Priscilla Schelling, elementary education sophomore, has had years of experience working with special needs children.
Schelling works for a YMCA program. Every day after school, Schelling teaches a group of 30 children at Georgetown Elementary School. Schelling said they play games, eat snacks and she helps them with homework.
“After school, they don’t want to work in a school setting,” Schelling said.
Schelling said she wants to work in a classroom and said she believes she will have an advantage because of her work.
“I want to use the experience of working with special needs kids to help me be a more caring and educated teacher in the future,” Schelling said.
The projects they have are based in field areas, such as science, but she said she tries to keep it fun.
Schelling said by having crafts and sport programs, the children can enjoy learning.
“It’s a great outreach program,” Schelling said. “I plan on continuing it until I can get a job teaching.”
Schelling said the program has taught her how to deal with children in a group and also showed her how to relate to the children and their parents.
Although Schelling enjoys teaching all the children at her school, she said her main focus is with Logan, a child at the school with special needs.
Logan is 12 years old, and when he was younger, he didn’t have any medical concerns. However, as he grew older, he lost his ability to speak and began having seizures.
“His interaction is mainly just observation,” Schelling said. “He likes working hands over hands or playing with beads. He enjoys watching everyone around him.”
Schelling said Logan loves when people sing to him or play music.
Even though he may not be able to color, Schelling said she will color a picture for him to observe because he loves bright colors. Sometimes they go on walks and she will ask him what he can see.
Schelling said she understands he cannot answer questions, but she will ask them anyway.
“I think this shows him there is a lot of love in the world to give and receive,” Schelling said. “He enjoys the time spent around other people so he doesn’t feel like an outcast.”
Schelling said she also has a good bond with Logan’s parents, and they know she genuinely cares for their child.
Schelling said he acts different from the other children in the program and sometimes he makes noises. At the beginning of the year, the other children would ask questions about Logan.
“I point out that each of them has different needs,” Schelling said. “They have different backgrounds and different cultures, differences in growing up, differences in age.”
Schelling said she describes the differences between the children to help them understand that they are unique from each other but still bound together by the YMCA’s program.
Schelling said she also lets them feel free to ask questions about Logan because she doesn’t want them to feel like asking questions is wrong.
“They’re getting used to it,” Schelling said. “It’s a great opportunity for them to learn how to deal with it. You learn how to understand special needs more if you’re introduced to it at an early age.”
Schelling said eventually the children stopped asking about Logan. Now, the children fight with each other over who will help her get Logan off the bus.
She said this is helping the children accept and care about people who are different.
Logan was not the first special-needs child Schelling has worked with.
Schelling’s cousin, Laura, has had Hydrocephalus, or “water on the brain,” since she was an infant. This causes the brain to swell.
Growing up, Schelling said she was able to see how her cousin responded to certain situations. From this, she was able to gain an understanding of people with special needs.
“She taught us that it’s OK to be different and to love her how she is,” Schelling said.
In 2009, she worked at the YMCA’s special needs program. The camp had 14 special needs children, and she said she created a strong bond with Josh, a child with autism. Schelling said Josh cannot talk and he has aggression issues.
“It took me awhile to understand him, Schelling said. “When special needs kids travel a lot, they get upset. He needed someone to work with him regularly. He has learned to trust me a lot more.”
However, Schelling said she believed Josh was capable of doing more than was expected of him.
Before working with him, Josh spoke only random noises. After spending a lot of time with him to gain his trust, Josh is now capable of speaking out letter noises.
While working with him, Schelling said she was able to help make him more independent, and she still keeps in touch with Josh.
“He comes up and gives me a hug every time he sees me,” Schelling said. “His eyes light up and he smiles really big. He’s such a sweetheart. He’s come a long way.”
Schelling said all special needs children are unique. It’s her job to find their individual style and to try different approaches to learning to find what helps them the best.
Schelling said her drive for her work with the children and for her school work comes from her home life. Schelling was home-schooled as a child, but said she had no trouble adjusting to college work.
“With home schooling, I had to learn on my own a lot,” Schelling said. “I had to work out my own problems. I was responsible for my own grades. I was able to hone in and focus and learn study skills.”
Schelling said her mother, Debbie Schelling, was born to teach. She incorporated games like Jeopardy into her schoolwork to make learning more fun.
“She did a great job balancing the two roles,” Priscilla Schelling said. “She was supportive but very strict.”
Priscilla Schelling said her mother would push her to finish what she started, like her piano lessons. Her mother also taught her how to care about others more than herself and was able to add certain Christian values her family believes into her schoolwork.
Both of Priscilla Schelling’s parents are involved in her church — Maranatha Baptist Church in Jeffersonville.
Her father, Philip Schelling, is a youth minister and a deacon of the church, and she looks to him as a role model who has taught her life lessons.
Priscilla Schelling also has two sisters, including an identical twin, Phylicia Schelling, who she said she was able to grow up and learn with.
Priscilla Schelling said she will most likely work at Community Montessori in the future. The approaches to learning at this school are much different than from the average school in that the teachers do not shout.
Instead, they use sign language to get the class to calm down. Children can wear slippers in class and are more accustomed to sitting on a rug than sitting at a desk.
“The way they learn things is more than just pencil and paper,” Priscilla Schelling said. “They pick up on so much more.”
Along with school and working at the YMCA program, Priscilla Schelling is a supplementary instructor for a geometry class on campus.
She helps incorporate what the professor teachers with her own style.
“I never thought I would have this much experience at IUS,” Priscilla Schelling said. “It’s a little bit of work, but it’s fun.”
By BRITTANY POWELL
Staff
bripowel@ius.edu