Position on Special Education

Jessica Yoakum

My Position on Special Education

Avila University

Position

Students within the classroom each exhibit individual characteristics that take part in their learning process. These characteristics such as physical and learning abilities change as the student grows. Usually, within the early elementary years, teachers and parents together can collaborate and start to understand how each student learns as well as to assess if they are on “target” for the age and grade level. Think of a student’s intelligence levels. Most students maintain and stay within the “normal” range for typical learners close to their age. As there will always be those in the normal range, there will also always be students whose intelligence level is above or below it. These students have different ability levels than those within the normal range but consider this; there are also students who have difficulty learning who also maintain a normal level of intelligence which correlates with the appropriate age and grade level. These children are called exceptional for they see the world and its connections differently than you and I and therefore learn differently from the norm. These students require an individualized education program, IEP, to fully benefit from education. This is left with the analytical question of, “How do we teach all these children?”

Rationale

In 1975 PL 94-142 stated that all handicapped children could attend school along with their peers. Along with this law, there is a list of six principles implementing it. In the early 2000s, this law was transformed many times in favor of school with the definition of full-inclusion being added. The education system has as well transformed within the special education context from the service stage of the ’80s-’90s, academic stage of the 90’s-00 to now the accountability stage from the 00’s-present. We are now left with the duty of providing a free and appropriate education, FAPE, to all students as well as fully including these students in the mainstream classroom setting and curriculum. Zero reject and IEPs allow these exceptional students to learn with and alongside their peers. This is a great theory and it’s one in which many parents think about and strive for when planning their exceptional children’s future. The severity of the disability provides different meaning to a FAPE and the LRE in which the student needs to be placed. In some cases these slow down the process for an adequate learning program available to these students.

When zero reject, principle one was first implemented officials combed through households and made sure that all children were in school. This was to make sure that all handicapped children were in school no matter the severity of the disability. This was the first time these students were exposed to public education and the first time for these children who were now called students to learn alongside their peers. These children are provided with services from birth to age twenty-one. This allows the exceptional student to learn within the range in which normally developing children are learning. Without the principle of zero reject these students would be confined within their home or possibly worse within a hospital or institution set up to care for these individuals. These students are able to attend school and learn the same curriculum just like every other child their age.

The third principle, Individual Education Plans, is set up to provide a free and appropriate education to all students. IEPs provide exceptional students with a differentiated learning program created by a special education teacher in with cooperation with the classroom teacher, principle, and certified evaluator, social worker if the school district has one, and most importantly the parent or guardian of the student. The student is assessed and therefore their disability is identified and an education plan is developed to aid in their weaknesses in learning. The student is also categorized as mild, moderate, severe, and profound which aids in the Least Restrictive Environment, LRE, placement, and the number of services available for the student is then determined. With the IEP the student’s learning is evaluated, planned, implemented, and tracked. This helps the student to learn.

All students are able to attend public schools with zero rejection and also those who show exceptionalities are provided an IEP in order to differentiate their learning. Zero reject and IEPs allow students to attend the same classrooms as their peers. These students are able in most cases to create relationships with their peers when they are young. The socialization skills gained due to these relationships will help aid in the communication skills of every child involved.

Some may argue that zero reject neglects the individuality of each exceptional student’s disability. There are some students who do not need to be in the mainstream classroom with normally developing peers. In cases, students who are severe and profound will not be able to learn at the normal rate in which other students their age learn. These students need to be in LRE such as a special education school or where individual learning can be most implemented. Mild and moderate students with disabilities are easier for public schools to create education plans and are easier for the mainstream classroom teacher to teach.

IEPs are developed in order to differentiate learning but they do not look past the learning process itself. Children who have behavioral or conduct disorders are not provided with an IEP and students can be expelled without any response to intervention for the student. These students in many minds present an exceptionality due to behavioral disorders and conduct disorders being a stem of something bigger and stronger such as an unidentified exceptionality. If an exceptionality is not identified these students are left to learn on their own how to deal with their disorder and this often affects their learning. Not having any IEPs for these types of students hinders their learning potential.

Although being in the classroom with peers provides students with the socialization skills needed when they are young, as the student grows their socialization skill either develop or maintain a level below their peers. As students grow together throughout childhood they usually develop for the most part the same likes and ideas about what it means to be a kid. Many students can laugh at the same joke, visit multiple places on a vacation, go outside to play with friends, or sleepover at a friend’s house. For some of these students, the exceptionality may not be able to experience the same occurrences in their lives as other children do regularly. These students maintain a level while other students surpass them and grow into adults.

Opinion

All children with disabilities should not be in the regular classroom. I believe that each individual exceptional student is different as well as their level of severity. Students who are severe and profound should be placed in a special education school or with an individual who can teach the student in an area that is most comfortable and adequately adapted to the student. Children who are mild and moderate can maintain for the most part in the classroom with other children based on the LRE for the student. The classes and subjects taught also can provide benefits to the student but in some cases, other classes such as self-improvement classes should possibly be thought out. The services required for the student to attend public school if their disability is severe or profound provide a greater cost to the school in which many schools are reluctant to administer.

Each type of disability needs to be known along with any other secondary conditions such as anxiety or behavior. For example, most students can adapt and perform in the classroom within the mild to moderate range, but those who have behavioral and conduct disorders which can be a stem of their disability may not be able to perform to their full potential. This causes the student to be on an IEP which is adapted to their style of learning or weaknesses in their learning but other areas that interfere with their learning process are not being considered or are being overlooked.

