improving it. The fine tuning involved correcting spelling errors she had found during her first presentation, reconstructing sentences, and finding new sites to add to her slide show. Preparing for a real audience seemed to motivate her to attend to detail, as it did the other students. We noticed that all of the children proofed their work meticulously when they realized they would actually be presenting live. Though Sally was not able to get up in front of this group of students, mostly because she felt intimidated by a group of older boys, the ownership and pride she had in her work was demonstrated by the many times she presented her slide show to the staff and students sitting next to her. |
|
he two weeks Sally spent
in the computer lab that summer gave her a new degree of self-esteem
and confidence. Obviously, access to the Internet will not meet all of Sally's needs, but
it seems that a computer and access to new technologies can help make her feel more similar
than different when she's with the other students. With the new school year, Sally entered the fifth grade. Her reading level, self image, and social skills all seemed to develop very quickly. Keeping pace with the regular curriculum, however, continues to be difficult for her, causing much frustration and concern for all involved. In order to provide more support, the school has provided Sally with a laptop and an Internet connection. Her assignments are e-mailed and she can work on them at home as well as in school. For us, a key to accessing Sally's potential was helping her to find something that was meaningful to her. As the technology teacher for the school, I have to insure that every learning experience for every child is meaningful. With Sally, I learned how the vastness of the resources available through the Web can be overwhelming for students and how this incredible resource is only useful on this kind of project if the students can hook up to something that interests them. The Web offers a unique opportunity for students to pursue their own interests, but those must be identified before these wonderful resources can pay off.  |
|
