Director of Special Services, Karen Wilson, introduces Traci Reimer to the Mustang Board of Education at this months regular meeting. Reimer told the board about the success she saw while working with Jeremiah at Mustang Trails Elementary. Success is measured in different ways in a school system. For some, assessments are given and data is scoured for patterns. For others, its individual improvement over the course of the year. For Traci Reimer, success for the spring semester was measured one cheeseball at a time. Reimer started the year at Mustang High School, but was moved to a special education classroom in January to work with Jeremiah, a kindergartener. When I got there he was having a very difficult time, she said. He spent the majority of his time running through the classroom, crying, screaming. If you gave him work, a lot of the time it went flying across the room. He spent most of his time in the classroom. He wasnt able to eat in the cafeteria. He didnt go to a regular ed classroom at all and wasnt able to sit in circle time for more than a minute. He was frustrated and I was frustrated in the beginning because I didnt know what to do. Jeremiah didnt speak; he only acted out. Reimer kept thinking of her own children, before they were able to ask for what they wanted. He wouldnt say anything when I got there, she said. I kept thinking if only he could communicate with us and he could tell us what he wanted. If you cant tell someone youre thirsty, youre going to be running and screaming. She started with sign language, but Jeremiah didnt respond to that. She tried augmented communication with pictures, but that wasnt effective either. Reimer called Sheryl Hazelbaker, the IEP (individualized education plan) facilitator for Mustang Schools. Hazelbaker suggested adjustments to Reimers approach and then brought Project Peak, an autism support services project of the OU College of Medicine, to Trails for a consultation. Just by chance I discovered he liked cheeseballs, Reimer said. She used an iPad to create a table of pictures of things he might need or want: a drink, a cheeseball, a swing. Gradually, his behavior became calmer. He could sit for a few minutes in circle time. He started eating in the cafeteria. Now, when he completes a job, he earns a cheeseball. Three or four weeks before school was out, Reimer and Jeremiah were going through their day and he said, Cheeseball. Reimer was stunned. Over the course of the next three weeks he added 100 words. Hes now choosing letters, saying the names out loud and matching them. For him to sit and work like that is such a phenomenal thing because now we can work on academics, which we couldnt do before, Reimer said. There was no working on academics. It was just managing behavior. During the last week of school, his mother called Reimer. As much as school had changed for Jeremiah, the familys life had changed as well. She wanted to share the message of success with the teacher who did not give up. As Reimer relayed the story to the board, she fought back tears. I am so excited to see what he is going to do next, she said. mustangps.org/
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 20:51:24 +0000
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