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Sunday, December 6, 2009

Missunderstood Minds:

The activities were a very nice way to show how certain disabled persons experience the world and learning. Each of the different sections had activities I enjoyed and some I did not totally understand the logic. The Activity I enjoyed the most was in the Attention Section #2.

The goal was to place shapes with colors over other shapes and colors. The activity started out easy, but then became very difficult as the teacher quickened her responces. The next distraction when other children started talking and the teachers voice almost disappeared was very difficult. I tried to close my eyes and focus on her voice but it easily got lost. I placed 6 out of 9 shapes correctly. This activity was a nice example of how some children can do well when the instructions are clear and at a good pace, but when the pace is increased and distractions start, it is easy to see how difficult it would be to stay on track.

The activities really displayed atributes of these diabilities well. I thought the writing portions and reading activities were difficult when you see some of the disabled modifications showed how hard it is for people with disabilities to understand even letter recognition and word structure.

It was a good exercise and makes you appreciate that all of us who are able to function at a high level really are blessed when you see how difficult it could be.

Enjoy,
Ryan

2 comments:

  1. Ryan, I totally agree with you. It is nice to appreicate the fact that we are high level and blessed with the patience to help those that are less fortunate. Today while teaching I thought of the simulation you were talking about with the shapes. I was giving a dictation exam in Spanish and thought to myself...I wonder how all of my students are doing...I repeated each dication at least 5 times becuase of all of my diverse students. Every student in my class got a 100% on the quiz. I was proud!!! I monitored my students with autisum and hearing impairments and was happy to see them on task throughout the whole exam. :-)

    Do you teach? How did these impact you in terms of your teaching or future teaching for your practicums?

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  2. Ryan, I was impacted the most by the same simulation you were discussing in your response. I almost felt as if I was the student that I work with, his diagnosis is ADHD and it is very hard for him to attend to his task at hand without being distracted by all the other kids in the room. I can tell this because when he is working he dazes of staring at the other students and when he gets lost in his activity he tries to look at what his peers are doing and copy. I can't imagine how frustrating that must be for all the little kidos we work with that have a deficit in this area. We are truly blessed to not have to deal with this as our kids do and this also puts us in a great position to help those that are in their situations. This simulation can give you insight into their lives and give us the reminder to stay patient as we work with them. I do agree with Marie as well above...how would you use this as a teacher?

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