I am a special education teacher for grades K-3 in a Title I school in Idaho. I work with many students, there are now 23 on my case load and my partner has 25, with a range of special needs. Some of my students have health needs which require access for their wheelchairs, others have physical needs that require a good sturdy chair to sustain their squirming and fidgeting, and each of my students no matter their special need deserves to sit in a chair that is safe and fits both their bodies and the table.
My students are faced with the problem of having to sit in hand-me-down, hodgepodge chairs that are ill-fitting and at times unsafe. I have chairs that are too big for their little bodies and too heavy for them to maneuver without setting a chair on their toe or that of someone else. The chairs get hung up on the table because they are the wrong size. Almost bi-weekly we are having to have the custodian repair a chair or two because the glides have fallen off or a rivet is sticking up too far and has the potential to harm a child or snag clothing.
These 10 new chairs will give my students the resources they deserve to have and help to continue to improve not only student learning, but student safety as well. Students with special needs are often easily distracted and become obsessive about items. If the chair isn't fitting them properly they tend to squirm more, which limits student output of work product and student intake of knowledge and the honing of skills. The fact the chair isn't fitting properly or isn't fitting a classmate properly becomes the only thing they can focus upon. I then spend precious learning time redirecting their attention back to the task at hand. This results in loss of learning time and when you only have them for 30 minutes, every minute is precious. As previously mentioned, the students' safety is also a major concern of mine and these chairs not being the ones to fit our table and the children's bodies pose detriment to their health and safety. These new chairs will allow for my students to learn in a safe and properly fitting chair and help limit unnecessary distractions, which currently impede their learning.
Your help will ensure that my students have the opportunity to stretch their learning and skills to the full potential with limited unnecessary distractions in a safe environment.
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