Artifact 1: Reflection on the Advocacy Group Project
Standard 6 of CEC: Beginning special education professionals use foundational knowledge of the field and their professional ethical principles and practice standards to inform special education practice, to engage in lifelong learning, and to advance the profession.
Standard 6.5 of CEC: Beginning special education professionals advance the profession by engaging in activities such as advocacy and mentoring.
My first artifact is my reflection of the group advocacy project. Through this project, I gained a better understanding of the work done by the Autism Society of Maine (ASM). This artifact relates to Standard 6 of the Council for Exceptional Children standards. Standard 6.5 talks about the importance of engaging in life-long learning to advance the profession, which is a value of the ASM. This is demonstrated through the opportunity for people to become Autism Information Specialists, where qualified individuals are trained to provide resource information to a community to support people with ASD. These individuals are constantly learning through attending education, transitional, and vocational planning meetings.
The information I learned about the Autism Society of Maine can be used in my future practice of dentistry when treating patients with ASD. When being treated in a dental office, patients with autism face the challenge of not being able to communicate and relate to others. Other problems that might be presented in the dental office is the lack of ability to manage emotions, repetitive body movements, hyperactivity, and low frustration threshold. I aim to be a compassionate health professional by first recognizing the signs of autism and providing the extra level of care to make all patients, with or without disabilities, feel most comfortable.
Artifact 2: Reflection on the Restraint and Seclusion Panel
My second artifact is my reflection of the restraint and seclusion panel event. By listening to a panel of highly trained professionals, I gained a better understanding of the prevalence of restraints and seclusion techniques being used on students with disabilities in Maine and efforts that the state has made to decrease its use. This artifact relates to Standard 3 of the Council for Exceptional Children standards. Standard 3.1 addresses the importance of special education professionals understanding the structures of discipline to develop meaningful learning progressions for students with disabilities. This was discussed by the panelists when they stated that restraints and seclusion is only permitted to be used when there is imminent danger of serious physical harm to the student or another person, with use of the least amount of force, and restraint ends immediately upon cessation of the imminent danger.
The information I learned about restraints and seclusion can be used in my future practice of dentistry when treated and educating young patients. After this panel, I recognize that restraint systems used in dentistry can be physically damaging to children. I will take more ethical approaches for helping children feel safe by allowing parents to hold their child or using anesthesia, rather than using the previously popular practice of a papoose to immobilize patients during treatment. This will allow me to build trust with my patients through making dental visits a positive experience, rather than a harmful one that uses restraint techniques.
Standard 3 of the CEC: Beginning special education professionals use knowledge of general and specialized curricula to individualize learning for individuals with exceptionalities.
Standard 3.1: Beginning special education professionals understand the central concepts, structures of the discipline, and tools of inquiry of the content areas they teach, and can organize this knowledge, integrate cross-disciplinary skills, and develop meaningful learning progressions for individuals with exceptionalities.
