The document summarizes the author's experiences working with three exceptional students - Michael with cerebral palsy, Wyatt with Asperger's, and Stella who also has Asperger's. The author observed Michael's physical therapy sessions in the pool and learned he was high functioning despite his disability. Working with Wyatt was challenging as he resisted activities and needed consistency. Stella had sensory issues but unique coping mechanisms. Through these experiences, the author gained insight into the diversity of exceptionalities and how to adapt to individual student needs.

1. This semester I had the pleasure of working with three exceptional students; Michael a
nineteen year old with cerebral palsy, Wyatt a five year old with Asperger’s, and Stella a six year
old who also has Asperger’s syndrome. Each child provided me with a different perspective of
exceptionalities. Stella and Wyatt are both high functioning, while Michael is intermediate
functioning because he must have help with his wheel chair. Other than being very different
individuals the manner in which I interacted with them was very different also.
Michael I observed as he worked with a water physical therapist specialist in the pool I
work at. Once a week on Thursdays, Michael would come in and swim for two hours. Frank, his
physical therapist, would walk him back and forth, or just let him swim around. I have never
been around a child with cerebral palsy, so I was not sure what to expect. I thought all people
with cerebral palsy were in a wheel chair and were low functioning. Michael loved to swim it
was almost impossible to get him out of the pool. I thought this was the coolest thing because the
water made him mobile on his own. He could walk and swim independently. This was incredible
to me. Not only could he swim, but he sang country music and could count the laps he had
swam/ walked. Being able to count his laps does not mean being able to count to ten or even
twenty, Michael was counting to seventy and eighty laps. I, myself, have a hard time
remembering what lap I am on when I am swimming so I was astounded, firstly, by the fact he
could count so highly so easily. Secondly, because he could remember what number he was on. I
did not get very much direct contact with Michael; because I was not able to get in the pool with
him. However, I was able to speak with him on multiple occasions before he entered the water.
Every week he would ask me how my day was, as if he remembered my face but could not
remember name. After a few brief sentences he would get bored or would start to think of
something else. I want to become a physical therapist and I really enjoy being in the water. After

2. watching Michael and his physical therapist, I have decided to shadow a physical therapist this
summer who works primarily with exceptional people. If I had not observed Michael I would
never have even known physical therapy for exceptional people was an option; especially in the
water. The first time I saw them I remember thinking that’s what I want to do, why did I never
think of that before. I cannot wait to explore other options in this field. I am so glad to have taken
Survey of Exceptionalities where I was required to do these observations, because it opened an
entirely new line of work to me.
On a different spectrum I got to work hands on with Wyatt. I got to teach Wyatt in my
own “classroom.” This was a very different experience compared to observing in a controlled
environment with another adult is present. I have taught swim lessons to children and adults with
exceptionalities before but they all were structured with many other people around. Wyatt posed
a problem for me I had never encountered before. He did not want to swim, and he questioned
everything I asked him to do. It was very difficult to get him to even get into the water. He was
perfectly capable of swimming, he just did not like to get into the water. When I asked him to
jump into the water his response would be “why?” I would try to explain to him but he would
just ask me why over and over again. By the tenth time he asked me why he had to do something
it was hard to come up with an answer. When I spoke to him he would not make eye contact with
me. When this happened I knew he was not actually paying attention to me and was off in his
own world. Some days were better than others, but often Wyatt and his father would have a
power struggle over Wyatt getting into the water. Not only was this hard for me because I
wanted to help, it was also embarrassing for his father. Other days Wyatt would be much more
cooperative and get into the water himself. This made me realize how difficult it would be to be
an exceptionalities teacher where I never knew what to expect from the students when they came

3. in. With Wyatt every week I learned a little bit more about what motivated him to do things. He
loved the jets in the pool, so anytime I wanted him to do something I told him he could touch the
“tickly thing” if he performed the activity correctly. He also really loved to play red light, green
light, when I discovered this it made my lessons with him go much smoother because I knew
how to get him excited about swimming. I have never been a consistent person, I like to change
it up and think on the fly never making two lessons the same. This did not work for Wyatt. With
Wyatt I had to perform the same tasks every lesson using the same explanation. Any time I gave
him an explanation and he asked me why I had to make sure to give the same answer. We had
many interesting conversations about sharks because the black lines in the pool reminded him of
sharks. He was terrified of them and would scream anytime we went near one. I convinced him
one day only little girls had to be afraid of sharks, he went home and asked his dad who informed
him sharks ate everyone. He was very unhappy with me at the next lesson and gave me a lecture
on how all people should be afraid of sharks. Wyatt taught me to really pay attention to what
children like, especially ones with exceptionalities. If I cannot figure out what motivates them I
will never be able to teach them.
Stella also a different experience, not only did I get to work hands-on with her, I also got
to observe her and have another adult talk me through how she functions. Having my mom there
to explain how Stella functions and what her “avoidances” are helped me extensively in
understand exceptional students. Stella has Asperger’s and is a sensory avoider. She avoids loud
noises, bright lights, and other children. In the classroom she likes to have her desk in space
away from the other children. When she was bumped into it would seem exaggerated because of
her reaction to just barely being knocked into. When walking she would walk on her toes trying
to make as little contact with the floor as possible. While doing work she likes to have a pom

