Reflection+Project

 For my Senior Thesis project, I have been volunteering with the physically and mentally disabled students within Springfield Township High School. I have been volunteering with these students and helping their instructors during the study hall time I have in school. As I volunteered with these students, I have completed a variety of tasks. For example, I have read to students, direct them through activities and procedures, watered plants with them, walked them around the school, and created bird feeders with them. As I volunteered with these students, I am tried to discern if inclusive education is beneficial or harmful to the academic and social development of special needs students. I am also studying the various devices and forms of technology used in special needs classrooms as well as their impact the comprehension level of these students.  Throughout this project I have set many goals. I have set a goal for myself to complete the thirty hours of volunteer service within a reasonable time span and I have done this successfully. I have been using my some of my study hall time to volunteer with these children starting way back in September. However, by the end of October I realized I would not be able to complete my hours by only using half of my study hall time, so by the beginning of November I started volunteering for my entire study hall period. This planning did pay off because I have successfully completed my volunteering hours. In addition, I set a goal for myself to get out of my comfort zone and learn about the academic lives of these children and I have accomplished this. I placed myself out of my comfort zone simply by helping these students complete such tasks as eating, organizing, and completing activities. I have also learned about the academic lives of these children by observing the curriculum they are taught and the teaching techniques the instructors use on them.  I have learned about a variety of information throughout my Senior Thesis project. For example, I learned that full inclusion is a type of special education that combines students with mental and physical disabilities into the curriculum and schedule of non-disabled students to the best degree possible. I also learned that The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) of 1990 states that special needs students should be placed in the “least restrictive environment” possible. I also found out that the special needs students in our school are in the least restrictive environment for their physical and mental disabilities. I have also gained new knowledge the techniques and different forms of assistive technology used in special education.  Most importantly, I have gained new insight about myself throughout this project. I have learned that putting myself outside of my comfort zone can be a good thing. When I think back to the cautious ways I reacted around the special needs students when I was younger and compare to my new friendships with each student, I am amazed by my internal growth. I have also learned from this project that my strengths are in leading activities with each individual student. For example, on several occasions the instructors trusted me to take a special needs student down to wash dishes all by myself. By doing this independently, I felt like a true leader. However, I also found weaknesses within myself as well. I learned throughout this project that I am still just a student and that I might not be able to handle all situations with these special needs students. For example, when I was walking with one student down that hall, she slipped into one of the classrooms she was not supposed to. I was not able to get her out of the room myself, so I called for the assistance of another person. Form this experience I have learned that I cannot always accomplish things myself; there are always times in which I will need others.  I will take many things from this wonderful experience. As I mentioned before, I now realize that I am not fully able to do everything and I may need the help and assistance of others. In addition to this, I have learned that I love volunteering with these students and I plan to continue volunteering even after this class is over. I even hope to continue this newfound interest in college. I have now come to fully understand that people have unjust views about special needs students. They are just like every other single person in the world and that they should be treated as such.