Interview with Ms. Lily
How long have you been teaching special education?
Nine years. I’ve been teaching in Belchertown my entire career, but I did do some field work in Springfield.
What kinds of learning disabilities do you commonly see?
I deal with a lot of students who have attention disorders like ADD and ADHD, and there are also a lot of students with autism. The majority of kids in this room have attention disorders. This year, I currently have a student who transferred from Springfield, and she has a behavioral disorder. She can be a handful, but we’re trying to come up with ways to help her.
What have you been doing to help her?
I did a lot of field work in Springfield at the beginning of my career, and it was shocking how different
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It’s a joy to have the opportunity to teach them.
Interview with Ms. Berry
How long have you been an Occupational Therapist?
I graduated in 1998 as a certified and licensed occupational therapy assistant with an associates degree. I went back to school for my bachelors of education and passed my MTELS (Mass teachers licensing tests), but then when to Graduate school for Occupational Therapy graduating with my MOT in 2015. So I have been an OT since 1998, but a Masters level clinician since 2015.
What kinds of learning disabilities do you commonly see?
Because I work at the the pre-k and also elementary and middle school level I see many, however; at the pre k level we diagnose kids with developmental delays when they are exhibiting skills well below average range as compared to their peers developmentally. We use the Battelle Developmental Inventory, second edition.... it is usually me, the school psychologist and the speech and language pathologist, sometimes the physical therapist. I also see many students who have an autism