Reflections

Dee Rosenbeck-Reflection

After reviewing Amy’s case study numerous times, both with and without my group, I found that determining if a student needs to be tested for special education services is a very difficult process. In all the assessments given to Amy, she scored within two points of the mean, thus meaning she has a mild learning disability. However, our group did realize from the assessment results, that Amy had much difficulty with her working memory and in the math subject area. Because of these struggles, we came to the conclusion that Amy needs to receive additional help until we figure out if her diabetes are playing an active role in her learning. To determine this, we must collect valid data over an ample amount of time. While collecting data on whether or not Amy’s diabetes are the cause of her low performance scores, our group came to the conclusion that Amy must receive additional help during this time, with her working memory and in the math subject area. If Amy doesn’t receive additional help, and she does have a learning disability (her glucose levels aren’t the cause of her low assessment scores), she is going to keep falling further behind her peers…we do not want this to happen! As a future educator, I found it very difficult to look at the results from the assessment and write a letter explaining the outcomes to the parents. The reason being, every parent dreads hearing that their son/daughter may have a learning disability, and that the school wants to test/evaluate their child more closely. However, I did learn while writing this paper and reviewing the assessment results, it is extremely important to catch the learning disability early in a child’s life. If the disability is caught early enough, there is more of a chance that the gap between Amy’s current academic level and her actual grade level will close. This gap will close because Amy will be receiving additional help at an earlier age. However, to help close this gap, our group came to the conclusion that we have to come up with creative strategies, since Amy isn’t motivated to do her work and since she finds school boring. I never realized until working through this case study, how hard this task can be. Lastly, I never realized how much of a role an illness can play in a child’s life and in the learning process. In Amy’s case, her diabetes are not only affecting her academically, but they are also affecting her socially. Because of these various affects, it makes it extremely hard to determine if the child has a learning disability. Thus meaning, if Amy had more motivation and higher self-esteem, maybe she would do better in math and with her working memory. Because we don’t know if her low self-esteem and motivation are the cause of her “delayed” learning, it creates a fine line. Until now, I never realized that the results of low test scores may be caused by a student’s medical condition. Overall, I learned a great deal from this project, and never realized how hard it is to determine if a child needs to be tested/receive special education services. This evaluation report on Amy, really opened my eyes up to what I will be dealing with in the near future. It also taught me that I am going to have to be careful on the recommendations I give to families, so I don’t disrespect any of their values and/or morals. In the end, my ultimate goal is to find out what is causing the delayed learning and fix it!

Reflection

Matthew Jacobs

After thoroughly reading and discussing Amy’s Pychoeducational Evaluation Integrated Report with my group, I realized how complex special education decisions could be. My group noticed several learning weaknesses after reading each section, but none displayed a severe learning problem because she did not score two deviations below the norm on any assessment. We did, however, acknowledge the severity of Amy’s self-reported emotional and developmental difficulties. This case, like so many special education cases, does not have a clear answer, but as future education teacher, it is we who must be the detectives. We attempted to brainstorm several different interventions, but quickly realized that we must also understand why Amy was having problems. The root of the problem must be identified. I found this situation to be uncomfortable when attempting to make recommendations for the parents because we still needed more information. I, like the rest of my group, were fairly certain that Amy’s unstable blood glucose levels created a trickle effect. We assumed that because of Amy’s unstable levels several areas were affected while these affected areas were also interpreted as closely related. For example, we gathered that Amy’s unstable levels contributed to her lack of motivation or learned helplessness, dependency on parents, trouble focusing, inferential reasoning, working memory and anxiety. We agreed that Amy could benefit from supports immediately, but we still wanted to understand how detrimental her blood glucose levels were towards Amy’s ability to learn and perform as compared to average peers. I found myself attempting to answer this question, do the affects of diabetes count when considering if the child has a learning or behavior disability? My first opinion was no because if her levels were stable then this wouldn’t be a problem. I was forgetting that even though stable levels may prevent some of these issues, Amy was struggling now and could benefit from more support. The more I analyzed this case, the more I realized how complex special education decisions are. Finally, I found myself pondering if the negatives outweigh the positives for a disability label for Amy. Soon after, I realized it really doesn’t matter, label or not, the overall goal is to support Amy with the most appropriate intervention, even if the intervention incorporates methods to find out more about Amy’s learning difficulties and even if a diagnosis is used early, better now than never. Besides, if Amy benefits from the special education supports and her teachers realize she can go without the supports, then the child only benefited. I see no harm done, but I do caution withholding a referral just because the problem is not clear. Meanwhile the child is still falling behind.

Kristen Ujvari

Reflection For my group the case study was an intriguing project. When we sat down in class we immediately started collaborating and sharing our own separate parts. We then started dissecting the case study, discussing different areas. We went very in depth in our thinking for this case. The last thing we did was assign who would answer which parts. We did this last so that we all had a good handle on the study before we separated, allowing each of us to take any part. I ended up taking the recommendations part. I wanted this part because I felt like I had taken a lot of good notes that could help in this section. It was agreed that the person answering question two would check over the work that I did. I met with this group member to further discuss what we would like to see in this section. Our collaboration really helped and made it easier for me to write more in depth recommendations. While I collaborated and wrote the recommendations, I did a lot of looking back. I tried to refer to the article often to make sure that I was correct in what I was writing. I also wrote a lot of recommendations so that there was something to choose from. I am simply reading all of these pieces of information and I do not know the child personally. I can recommend these points to the teachers and parents who actually know her, allowing them to pick what would work best.

Daniel C. Jones' Reflection

I enjoyed working on this case study because it required us to do some in depth thinking about what was contributing to Amy's struggles in school. We looked into many possibilities as to what the problems were as well as what possible solutions could be. I believe that our group made great use of our time on the first day that we had time to work on this in class and came up with a lot of good ideas. This was the first case study that I have done in a group and I found it to be very beneficial to me. Usually when I have done something like this it has been by myself, which has always worked out just fine. But doing this with four other people has allowed me to see the points of view of others. As we finish off our second quarter in cohort I am beginning to see how valuable the opinions of others can be in making important decisions regarding the education of students. I have also benefited from this assignment from the standpoint that I have been introduced into the world of Wiki Spaces. This is a very helpful tool for doing group work that I was never aware of. I will definitely keep this in mind for future group projects.

K.D. Miller's Reflection

I usually dislike group projects as I am more of an independent worker. However, this project was wonderful. There is no possible way I could have come up with the amount of ideas that our group collectively had about Amy’s assessment results. Once we had read the study and had begun to discuss it we come up with one theory right after another. We debated whether her academic test scores in the lower average range with her behavioral (anxiety, internalizing, etc.) level scores were enough for her to need special education services. We discussed the various ways to assist and continue monitoring Amy’s academic needs without intense special education services but while maintaining growth towards her academic goals. When we finally came to a conclusion about the matter I felt like we had been successful collaborators and had come up with a great plan for Amy’s needs. This project not only taught me about different assessment tools and the complexities of assessing a child’s needs but it also taught me why collaboration is so important. One person alone should never have the task of making this complex of a decision about a child’s educational needs. It takes a group of people to assess, evaluate and consider the vast amount of possibilities for each child. 