Artifact 2

Cheryl Hoskinson
ED 271
April 23, 2016

Journal # 2
I will discuss what it is like to finally have some added responsibility
in my classroom. On Wednesday the 20th of April with the help of the
teacher and her assistance I was allowed to experience what it is like to
feed Nathan.
Nathan is a young, autistic, and Down syndrome boy about the age of
seven. He has a regimented program that he needs to use when he is being
feed. He cant digest food, so his mother makes a concoction of spinach and
other nutrients in a blender, and then sends Nathan to school with a
thermos full of his food. The teacher and her assistance refer to Nathans
food as the drink.
He has a book which contains a picture of a drink, and the teachers
assistant uses it when he has to feed Nathan. In order to feed Nathan,
Nathan first goes to his locker, and pulls out his drink cup while the
assistant takes out the thermos. Both the assistant and Nathan sit down at

the table, while the assistant pours the drink from the thermos into the
drink cup. Before Nathan can take a drink, he must go to his book and
retrieve the picture of the drink and give it to the assistant. Once Nathan
starts drinking, the assistant will take the picture, and put it back on
Nathans book which has Velcro on top which allows the picture to stick to
it. The assistant can place the book anywhere in the room. The assistant
returns to the table and lets Nathan know that he must hand the drink cup
over to the assistant, and then retrieve the picture from the book again.
Remember that the book may be anywhere in the room where the assistant
has moved it. It is up to Nathan to locate the book, retrieve the picture, and
then bring it to the assistant. The assistant will continue this process until
Nathan is either finished drinking or the drink is gone.
Any of the teachers assistance can help in feeding Nathan, but the
exciting thing for me was that I got to do it on Wednesday the 20th of April
of course I was supervised by the teacher, and the assistant who usually
feeds Nathan. The assistant said that I was more assertive with Nathan than
he usually is with Nathan. It was a good experience. I enjoyed doing it. I
hope that I will get another chance to feed Nathan again.