I am very grateful for the opportunity I have had to learn so much about students with special needs this semester. I feel much more confident now about my abilities to differentiate and make accommodations for students struggling with disabilities.  I'm glad to know that we can collaborate with fellow teachers and staff to find solutions to help individuals students, rather than trying to figure it out on my own, just like we doing with the case study final.  I feel like I learned a lot just from completing it.  I like that we had time to really put a lot of effort into it and create something good.  Seeing what we were able to do helped boost my confidence in what we had learned.  I look forward to the time that I can adequately apply all that I have learned in class.

I was finally able to complete the wheelchair simulation this week.  In my opinion, whoever decided to put the little marble threshold strip under many of the doors in the Hinckley should be shot!  I got hung up on them several times!  It was one of the most challenging parts of the simulation.  Trying to figure out how to use the bathroom without using my legs was the hardest part.   Also, I wasn't very smart when I tried to do the hill because I forgot to figure out where and how the brakes worked BEFORE I started going down the hill.  I burned my hands trying to slow down the chair, and when I finally found the brakes, I didn't know how to use them and I ended up crashing into the grass on the side of the sidewalk.  Rather embarrassing!  It wasn't that big of a hill either!  It was interesting to see how people reacted to me too.  I could tell the people that had taken the class before because you could see the acknowledgement/empathy  in their eyes.  I tried to use the printer at the Ricks building while in the chair and I seriously had someone cut in front of me while I was in line waiting to print.  I couldn't believe it!  I'm hoping that they just didn't realize I was in line, and not that they took advantage of the fact I was wheelchair bound.  I do have a better understanding of what it's like to look at the world from a wheelchair point of view.  I am glad that I had the chance to do it.  

At the beginning of the semester, I didn't think that the speech impairments would be the hardest part of this class, but they have been.  I really struggled to get them done.  I chickened out so many times because I didn't feel comfortable doing it in a public place.  I understand the reasoning behind it, but I struggled with it morally.  In the end, I decided that although it is outside the parameters of the simulations guidelines, I would only be able to do it if I did it in my own home.  I needed the support of my family, so I decided to do it with my family during a meal time, and they all had to do it too.  I can certainly understand why so many students with disabilities act out in frustration over not being able to communicate what is going on in their heads.  It's hard to think one thing, but not be able to fully or clearly say what you are trying to say.  I hope that I can remember to look for the reason why a student may be acting out, rather than just reacting to the misbehavior.  I have a better appreciation for their internal frustrations now.