CBS12 News’ next “Teacher Feature” incorporates hands-on manipulatives and assistive technology to meet students’ needs who struggle with developmental disabilities at one Palm Beach County charter school.
Ann Kihohia teaches 6th – 12th grade special abilities students at The Arc of Palm Beach County’s Bodwell Academy in Riviera Beach. She has been an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) program teacher for 15 years, helping her student’s build what she calls a personalized “life toolbox” of strategies to manage daily challenges.
“My teaching style is consistency as well as connections, because overall they are teenagers. So, if the lesson does not make a connection, they will go to sleep on you. I make sure that my lessons have an in-depth connection with each student, a personal connection with each student. Therefore, we have to connect the academic standards along with Activities that are happening in their life. Things that are relevant to them such as music, entertainment, clothing shoes,” said Kihohia.
Kihohia’s class is structured the same throughout the year, with slight changes as far as academics go over the summer months.
“Instead we replace that with a lot of creative arts and a lot of music. We got to have a lot of music. One thing I say is that, keep in mind, a lot of our students have different communication methods. Some have the eye gaze facial expressions, others have physical movements as a response, and others have communication of short and long sentences. Therefore, we have to have a variety of lessons that are going to connect with each student,” said Kihohia. “We able to break up into our individualized groups. We have our physical therapist. We have our speech therapist. We have two of them and then we have a teacher who’s doing the lesson also to meet the individual needs of the students. In addition to that, we also have 2 to 3 teacher assistants who help the students who are operating on an independent level. We make sure that we meet the needs tailored to every student.”
Kihohia encourages peer-to-peer learning within the mixed ability setting of her classroom.
“Wow, that’s the very, very, very fun part. The children enjoy- the students, because remember they’re teenagers and not children anymore. The teenagers enjoy interacting with each other and therefore they’re able to work together and have fun while they’re learning. We have students who have best buddies. So, we have a best buddy’s program. But now we have reading buddies here and we are reading buddies, we have math buddies, and they were together implementing the assignments. They are able to help on another and encourage one another to succeed,” said Kihohia.
She says she’s seen so much improvement in her students from where they were at the start of the year to now.
“Where do we start? It’s so much because it’s ongoing, and we have so much support, and so much intervention, and therapy hours. We see students grow in so many different areas. We see tremendous growth, so therefore we’re able to inch closer and closer and closer to functioning independently, which is the goal. When they’re able to- when it’s time for them to implement the life skills, they’ll be able to do that successfully and also communicate with others,” said Kihohia.
Kihohia says they want to incorporate much more technology into the classroom. That’s because technology is used on an everyday basis, so she wants her students to feel comfortable with technology to be able to navigate it in the real world.
Kihohia also has a special connection to her journey in becoming a special abilities teacher.
She has a family member that has a walking disability and speech issues. But that family member persevered and did not let the disability define him.
He eventually got his PHD. She says that’s why her expectations are so high for her students, and she will do whatever it takes to see them succeed too.
