I completed my first two field observations at Concord Elementary School in Glen Mills, PA. Concord Elementary School is home to every kindergartener in the Garnet Valley School District and instructs children from Kindergarten through Second Grade focusing on inclusion as much as possible. Inclusion is a term that goes hand-in-hand with the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). LRE is determined annually based off of a child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP), and LRE states that disabled students will be included in a general education classroom amongst their non-disabled peers unless a special school setting is necessary for proper learning. An IEP is “a written document designed to meet the educational needs of each student with disabilities” (Principles of IDEA, …show more content…
A CLM classroom, according to the Garnet Valley website, “helps these learners gain those skills and fill the gaps in a play-based, very systematic approach to learning, with principles based in ABA” (Tierney, n.d.). ABA stands for Applied Behavior Analysis which is using special techniques to bring about a positive behavior amongst children. Ms. F showed us an example of a CLM binder to explain how she implements CLM in her classroom. She said that each student has their own special binder filled with different categories that the students need to work on. She said that it gives the lessons that the students need to be taught to become competent learners, and then she has the ability to decide specifically what academics her students learn. Ms. F began each day with a few minutes of playtime before the official start of the school day. To keep confidentiality when mentioning her students, I will be using pseudo-names. When Jessica entered the classroom, her paraprofessional helped her take off her coat and put her bag in her cubby. After she was situated, she said hi to Ms. F,