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The future depends on what we do in the present. By Mahatma GandhiSharon Comer RanaldiJanetta’s general education curriculum includes positive influences because she is in her regular classroom surrounded by nondisabled peers that like her. She is developing social competence.  This will be important in her future successes. The snippet states that Janetta tries very hard at everything she does, so she has self-determination.  Janetta shows effort another strength for future independence. She benefits remaining with her same-age peers for literacy instruction to receive positive feedback from her teacher and observe her peers.  Janetta can receive functional (replacement) curriculum to fill in her deficits.The balance between short term learning objectives must consider needs, strengths, and interests and alignment with future college/career objectives. Consider regular, structured social skills practice. Include teaching about hobbies, free time, and personal interests, volunteering opportunities, financial management and transportation.  Numerous community resources are available, some include, Alaska Youth Transition Handbook from the Department of Labor (2012), Alaska Seeds of Change, Care Coordinators, and Public benefits. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is designed to meet the basic needs of disabled, elderly, & blind. Whereas, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is an Entitlement program that requires working for 10 years and access to Medicare.

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The future depends on what we do in the present. By Mahatma GandhiSharon Comer RanaldiJanetta’s general education curriculum includes positive influences because she is in her regular classroom surrounded by nondisabled peers that like her. She is developing social competence.  This will be important in her future successes. The snippet states that Janetta tries very hard at everything she does, so she has self-determination.  Janetta shows effort another strength for future independence. She benefits remaining with her same-age peers for literacy instruction to receive positive feedback from her teacher and observe her peers.  Janetta can receive functional (replacement) curriculum to fill in her deficits.The balance between short term learning objectives must consider needs, strengths, and interests and alignment with future college/career objectives. Consider regular, structured social skills practice. Include teaching about hobbies, free time, and personal interests, volunteering opportunities, financial management and transportation.  Numerous community resources are available, some include, Alaska Youth Transition Handbook from the Department of Labor (2012), Alaska Seeds of Change, Care Coordinators, and Public benefits. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is designed to meet the basic needs of disabled, elderly, & blind. Whereas, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is an Entitlement program that requires working for 10 years and access to Medicare.

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I am not sure why this copied as bold.

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For Janetta I believe that she would greatly benefit from a peer interactions in social and academic settings. According to the text, Janetta gets along well with her peers but academically is falling well behind her classmates. In an effort to build a positive social influence in Janetta’s life, I would choose to incorporate small group instruction and cooperative learning in my classroom. Janetta would benefit from the positive social and emotional skills that cooperative learning builds, while having her academic needs met. As the text suggests, “students do not have to have the same levels of ability, nor do they need to be working on the same skill, as long as they are working together towards a mutual goal.” With the importance of functional academics in mind, the classroom environment can be designed to integrate functional academics in the general education curriculum, which in turn will benefit not only Janetta, but the rest of the class. For example, in my own classroom we complete weekly cooking labs where the students are able to practice their independent living skills in combination with math and team building skills

According the text, “although transition planning is not required to begin until age 16 for students with disabilities, children between the ages of 9 and 11 can begin to set goals and use these goals to determine their actions”. In Jannetta’s case, it would be incredibly beneficial to begin the conversation about her goals and progress early on. Creating opportunities for Janetta to become involved her community through relevant and engaging activities will facilitate important connections necessary for her transition to independent living.

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Jessica Swan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           After Janetta’s Special Education testing is complete and the team has assessed her disability category, areas of service, goals and objectives Janetta’s classroom modifications and accommodations can be drafted to include positive influence from peers. Areas of service may include reading, math, writing, social skills and/or adaptive skills.                                                                                                                          The special education teacher may co-teach in Janetta’s second grade classroom (with approval of the classroom teacher and principal/district coordinator) or push into Janetta’s classroom to work on her specific goals and objectives. The special education teacher may choose to play alphabet and/or math games with Janetta and peer(s) of her choosing. This would assist Janetta with learning the rules of games as well as providing for positive peer influence.                                                                                                                        College and career readiness requires Janetta to possess the skills necessary to enter the workforce and/or attend college. College and career readiness in second grade requires solid foundations in literacy, writing and math fluency.  Janetta’s short term goals of recognizing capital and lower case letters, identifying letter sounds, digraphs, counting to 100, writing with the use of a computer will allow her to gain the basic skills necessary to build towards long term goals such as reading fluency and math concepts. The special education teacher may choose to teach Janetta Touch Math, provide adaptive skills instruction such as buttoning her jacket and washing her hands. Goals in self advocacy will assist Janetta in learning to ask for help when she needs it.                                                                                 Extrinsic rewards such as teacher attention, lunch with the teacher and a friend, stickers (any reward of Janetta’s choosing) may be used in combination with a daily task chart to assist Janetta in completing tasks. A visual chart of her daily routine and expectations may be helpful as well. Designing her chart with laminated pictures with Velcro will allow her to get out of her seat to remove a completed task from her board and take the next one. Timers may be helpful. Janetta may start with 5 minutes of on task behavior followed by a 5-minute break.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                The general education teacher may choose to have the class choose their lunch orders by circling it on the school menu first thing in the morning. Directions for each lesson could be on the board for all students to see. Janetta would have a visual reminder to look at when she is unsure what to do next. For everyday routines, the routine could be printed out visually and taped to Janetta’s desk or placed around the classroom near each center or designated area. Additional resources may include after school tutoring, play groups for social skills and extended school year. In second grade community resources for independent living would not be necessary at this time due to her age. Adaptive skills can be addressed through special education services at this time.

