JACKIE: A CASE STUDY OF AN ELEMENTARY STUDENT<br>

JACKIE: A CASE STUDY OF
AN ELEMENTARY STUDENT

by
Janet Duncan

Introduction

In a small elementary school (student population 300), located in a large urban city in eastern Ontario, a relatively new approach has been taken to educate a young girl who has severe disabilities. Jackie (a pseudonym) is ten years old, and has been attending her neighborhood school for the past four years. Before this setting, she attended a segregated special school for students who have developmental disabilities. In 1985 Jackie moved to a group home which was located in the suburbs, and was welcomed into her local elementary school.

Background Information

The staff in this small elementary school were open to many suggestions from a variety of people, especially Jackie's mother and the staff in the group home. Jackie is well known for her sense of humour, and her willingness to try new things. Jackie has many therapeutic needs that had been previously addressed in a self-contained therapy room (including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy). In the new setting, support would be provided by professionals in these fields, on an ongoing basis. Jackie also uses an augmentative communication system that requires monitoring by speech therapists as well as technicians (for maintenance). Jackie has cerebral palsy, which for her means that she is in a wheelchair because of spastic quadriplegia. Her smile and personality attracts many people to her, and the opportunity for developing meaningful friendships in this setting was extremely exciting for everyone who knew her.

Who Is Jackie?

Jackie's entry into the school was initiated with a great deal of enthusiasm by all. Several meetings were held with her mother, the school personnel, and the group home staff. The school personnel included the teachers who would be involved with Jackie directly, as well as those others who were interested in helping out, the principal, the resource teacher, and special education consultants.

During the first meeting, a facilitator assisted the group with a planning process known as the McGill Action Planning System-MAPS (see bibliography section under Friendships), whereby Jackie's life in school and the community was the theme. The first central topic was determining who Jackie is, and gathering information regarding her interests, and what her school needs might be. A delightful image of Jackie emerged: beautiful smile, attractive child, knows what she wants, is determined, is patient, loves younger children, and expresses her emotions (to mention just a few). Some of her school needs were: to have friends during school (and after school), to relax at certain times of the day, to continue to improve her communication skills, to attend classes following a regular grade four curriculum (with modifications made in class), and to help out in a junior kindergarten class.

Jackie's New Schedule at School

Based on the preliminary planning meetings, the teaching team decided to introduce Jackie to a wide variety of school opportunities. There were some hunches about certain things that Jackie might enjoy, but the first half of the year was meant to be flexible for Jackie. Given this, the following activities were highlighted for Jackie: regular grade four class, physical therapy to be done on an daily basis (in class) while students are engaged in sustained silent reading, participation in intramurals after school, Brownie meetings once a week, and chorus.

TIME	ACTIVITY
8:30-8:45	Arrival, met at bus by two friends, proceed to locker, remove coat, gather materials for day (with help).
8:45-9:00	Opening exercises in class (prayer, a.m. announcements, attendance). Takes attendance to office with another student.
9:00-9:45	Language Arts activity. Sits at table with three other students, works on projects with them (cooperative effort).
9:45-10:00	Goes to locker with another student. Gets coat on for recess, returns to class, and is dismissed with classmates.
10:00-10:15	Recess, accompanied by two friends on playground.
10:15-10:40	Returns to locker, removes coat with assistance. Range of motion exercises during silent reading (in class).
10:40-10:50	Personal care in washroom with attendant.
10:50-11:15	Social Studies, Science. Sits with group at table, and contributes to group.
11:15-11:45	Mathematics. Sits at table, works on own math skills that are functionally based.
11:45-12:00	Relaxation before lunch. Out of wheelchair and repositioned in class. Listens to relaxing music with headphones.
12:00-1:00	Lunch in school cafeteria. Sits with friends, is fed by teaching assistant. Chooses dessert and drink from menu. Eats food that is prepared at home and sent in lunch bag.
1:00-1:15	Personal care with teaching assistant in washroom.
1:15-1:45	Physical Education, Music, Art, or Religion (alternating)
1:45-2:15	Assists with grade one class. Relaxation time, repositioning in class. Listens to stories read by other children.
2:15-2:30	Recess outside with classmates.
2:30-2:45	Personal care in washroom with Teaching Assistant.
2:25-3:15	Language Arts with classmates. Completion of morning work/project.
3:15-3:30	Preparation for home and dismissal.

Description of Classroom Activities

All of Jackie's therapeutic needs were addressed as imbedded goals wherever possible. In other words, with the exception of physiotherapy, all of the speech and language goals, the occupational goals were incorporated into her daily classroom routine. This allowed for generalization of skills, as well as teaching the skills in a meaningful environment for Jackie. Physical therapy goals were met through daily range of motion exercises that incorporated into classroom routines. Also, whenever Jackie put on her coat, or participated in her personal care routine, motor skills were blended into these naturally occurring events. Opportunities for Jackie to relax out of her chair were provided to maximize Jackie's level of comfort, and was done in such a way as to include her in other activities, not to isolate her with therapeutic equipment. A bean bag chair with some support pillows and sandbags, along with a gym mat, were all the necessary equipment.

