Jacob chooses a crayon using eye gaze.

Jacob and a friend have chosen tray wiping.

 

Jacob is a preschooler who experiences multiple disabilities, including spastic quadriplegia. He is not a verbal communicator, however he clearly make his needs known. He smiles brilliantly when happy and cries when sad or scared, including his initial separation from his mother on his first few days of school.

He can indicate "Yes" by dropping his head. He is learning to say no by turning his head and to make choices through eye gaze. He is very social, enjoying the company of peers and responding to them with his beautiful social smile when they talke or make eye contact with him. He appears to have very good receptive skills which often make us wonder if he is a very bright little boy in a body with a limited amount of control over physical responses that can help us to understand his real potential. Because of this, we tries to never underestimate him. He delights us over and over again by demonstrating the ability to learn many concepts like big and small, and to identify colors.

As his teacher, I wonder if his measured/demonstrated skill level has less to do with his abilities and more to do with our ability to create ways for him to communicate his knowledge.