War

Conflict. Its everywhere no matter if it is over the remote or over something a little more serious, but no matter what there is consequences. Earlier there was a conflict in a city named Covington over something as little as $90 but there was a bigger consequence then needed, a boy named Dasean Peterson got shot and killed. Its so wrong how easy it is to take someones life away from them. This boy was only 19 years old and had so much going for him. Yea, maybe he was doing things he souldn't of been doing but I don't think that had to lead up to death no matter what the situation is.  My heart goes out to everyone who lost a son, a brother, a friend, aud a father. RIP Dasean Peterson

Halloween

This year for Halloween, I am dressing up as a college student and studying my life away. How fun does that sound?!

What are your alls plans for Halloween this year?

Pigeon Forge Ferris Wheel

This past weekend my family and I went to Pigeon Forge for a mini vacation. While there, I got to ride the "new thing" in Pigeon Forge located at The Island, it as a 200ft Ferris Wheel. It was so much fun!!

Question

What pragmatic challenges will a child with blindness face?

question on teaching

I have always viewed special placement to have it's ups and downs. From where I am a psych student, I think of everything we study from a psychological perspective most of the time. One of the main things I thought of was the study that showed how a teachers expectations of students, directly influenced their success in the classroom. with that being said, I feel like their is a bit of a self empowering drive for students who have disabilities but still attend regular class rooms. I feel like this is something teachers need to be very aware of. Since watching the video in class and seeing that girl with autism accomplish so much, It made me think about her teachers. We mentioned not making special needs students mascots. So my question is how do we go about teaching someone with disabilities in a regular class room? To what degree can teachers and even students in a regular class room setting, cripple special needs students?

I just feel like it is very easy for teachers to be over rewarding, and in turn lower the potential for academic growth in students.

I had a class mate in sixth grade who had mild autism. He was extremely mathematically minded, but he never put too much effort into it since he was already making good grades. When we had big tests we invited him to study and he always said he didn't need to. He did well but I feel as though he could have gotten better grades. He was praised very much not only by the teacher but, by me and the rest of my class mates as well. I still keep in touch with him, and when he moved to south Carolina he really excelled in school. This is mainly why I ask, because I started wondering how much we affected his performance by our expectations.

I don't know if the book addresses the class room environment, in regards to students as well. I just figured experience would be a better teacher on this topic.

Question

What is the single greatest factor to consider for development of language skills??

My Question

What 2 changes have led to the greatest changes in deafness/deaf education?
In class we dicussed that the 2 changes would be the cochlear implant and newborn screening. The cochlear implant allows deaf children the opportunity to hear and therefore be able to better communicate. Newborn screening, just like many other things, allows for early identification. The earlier something is identfied, the sooner you are able to accomodate and improve upon.

...

During last weeks class, I had a question pop in my mind. Why do some deaf children go to schools like KSD and others go to public schools? Is it just based upon what the student and parents want?

My Question

What impact could a cochlear implant have on language development, educational outcomes, and instruction?

We discussed in class what a cochlear implant consists of and the many different perspectives people take on involving the subject. According the book, cochlear implants can improve auditory perception and spoken language production. Although this procedure is looking at a lot of improvements, for many successful cases many studies show major improvements in language skills, especially involving young children who have received the cochlear implant. However, these students may still fall behind other hearing students and need further support enhancing their language skills.

Taking these into consideration, the cochlear implant can have positive and negative impacts on educational outcomes for the students. The studies provided illustrated that the students with the implant scored lower than their hearing peers. There are many different factors that can affect the outcome of an cochlear implant such as age of implantation, parental interaction, etc.

Cochlear implants do not make the individual necessarily hearing. Although, it does provide them with enhancements toward their hearing impairments. It is important to focus on spoken language skills, but implementing manual approaches are just as important for language development. There is no single approach that identifies with all problems involving hearing loss.

I hope this helps! If you would like to refer to the book. I received my information from pages 240-241, and 250.

My question from last night

 What are the 2 most significant factors in the educational performance of students who are deaf or HH?

