Update on the student who has selective mutism. She is expected to participate in class. If she chooses not to say “good morning” to her neighbor in the morning circle meeting, she is still expected to shake students’ hands. If all students need to participate in a circle type activity, my cooperating teacher will ask her a question that can be answered in a “yes” or “no” way, and the student is expected to nod or shake her head. She had arrived a day before school began and was instructed to choose a desk and who will sit with her in her group. She then helped make nametags for all the students in class, carry out bins of supplies to each group, and wrote her name under the categories on the board to indicate how she goes home. This helped for her to make an investment into the class. The teacher also practiced nodding and shaking of head to ensure the student understood the expectations of participation.
She is giggly, bright, and definitely on top of it. Just doesn’t speak. Yet. When students leave for the day, I was giving out high-fives, and she declined. However, the next day, she did it! The tough part about this is that we don’t have her reading assessments completed. We are working on doing something online, where she can read it at home and record it, or into a microphone, or some other alternative method. In my opinion, she doesn’t seem to suffer from a lot of anxiety and gets along well with other students.
More later.
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