Week Five

After talking to the guidance counselor at school, the IEP team decides to address the problem of bullying that Katie is facing. The guidance counselor suggests that Katie spends more time in a special education classroom where she can have more times in a supervised social setting and more supervision to watch for bullying. Katie's friendship with Lexi continues to grow and seems to give Katie a new found confidence. Lexi and Katie like to play "pretend" and reenact stories from books and movies. Lexi's friendship seems to really bring Katie out of her shell at school and strengthen her social skills. Having fifteen minute "pretend" play a couple times during the school day also helps Katie release built up energy and stay focused on her class work during lessons.

Katie works daily on communicating orally with her peers, teachers, and Crystal while with her speech pathologist. They mainly focus on story telling and how to correctly and concisely tell a narrative story. Katie's biggest issues are still on including relevant details in stories and staying on topic. Her tendency to ramble on causes her to get off track and lose focus on the story. Although her speech is almost entirely intelligible, her speech does not flow cohesively yet. This is the main focus during speech therapy every week. While most kids Katie's age are able to speak cohesively and tell detailed stories, Katie is still unable to decipher relevant details and communicate them effectively.

Math is Katie's favorite subject at school and has gotten very positive feedback from her teacher about her obvious understanding of geometry configurations. She finishes her math homework first and with little aid from her teachers. Learning about the planets in science have also really interested her. When her special education class goes to the library, Katie is drawn to the picture books that explain scientific phenomena. Although Katie is very interested in what the books say, she still needs much more assistance from her teachers with actually reading the books and understanding the concepts. Katie can read on her own, but only very short books that can hold her attention. She also only reads on a third grade level when she is in fifth grade. The "pretend" play really seems to aid in Katie's full comprehension of narratives. Without the "pretend" play, Katie rarely understands the narrative and is unable to orally communicate what happens in stories. 

Scaffolding continues to be an effective method for Katie. By highlighting exactly what words Katie needs to recognize and read on a test, answering questions that require memory becomes much easier for her. Spelling tests have also become easier since she started practicing with individual notecards. Selectively attending to each word one at a time helps her focus directly on the meaning of a word and apply it later. 

Spending time in a more supervised setting seems to have fended off most of the bullying. Katie is still taunted about her looks during lunch though where supervision is minimal. Once Katie enters middle school, the children become even more taunting and rude. Name calling becomes a bigger issue but mostly sticking with social situations where there is no more than ten children helps Katie feel comfortable. Her gymnastics classes still teach her about personal space and social cues. Once Katie reaches middle school, she tells Crystal that she wants to try out for the gymnastics team at school. Although Katie has developed relatively normally in a physical aspect, her wider facial features still seem to be a target for bullying. She also has weaker muscle mass that makes gymnastics a little harder for her. Crystal is worried that it will cause more problems with bullying and emotionally hurt Katie if she does not make the team.

Decision Point: Does Crystal encourage Katie to try out for the gymnastics team at her middle school?

Questions:

1. Do schools provide sports for students with disabilities? If so, what types?

2. What kind of activities might cater to Katie and help her develop cognitively?

3. How might Katie's IEP team change their perspectives and goals as Katie begins to hit puberty?