When did Peter join a class of normal children?
Before he entered the third grade, Peter Gwazdauskas was originally in a separate school for students with disabilities. When he entered the third grade, he enrolled in a traditional school due to a change in federal law stating that students with disabilities should be educated with typically developing students in general education. Even though Peter had improved since third grade, he still had some social issues, including suffering through depression and having occasional behavioral outbursts. During the school day, Peter was accompanied by paraprofessionals to help him stay directed and learning. Sometimes during class, he was pulled out of the lesson in order to work with a paraprofessional in a one-on-one setting. To increase his social skills, Peter had some community-based jobs during the time he was in middle school and high school. In the summer, he had a summer aide in order to continue his functional education, learning vocational skills and community-based living practices. Peter also participated in extracurricular activities at his school, like being in the concert band as well as being the manager of the soccer team. He was also in a school club with both typically developing peers and peers with disabilities. Since joining, it has helped Peter improve his social skills. He improved even more in social and vocational skills by the end of his senior year of high school and went on to graduate with his classmates.
third grade