Brittney Recht

SERP 301 Benchmark

Background

My target child, Veronica (this is a pseudonym), is a five year old student in my

kindergarten-first grade combination classroom. She began the school year in a kindergarten

only classroom, but due to high numbers in the kinder classrooms she was moved into my first

grade classroom. Veronica has many strengths as well as some stretches that she needs extra

support with. Some of her strengths include; she knows the letters in the alphabet, she can

write her first and last name, she can name colors, numbers and shapes, she is very imaginative

and creative, and her nonverbal and spatial reasoning are very high. Aside from Veronica’s

many strengths, there are certain areas that she needs extra support with. Her biggest areas

where supports are needed are communication and social emotional. In terms of social

emotional, she has trouble following directions, interacting appropriately with her peers, and

doing activities that are not appealing to her. The National Center for Learning Disabilities stats

that, “when schools fail to provide enough support for students, the social, emotional and

behavioral challenges that often come along with learning and attention issues can lead to

serious consequences. These include social isolation, disproportionate disciplinary rates and an

increased likelihood of skipping school, dropping out and becoming involved with the criminal

justice system” (2017). Therefore it is crucial that students receive the support they deserve. In

regards to communication, she has development delays in understanding and using language.

Although Veronica still needs support in the classroom, she has come an extremely long way.

Initially, she qualified for special education under disability of developmental delay that
affected most areas of development. She also previously received occupational therapy for

physical concerns but no longer receives this support. She has made many significant strides

and now only has an IEP for communication and social emotional needs.

Veronica has two IEP goals in both the areas of communication and social emotional.

One goal for communication is for Veronica to answer target “wh-“ questions related to

classroom and/or therapy activities with minimal visual cues. The other goal under

communication is for Veronica to talk about an event or retell a story, providing at least four

main details, in sequence, with minimal visual support. One goal under social emotional is,

given a non-preferred activity, Veronica will comply with no more than two visual or verbal

prompts. Her second goal under social emotional is that when given a peer interaction,

Veronica will sustain play or an activity for 15 minutes with support first then independently. To

support Veronica in her communication and social emotional skills, the IEP lays out

accommodations, modifications and services she will receive. The accommodations include;

providing a consistent daily routine, allowing provisions for physical movement, using visual

aids, providing visual cues, and using social stories to teach skills and rules for regular classroom

and social situations. According to Kouyoumdjian, “A large body of research indicates that

visual cues help us to better retrieve and remember information. The research outcomes on

visual learning make complete sense when you consider that our brain is mainly an image

processor (much of our sensory cortex is devoted to vision), not a word processor. In fact, the

part of the brain used to process words is quite small in comparison to the part that processes

visual images” (2012). The modifications being made in the classroom are providing alternative

assignments when needed. These behavior supports will be provided in the general education
classroom. Veronica will also receive special education services for speech. She will receive

speech therapy in the speech therapy room for 200 minutes per month. One benefit of speech

therapy is “improvement in the ability to understand and express thoughts, ideas and feelings”

(2017). This is something that Veronica could absolutely benefit from because she struggles

with understanding and expressing language.

Observation #1

Observation date: 9/25

Setting and activity: General education classroom during calendar time.
Classroom Teacher: Ms. Greene

I observed Veronica during our daily calendar time. All the children were sitting on the

carpet and Veronica was sitting in a chair behind the carpet. The teacher was standing in the

front of the classroom next to the calendar. She had all the students stand up and sing the

“month song”. During this song the children are doing a dance where they sway side to side and

switch off putting each foot in front of them. There is a song playing in the background while

the students sing along. During this song Veronica is very engaged- she sings and dances along

with the rest of the students. When the song is over the children sit back on the carpet and

Veronica sits back in her chair. Then the teacher leads another song called “days of the week”

the children sing each day of the week and clap on the day that it is. Veronica is also very

engaged during this song. She actively participates with the other students. After the song, the

teacher leads the class in a mini math lesson. She asks the students, “how many days have gone

by in this month?” “how many days have we been in school total?” “how many coins is today
worth?” etc. This is the time when Veronica’s attention gets lost. She was crawling around her

chair, on the floor, and under tables. To get Veronica’s attention the teacher asks specifically

says Veronica’s name and asks her a question. She waits until Veronica gives a response. It took

Veronica a few moments to sit back up in her chair and formulate an answer. Once Veronica

answers and the teacher goes back to teaching the lesson, Veronica’s attention is lost once

again. She begins looking around the classroom, moving around in her chair and singing the

“days of the week” song under her breath. During the mini lesson, the teacher continues to ask

questions to Veronica specifically.

