Jerricka Thompson

Life Scape
SPED 413
11/20/15
Life Scape Reflection
Today, November 20th 2015, I went to Life Scape to be able to experience
what it might be like to work with students who have special needs. I was in the
medical unit and was surprised that they take in children as young as babies. Upon
arrival, I was given a tour from Karin who works in the sensory room. She showed
me many different classrooms that Life Scape has that has to meet the needs of
every child. She also showed me that the facility had a pool which is always at 90
degrees and a gym that is safe enough for children to fall on. Every classroom that
I saw also had smart boards. I noticed many of the classrooms were designed and
looked like a regular elementary classroom. The age of students that I saw were all
around 20 years old.
At the beginning of the day, the teacher went through the daily schedule with
the students. The schedule consisted of quiz bowls, bank time, jobs, physical
education, midday break, and computer time. From 9-11am they work on individual
subjects, 11-1pm is lunch for them, and 1-3:30pm is a time for them to do a variety
of activities. There were four students in the classroom that I was in. All but one of
them had a communicate advice that they ran with their head. I sat through lessons
with two different students.
Student A was a joy to watch, she was very excited because it was her
golden birthday tomorrow. The teacher began her lesson by working on her
pronunciation. Every day, they work on letter sounds such as the A sound and the O

sound. Student A used to use a communication box but the teachers at Life Scape
noticed that she became fatigue easily while using the device. They switched her to
an IPad which has been a lot easier for her. On the IPad, she has her daily schedule.
The staff is always looking for new ways that the IPad can be even more beneficial
for her.
Student B was working on making sentences using his communication box.
He controlled the box using his head. The teacher would write a sentence on the
board such as, I like snow. The student would then come up with a sentence that
started out with, I like, and then he added a word such as home. He was very
excited to tell me that he liked winning homecoming king, which I thought was
awesome.
Overall, I had a great time learning new things at Life Scape. The staff was
great at keeping me informed on what was happening in the classroom. Even
though I only spent one day at Life Scape, what I knew going into the day and what
I now know after leaving Life Scape, has changed how I look at the special
education field.