IEP project: Narrative summary
One of the difficulties I experienced while developing this EIP project was gathering of information. Since Marie attends many classes as she has many subjects, and they are all taught by different teachers, gathering the information was a bit hard as getting in touch with some of these teachers was a hard task. They were busy with other classes and handling other students, thus making it difficult for them to have free time in between their schedules. Some of the teacher’s had only free time during the breaks where they just needed to rest and prepare for the next lessons, thus obtaining a chance to interview them for a long period as one needed a lot of information concerning the student was a bit hard. The other difficulty that was experienced was commuting to Marie’s school and home. The distance from my place to Marie’s school and her home were a bit far and commuting there was hard since I had to catch the train or the bus. I had to ensure that I kept time on the booked time for the interviews as her teachers were very busy and her parents too, were busy with work. I therefore could not afford to be late for any interview or miss an interview as scheduling for one would mean another hustle.
One of the rationales for this project was to find out whether disabled children could attend the same public or private schools their normal peers attended. This is because some of the disabled children would love to be in an environment that they can mingle with the other children, even if they are much different from them. It also helps in making them feel comfortable and loved, and to know that everybody appreciates them for who they are. It was good to find that Marie was one of these children. No matter how her condition was, she was in a public school that had normal children and attended the same classes with her peers. This was of great help to. Even though she dragged behind them in some subjects, this was a good thing for her as she had friends who helped her with her subjects and she felt comfortable around them. This helped her feel appreciated and not as different from her peer no matter her condition. The other rationale for the project was to find out the teaching methods that were used to educate the disabled children, whether they fitted them and if they made progress in their studies using these methods. The disabled children are taught in very different methods from other normal students, for example, blind children are taught using the Braille.
For Marie, her teachers used audiology devices in class to help her. Due to this, she attended the same classes as her peers thus helping not to separate her from them. Since Marie has problems in listening for too long or reading long passages especially when it comes to humanities, her doctor is helping in providing her teachers with better strategies to help in her reading. This shows that the teaching methods that were already in place and those that were being developed were in line with helping Marie and any other disabled children in the studies. This has helped Marie a lot in her studies as her reading skills have improved, she is good in numbers especially when it came to mathematics and she could read fictional passages and analyze. She even has grown intellectually as she can now be able to differentiate the fictional works from the autobiographies of the writers. The other rationale was to find out the general behavior of the student, especially knowing that they were in an environment that had different people from her, even if she was being treated well. To this, I learnt that Marie was comfortable being in such an environment. Her teachers say that she is very obedient and follows the school rules and instructions. She is also very respectful towards her peers, her teachers and other authority figures around her.
This project has helped me realize that even the disabled children and people deserve to be treated as equal as the normal students and people are treated. Their only problem in that they are disabled or cannot have some qualities like seeing ability as the others. This does not make them any different as they are also smart and intelligent and due to this, they deserve a chance in schools to advance their careers and other abilities. It was also good to note that these children are very strong and ambitious despite their conditions, and this shed some light on why they should be treated with respect and helped to realize their potential.
