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EEX 2010 Field Based Experience
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UCP East Orange/Bailes Campus
• UCP Mission Statement is “We are the experts for children with special needs. By providing the best support, education and therapy, we offer hope to everyone touched by a disability.”
• The Bailes Campus host students with and without disabilities in their 21 classroom settings.
• This campus is located near UCF in the research parkway area on Science Drive.
• All types of students are served such as the following those with: down syndrome, blind, deaf, cerebral palsy, autism, developmentally delayed, and more.
• Outside the classroom they provide occupational, speech, and physical therapy.
Sharing Assistance
• UCP has been assisting individuals for decades and assist individuals from infants to adults
• UCP Bailes Provides services for students in the classroom setting, before/after care, college transition program and even a summer camp program.
• The class sizes range from 7-15 students with a 4:1 teacher-student ratio.
• The special programs of the autism support class, inclusion, and college transition program have helped countless of students.
• UCP Services over 2,300 students a year at the six various locations from individuals that are only a couple of months old to 21 years old, and from various backgrounds African American, Caucasian, Asian, Haitian, Italian, Hispanic, and more.
• Through Volunteer and Visitor (parents) assistance UCP is able to operate even better, sharing is caring.
Engaging in Caring
• In the East Orlando community there is a much needed help for assisting and educating individuals with disabilities.
• The UCP deals with those individuals by educating and teaching them how to interact with their peers through the use of inclusion.
• In my other EEX class I have the pleasure of having 4 individuals that are a part of the UCP college transition program. There was a short introduction of UCP that gain my interest on starting my volunteer hours there.
I shared my time
• After seeing the presentation of UCP in my other class I contacted Diana Owen who assisted me with getting started on my volunteer hours abruptly.
• Due to a sickness I wasn’t able to go as much as I wanted, but on average I went twice a week.
• I was placed in the infant/toddler classroom b where it had individuals that had a disability and some who did not from the ages of 9 months to 1 year olds.
• There were individuals who could and could not walk, talk, and interact with others, and my mission was to assist with everyone being able to do it all.
• There were countless of activities that I engage in due to the age of the students such as the following: arts/craft, feeding, buggy rides, play time, circle time, outside time, nap time and so much more.
Those Getting the Care• In my particular classroom there were a total of 11 students: 1 girl/10 boys, 1
African American/ 10 Caucasian (various backgrounds), 1 6month year old, 1 9 month year old, and the rest were 1 year olds.
• The classroom is covered under the IDEA due to the fact they both govern the ages of birth to 21 year old. Those with disabilities are provide early intervention under the IDEA that will ultimately assist them in future classrooms.
• In my particular classroom there were 6 individuals with disabilities from autism to potential down syndrome.
Perceptions of Differences
• The classroom I was in was mixed because there were infants who were children of the employees there and some who are considered exceptional.
• When I first got this assignment I was a little hesitant due to the fact of working with individuals with disabilities in a mass, because I never experience this before.
• Working with students so young and disabled was a rewarding experience because they were eager and happy to learn new tasks. My most profound experience was working with a 9 month old that was the only one in the classroom at first that could not walk. Over some weeks he was able to conquer the task through walking exercises I assisted on, and it truly brought a smile to my eye. In a week after a younger male student was added to the classroom that could not walk, and now I have the task to help him reach that goal in my continued volunteer hours.
Connections to my Course
• For the Introduction to Special Education (EEX 2010) I was completing various service learning hours at the UCP East Orlando.
• This experience and course work has given me a better understanding of inclusion of individuals with disabilities, autistic spectrum disorder, and special education.
• Inclusion is the act of placing an exceptional student into a regular classroom to promote independency and interaction with peers. Inclusion is a important topic when dealing with any exceptional student because many are able to full function inside a “regular” classroom when given the opportunity. In the text it states that inclusion gives the students a sense of belonging and being apart of the school community (ch. 9 pg.340). In my classroom many of the students were considered exceptional but they also had students who did not possess a disability.
• Autistic Spectrum Disorder is a group of disorders that have some similarities when it comes to social interaction, behavior/mannerism, communication, and functioning in the world (ch. 12 pg.430). At UCP there are a variety of students who are autistic and do not know how to function and communicate with their peers. In the classroom the autistic children will snatch things from their peers or will not allow them to engage in their play. As teachers and assistants we have to reinforce the act of “sharing is caring”, and how those negative actions affect their peers by making them sad.
Connection Like No Other• Special Education is individualized education with students who have a
disability of any type that causes them to need assistance in the learning environment, but it also has gifted/talented students ( ch1, pg. 18). The UCP is primarily based off of providing Special Education, and due to the IDEA they have to provide this assistance as early as possible to prevent any delays in the near future.
• I have a better understand of how exceptional students operate due to this experience, because I was able to see it up-close and personal. Exceptional students love to assist with any activity they have to indulge in, and that’s not always seen in students of various ages.
• This experience allowed me to maybe change my career long term of goal of working with students to possibly working with exceptional students
Civic Engagement
• I think as Americans we should honestly try to volunteer on a weekly or monthly basis. Sharing is caring, but if nobody is sharing their time, money, or help how can this world still survive.
• Everyone needs to engage in as many opportunities they can with those who have disabilities, because everyone has some form of contact or affect of knowing someone with a disability. There are to many disabilities that do not have a immediate remedy, and it’s our job to help care for our community.
• Service Learning is an experience I have been given the opportunity to engage in through out my time at UCF, and I’m forever grateful. Service learning is perfect because it allows you to get hands on experience and viewing in the career field you’re trying to pursue. I would definitely encourage anyone to engage in service learning because it’s a rewarding experience of giving back to your community and learning through service that’s remarkable.
• This experience at UCP has given me another outlook on life, and I’m going to look forward to continuing to volunteer in this classroom.
Final Thoughts
• This experience with exceptional younger children increased my individual comfort level because I was able to get hands on experience with individuals who have disabilities they have not been given the opportunity to get use to yet. Although dealing with the exceptional students caused more instruction and guidance I would love to continue observing and working with them with more volunteer hours to finish the school year.
• I’m going to look into getting a assistant position at one of the UCP locations and/or continuing to volunteer my time after this school year.
