Routines

Today I was volunteering at Oakridge again and observed how important it is to have a routine each day for these students to follow. After lunch and seminary each individual in the class has a job that they need to complete. For some of the higher functioning students they rotate through jobs each day, such as vacuuming, or cleaning the mirrors in the bathroom, wiping off tables and chairs, etc. Today I was working with Danielle, she had two jobs to complete during this time, one was laundry, and the other was cleaning the handrails in the hallway. I received instruction on what to expect and how best to help her to complete these tasks. I was told that she does a very good job at doing the laundry, all I needed to do was to help remind her of her job by showing her a picture of the task, and she would know what to do from there and would be willing to complete her job. I was then told that this second job of wiping down the handrails, however, was not going to be as easy. For this was a new job that she was just learning how to complete and she was not quite as good at completing that task without prodding, direction, and help. I was amazed at the difference that the routine, the consistency, made for her. Like was told to me, once Danielle was shown the picture that triggered her to go and do laundry she ran excitedly to do her part to help clean up. She went to all three classrooms and collected their dirty rags and brought them into the laundry room, and then placed them in the basket. She was so good. As she completed her job the other teachers thanked her for her work, and she did a very good job at completing her task. I then watched as her next job was supposed to be completed. This process did not go as smoothly. She went back into the classroom and sat down refusing to do any more work. A tech had to get a wheelchair, which she is afraid of, and pushed it behind her to get her to come out into the hall with me so that we could work on cleaning the rails. As Danielle was frustrated with me, I was glad that I had been told that this was a new job she was trying to learn how to do so that it made sense to me why it was so hard for her to get started, to stay focused and not running away from the task, and understood her relief as she completed the task. I think for me this task was the most stressful part of the day because she ran away into other classrooms, trying to get away from me, and I felt like I was unable to correctly do my job. I know that she did not like that I was asking her to complete the task, and I'm sure it didn't help that I new to helping her, and that it was a new job for her to do as well.
Anyways, that is the events for today, and it has caused me to think about the consistency we all need in our lives. Why is it that when we go to a certain class that we tend to sit in the same seat as the time before? Well, it is because it is familiar to us, and we like having that consistency as we go throughout our day. For children with disabilities this is extremely exaggerated. Each task could take weeks to master, and to then change things up is asking a lot of students. Even in a regular high school classroom, each student has seven to eight classes that they are required to learn specific rules for, and that they need to learn to adapt to. If you change expectations regularly, it could easily become very confusing for students, and it could cause for them to do poorly in the course as a result. When setting up my classroom I need to be aware of the routines I expect students to go through, and then to be consistent in asking that of them each class period. And when I have a student with special needs I need to be even more cautious as to settle into a routine that the children can follow and not get bored with either.