4. pom or sticky tack to swish and touch as she does work. This was so confusing to me because
wanting to touch something was completely opposite of her normal sensory avoidance. This
showed me that there will never be a “normal” every student will have their own type of
avoidances and coping mechanisms. I got the chance to preform many different activities with
Stella to help with her sensory avoidance. We would do things such as dig for things in sand or
rice. Like Wyatt, it took her some time to warm up to the idea of touching this sensory item. Her
least favorite thing was to spell spelling words in shaving cream, but for the other children it was
their favorite thing. Stella did not like textures when touching or eating. She would not eat ice
cream, yogurt, oatmeal, or anything else that looked slimy or not like something she wanted to
eat. Stella and I also did things such as bounce on a trampoline and catch a ball. This was to help
with the reflexes she lacked. Stella loved to play with a tube with objects in it like Ispy, she
would do this for hours if I would have let her. To help with her handwriting we would play a
game with closed pins and pom poms. I would lay out many different colors and sizes of pom
pom and give her instructions to sort them a certain way. She would then use the closed pin to
pick them up and organize them. Stella was a visual learner, so in math we would use different
visual references to do addition and subtraction. Such as taking eight pencil then adding four or
taking away four. This all had to be done visually so she could see it happening. Stella much
like Wyatt took everything I said very literally. If I told her it was raining cat and dogs, there
better be cats and dogs falling from the sky otherwise she would be very upset with me for lying
to her. In Survey of Exceptionalities we have talked about how some children like to wear a lap
belt to help calm them. Stella was not one of these children, the lap belt was an over stimulation
for her. Stella had coping mechanisms all of her own. When there was too much light she would
put her hands over her face and wiggle her fingers. When there was too much noise she would

5. put her hands over her ears. If she was just upset or there was too much stimulation she would
suck her thumb, which she does often. Having my mom there to guide me, as I worked with
Stella, helped me to understand what she was doing and why so much better than I could on my
own. Working with Stella helped me when working with Wyatt because she taught me about
triggers and motivators which I was able to apply to Wyatt.
From this experience I learned just because people with this exceptionality typically have
these characteristics does not mean they will have all of them, or that they will have ones that
differ from the norm. Going into the hours I knew this, but did not understand how true it was.
Like with Stella, being a stimulus avoider, but liked to play with something in her hand while she
worked. The varying characteristics show me that if I am going to work with people with
exceptionalities I’m going to have to be flexible and ready for anything they throw at me.
Prior to this experience I had already put in many volunteer hours with children and
adults with exceptionalities, I didn’t think I knew all there was to know, but I did know I was
comfortable being around them. Survey of Exceptionalities taught me a lot about laws for
exceptional people. I did not know anything about IDEA or that students were supposed to be
put in their least restrictive environment. I honestly thought they spent all their time in the
special needs classroom prior to this class. The idea of an inclusion classroom seems amazing to
me. If I decide to become a teacher, co-teaching an inclusion classroom is something I would be
very interested in doing. Being able to allow students to interact with each other would break a
lot of the stereotypes people have of students with exceptionalities. If I decide to become a
physical therapist like I plan to now, I still like to work with exceptional students. I told someone
this, they asked me “why, it’s so hard.” I replied “not if you love it.” Working with Michael,
Stella, and Wyatt this semester has made me realize how much I enjoy working with exceptional

6. students. I’ve always loved to teach, it’s rewarding. Watching people grow and learn is
rewarding for me, and having an exceptional student who I know had to struggle even more to
achieve their accomplishments makes teaching that student that much more rewarding. When
reflecting on myself, prior to this experience I was not sure I had the patience to work with
exception people. I feel that patience is one of the most important parts of working with these
individuals. Through this experience my patience was tested on some days, especially with
Wyatt. However, there was never a moment I did not love working him. Every time he made
progress I felt as though I had conquered the world. The other thing I learned is that I am capable
of thinking on the go. I normally like to plan ahead for what I am going to be doing in a swim
lesson, but with Wyatt I never knew what he was going to be willing to do that day. I often had
to adjust to how he was feeling and what he wanted to do. Even with as familiar as I felt
Michael, Stella, and Wyatt still surprised me every day. They were capable of so much more
than I realized when I first began working with them. This is where I believe the gaps for me still
exist. I’m not sure how far I can push them or what my expectations should be. I don’t want to
have low expectations for these students, but I also do not want to have expectations they will
never be able to accomplish. I also wish to find out more about cerebral palsy. Michael was the
first student I had ever observed with this kind of disability. I would love to know more about
other children and adults who also have this disability. How high functioning are or aren’t they?
What do I as a teacher need to be able to do to help these people succeed? These are all questions
I hope to explore as I continue my own personal education.
Overall working with these students taught me more about students with exceptionalities,
but also a lot about myself and what I want to do with the rest of my life. As Albert Einstein said
“the only source of knowledge is experience.” I do not agree with this completely but I do agree

7. that the vast majority of things I have learned occurred outside of the classroom. I got to hear
how these students would be, then was able put the information into action when working hands
on with the students. I learned so much from each one by comparing their similarities and
differences from the norm but also from each other. Wyatt and Stella had the same disability, but
did very few things similar. Being able to compare and contrast these two opened my eyes to the
differences even people with disabilities have. No two people are alike and this goes for literally
everyone in the world. As I continue my education I hope to learn more and more about these
students with exceptionalities, but if I learned anything over the past five months is no matter
how much I know, at least one student will break everything I thought I knew about exceptional
students.