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1. The Cyzner Institute Individual Instruction
(A)
2. The Cyzner Institute Individual Instruction (B)
3. Motor and Social Skills Group
Case
Study #1 Individual
Instruction Case Study (A)
Jeffrey was a 38-month old child referred to us by a developmental
specialist who had diagnosed him as having pervasive developmental disorder,
not otherwise specified. Jeffrey showed delays in most areas of development
including speech and language skills, social/emotional skills, gross motor
skills, fine motor skills and self-help skills.
His parents enrolled him in our tutorial program four days a week for two
hours each day. To help Jeffrey learn those social and behavioral skills
necessary to succeed in a small classroom, he worked one-to-one with a
teacher for the first six weeks. Once he gained the skills necessary for
small group work, he joined a small classroom containing one other child and
a teacher.
During the first several months of instruction, Jeffrey worked closely with
his teacher on developing these specific skills:
Gross Motor Skills
- balancing
- grasping and releasing objects
- building upper body strength and endurance
- learning to use both hands to complete a task
- developing basic recreation skills
- developing a sense of rhythm and timing
Fine Motor Skills
- developing in-hand manipulation skills, such as rolling clay into a ball
or turning pages in a book
- developing ability to color
- developing ability to cut with scissors
- developing basic drawing skills
Behavioral and Social Skills
- complying with the teacher when she gave him directions
- using gestures or words to express his needs and wants instead of having tantrums
- waiting his turn for a toy
- playing beside the other student (parallel play)
- interacting with the other student during supervised activities
(interactive play)
Self-Help Skills
- feeding himself finger foods
- drinking through a straw
- drinking by himself from a small cup
- telling the teacher when he needed to use the potty
- removing then putting back on his shoes
Jeffrey made steady progress as he continued his instruction. He developed better
strength and coordination, learned to create shapes
with play dough, color large shapes, and cut in
a relatively straight line, share toys, understand
what others said to him and speak. As Jeffrey gained
more skill, he gained more understanding of his
environment and the people in it. He became more
focused, attentive to others and seemed to take
pleasure from social interactions, something he
tended to avoid before we met him. Instead of picking
up toys and banging them, he learned to play with
them in ways for which they were intended. Overall,
Jeffrey seemed happier. He spent less time crying
and acting agitated and more time smiling and giggling.
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Case
Study #2 Individual Instruction Case Study
(B)
Tommy was a five-year-old whose parents pulled him out of pre-school because
he had difficulty participating in school activities. He was spending much
of the day wandering around the classroom, interacting little with his
classmates and often getting into skirmishes with them over toys. He tended
not to listen to the teacher and did not stay with any one activity for more
than a few seconds or so. When Tommy was evaluated at a local clinic, the
therapists found him to have an auditory processing disorder, which
contributed to his speech and language delays and problems with fine motor
development. Tommy could not easily button and zip his clothes, feed himself
with a fork and spoon or grasp a crayon or pencil. His gross motor skills
appeared well-developed.
Tommy's parents enrolled him at The Cyzner Institute five days a week for four hours a day,
from 9:00 to 1:00. Their goal and ours was to teach him those skills
necessary to function successfully in a regular kindergarten classroom the
following school year. Therefore, we arranged for fairly intensive
instruction with Tommy with his parents reinforcing our instructional goals
at home for an additional thirty minutes a day.
Our education director wrote an instructional plan for Tommy that included
work in all developmental areas:
- gross and fine motor skills,
- language skills,
- communication and cognitive skills,
- educational readiness skills,
- self-help skills,
- organizing the senses for use
- social and emotional skills.
She placed a strong emphasis on those areas in which he needed the most
training, receptive and expressive language skills and fine motor skills.
His instructional program came complete with goals and objectives checklists
for each developmental area, step-by-step practice materials and activities,
charts to record Tommy's work and graphs to show his monthly progress. His
parents used these same materials when they worked with Tommy at home.
Tommy joined a group with one other child who was close to him in age and
ability. These were the typical activities he completed in his four-hour day
with us:
9:00 to 9:10 Warm up
Included having a conversation around a particular
theme and specific vocabulary words (e.g. Thanksgiving,
winter, family) during which the teacher helped
Tommy practice the language skills he was learning
and interact successfully with another child and
adult.