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Jessica Swan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           After Janetta’s Special Education testing is complete and the team has assessed her disability category, areas of service, goals and objectives Janetta’s classroom modifications and accommodations can be drafted to include positive influence from peers. Areas of service may include reading, math, writing, social skills and/or adaptive skills.                                                                                                                          The special education teacher may co-teach in Janetta’s second grade classroom (with approval of the classroom teacher and principal/district coordinator) or push into Janetta’s classroom to work on her specific goals and objectives. The special education teacher may choose to play alphabet and/or math games with Janetta and peer(s) of her choosing. This would assist Janetta with learning the rules of games as well as providing for positive peer influence.                                                                                                                        College and career readiness requires Janetta to possess the skills necessary to enter the workforce and/or attend college. College and career readiness in second grade requires solid foundations in literacy, writing and math fluency.  Janetta’s short term goals of recognizing capital and lower case letters, identifying letter sounds, digraphs, counting to 100, writing with the use of a computer will allow her to gain the basic skills necessary to build towards long term goals such as reading fluency and math concepts. The special education teacher may choose to teach Janetta Touch Math, provide adaptive skills instruction such as buttoning her jacket and washing her hands. Goals in self advocacy will assist Janetta in learning to ask for help when she needs it.                                                                                 Extrinsic rewards such as teacher attention, lunch with the teacher and a friend, stickers (any reward of Janetta’s choosing) may be used in combination with a daily task chart to assist Janetta in completing tasks. A visual chart of her daily routine and expectations may be helpful as well. Designing her chart with laminated pictures with Velcro will allow her to get out of her seat to remove a completed task from her board and take the next one. Timers may be helpful. Janetta may start with 5 minutes of on task behavior followed by a 5-minute break.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                The general education teacher may choose to have the class choose their lunch orders by circling it on the school menu first thing in the morning. Directions for each lesson could be on the board for all students to see. Janetta would have a visual reminder to look at when she is unsure what to do next. For everyday routines, the routine could be printed out visually and taped to Janetta’s desk or placed around the classroom near each center or designated area. Additional resources may include after school tutoring, play groups for social skills and extended school year. In second grade community resources for independent living would not be necessary at this time due to her age. Adaptive skills can be addressed through special education services at this time.

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***Copying and pasting my response from Word did not format as I had it in my document . I can't figure out how to fix it now. This was formatted and broken into paragraphs, double spaced when I copied it from Word.:/

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Janetta’s curriculum can continue to include the use of a responsible peer model who can help keep her on track. Since Janetta has a hard time processing and following directions in a timely manner, her peer model would be able to prompt her when needed and answer simple questions that Janetta may have. The danger of a peer model is that they can end up doing tasks for her instead of helping her be successful independently. Too much reliance on a peer model can be enabling so it is important to explain the role of a peer model to each student and set clear expectations and boundaries. Using the functional curriculum designed by special educators is necessary for Janetta to be successful independently, as well. Matching the level of Janetta’s academic ability while keeping it relevant to the second grade curriculum is a difficult task, but will keep her involved with her peers by allowing them to all be learning about the same topic. Perhaps Janetta’s peer model can read aloud to her when they are working on an article and help her define words she isn’t familiar with. Janetta’s teacher can simplify the questions and/or lower the expectation for the length of an answer.

Janetta’s short term objectives, which may consist of letter identification and phonics, sentence structure, and double digit addition, need to take precedence in order to support her college and career readiness goals. As a second grader, college and career ready goals are far off, but still need to be addressed. She needs to be proficient in academics, at least basic reading, writing, and simple math skills, as well as social and adaptive skills. The curriculum can guide the topic and content of what she is learning while, again, lowering expectations for academics. Janetta needs to be able to complete her work independently in order to build up a strong skill set and move forward towards more demanding academic goals.

In the future, if Janetta is placed on an IEP and continues to qualify for services, she may enter a program similar that helps graduated students transition out of high school, like Bridges, for example. Programs like this may teach her how to write a resume and apply for jobs. While academics is no longer the focus, Janetta can be learning life skills and adaptive skills which will aide in maintaining a job and spending her money responsibly. Janetta can apply for supported living programs where they are available and work towards independent living.

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Functional Curriculum and Peers:
Working in a school that is trying inclusion and personalized learning I think I might have a unique perspective here. I think Janetta would benefit from field-trips with peers to places that also teach life, social, and community skills. For example, a trip to the middle school or high school could help all the students make plans ahead. A stop to the grocery store on the way back would help by reading all the items to buy for a recipe. Then maybe in math Janetta and a few peers are in small group instruction to make the recipe. I don't think that changes the curriculum and still incorporates all of Janetta's needs both social and academic. Small group instruction and a peer tutor would probably be the best methods of instruction for Janetta. With the alphabet memorization I think prompts would help like the "stick and ball" analogy.
Balancing Short and Long Term Goals:
From the text a student can start long-term planning at the ages of 9-11. I would wait until Janetta was in that age range and then start encouraging thought about her college/career path. Until that time, I think Janetta would benefit from technology being added to her instruction. Math and English softwares are more widely available now. My other class mentioned Spelling City, Teach Me, Mangahigh, and other tools they are using. A Google profile could help Janetta keep all of her information stored over the years and help with transition planning. Again, field trips to places in the community could help Janetta and as she gets older her community involvement can increase.
Community Resources for Independent Living:
I think if Janetta has good goals and objectives set for her and is shown the community in advance she will do great working towards independent living. In Fairbanks I immediately thought of Janetta going to a place like FRA that would help her out after school. The text refers to community based instruction which would be accomplished in school on field trips and transition planning which she could get extra help with in high school and beyond. Janetta sounds like a very smart and capable young woman who will do just fine in life if she if given the proper supports. Small changes in instruction like using prompts or more technology and peer involvement and tutoring could be a good place to start.