Seagoville High’s Activities of Daily Living Unit works endlessly to ensure that the needs of their students are met. The team, consisting of ADL Teacher Dr. Sherian L. Smith and teaching assistants Lesa Kines, Mary Graves and Vicki Reed, refer to themselves as the “ADL Unit Superheroes.”
“Our team works extremely well with each student. Our first concern is always meeting the immediate needs of the students and doing whatever we can to make them smile. Our backgrounds are diverse, but we combine our experiences to create a successful learning environment for our students,” said Smith.
Wanting to make the learning experience better for their students, they came up with a plan for something simple yet effective in increasing the academic engagement of students with severe disabilities through purposeful movement.
During Smith’s 38 years in education, she has come up with many ways to get her students more involved. She drew up a sketch of her ‘”Wheelchair Learning Mobiles” and then went to the Agricultural Mechanics/Welding & Fabrication teacher to bring the sketch to life.
Before the Wheelchair Learning Mobiles device was created, students engaged in hand-over hand activities led by the teacher, prompted by physical touch. When the device was first placed in front of them, the students began to engage independently. Over time, their engagement time has grown from 15 minute activities of dependent activity to more than 30 minutes independently.
The superheroes face challenges every day but continue to give their all for the students at the Seagoville High School’s ADL Unit. “I’m a firm believer that every child counts and that every child can learn,” Smith said.