There are many accommodations the teacher makes to support Veronica. First,

Veronica is given a choice on where she would like to sit. She can either sit on the carpet with

the other students on a wiggly seat or she can sit in her “personal” chair that has a bouncy

band. Both these options support Veronica’s struggle to sit still. My teacher also incorporates a

lot of movement activities during calendar time. This is something that is specifically laid out in

the IEP. Her IEP states that the teacher should allow for provisions for physical movement. This

is extremely beneficial for Veronica because it helps her get engaged while being physical.

During both songs she actively participates because she is able to move around and sing.

Another way my teacher accommodates Veronica is by continuously prompting her. She

believes that it is just as important for Veronica to participate in class discussion as it is for the

rest of the students. By personally asking Veronica a question it pulls her attention back to the

content. My teacher also allows ample time for Veronica to respond. My teacher understands

that Veronica has a speech delay therefore sometimes it is hard for her to understand and
verbalize. Therefore my teacher tries to use language that Veronica will understand and give

her time to process and respond.

Observation #2

Observation date: 9/26

Setting and activity: general education classroom during math lesson.
Classroom teacher: Ms. Greene

I observed Veronica while my teacher was giving a math lesson on numbers. The

students were practicing identifying and writing numbers. All the kindergarten students were

on the carpet while the first grade students were at the tables doing stations. Veronica was

sitting in her personal chair behind the carpet. The kindergarten students were asked to get a

slate, a marker and an eraser from the front of the classroom. Then each student sat back down

as the teacher began the lesson. She asked the children to write the number 5. Then she wrote

the number on the board. While the students wrote, the teacher walked around the classroom

to provide support for the students that needed it. While the other students practiced writing

their numbers, Veronica was drawing pictures. The teacher noticed this and went to Veronica

and asked her to draw the number 5. The teacher pointed at the number 5 on the board.
Veronica then wrote the number 5 on her slate. Then the teacher asked the students to write

the number 3. Once again, she wrote the number on the board then walked around the

classroom to support the children. Veronica was still just drawing pictures on her slate and not

paying much attention to the teacher, it’s as if she was in her own little bubble. So, the teacher

walked over to her and did the same thing as last time. Asked her to write the number 3 and

pointed to it on the board. Veronica then wrote the number 3 on her slate.

During this activity, the teacher provided accommodations to support to Veronica’s

learning. She was provided an option of where she wanted to sit. She could either sit on the

carpet on her wiggly seat or sit in her chair with a bouncy band. My teacher always gives

Veronica a choice of where to sit because she has a hard time being told what to do. Therefore

by giving her options it makes her feel that she has the power in the situation. Another way the

teacher accommodated Veronica, and the entire classroom, is by providing them with one-on-

one support if they needed it. Veronica needed a reminder to stay on task and participate in

the activity. But, she was more focused on drawing than anything else. Therefore my teacher

made sure to give her the one-on-one support she needed to get back on track. The teacher

also realized how visual of a child Veronica is. She made sure to write every number on the

board so each child could use that visual as support. Then, when she told Veronica to write a

number she pointed to the board to give a visual. Something else my teacher did was not scold

Veronica for drawing because she understands that Veronica does not like being told she can’t

do something. Therefore the teacher allowed her to continue drawing as long as she

participated in the activity. But, she did continuously make sure that Veronica was actively

participating in the classroom activity by personally prompting her.

She is given a choice between sitting
on the carpet in a wiggly seat or
sitting in a chair with a bouncy band

She is a very visual child therefore the

visuals in the classroom tend to take
her attention away from certain tasks
therefore my teacher tries to position
her in a spot that is away from clutter

She doesn’t actively participate in

classroom activities, she needs to
continuously be promoted and
reminded of what she should be
doing

She can sometimes be disruptive

because she crawls around the floor,
kicks other students and sings while
the teacher is speaking

She understands her learning

objectives when the teacher uses
“now” “then” charts
She gets assigned a peer partner
every day and is expected to
participate with this partner in
think-pair-share activities

She will occasionally answer

questions without being
prompted.

Her peers sometimes need

reminders that Veronica learns
differently and that’s okay
 References
Outcomes, Benefits and Drawbacks of Speech Therapy. (2017). Retrieved September 27, 2017,

from http://www.mychildwithoutlimits.org/plan/common-treatments-and-

therapies/speech-therapy/outcomes-benefits-and-drawbacks-of-speech-therapy/

Kouyoumdjian, H. (2012, July 20). Learning Through Visuals. Retrieved September 27, 2017,

from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/get-psyched/201207/learning-through-

visuals

The State of LD: Social, Emotional and Behavioral Challenges. (2017). Retrieved September 27,

2017, from https://www.ncld.org/social-emotional-and-behavioral-challenges