Tutoring my first \u201cstudent\u201d with Down syndrome- I will call him Jack…<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Anticipation: Will I be a positive influence on him?\u00a0 Will I be able to help him find the way through his through processes to learn how to expose his exceptional abilities?<\/p>\n
As a retired teacher, I know I have the teaching experience and education that should help me discover the secrets of this amazing, intelligent young child\u2019s ability to learn.\u00a0 Millions of thoughts rush through my head: \u201cembrace his gentleness and loving nature,\u201d \u201cunderstand his abilities are not easily accessible to him,\u201d \u201cwhatever I do, I cannot discourage him,\u201d \u201cI know he is capable but how do I help him release his capabilities?\u201d \u201cI cannot become impatient\u2026no matter what\u2026\u201d \u201cOh please, please, don\u2019t harm him with my own insecurities,\u201d \u201cIf I don\u2019t help him, who will?\u201d\u00a0 So, I tell myself that I must do the best I can and rely on my belief that he can\u2026I think of Jonathan Livingston Seagull<\/u> and his message: If you think you can, you can\u2026if you think you can\u2019t, you can\u2019t.\u00a0 So, here I go, stepping into a new challenge that is absolutely my most important challenge\u2026.<\/p>\n
I prepared my lesson plan for the first meeting with Jack.\u00a0 I read everything I could about basic instruction for children with Down syndrome.\u00a0 I had all the objectives set, and knew I was prepared!\u00a0 Then I met Jack.\u00a0 He totally threw me for a loop!\u00a0 He knew more than I thought he would.\u00a0 No, he didn\u2019t sit down so I could teach him\u2026his ability to stay on task was about one to two and one-half minutes.\u00a0 He saw everything around him and wanted to do everything all at the same time\u2026 He did it with a zest I have not experienced.\u00a0 Finally, I found something he liked- music!\u00a0 He could sing the song \u201cHead and Shoulders, Knees and Toes,\u201d as well as perform the movements to this song.\u00a0 We laughed and made this a positive experience for us both (I realized I was actually the one learning how to obtain insight into Jack and he was my teacher).\u00a0 I spent the remainder of this session learning\u2026<\/p>\n
Jack\u2019s mother told me that Jack\u2019s teacher at school said he was struggling and had a behavior problem?!?\u00a0 With this information in mind, and my first experience with Jack, I again prepared a lesson plan for the second meeting.\u00a0 This lesson plan could be used as the model of all lesson plans, except, it didn\u2019t work.\u00a0 Although Jack\u2019s ability to focus on a task was expanded from the prior lesson, I did not feel as though I was helping him.\u00a0 So, I threw out my well-intentioned lesson plan and decided to really focus on Jack. \u00a0From my own experiences throughout life, I realized I had introduced too much- the surroundings were full of interesting toys, tools, etc.\u00a0 I went into the classroom and removed anything I felt was distracting.\u00a0 Instead, I put the \u201cMat Man\u201d body figure on the wall so that I could use it as a tool for his beloved head and shoulders song!\u00a0 It worked!!\u00a0 Then, I used the same form that enabled him to put wooden and plastic body parts on \u201cMat Man.\u201d\u00a0 It worked!\u00a0 Of course, as we went through these exercises we had a lot of fun, high fives, hugs, claps, praise, etc.\u00a0 Jack and I were having fun and he showed me what he already knew!<\/p>\n
Going through his family pictures further enhanced my knowledge of what Jack knew and how he expressed it!\u00a0 We incorporated the \u201cmatch\u201d game and it was totally successful!\u00a0\u00a0 Jack had finally cotton through to me!\u00a0 Every now and then he would point to a letter somewhere in the room and let me know he knew what it was.\u00a0 For example, he pointed to the D and said Daddy!\u00a0 He pointed to the P and said Pop.\u00a0 He pointed to the M and said MaMa.\u00a0 WOW!!\u00a0 He stayed on task with the family pictures for 15 and one half-minutes; he stayed on task with the \u201cMat Man\u201d for 10 and one-half minutes.<\/p>\n
Jack was able to let me know when he was tired of a project- he folded his hands and put his head down.\u00a0 It was time for our reward- we went in the hall and played hop-scotch and tunnel-man\u2014games we made up as we went.\u00a0 Another reward activity we used was the \u201ctreasure box.\u201d\u00a0 He opened it up, pulled out a music (mariachi and tambourine), and we had fun dancing and singing various songs (more head and shoulders too)!\u00a0 Overall, Jack\u2019s ability to show me how he \u201cworks\u201d was very successful!<\/p>\n
After juice, hugs and laughter, Jack and his family left.\u00a0 I must admit, I cried all the way home that evening because I felt a real connection with this \u201call boy\u201d child.\u00a0 I truly believe him to be extremely intelligent and he has a lot to offer this world!<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
At GiGi\u2019s Playhouse, we Educate. Inspire. Believe. In people who have Down syndrome.\u00a0 We live by our Generation G promise to \u201cBe accepting.\u00a0 Be generous. Be kind\u201d.\u00a0 This story embodies our mission and the ripple effect of what we all have to offer each other when we live and give these principles. \u00a0The first step is grabbing this opportunity!\u00a0 Come meet us, learn more about Down syndrome and share your gifts with us.\u00a0 You will give someone with the lifelong gift of learning!<\/p>\n
Literacy Tutor Training for our Spring Session is Saturday, December 15 from 1:30-3:30pm.\u00a0 Call the Playhouse with any questions or RSVP here: https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/event\/literacy-tutor-training-3\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We hear about a literacy tutor’s first experience at the Playhouse below! First, Please join us in wishing Angela Rosenberg, our Founding President and current Literacy Program Coordinator, all the best in all her future adventures as she steps down.\u00a0 \u00a0Thank you, Angela, for ALL your hours of work making our Literacy program fantastic\u2014from assembling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/fortmyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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