8/6/2021
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Ashley Uhland
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Last year, one of my students had muscular dystrophy and he either used a wheelchair, walker, or crutches. The main three areas of my instruction that were affected were dancing, stand/sit activities, and guitar playing. For every day dancing, I often gave him the choice to do hand movements or play instruments. For our May Day concert with folk dancing, I had him in the circle the the other students doing the hand motions with his partner and then the partner pushed him around the circle in his wheelchair while the other students were skipping. The second dance had a lot more footwork so he tapped the steady beat for his classmates on the tambourine. For guitar playing, the obstacle has being able to sit upright while holding the guitar and concentrating on the finger movements. We originally had him move to an armless chair when he arrived to class and I set something in front of him to brace his feet against. Soon after, he received a new smaller wheelchair with smaller arms and a seat belt and it worked better for him to stay in that chair to play. I would bring his guitar to him and help him adjust the strap so that he felt secure holding the guitar. His classroom teacher also had the students rotate the responsibility of either pushing his chair to class or carrying his supplies. They all appreciated having the responsibility and it helped them to include him as a regular part of the class and conversations as well as have a better understanding of his capabilities and think of that separately from his personality. |