Supporting Students with Communication Disorders. A Collaborative Approach (eBook)

CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Eleanor Roosevelt

“Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.” John Keats

“Give the pupil something to do, not something to learn, and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.” John Dewey

The Importance of Experience

John Dewey (1938), wrote that it is in the experience that we create learning. True knowledge is gained through experience; experiences build upon one another. True knowledge is the understanding of experiences or the ability to interpret experiences, analyze these experiences and associate them to what we already know in order to apply and expand to present or future experiences. We have different perspectives due to the experiences we have had or not had. It is through experiences, both good as well as challenging, that we create knowledge and come to a set of beliefs and values. Our knowledge, as well as our beliefs and values, are altered or transformed throughout our lives as we encounter new experiences, new knowledge. Positive as well as challenging experiences will result in learning and positive growth.

Case Study: Eric

Introduction

Eric was an extremely bright junior high student with a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome. Eric struggled with social interactions within communication contexts and was initially labeled as a student with behavior issues. His challenges, overt nonverbal and verbal behaviors (communications), were a direct result of a significant communication deficit.

Communication Interventions

Through the intervention process, Eric developed skills to become an effective social communicator. His communication therapy program focused on visual processing, visual problem-solving, thinking like a scientist and making conversations visual. (These interventions are discussed in Chapter 11.) The most significant and successful components of his communication therapy program was actively listening to what he was saying from his perspective. By applying active listening, we could (including his parents) implement effective visual processing interventions. It was when we supported and helped Eric work through difficult and often aggressive communication situations and interactions that he learned the most. In fact, he was then able to reflect and discuss communication options and was later able to integrate effective communication interactions within similar situations. This intervention process took time, and he made many mistakes along the way. It was by allowing him to make mistakes and work through the experiences of his mistakes that he was able to learn and grow. This, along with the positive communication experiences that were provided through his therapy and educational programs, supported this student in becoming an effective social communicator.

ALL CHILDREN, all people, are individuals who are at different stages in life and life’s journey. All children, no matter where they are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally or physically, can and will learn and can enjoy and gain all of what life has to offer. John Dewey outlined a philosophy of education and knowledge that stated knowledge cannot be isolated from experience, that knowledge is not given to us as passive learners. We gain knowledge by doing, by creating. Children learn through active participation, discovery, problem solving, and inquiry. It is within the everyday life experiences, the everyday events and adventures, that true happiness and joy can be found. Students’ active involvement and participation within the learning process and within their daily lives create learning and knowledge. Without the ability to communicate efficiently and effectively, students are not able to fully engage and participate within academic, social or vocational environments.

This is true for all students. Unfortunately, there are students in which there are obstacles to their access of the academic curriculum, social interactions, as well as learning environments for numerous reasons. Educators and parents have opportunities to provide our students (of all ages) with positive learning experiences that allow access to academic success and positive social interactions. Universal Design of Instruction along with modifications, adaptations, and differentiation allow all students access to academic and social curricula as well as positive social interactions.

We all experience life in individual ways. Do educators have a right to determine what experiences, what parts of the school curriculum (academic or social), what adventures, what episodes a child should have or not have based on their abilities, challenges or disabilities? It is our challenge to work collaboratively within the problem-solving model to remove or at least minimize possible barriers that inhibit our students’ abilities at engaging and participating within academic and social experiences.

I am the second youngest of six children. My older sister was born profoundly deaf. We really never talked about her being deaf. She was just one of us. She attended an oral private Catholic school for the deaf (which was one of the only programs available to her; this was prior to PL 94-142; refer to Appendix 1). The focus of her program was on development of verbal speech and use of residual hearing. She was taught to talk and lip read. She was profoundly deaf; she had no residual hearing! We communicated with her; however, there were great gaps in our communication. We developed creative ways to communicate with each other. My sister learned sign language at the age of 19, which opened a whole new world for her. My parents did not embrace this new communication system and did not feel the need for her to sign; after all she could talk! They did not have the crucial knowledge regarding speech, language and communication that perhaps would have supported their decision in learning sign language. (Speech, language and communication are discussed in Chapter 4.)

I recall sitting in my first education class as a college student, learning about each different disability. We came to the chapter on hearing impairments, deafness. Yep, right there (I think it was Chapter 3) was deafness. Wait, are they saying being deaf was a disability? I remember thinking, “Oh wow, my sister has a disability!” I know that sounds odd, but I never thought of her as a deaf person or a person with a disability. She was my older sister who had different needs, because she could not hear. I can still see the expression on my professor’s face when I said, “Being deaf is a disability?” As we moved from chapter to chapter discussing each different disability and all the “they can’t”, I decided that I needed to keep my focus on how to support students in bringing out their potentials and gifts. I never expected any child to be like the one sitting next to him/her. Every child is unique in his or her own way. Our role as educators and parents is to help students achieve and to live up to their potential by providing as many positive learning experiences as possible while engaging them in creating and learning.

I do not think I ever thought about my sister’s deafness prior to that day. She was just who she was. I guess I was too busy looking at all the things she could do. She could beat me in any game we played. The one thing I remember most of all is that she could give me great comfort when I was sad or hurt. She is the most compassionate person I have ever met. She is smart, intelligent, funny, caring, and oh yes, she cannot hear. I do remember her using the fact that she could not hear to her advantage during our arguments. Yes, my siblings and I did argue! Lol. When I would say something, she did not like or want to hear, she would close her eyes and yell, “I can’t hear you!”

Music was always a part of my life and yet I cannot sing a note or play a tune. I worked for many years in a hearing impaired program. I learned that our students did not attend music class. We learn the melody of language and of life through rhyme and rhythm. Should these children be denied these experiences? Life is a melody, a beat. How can we deny any child the experience of feeling this melody?

I recall the time I walked into a deaf club party with my sister. The music was so loud I could feel every beat of my heart. The vibrations could be felt as I walked across the floor. I recall the laughter and dancing. Oh yes, all the participants were hard of hearing or deaf! They were communicating through sign language, and although I knew some sign language, I had no way of keeping up with their dynamic conversations. Perhaps this is what our students with communication disorders experience within their daily lives.

My colleagues did not have the same experiences I had with my sister. Through collaboration, I was able to share the importance (creating a shared knowledge) of music and melody to our language and communication development. I took these experiences back to my own program. We worked out a schedule in which I and several of our para-professionals would have a music time weekly with our students. We adapted our music class, used multiple means of communication (sign language,...