11/6/2024
Topic:
Students With Disabilities
Luann Howard-Blaskowski
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I have a high school student with ADHD this year and he is a senior that has a hard time waking up and getting to school. Unfortunately, I have him in my 2nd period Art 3 class and so he misses class a lot, like 2-3 times a week. So, to start with that makes it hard to keep a consistent schedule with him. Because of missing so much of my class, he tends to be panicky and worried as soon as he comes into the classroom and then he wants to quickly whip something together to just get whatever project we are working on done. He also is easily distracted with other students or them showing me their projects, etc. He also has a hard time focusing on whatever he should be doing art-wise for only like 15 minutes at a time and then he will get up and move around the room, talking to other students or just pacing between my two rooms. So, with all of this, I have made sure that he has a seat near my cart and computer and so when I go over things at the beginning of class he is right there and I usually go over to him right after announcing whatever everyone should be doing for that class period and I make sure that the knows what he needs to be working on. I also give him a time limit of working for so long and letting him tell me what he wants to have done in that time. I ask him to come and show me when his alarm goes off and we talk about what he's done and then move onto the next section of time. These time groupings seem to really help him and he likes to have my attention, even if I am on the other side of the room and he has to find me. We schedule in one bathroom break for him too. As far as his absences, I assure him that he is on a different schedule than most of the group and I want him to finish his artwork with quality time and that seems to help him relax and stay excited about finishing his artwork, even if he is behind the rest of the group. I hope that he can continue on this positive path and maybe he will be able to feel good about finishing and learning from at least 3-4 art projects by the end of the year. |