Does every exceptional child need to learn the same content to the same degree as other students? This opens the idea of fairness which means what is right for the individual as opposed to the group. The content constructed in the classroom is based on a tier system in which concepts build upon themselves throughout the years. When an exceptional student has a hard time mastering content in the first grade by the time the student reaches the fourth grade the student will in most cases not be able to rely on skill which was taught in the earlier grades to solve problems. I do not believe that all exceptional students need to learn the same content to the same degree as typical students. Learning is the act of gaining new concepts and building on those concepts. Different levels of knowledge are acquired among students and this is the same for exceptional students as well. Exceptional students need to attempt to learn the same content as every other student as well but these students need to be taught the skills to be able to live with the least amount of assistance as possible. This should be the ultimate goal for every exceptional student to try to attain for the overall purpose of these students learning who they are individually.

The services required for the daily needs of these students vary as with their disability. Some students require a mild or moderate amount of services within the public school. Transportation to and from home, speech, and language and audiology are the services that I have seen within the schools I have visited. These are within or brought to the school paid for by the district and therefore easily accessible to students. The students who require other services such as OT/PT, counseling and certain forms of assistive technology are left for the parents to find and schedule. These services may sometimes interfere with school schedules as well as doctors’ appointments. Since these cost money and time most students do not receive these services. I have seen the difference between a moderate and severe autistic student and the overall reason the one student was moderate was that she came from a nurturing home environment. Her parents have the ability for her to receive OT/PT and speech therapy outside of the home. Recently during OT/PT she has been able to engage in art therapy and paint with her toes. I do believe she will have greater success in life due to being able to have these services.

Advocacy

In my career as a special education teacher, I plan to plan to educate my exceptional students about how they learn as well as their parents. I also pledge to aid in the identification and implementation of 0a plan to get these students the services they require. I also plan to follow-up and continue to be each student advocate during their educational career. Continually educating myself about how to better educate my exceptional students is the highest level of advocacy that I can provide.

Every exceptional student and their parents need to know and understand what it means to live in the life of their children and what they can do to help provide as such self-sufficiency as possible. When students are aware of their strengths and weaknesses they are able to learn problem-solving skills that aid them in their everyday tasks. Once these skills are learned they are reconditioned in a routine and then become automatic. The student might have to learn the concept in an abstract sense of a “different angle” than most but within reason, concepts can be taught and learned. I have seen parents who are educated and those who are uneducated about their exceptional student’s abilities and there is a difference in the well-being of the student. Children whose parents provide a nurturing environment adapted to the student’s abilities achieve more as in the case of the autistic student mentioned above. I have talked to teachers whom I have interviewed about the special education within their schools about the exceptional students’ home lives and their aid at home. The students who did better in school had a home life where the parents communicated with the teacher weekly, educated themselves and the teacher about their students and were able to provide a nurturing environment for these students due to the first two. Those students whose parents’ are not commitment stayed at the school and did not grow to their full potential.

Identifying and implementing and plan for these students needs to be done as early as possible. Many students with learning disabilities are not diagnosed at a young age until they have a history and test scores to back up the diagnosis. Other students are diagnosed at an early age due to their characteristics or never diagnosed. While speaking with different teachers about special education I asked them if any students in the classroom had a 504 plan, IEP, or undiagnosed. Each teacher had at least one or two students in their classroom whom they believe have an undiagnosed exceptionality. Every teacher stated students who had behavioral or conduct disorder but did not see an exceptionality within those students. I thought to myself, “Why haven’t these students been provided services within the school and outside of the mainstream classroom?” I know the answer probably is tied back to funding but if that is the answer then the student’s rights are not fully protected. These students need an advocate and that needs to be the teacher.

Being an advocate doesn’t stop with the identification and implementation of an educational plan for these students. When the student is placed into a special education program there needs to be follow-up and guidance from an experienced individual the student knows and trusts. Many schools have social workers and I have been able to sit and talk with these great people. Many different services are available to students who show a need for them and social workers help students receive and maintain these services. Special education has an IEP to help exceptional students. All other follow-ups are during the updating of the IEP with other members within the school. I believe these students need more than an IEP meeting and evaluation periodically. One student of mine always a student of mine will be my approach to this type of situation. I will always be an advocate for my students as long as I feel as though they need me and probably when they don’t. I plan to know these student's strengths and weaknesses and help explain to them as they grow how their uniqueness shines.

The best thing I can do to help be an advocate for my students is educating myself. After speaking to many teachers I allowed them to voice their concerns about special education in their school and the most requested change was to educate the mainstream teacher more about exceptional students. I am close to a teacher my son had in second grade and she is an amazing teacher who has taught for over thirty years. While talking to her about exceptional students I told her about the techniques I have learned in class to help these students in the mainstream classroom. She looked at me with such amazement and said, “Those make sense and I don’t know why I haven’t thought about it.” The reasoning was because she hasn’t been exposed to a current special education course or workshop. As teachers, there is always something new to learn in the area of special education so learning the basics about exceptional students and how to help these students with mild adaptations in the classroom can actually become priceless in their lives.

There is a rationale behind special education in which all children have the right to a FAPE in the LRE possible. Although this the framework there are other factors such as the severity of the disability which also needs to be factored into the students learning and potential. I do not believe that every student with a disability should be in the classroom because each student has different needs and skills they need to acknowledge and develop to help them become as independent as possible. Advocacy is needed past the identification and implementation stage and with educating one’s self with the latest and most up to date movements in special education. This helps to allow these students to reach heights in their education they never would have thought could be done. Years ago I spoke to a close relative about going into special education and the response I received is why I would want to spend my days trying to teach children who are not able to learn. It’s sad that I allowed that fear to keep me from going into special education earlier in life. I have now been educated on the basics of special education and know that these children can learn and they can live lives with much fulfillment.