Personal Observation: Sophomore Field

During my Sophomore field I observed Morris Union Jointure Developmental Learning Center in Warren which was well organized, and overall the staff worked in a professional manner with the students. The program’s majority of students were aged thirteen to twenty one, with adolescents and young adults who have autism or autistic like behaviors. The school was then split into intermediate ages ten to fourteen, and secondary ages fourteen to seventeen and eighteen to twenty one. In the classrooms, they placed students with no more than a four year age difference. The ratio was usually 3:1 in intermediate classrooms, six students, one teacher, and two assistants. In the secondary classrooms, it was usually nine students, one teacher, and four to five assistants. In the intermediate program, the main focus is on functional academics, self help skills, and activities of daily living. The secondary program focused on the vocational labs, and some functional academics. In order to promote those skills, the labs the school provided were, the diner, TD bank, hardware store, main street, pools, office occupations, apartments,  cosmetology, shoprite, and a nursery and landscaping unit. Overall, this was a program that used positive reinforcement and applied behavior analysis.

One classroom I observed was an intermediate classroom with six students, one teacher, and four aides. The teacher explained that there were two, one on one students in the classroom that they worked with on academics and ABA. This classroom included verbal and non verbal students. When walking into the classroom, I noticed that there were an array of colors and learning materials accessible to the students. The schedule was posted on the board with words and pictures due to the variety of learners. Each student had a work schedule with a list of academic tasks they were to complete. Each task was geared toward their specific discourses and abilities, mostly composed of vocational tasks they are able to complete on their own or with minimal assistance. The teacher also had a token board or reinforcement schedule for each student to enforce positive reinforcement. When the student completes the task or is portraying a behavior that they would like to keep occuring, they received a star on their board for the day. When a certain amount of stars were reached, the student was allowed to pick his or her own rewards; “play a game with Mr. XYZ”. One child was showing aggressive behavior and the teacher was reinforcing the student to make “green light” choices. That specific student had an X board instead of stars due to excessive aggressive behavior. When a poor behavior was observed, that student earned an X on his board. When a certain amount of X’s were reached, the reward that the student chose would not be obtained. Student A that had the X board, showed aggressive behavior and began throwing materials and hitting the aide. As a result, he was restrained and the behavior specialist was called. Because of this, the teacher was having difficulty proceeding on with the class to start the “class meeting” time. This behavior occurred about three to four times before the behavior specialist and aide were able to calm student A down. The teacher explained that when these situation occur, it is documented in a specific way and you have to be able to multitask in order to keep the classroom running effectively. Once the class meeting began, each student went up to the board to sign in and write his or her name on the board. The students who were unable to write his or her name, either wrote the letter of their first name or verbally said it aloud. Other students wrote hand over hand with the teacher working on their handwriting. The teacher then proceeded with a lesson about the weather, and the date. The teacher told the students to look out the window and then go up to the board and point to the word and picture of what the weather was. Next, they discussed the date. The teacher showed each student two months spelled out and they were to identify which one was correct. As a class, they used straws tied in rubber band to count to ten. The teacher also strictly reinforced the students to talk in full sentences when participating and answering questions. To end the class, the students that were able fill out a guided worksheet with pictures or words summarizing what they did in class, what they worked on, and what they learned. The teacher then wrote any additional notes to send home and keep their caretakers and household aware of what happened throughout the day. Overall, the teacher and the classroom were well organized and were able to keep situations under control.