Observation

  I had the opportunity to observe at my old high school in a special ed classroom. Before this it had been 11 years since I had been in at that school and I had a little anxiety upon entering that building. It is amazing how much things had changed. I went into this classroom and automatically knew I was going to observe something great. I had never had any intentions of teaching in a high school setting, but after this observation I may actually consider it one day! I had such a great time I stay for almost 2 and a half hours! I am hoping to be able to student teach somewhere close to home, but I will do what has to be done as I am finally following the dream I finally discovered!

Question

Identify appropriate interventions to use students who have:
1) mild    2) moderate    3) serve    4) profound  hearing loss.

Question

List the most significant factors to consider when identifying/ choosing communication and instructional decisions?
- Being open minded
- Parents ideas and opinions
-Every child is different and needs different learning techniques
- What makes the child learn more and reach maximum potential

Question from tonight's class

My question was, "What factors contribute to the reading difficulties many students who are deaf or hard of hearing face/experience?"

I would say that the physical aspect of children who were born deaf are instantly set back from children who aren't. I would think it would be due, mainly to the fact, that we learn language at an early age, just from being exposed to hearing it so much.

Observations

When I did my observations I did it in a special needs room at a local Elementary school in my hometown.  Here are some different communication devices that were used in the hour that I was there.  There were various items used such as touch screen computers, i pads, timers, 3m projectors, Monday morning communication papers, power link that you can use to plug in electronics and they can set timers so they can work the electronics with just a dial, and various other communication devices.
 IPAD

Finished with Observation

Last week, I finished my required observation hours. I was very sad to say goodbye to my third graders. I have become very close to these students. It has been an amazing experience to interact with third grade and Daniel Boone Elementary. Everyone at DBE was very welcoming and friendly. If you ever need observation hours this is a great school to go to.
-B

New Job

Very excited to share that I will be starting my new job Monday. I have been hired in the student services department and I am very excited to become more involved with campus life.
--B

Almost so happy I can't stand it!

   It is very true that great things come to those who wait. I have a two year old happy kid, I am engaged to my best friend, and I know for sure what I want to do with my life; teach. Four years ago I would have never thought I would be where I am now.

Getting ready to apply for a new job

  I have been an assistant manage at Circle K now for at least six years and I am ready for a change! First I have to get CPR certified and I am going to apply at a place that helps people with FMD participate in daily functions. I am ready to move on to bigger and better things and I am excited!

Operation Christmas Child

  Hello I forgot who it was that was doing the operation for Christmas child. I am still wanting to donate some items. Just let me know what is needed:)

Fall Break

It's awesome how productive you can be when you actually sit down and take the time to focus on what needs to be done.  I'm the queen of procrastination but I have been so stressed and overwhelmed with school the past few weeks that I wanted to enjoy my fall break, so I checked off everything on my to do list for the entire week before last Friday so I finally could have a weekend with no school work or worrying about what had to be done and it felt so awesome!

Observations

`This semester I have been assigned to get my field hours in at Mayfield Elementary.  It is a very different experience for me and although at times it is very rough, I am thankful to be able to experience a different school setting and students than I am used to.  I believe that being in a school system that struggles so much will help me a great deal in my future career path as a teacher.

Changing my major

I've been struggling lately with what exactly I want to do for the rest of my life and all I know is that I want to teach.  I don't know what grade. I don't know what subject. I just know I want to be with kids everyday and I want to make a difference but figuring out all the other stuff is the hardest part.

Relating class to real life

A few weeks ago we discussed the different stages and ages of children when they typically reach certain milestones.  My brother is almost 8 months old and hasn't started crawling as a typical 8 month old would.  I have a cousin who is a week younger than him and she is very much ahead of him in all aspects and it is something my dad and step mom have been talking about for a while now, and are even considering taking him to get it checked out to make sure everything is alright with him. We are all praying it is just a minor setback and that nothing serious is wrong!

