The main reason we are here is to help volunteer at 3 Mariposas Montessori. This experience has been nothing shy of amazing so far. One particular experience that I know has changed me and is beneficial to my future is working hands on with the children in the Primary room. One student, a five year old, ended up not leaving my side for two days. He is a very active child and wants to always be on the go and playing some kind of sport. So when working with him, I would take him outside and we would play catch or I would throw the ball to him so he could practice his hitting or the other way around. He was so remarkably good hitting and throwing the ball. He has amazing fine motor skills and we found this out not only from the way he throws but from shelf work within the classroom. I was taught and shown that I should bring him inside and have him do a lesson that works on fine motor skills so that I could make sure I had nothing to worry about. I was taught that by checking this, I would know if being outside playing catch most of the day was hurting him or helping him. When he did the shelf work, once again he showed that he was on track with his motor skills and as a teacher you did not have to worry about that aspect.
I believe that the time I worked with him really help me decide on my future after I graduate from undergrad. My plan was to move forward to go to graduate school for special education. I have had some experience with students with disabilities, mostly behavioral, but I was always still unsure if that was what I wanted to do. Working with this child made me realize that moving forward to learn about disabilities is the best choice for me. This child, was born with his brain growing out of his forehead. Thank goodness he was able to get surgery so that it was no longer growing forward. Although, due to the fact that the brain was growing the way it did, this student is five years old but he has the mind of a two year old. This saddens me, but at the same time with the right people helping him he will be able to grow and flourish in his life. From working with him, I had two struggles at times. One is that he speaks barely any English. It was really hard to get him to follow directions in English because he did not know what I was saying. So I had to use hand motions and point to things trying to see if he understood what I was trying to say. Then the second obstacle for me was that I needed to constantly remind myself that he did not understand like what I learned a five year old should be able to. I think this impacted me the most. The first day was very difficult. The second day I was able to try and change the way I did things so that it benefited him. I made sure I gave him some extra time to try and figure out and understand what my directions were to him. I think by giving him some time, it allowed him to try and process what I was showing him/ saying. We were able to find a better way in our communication this way.
I believe that the time I worked with him really help me decide on my future after I graduate from undergrad. My plan was to move forward to go to graduate school for special education. I have had some experience with students with disabilities, mostly behavioral, but I was always still unsure if that was what I wanted to do. Working with this child made me realize that moving forward to learn about disabilities is the best choice for me. This child, was born with his brain growing out of his forehead. Thank goodness he was able to get surgery so that it was no longer growing forward. Although, due to the fact that the brain was growing the way it did, this student is five years old but he has the mind of a two year old. This saddens me, but at the same time with the right people helping him he will be able to grow and flourish in his life. From working with him, I had two struggles at times. One is that he speaks barely any English. It was really hard to get him to follow directions in English because he did not know what I was saying. So I had to use hand motions and point to things trying to see if he understood what I was trying to say. Then the second obstacle for me was that I needed to constantly remind myself that he did not understand like what I learned a five year old should be able to. I think this impacted me the most. The first day was very difficult. The second day I was able to try and change the way I did things so that it benefited him. I made sure I gave him some extra time to try and figure out and understand what my directions were to him. I think by giving him some time, it allowed him to try and process what I was showing him/ saying. We were able to find a better way in our communication this way.