This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
My classroom is for students with Severe Intellectual Disabilities, as well as intense medical needs. We have access to the general education curriculum at its most modified level. My students are all non-ambulatory and nonverbal, with vision and hearing impairments, and process information as an infant or young toddler might. My students respond very little to instructional activities, since they have not experienced what a typically developing child has and are unable to process the information.
My students have little access to activities that do not put them in a wheelchair or on a mat.
They are either lying or sitting with the only motion being the rolling of a chair through the hallways. Their general education peers seldom get to see them laugh or smile or communicate in any way. They are unable to express their wants or needs, so everything must be anticipated for them. Most are G-tube fed and rely on diaper changes throughout the day to stay clean. My students are precious and well loved by their caretakers, families and peers, but there must be more to offer them than affection.
My Project
The only activity in which my students appear truly engaged is involving sensory stimuli. I have an indoor swing which has transformed our environment into one of sensorial exploration and brought to life facets of the children's personalities I had not seen before. I would love to turn my classroom into a sensory gym with interactive lights and sounds, tactile flooring, and equipment to promote vestibular motion. I have noticed new facial expressions from the kids in response to the motion from our swing. I want to capitalize on that particular form of movement to promote further neurological connections.
My students often get shortchanged in our world, due to their lack of expressive communication, and we assume they are not experiencing the thoughts and feelings that typically developing children have.
Enriching their every day lives with experiences they may not have otherwise known, could increase their response system and promote expressive communication. At the very least, it will offer them activities outside the confines of a wheelchair.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Buchan and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
