2. Ashley Rogers AshleyRogers@knights.ucf.edu April 10, 2011 EEX 4070

3.  Nathaniel Timothy Kuck- “A Treasured Gift of God”  Mission: Nathaniel’s Hope is dedicated to sharing hope with kids with special needs (VIP kids) and their families.  The services provided by Nathaniel’s Hope are a free gift to the kids with special needs.  Programs offered: Bearing Hope, Buddy Break, Caroling for Kids, Hall of Hope, Keep ‘m Smiling, Make ‘m Smile  Buddy Break was designed for volunteers to have fun with kids with special needs while giving their caregiver a break of their ongoing responsibilities.

4.  Buddy Break is designed to give caregivers of kids with special needs (VIP’s) a break from their on-going responsibilities, while having fun with one-on-one buddies.  During the Buddy Break session, the VIP and their buddy could choose to go to a variety of rooms that were set up. They included board game room, story time room, book room, game room, crafts room, and a play room.  I obtained my 15 hours by attending Buddy Break once a month for 3 months.

5.  The VIP’s include any physical, cognitive, medical or hidden disability, chronic or life-threatening illness, or those who are medically fragile. This program is for VIP children birth ages: 2-16 years old, and their siblings: 4 years old to 5th grade.  These VIP’s meet IDEA’s definition of a child with a disability. IDEA defines a child with a disability as having mental retardation, a hearing impairment, a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment, a serious emotional disturbance, an orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, and other health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf- blindness, or multiple disabilities.  About 10-15 kids with special needs were served each Saturday I attended Buddy Break.

6.  Initially, I felt very nervous, yet excited to interact with kids with special needs. I felt nervous because I did not know how they would act around me, nor did I know how to act around them. However, I was excited about the opportunity to learn about kids with special needs.  After my first Buddy Break session, I was very relieved because the children that I interacted with just wanted to have fun. I had a great time hanging out with the children and learning about them.  The children with special needs that had a hard time listening and cooperating with their buddy had the most impact on me. I learned that the buddy should always stay calm and try to keep the VIP calm.

7.  I completed this project for EEX 4070.  1. Autism- a student with ASD have difficulty communicating or interacting socially with other people.  During one of my Buddy Break sessions, I worked with a little girl with Autism. I tried to communicate with her by asking her questions, but she would not even acknowledge me. She would just look around the classroom instead of at me. I learned that children with Autism have little to no verbal communication and show little or no eye contact.  I understand now that most children with Autism will not communicate with you. This is very important to learn because you may have a child with Autism in your class, and you need to be able to identify it.

8.  2. Developmental Disability- physical or mental disability that impairs the person’s functioning in language, learning, mobility, self-care, or other important areas of living.  During my last buddy session, I was paired up with a little girl with a developmental delay. She wandered around the room aimlessly. She did not communicate with me. When I asked her questions, she didn’t say anything and didn’t have eye contact at all. The only thing she said was ’no’ to something she didn’t want to do.  Towards the end of the day, she began acting up and not following the rules. She began throwing balls everywhere and not picking them up. She thought it was funny. She also tried to run away from me a couple times.  I learned that students with a developmental delay have difficulties making friends and difficulty communicating. In order to get them talking in your classroom, an example would be to accidently forget to give them a lunch ticket, something they know they need in order to get lunch.

9.  3. Mental Retardation- have limited intellectual functioning, which affects their learning.  During one my Buddy Break sessions, I interacted with a girl with mental retardation. She was 5 years old, but talked like she was younger. She seemed completely normal. She talked and communicated, as if she didn’t have a disability. She loved to play catch with the ball and had great hand-eye coordination.  I learned that people with mental retardation have a slower rate of learning and are challenged by complex and abstract things. The only problem is their intellectual learning.

10.  Volunteering is a great way to get involved and learn about your community. When volunteering, all parties involved benefit. You, the volunteer, get life changing experiences, as well as the chance to address the needs of your community.  Service-learning is a great way to help the needs in your community. It also gives you the experience that will help you in the future.  Service-learning is designed as an educational experience for students. Students engage in service-learning activities in order to address community needs, as well as learn about the needs of the community. Volunteers get one on one experience to learn valuable information that may help them in the future. Volunteering in a community setting has a bigger impact on people, than just reading about it in a book.  After this experience, I definitely plan on volunteering again. The knowledge I gained from this experience is more beneficial that anything I could have read in a textbook.  Teachers and students should definitely participate in service- learning because it helps to build your character. Volunteering to help the needs in your community benefits you more than you would think.

11.  This experience opened my eyes to being more involved in service-learning. I learned about the different needs in my community that I can be apart of. I am thankful for this experience because it gave me the knowledge I need when working with kids with special needs. This experience will help me in my future, as a teacher.  In the future, I plan to continue volunteering for organizations in my community. I also plan on spreading the word about volunteering to the people that surround me.