♪♪
We are working on some job skill related
things, anything hands on with Matthew is great.
He is on more of a functional learning
program now so we can start kind of looking past high
school what are things going to look like.
♪♪
Melissa Shields: Matthew is a 9th
grader right now.
I've had him since he has been a 6th grader.
He comes to us from Corning, a different
school district.
Matthew is a lot of fun.
He has got a very bubbly personality.
♪♪
Melissa: I know that when he first came to
us mom was worried because that wasn't always the
case.
However, I think we've kind of gotten his
learning style pegged a little bit and we try to
capitalize on that.
And he's one of those kids that really does like
school.
He comes here, you'll see when he walks in the door,
he'll have a smile on his face.
Do you guys like learning?
Yeah.
Matthew, do you like learning?
♪♪
Yeah, you do, don't you.
Very good.
Melissa: He's somebody who can be distracted very
easily.
We are working on communication and in the
past if we've ever seen any kind of adverse
behaviors or anything like that it has never been in
a mean way.
Honestly, it's just him trying to communicate.
And so for the last several years we've just
seen a steady increase in his abilities.
Matthew, can you put the pennies in the penny bag?
♪♪
Good morning, Matthew.
Melissa: Because communication is a
deficit, he has his communication device, his
is more of a physical non-verbal.
I think if he had the ability to make his vocal
cords work in the way he wanted to he would because
you'll see him, he will try to say words.
He very much understands how to use his
communication device to communicate with others,
which is really cool, he uses it at school, he uses
it at home, he uses it when we go to our
community outings or community experiences.
Melissa: We do run into situations though where
we're just really not sure what he wants.
I'm not sure what he's wanting.
Which one?
Melissa: They have so much going on with their
sensory systems, the lighting, even just I'm
sitting here looking at you, they're taking in all
of that and then all of a sudden they literally
could not hear you.
Matthew kind of had been like that, in the past you
could tell he was taking in all of his surroundings
and his environment, but now he's got that focus
down to where he can actually really dive into
what the person is saying and go beyond those
scripted messages that we work on, kind of coping
with those sensory systems.
Six.
Yes, very good.
Melissa: As an adolescent, Matthew goes through all
of those changes every other teenage boy would go
through.
We're starting to see him go through some hormone
and puberty changes.
He's going to eventually here need to learn how to
shave, there's different hygiene things that we're
going to need to start learning, or he's going to
need to start learning.
So we'll work on that at school, alongside mom and
dad at home.
But hormones and puberty is the biggest thing
because that in itself causes more attention
issues, it causes my body feels funny, I don't know
how to deal with that.
All of these things are going so it's more sensory
challenges on top of what is already there.
Good job.
Brush your teeth.
Melissa: You'll see I also work on a lot of
sequencing things.
So if you think about jobs that we do every day,
usually they have an order to them.
So just anything that we can do to help Matthew
understand that there is an order and a purpose to
everything that we do.
Melissa: Group work, which is a huge thing that we
have been able to accomplish this year and
his attention has greatly increased.
We work on the social aspect of it, so it's not
just the content of what I might be reading or
teaching, it's more of the body awareness, the social
skills if somebody else is talking whether it be a
peer or an adult can I turn and actively listen
in hopes that they'll keep capitalizing on those
skills and then be able to use that outside of our
room.
It doesn't do me any good if they can do it here but
they can't do it in the hallways at school or when
we do our community experiences.
Push the button.
(machine running)
Melissa: Our school and our level
three program does have a coffee shop that we run.
We always make our coffee shop baked goods.
Like today it's muffins and we have breakfast
enchiladas.
Melissa: We do deliveries between our high school,
our elementary and our courthouse downtown.
It's a great way to work on the social and the
communication goals that we've been working on here
to transfer them out.
It also works on money skills.
I always like it when I get other teachers that
will stop me in the hallway or staff that will
email me or even like we go to the courthouse, it's
a small enough town, everybody knows you,
they'll say we can really see the progress your kids
are making, which is really cool.
That's a number.
So now we're going to go for the day.
So I need you to look, look first.
Can you find the same?
What is today?
Wednesday.
Awesome, today is Wednesday.
Melissa: In the morning we do coffee shop and then it
goes to calendar and we have a little bit of a
calendar daily news time and then I always have a
morning walk.
It just was something that kids started asking for.
Just getting out of this setting helps them to be
able to come back and focus.
So instead of doing like ten or fifteen minutes of
group work, this year we have been able to get
upwards of 45 minutes at a time.
So this morning walk has kind of provided an
extended learning ability for my students.
Melissa: Matthew is my first student I've had who
is going to be able to go to camp, Camp Sunnyside.
He does well in new settings for the most part
and he loves to be outside.
He is a kid that will go play with the bugs on the
sidewalk and he's kind of all boy.
So I'm really excited that he gets to go.
(laughter)
Sherri Nielsen: I think Easter Seals Camp
Sunnyside really supports individuals who haven't
had an opportunity to be away from home by giving
them a safe environment.
For some campers they come and it is their first time
away from home and they are very apprehensive and
they don't know what they want to experience or do
and perhaps they're someone who needs that
one-to-one support to be successful in the camp
environment.
Sherri: What we want to do for every single person is
give them an opportunity to do something they
haven't done before because when you do
something for the first time and you're successful
it builds confidence.
And what we know is the confidence that they
experience here at Camp Sunnyside goes back with
them in their communities, in their schools, in their
work and they not only have more confidence to
try new things but they also experience more
success and that is what camp is all about is
creating that environment where you are successful.
Melissa: Matthew is getting older, now we're
looking at more specific job skills, specific
activities that he might need to know how to do to
be successful.
And in Matthew's case it is living, learning,
working that we're focusing on more now so we
can help him be successful beyond high school.
So building those skills that he could potentially
need in the workforce.
Melissa: We don't have it really specific right now
because as he continues to grow and show us things
that he likes and doesn't like, there is no doubt in
my mind that he will be successful in the
workforce.
♪♪
This program is part of the
Move To Include Initiative made possible with support
from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a
private corporation funded by the American people.
♪♪
The Max and Helen Guernsey Charitable
Foundation, in support of educational programming on
statewide Iowa PBS.
♪♪