Physical, Sensory, and Health Impairments?

Question

I am writing a paper on Physical, Sensory, and Health Impairments and am required to get three different peoples views on their first encounters with an individual who had a physical disability, describing their impairments and how those impairments in your opinion affected the educational environment. Can anyone please descrive their first experience with PHI?

Answer 1

A former student of mine has cerebral palsy and was placed in a pre-k EBD classroom.  He walked in a walker and was extremely sweet when I initially met him.  I was unsure how to feel about him at first because I knew of his past in school and how he treated others.  I noticed he had an obvious shunt placed under his skin to drain excess fluids from his brain.  At this point, I treated him like the other students looking past his disability.

In the meantime, I made sure his path was not hindered in the classroom and school environment.  Once breakfast and circle time was over, it was time to do classwork.  The cursing, blowing mucus from his nose and spitting started and lasted the rest of the school day.  His behavior shocked the other students which affected the educational environment.

After getting him to pay attention, it was obvious that he had learning disabilities and did not like that he was unable to do  certain things which is why the behavior issues originated.

Not too sure what else you need, but I hope this helps!

Answer 2

I had a former student who was in a wheelchair and had limited use of his arms due to muscular dystrophy.  Due to his physical limitations, he had to have an aide with him at all times...to write for him, help him go to the bathroom, etc.  I think his life was most impacted by the fact that even thogh he was of above average intelligence, most students assumed he was "retarded" because he was in a wheelchair.  Most students rarely took the time to interact with him and even when students did, it was somewhat unnatural as there was always an adult with him.