BUILDING FRIENDSHIPS PROJECT 1 (30 POINTS)

Due on 9-11-08

Choose 1 of the following as your Friendship Project.

1.  Locate a poem or short story about friends.  Write as many characteristics of friendships that this poem inspired.  Then relate at least 1 characteristic of your choice and how it applies to a student with disabilities you have been working with.  Now add what you personally think characteristics of a good friend are. 

2.  Friendships provide individuals with nurturance and support.  We tell our friends how special they are to us.  We help them when they need us; we solve problems together.  We help our friends the best they can be.  We protect our friends from hurt, and help them cope with different situations.  Develop/write and secretly implement a plan to bolster the self-esteems of one of the students with disabilities that you know; keep a journal of your interactions with this individual.  Analyze and report on those actions that appeared to be successful and/or unsuccessful in writing.

3.  Compare and contrast your circle of friends with the circle of friends of a student with a disability.  How does it make you feel?  What difficulties would a student with disabilities have in making friends with typical students?  Do you think it is important for those with disabilities to have friends?  Why or Why not?  Summarize some ways you can try to become friends or be friendly towards a student with disabilities.

4.  Watch a movie that includes characters with disabilities as main characters such as the movie, Radio.  Type a short summary of the movie. Discuss in depth how friendships occurred that included a person with a disability.  Be sure to include, the difficulties, the support needed, and details of how the friendships came to grow.

5. Friendship can be characterized by a positive affective style and ability to engage in mutual social interactions.  Prepare a telephone/address book for the student with disabilities to use.  Write down plans on how it could be used.  How can the student use the book?  How can a student who doesn’t talk use the book?  Think of other questions/problems and discuss how you might deal with them.

You must put all answers to the above questions in paragraph/report form.

After School/Community Project 2    (30 points)

Due on: 10-9-08

Choose on of the following as your community project assignment.

1.  Choose 1 of the students you are working with and plan a community outing with this student.  You will need to contact the student’s parents and make arrangements.  The teacher will assist you with this.  You can have some of your other friends participate as well if you choose.  Possible things to do:  school athletic game, school dance, out to eat, the mall, movie, school club, birthday party etc…   Type a 1-2 page summary of your experiences, thoughts, etc…

2.  Create a survey for the parent of the student with a disability to fill out in identifying priorities that will allow their son or daughter to become involved in community activities.  The teacher will contact the parents and let them know what you will be doing.  Create a survey that will be sensitive and respectful.  Once the parent returns the survey, summarize the results of the survey in a typed 1-2 page paper.

3.  Read the article, Creating What I Know About Community.  Summarize the main points of the article in 1-2 typed pages.  The third page should contain how you felt about the article, how it relates to the students you know with disabilities, the importance of community involvement for those with moderate and severe disabilities, answer why you think community involvement is necessary for people with disabilities to live fulfilling lives instead of staying in a segregated settings away from society. Please add any other important details.

Disabilities Project 3  (30 points)

Due on: 11-10-08

You must complete a Research Paper on a disability of your choice.

Choose from one of the following disabilities or discuss with your supervising teacher a different one you would like to do. 

* Cerebral Palsy

* Autism

* Down’s Syndrome

* Spina Bifida

* Muscular Dystrophy

* Prader Willi Syndrome

Requirements:

1.  It must be a typed 3 to 5 page paper.  It must also be double spaced.

2.  It must have a cover sheet (not counted as one of the required pages). 

3.  You must use at least 2 different sources of reference.  These sources must be on a bibliography page (not counted as one of the required pages as well). Please do not plagiarize!!  Site your sources.  Use your own words or use quotation marks when taking words directly from a source. 

4.  Grammar and spelling will be graded.

5.  The paper should include the causes of the disability, who can get it, description of it and how it effects the person who has it, ways that people with this disability functioned in yesterdays society as well as today’s. Other information can be added that you find is interesting and you believed was an important part of the research.

See websites on my webpage for possible research.