9:10 to 9:30 Fine motor activities
Included creating shapes with playdough, manipulating
small objects in the palm of his hand, cutting with
scissors, coloring simple shapes, putting pegs in
a pegboard, lacing shoelaces through lacing boards
and drawing simple shapes on the easel and chalkboard.
9:30 to 9:55 Language training
(one-on-one with the teacher) Included both receptive
and expressive language activities.
9:55 to 10:00 Short break
Included playing on swings, trampoline and slide
(sensory support activities and gross motor skills).
10:00 to 10:30 Art activity
Consisted of structured independent work to further
strengthen fine motor skills while teacher worked
one-on-one with the other child.
10:30 to 11:00 Beginning math
concepts Included numerous hands-on activities,
which further supported Tommy's fine motor development
in addition to quantitative understanding.
11:00 to 11:30 Gross motor
skills Included activities to continue strengthening
his muscle tone and coordination (which was already
well-developed), interactive ball games (which required
him to listen, follow directions and speak), walking
on low-lying balance beams and completing other
balance and sensory support activities, such as
swinging, turning somersaults and spinning.
11:30 to 11:55 Beginning reading
skills and more language training (one-on-one
with the teacher)
11:55 to 12:25 Lunch
Included informal social, language and self-help
skills training.
12:25 to 12:45 Beginning handwriting
skills (one-on-one with the teacher)
12:45 to 12:55 Interactive
gross motor activity Included such activities
as balloon toss, playing toss and catch while on
the swing and running an obstacle course.
12:55 to 1:00 Preparing to
go home
Over the next eight months, Tommy's teacher, his parents and the The Cyzner Institute
education director communicated each week about Tommy's lessons and
progress. They charted his work and reviewed and graphed his progress so the
teaching team could determine how well Tommy responded to the program
overall and specific teaching strategies. They made instructional
adjustments as needed.
As a result of the concentrated instruction and
the close coordination between Tommy's teacher and
his parents, Tommy made excellent progress in all
areas, particularly in his language abilities. Before
the next school year began, his teacher at The Cyzner Institute met
with his new kindergarten teacher to discuss Tommy's
progress and those skills in which he needed additional
practice and support. Tommy had a successful kindergarten
experience that next year.
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Case
Study #3 Motor and Social Skills Group Case
Study
Five children between the ages of three and four
were referred to us for our Motor and Social Skills
Group, which met on Tuesdays and Thursdays from
1:30-3:00. These children had delays in social,
gross and fine motor skills, which affected their
ability to initiate play, engage in shared interactions
with peers and manipulate small objects like pencils,
crayons and scissors.
Many of these children saw therapists who worked with them, one-to-one, to
build these skills. However, they did not have an opportunity to practice
their skills in small groups with their peers. Some children had tried other
organized gym programs but quickly got discouraged because they could not
successfully participate in the activities. Others were enrolled in regular
pre-schools; however, they couldn't fully benefit from the social
interactions they had. These interactions demanded more than they could give
at that point in time. To help these children develop the social, gross and
fine motor skills necessary to successfully participate in group activities,
their parents enrolled them in our Motor and Social Skills Group.
A typical group session included these activities:
- Circle time during which the teacher welcomed the children, prepared
them for the group session and had them work on the social skill of
introducing oneself, looking directly at others and telling one's name.
- Gross motor activity when children worked
on skills related to balance, upper body strength,
endurance, and playground and sports skills.
During this time, they also worked on turn taking
and following multi-step directions appropriate
for their age. Those waiting their turns often
participated in fine motor activities set up
on the periphery of the gross motor area.
- Snack, bathroom and break time when children practiced interacting
further with their peers.
- Social skills activity during which children practiced sharing
information about themselves, taking turns, sharing toys and playing
interactive games.
- Wrap up time when children practiced saying
good-bye to their friends, and when the teacher
briefly reviewed the day's session with their
parents.
During the course of the three-month sessions, all the children gained new
social and motor skills. Their teachers observed more appropriate peer
interaction at pre-school. Their parents observed an increased desire to go
to the playground and play with other children. Their occupational
therapists noted improved motor skills. The greatest increases, though, were
observed in the children who smiled more and interacted with their peers
with greater confidence.
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Manus Academy - The Cyzner Institute All Rights Reserved |
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