Dedicated Seagoville teacher helps special needs students push life's limits
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – In a cozy classroom at Dallas ISD's Seagoville High, Edward is having a great day – smiling, clapping his hands and delighting those around him. The special needs teen is confined to a wheelchair and is nonverbal, but he communicates quite well.
"That smile, that high pitch response lets me know 'I'm okay, I'm enjoying myself," explains Dr. Sherian Smith, the lead teacher for the ADL (Activities of Daily Living) division at Seagoville High. "I may not be able to write it down. I may not be able to verbalize it, but I can show it in my actions, and that's just as important."
You see, great days in Dr. Smith's classroom are by design.
"They wanted independence, and I wanted them to have independence," explains Smith. "So, I created a wheelchair mobile."
After nearly four decades spent encouraging, challenging and engaging students with special needs, Smith is still driven to do more. So, when she saw that her students needed a new way to push life's limits, she turned to a colleague for help.
"I really didn't know what was going to be the end result of it," adds Chris Chevez with a quietly proud chuckle. Chevez is the agricultural mechanics/welding and fabrication teacher. And although the request was something out of his area of expertise, "They thought they were going to be building smokers!" He and his students were immediately on board.
"We looked at the wheelchairs and got the measurements and took her concept and her vision and made it a reality," turning the design into a learning tool for disabled classmates.
"It almost brought tears to my eyes going in there and see them play," shares Chevez. "They look good here now, but whenever they get the lights and the toys hanging from them a totally different experience, that these guys get to see."
He can teach the students to weld. But the lessons in compassion? Just call it extra credit.
"A lot of kids, they get throwed in a corner," says Carolyn Spencer. 17-year-old Spirit is her granddaughter.
"But I think them coming to school, this kind of program? It really helps them."
Dr. Smith says the wheelchair mobiles are tailored to each student.
"I looked at the things that they liked – texture – if they loved something that moved, something that had music, something that was soft – they responded positively and they continued to reach for that exact same item."
What may seem like 'play,' pushes her students toward progress.
"The minute they get here they look for the mobile. The minute they are in view, they're looking around... they are ready, and they start engaging before we even finish setting it up."
Engagement. Independence. Joy. All special victories for parents of children with disabilities.
"I just love it and I'm glad she could be a part of it," says Spencer, "Because Mrs. Smith, she really cares... she really cares."
And Smith admits that it has not been just a career, it's been her calling. She has already come out of retirement once – but says she missed her kids.
"[I] don't think about retirement," she admits, saying her plan is to "Stay a little bit longer because there's more kids to come. I'm going to do it for as long as I can."
