Tell me about your current work and goals?
I am currently a teacher for general education preschool children at Burke United Methodist Preschool in Burke, Va. during the school year. I have been teaching at BUMP for nearly 10 years. Before BUMP, I taught preschool in a couple of day care centers and a Catholic school's early childhood center. In all, I have been teaching preschool for about 18 years.
When I graduated in August of 2008, I was offered a full scholarship to return to George Mason University to pursue my master's degree in early childhood special education through the Special Educators Entering a Diverse Society (SEEDS) scholarship program. Right now, I am doing an internship at the Alexandria Health Center, in their early intervention program Parent and Infant Education.
This is Alexandria's early intervention program and special education program for infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays. I will return to my studies at Mason in late August. Next spring, I will do a second internship for a special education preschool. When I finish the master's program in the summer of 2010, I will enter the field of early childhood special education with certification to teach children ages birth to eight.
Before my son was diagnosed, as far as I knew, children with autism all presented with the same aggressive behaviors, and were intellectually challenged. The only real picture I'd seen of autism was seen in the movie "Rain Man."
Now, I would say that professionals working with young children are acutely aware of the wide range of abilities on the autism spectrum. It is seen as a neurological disorder which is shared by a myriad of persons, young and old; most of the older generation, probably misdiagnosed. Along with the increase in the incidence of autism, public services and awareness have played important roles in intervening at the youngest ages, at a time when children are most successful at learning how to compensate for their disabilities.
It is an exciting time for me, to continue watching my son's many successes and to be entering a relatively new field in special education. Autism is a field of special education about which we seem to learn something new every day. It is also a field that with every new day, each individual child may present a dilemma which will require flexible instruction styles and strategies, while providing me with more education to be a better educator for the next individual child. Could an educator ask for anything more?
Explain the importance of your project and give a brief explanation of the manual.
The manual I presented as my BIS senior project is entitled, "Modifying the Preschool Classroom to Include Children with Autism: A Manual for General Education Preschool Teachers."
As a general education teacher, I was blessed with including a child with autism in my classroom right around the time I was getting ready to do a summer volunteer internship with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's Kennedy Krieger Institute in their Center for Autism and Related Disabilities.
My BIS studies were focused around autism, but there were few classes at Mason, at the time, directly related to autism spectrum disorders. My faculty advisor recommended looking into the internship. During that summer I was able to observe and participate in many of KKI's programs. The entire time I kept thinking back on the past year and the things I had done in my classroom to accommodate the child I'd included.
I'd had little prior experience, other than that of raising my own child with autism, but I realized I'd done so many things I considered simple for anyone to do, and the child was successful. In fact, he was so successful, that he entered kindergarten in the mainstream. I was also cognizant of the fact that not all children with autism would be able to as easily adapt to the mainstream classroom, but there are many high-functioning children who need that experience.
Children with autism present with significant social challenges, and what better place to learn proper social skills than with same-age typically developing peers? So, I developed the manual for my teaching peers in general education preschool settings. I've distributed nearly 200 copies of the manual, and people ask me often if they can have more copies.
How will your research and manual help others?
I believe the manual has already reached and hopefully helped others. It fills a gap in education for those who are currently teaching general education preschool. As more children who are higher functioning enter the special education system, we need to be sure that those children are given the same opportunities to learn as their typically developing peers.
I have also had many families who received new diagnoses of their child with autism tell me that they learned many strategies from the manual and were able to go to their child's preschool and offer the information. The manual has a myriad of information on best practices in early childhood education, and adds to those things the teacher can and should already be doing to provide best practices to all of their classroom children, including those with autism.
What is next for you?
I will be finishing my master's degree at Mason and hope to be teaching in a PAC classroom or a non-categorical preschool classroom for public schools. In any case, I am anxious to work in early childhood special education in some capacity.
How has your experience at Mason shaped your way of thinking and your future career path?
George Mason is an amazing place. The BIS program was probably the most difficult, as I had to reflect on past years and decide where I was headed. This is something I'd never had to do before, and I often thought my brain might just pop. But, these past few years, I've begun to realize how important it is to reflect on the past, if one is to move into the future. We all have a lot of baggage, and we have to realize, especially as educators, that everyone carries those bags around -- sometimes needlessly, and sometimes we require them for needed strength.
My professors have been awesome, and my "most awesome" undergraduate faculty advisor, Dr. Moni Day is now also one of my SEEDS professors. I feel like I owe so many folks so much for all Mason has given me. Even though, as an undergraduate I was often the oldest person in the classroom, I had to laugh at myself. Today, I still wonder what an old 50-plus lady is doing pursuing a degree in early childhood special education, but perhaps it makes sense. I'll be comfortable rocking the little ones in my chair, won't I?