Chelsea Beinborn 3/10/2017

Bill Porter Assignment

Inclusive Classroom Strategies

Bill Porter is a new student at Portland Public School, in Portland Oregon. He will be in

seventh grade and is a person with a disability of cerebral palsy. As a new teacher in special

education, I have not worked with a student with cerebral palsy and am creating a plan to ensure

a smooth transition for Bill and the staff at our school. Bills first day will be March 31.
As I begin my research and plan, I am first researching different website to better

understand the causes, symptoms, and ways to manage cerebral palsy for both school settings

and in general. I gained insight and knowledge by researching: www.cerebralpalsy.org,

www.mayoclinic.org, www.kidshealth.org, and www.sess.ie.

After understanding more about cerebral palsy, I started to get the word out around

school to see if other staff have more knowledge or have worked with students with cerebral

palsy. To my surprise, several staff at the middle and high school have previously worked with

students in the past with cerebral palsy. I asked if I could meet with two teachers to discussion

school modification, accommodations, socialization suggestions, and extracurricular or

community options.
Combining my personal research and input from teachers that have previous students

with cerebral palsy, I have now started to develop a plan to create a smooth transition to our

school. I have arranged a meeting with, what will be, Bills team when he starts. Bills team will

include his mother, a teacher with previous experience that I have consulted, the director of

special education, Bills general teachers (including art, P.E., music, library), a physical and

occupational therapist, a speech and language pathologist, the principal, and myself. Our main

goal will be to brainstorm ideas to provide accommodations and modifications for all classes for

Bill. When going through my research and Bills student file, which included previous IEPs and

medical reports, I noted that Bill has barriers in a school setting of writing and holding a pencil,
holding utensils to eat, carrying items weighing more than two pounds with his hands, limitations

with his socialization skills, and will have several services needed possibly during school such as

physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.

When addressing the barriers I have researched, Bills team came up with some great

modifications and accommodations that we could use and include in the IEP. During the

meeting, looking at past testing scores and report cards, I noted that we need to ensure everyone

is aware that Bill is at grade level with all academic subjects including math and reading. He

will not need academic support or interventions for math or reading. We discussed that the main

reason for accommodations and modifications are to support Bill physically and socially at

school. The physical, occupational, and speech therapist will be seeing Bill 60 minutes weekly,

each. The physical and occupational therapist brought several assistive device options to see,

test, and keep to use for Bill. Some of the devices for classrooms included adaptive scissors,

specialized art supplies, and adaptive sports equipment. The therapists explained that Bill has

used all of the devices previously and showed all teachers how Bill will properly use each

device. The occupational and physical therapist suggested assistive devices for writing and pen

or pencil grips and a weighted pencil. For longer writing assignments, typing will be added as a

modification. A typing aid assistive tool is strapped to the Bills hand, extending a pointer,

which can be manipulated to press keyboard keys. For eating utensils, the physical therapist,

occupational therapist, and experienced teacher has used and assisted others with weighted

eating utensils and non-slip plates and bowls. Bills teachers all took notes and stated that they

will add Bills adaptive tool use into lesson plans.

Thinking about using Bills adaptive tools, I questioned what kind of support would be

needed in the classrooms. The team decided that paraprofessional support would be beneficial in

the general classes for art and P.E. Bills general teacher felt confident that he could assist Bill
without additional staff. He did state that lesson plans will be shared with the special education

teacher, and if a lesson needed additional support for any device, typing, or writing assignment,

communication would be made to the special education instructor. I mentioned additional time

of twenty-four hours to turn in homework assignments and not requiring any timed assessments

will be added to the IEP for Bill, again solely due to the physical barriers and adaptive tools. The

general teacher let the team know that he is planning a lesson where Bills homeroom will be

researching and presenting on cerebral palsy. The team agreed that it was a great idea to

introduce students to cerebral palsy so they have more knowledge, and hopefully understanding,

of disabilities in general and also, their new classmate. Bill will also receive a social skills class

for sixty minutes a week provided in special education. The main goal of the class will be to

provide opportunities to promote socialization for Bill. Some suggestions I provided the team

would be buddy programs, crafts, sports groups, and other school-related activities and volunteer

opportunities. I explained to the team that the high school baseball team is looking for an

assistant. We will be looking into the requirements to see if it would be something Bill would be

interested in and could succeed at. The music teacher wanted Bill to try out for a part in the

upcoming musical The Sound of Music.

The experienced teacher that has successfully helped a similar student

in the past has recommended to the team, specifically Bills mother, about

getting involved in after school activities. It would be a great opportunity to

Bill to strength his social skills and keep busy. Summer school, the YMCA,

boy scouts, or a summer camp were recommended as options to look into as

the school year end gets closer. United Cerebral Palsy of Oregon & SW
Washington was stated as a great resource for activities that Bill could do

over summer break or continue with during the school year.

By the end of the meeting, the team had a great outlook about the

transition for Bill. We were provided great staff, tools, and resources to

ensure Bills success both in and outside of the classroom. The team all

understood that if any difficulties, other suggestions, or opportunities came

about that we would always keep an open line of communication. Bill arrived

to his first day of class and was ecstatic that our staff was so familiar with

him, his needs, tools, and how we all made him feel so welcome and

accepted.