Come Walk in My Shoes

My school just completed a 2 day all-school "glimpse" of what it is like to have a disability. Within the two days every regular education class spent one hour in the gym. There they spent 12 minutes at 4 different stations. The stations were run by volunteers (except for me) and changed every half day (except for me).

1. Fine Motor: The students tried to put on clothes using only one arm, write their name using just their forearms (no fingers), cut using adaptive scissors and just their elbows to help, write using glasses with almost no vision, etc.

2. Communication: this was my station. The students spent 6 minutes simulating what it would be like to have an articulation disorder (try to have a partner understand them while speaking with a jumbo marshmallow in their mouth)and hearing loss (lip reading). Then they spent 6 minutes helping re-tell the story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" using only the tools that I provided (a simple communication board, photographs, voice recordings of one phrase, voice recordings of each day of the week).

3. Autism: The students tried to complete a simple maze while being bombarded with sensory information (earphones playing static noice, aromas, tickles from a duster, flashes of light).

4. Gross Motor: The students had to navigate an "obstacle course" while sitting in a wheel chair or using crutches and holding onto a full lunch tray. On the course they had to open and shut a door, go over a small ramp, go over un-even ground, and turn many corners.

Although the PE teacher had to help the stations run for both days, I was the only person actually teaching for both days straight. I had 10 hours of direct instruction, with 8 groups per hour. I calculated that I read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and taught my quick lesson about Augmentative Communication 73 times in those two days.

Can you say exhausted and hoarse!

I hope it was a valuable lesson for the students. I know that it was really valuable for me to have face contact with every single student in the school.