Jackie uses an augmentative communication board, which was developed for her by a speech therapist and an electronics technician. It consists of a 16 picture display (4X4 matrix), with LED lights illuminating each square. An interface switch (from TASH) connected to the board allows Jackie to select the picture/symbol of her choice. She communicates with people by first gaining their attention (with a call switch), and then pointing to a picture. Her squares include basic vocabulary, as well as pictures of things in the classroom and photos of people. It is hoped that she can progress to a larger matrix in the future. Until then, she consistently eyepoints to objects and other pictures when she is presented with these choices. The students in the class are adept at understanding Jackie with her board and eyepointing.

In Language Arts, Jackie frequently helped to select stories that the class would read. The teacher structured the class based on a cooperative learning model, and the students frequently switched partners or groups, on a rotational basis, so that everyone had an opportunity to work with each other. Each day the teacher would select parts of the activity that could be accomplished by Jackie (direct selection most often). The students found ways of encouraging Jackie to assist them too.

In Mathematics, while the students were working with number facts and basic operations, Jackie was learning to use a calculator, as well as listening to the lesson regarding number facts. Her adapted calculator and interface switch were placed on her tray at the table with her work group. Another student would enter her responses on her work sheet for her.

The teacher had all students involved in daily classroom routines (passing papers, cleaning brushes, etc.). Jackie's responsibilities included taking the daily attendance sheet to the office, and helping the grade one class as a reading buddy.

In physical education class, Jackie helped to keep score with another student if games were being played, or she would often play modified games with her classmates. For example, in soccer, a student would push Jackie in her wheelchair around the field, and Jackie would "trap" the ball with her chair. Once again, the students often thought of their own modifications to the games.

In music and art, Jackie would be assisted by other students. Music is often filled with lessons about listening, so very little had to be done to modify these lessons. Art projects were a cooperative effort, and students assisted her sometimes with full hand-over-hand assistance. Choice-making and active participation were goals for Jackie in these classes.

Religion class also focussed on listening, and participation. During liturgy periods Jackie played a role in helping to distribute materials. Once again, her presence was considered to be valuable to the class.

Jackie's Friends

A great deal of the success of Jackie's involvement is directly related to her friendships with other students. An outsider looking in on her class would be left with the impression that Jackie was one of the most popular students in the class. She always had a group of students hanging around her.

Initially the teacher asked a few students to do little things with Jackie, such as meeting her at her bus in the morning. Then the teacher would ask another student to help Jackie take the attendance to the office. Slowly, but surely, each child had an opportunity to do different things with Jackie throughout the day. The teacher spent some time teaching the students how to use Jackie's communication system with her. She also discussed with them what Jackie's disability means for Jackie and her participation (in a humanistic way that did not discourage the students). All aspects of Jackie's disability were dealt with as the questions arose. Very soon the students came to accept Jackie as a full member of their class.

In particular there were four girls who became quite close to Jackie. They were the ones who thought of the after school activities, including Brownies, sleep-overs, and other get-togethers. These students would approach the teacher and ask her for help in planning events, or just to share their ideas with her. Once the students felt comfortable contacting Jackie at home on their own, the teacher was relied upon less frequently to help plan their leisure time.

Staffing Model

In this setting the grade four teacher became the central teacher in planning for Jackie's academics. The grade four curriculum was examined by this teacher, along with a resource teacher and a special education consultant. Wherever possible, the goals were met in naturally occurring classroom activities. A creative approach was taken by the teacher and the modifications were made. Regular meetings with consultants also helped the teacher to meet the objectives with Jackie's therapeutic needs.

A teaching assistant was requested at the outset to help provide support in the classroom for Jackie. This person helps with Jackie's personal care needs, and helps her with her lunch routine. The assistant maintains a low profile within the class, and only assists Jackie when necessary ( e.g. transfers from wheelchair to the beanbag chair, gathering equipment, ensuring that the interfaces are working). The teaching assistant helps the teacher with all of the students, not just with Jackie. The range of motion exercises are done by the teaching assistant as well (after being taught by a physiotherapist).

Conclusion

Jackie's school day looks very different today than before she attended her home elementary school. She now has many friends who come over to her house to play, and she sees her classmates when she goes shopping in her neighborhood. All of this has happened because some educators, administrators, and a parent were committed to making this work for Jackie. The plan also was supported and well received by the group home staff where Jackie lives.

It is important to recognize that group home staff can play an active and important role in facilitating school friendships with their residents. These staff members made it a point to know when Jackie's friends had their birthdays, so Jackie could send them cards; they also opened the doors to Jackie's friends by hosting parties (even sleep-overs) for them; transportation issues were solved by creative planning, which enabled Jackie to go to her friend's homes, or to the movies. The teacher also helped to bridge the communication between the friends and the group home staff, until their own means of communication was solidified.

The principal of Jackie's school once said to a group of other administrators, "Our school has been greatly enhanced by Jackie's presence. The school climate is more warm and inviting, and I can't imagine our school without her."