My Observation

I went to Shannon Johnson elementary school today for my observation. I observed an SLP and her student teacher, a graduate student at EKU for Speech Pathology. I loved every second of it and I am going back next week. It was really cool seeing concepts we have learned in class done in real life. I observed three groups of 2nd graders and 3rd graders all with a variety of language problems and disorders. Some children had a hard time with the "s" sound or the "e" sound while others had a hard time with the "th" sound/. Some of the children were more severe than others. Some of the children also probably had other disabilities than just a language or speech disorder. I also observed that they used a lot of positive reinforcement and implemented a rewards system which I think is really important not only for behavior management, but for learning. At the beginning of the day I got to sit in on a literacy group which I thought connected very well to our class discussions. I can't wait to observe again next week!

Homecoming Week

As Fall Break slowly comes to end, I would like to invite you all out to our events on campus!
Wednesday: Baking for Boobs & Battle of Sexes.
Thursday: Date Auction (we auction off males and all the money goes to breast cancer research).
Friday: Fashion Show (I would LOVE for you all to come out and support me. The show is $5 but I have raffle tickets for a $1. If we pull your name you will win a free ticket into the show.)

Form Analysis Exercise

Language Sample from Class Activity
STUDENT: Good job. You are very smart. What are we going to do today?
CHILD:  Play play-dough. (1)
STUDENT: Okay. Well what do you want to make first?
CHILD:  Uh uh a snowman. (2) A black snowman. (3)
STUDENT: A black snowman?
CHILD:  Yes. (4)
STUDENT: Okay, can you help me make it?
CHILD:  Yes yes, I can help. (5)

Brothers

Last night in class when we were talking about Behavior and Emotional Disorders I was thinking of two of my little brother. One name Micah and other Diavon. Micah is a sophomore in high school and Diavon is 18 years of age. Diavon we think is bipolar. He will flip on everyone around him when the time comes. Micah has a conduct disorder. He has gotten better. Micah has been on and off of medication. He is now in some regular classes in high school and finds enjoyment in cooking. Micah still has his days but he has gotten better over the years.

Race for the cure!

This past weekend I ran in the 5k race for the cure! All proceeds go to breast cancer research, which is really cool! I ran it with a few of my sorority sisters! It's such a great cause and we had a great day! 

A healthier me

I have been working out everyday and eating super healthy, because I want to be healthier and  I want to live a new lifestyle. I have been doing this for a little over a month and have already lost 8 pounds! I am super proud of myself for sticking to it and not giving up. I have never lasted his long with being healthier. I had always been health conscious, but last year when I took Nutrition, my eyes were opened and that's when I started being healthier, but it wasn't until the start of school this semester that I got fully into it. I have more energy and I just feel better about myself.

Observations

I am so pumped to start observations soon. I am been in contact with a few SLP's and I can't wait to see how they interact withe their students and  I can't wait to decide where I see myself as an SLP. I am going to be observing a wide variety of ages and disabilities. This will give me a look into how to adjust teaching to fit a certain child. Every child has different needs, strengths, and weaknesses. I think this is important to know if you are going into the education field. I also will be observing in different counties, it will be neat to see how this changes teaching from school district to school district.

I am currently participating in the Ironman Challenge.  It is the whole month of October and you have to bike 112 miles, run 26.2 miles, and swim 2.4 miles.  It is making me push myself and step out of my comfort zone, but I am really enjoying it.  Getting up at 6:30 am to swim has been my biggest challenge, but in the end it will all be worth it.

Language Project Practice - Form Analysis

Here is an excerpt from a language sample.  Read through it.  Add a comment to ask a question or answer one of the ones at the bottom of this exerpt.

Josh: Can I play your iphone Selisa? (1)

Me: No, you have you mommy’s iphone to play with.

Josh: Do you have games?(2) Can I play? (3)

Me: No, I don’t have games.

Josh: Oh. (4)cause you’re a girl.(5) Huh?(6) Well I can show you the boy games please. (7)

Me: No, that’s okay I don’t like to play games.

Josh: I can show you da girls games then.(8) Then we can play it. (9)

Me: No, how about you play on your mommy’s iphone? I can use my phone.

Josh: I don’t wanna play her games no more. (10) Her was mean to me.(11) I dont like bein trouble.(12)

Form Analysis 

1. Which utterances are transitive? 
2. Which are intransitive?
3. Which are equative?
4. Name a grammatical morpheme in the sample.