Student A is a member of one of my choir classes.

Student A is a bright student, a great

musician, and constantly shows themself to be a leader in class. Other students near Student A
rely on them heavily when it comes to musical knowledge, reading music, intonation, etc.
Despite this, Student A possesses a rare disorder known as Congenital Mirror Movement
Disorder. This fairly uncommon genetic condition is characterized by involuntary movements of
the opposite side of one’s body when completing an action, movement, or task with one side. For
example, when someone with CMM (as it is commonly referred to) is writing with their right
hand, their left hand will likely be balled up in a similar position to the hand holding a writing
utensil. For some, this disorder can be harder to control / more involuntary while others
experience milder physical responses.
From the meetings that I have attended regarding Student A’s troubles in the classroom, it
seems that their CMM mostly becomes a problem when they are writing. When writing for long
periods of time, Student A described having painful hand cramps due to their non-dominant hand
clenching to mirror the dominant hand which was writing. A classroom accommodation that was
discussed in a meeting regarding Student A’s condition with the special needs coordinator and
special education teacher allowed for a quiet space for Student A to use text to speech on a
laptop as opposed to hand-writing or typing long passages. This way Student A could still finish
the assignments and learn material but in a way that is more comfortable and accessible for their
personal needs. Being in music, another potential point of struggle for Student A could be with
complicated movement-based activities. Mr. Stutzman and I don’t do many heavily
movement-based games or exercises in class anyway, but when we do incorporate activities
involving dancing or choreography, we make sure to keep it accessible.
In my own planning, I have tried to stray away from long written activities in favor of
open class discussions. I feel that this not only helps to accommodate Student A, but also it
makes for a much more natural and open environment in the classroom. Students are more
encouraged to share their ideas with their fellow classmates and make guesses to learn / expand
upon their musicianship. Student A is often a leader in these discussions. Additionally, when it
comes to taking notes in music about dynamics, breathing, etc. I try to always give shorthand
methods, and I never have the students mark more than a few things at a time. This way I can
make things as comfortable as possible for Student A. While writing tasks like the ones
mentioned above are somewhat unavoidable, I have found that keeping them to a minimum and
opting for class discussions has worked out well for Student A and the rest of the class. I hope to
continue implementing these helpful practices, and, in the event that I incorporate a more
in-depth final reflection for the class before I leave the placement, I plan on allowing Student A
to use either the teachers’ office or the choir room storage closet to record their text-to-speech. I
feel that both of these areas would be quiet and non-distracting enough to allow Student A to
create informed and meaningful responses to the potential prompts.
 Student B is another member of one of my classes, and they have severe autism. Student
B is nearly non-verbal, and is fairly sensitive to sensory effects. A common adaptation for
sensory overload that I have seen Student B use is a pair of headphones. Student B often wears
headphones that are hooked into a chromebook provided by the school, this way Student B can
watch educational videos or avoid sensory overstimulation when necessary throughout their
classes. Additionally, Student B has a teaching aid who accompanies them to all of their classes.
The teaching aid, whom I had a chance to speak with, stays by Student B’s side throughout each
class and makes sure that Student B is doing well. A common routine that the teaching aid often
utilizes in classes is to show Student B videos pertaining to the subjects covered in class on
Student B’s chromebook. This combined with 10 minute breaks to watch other videos or sit
quietly with the teaching aid allows Student B to continue to learn content while remaining calm
and positive.
Based on discussions that I have had with my cooperating teacher and with the teaching
aid, it seems that most of the adapting in each class is left up to the teaching aid. As mentioned
before, the aid tends to utilize simplified videos as a tool to continue to deliver instruction to
Student B. Writing has also shown to be a point of struggle for Student B, with the teaching aid
often filling out answers on written activities and checking with Student B to make sure they are
following along with the information. However, Student B has shown improvement with
handling a pencil, and can write simple symbols and their name with the help of the teaching aid.
I have noticed that Student B particularly takes a liking to movement and rhythm based
activities, so, in my planning, I have made the conscious effort to include movement and rhythm
work into each lesson. This works out well as other students also enjoy these kinds of kinesthetic
activities. Being nonverbal, singing is a challenge for Student B, but in these rhythm and
kinesthetic activities, the playing field is level, and Student B can partake in the music on the
same level as other students in the classroom. Listening activities have also worked out well for
some of the same reasons. Student B quite enjoys listening to music on their headphones, so I
have incorporated group listening into my curriculum. In these activities students, including
Student B with the help of the teaching aid, write down their favorite song at that moment.
Students take turns sharing their songs and what it is they like about it, and then all students
listen to one chosen song of the songs shared and write what it is they enjoy about that song. This
works wonders for building musical horizons and as an adaptive activity that places all students
on a level playing field. Moving forward, if I had more time in the placement of course, I would
perhaps work to develop an activity that uses an approachable instrument like the xylophone or
bucket drum. Student B has shown a liking for instruments, so I think exploration based
activities with these (or similar) instruments could work well to allow Student B to create music
in a way that suits their creative needs.