My Experience With Special Education

The amount of people who live with disabilities is a controversial number. Depending on what law and diagnostic tools used, a person may have a visible disability, or one that may lie beneath the surface of his or her appearance. Some people believe that the term “disability” is merely a label use to hold back, or prescribe helplessness. Meanwhile, individuals who have been properly diagnosed with disabilities struggle to maintain respect and acceptance every day. In plain language, there is a lot of misunderstanding between people with disabilities and those without. It is firstly important to get everyone on the same page regarding the definition of disability.

When I receive my bachelor’s degree in Special Education, I want to teach in elementary schools. I feel as though if you can start teaching the students in an inclusive classroom at a young age, everyone around will understand them more. I believe that if you can get the non-disabled kids to understand that the only thing that makes the disabled kids different from them is their disability, then they will start to associate with one another while their young. By them doing this, they are slowly becoming friends. Getting them to become friends at a young age is really important because it will limit the idea of the child that has a disability being bullied or teased by an individual that does not have a disability because he/she will understand them. While I

When Public Law 94-142 was passed in 1975 it had a positive impact on the education for children with disabilities. Millions of children in the United States were supported by the law. These children had previously been excluded entirely from the education system.

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry B. Adams. For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to play a big part in children’s education, which is why I have decided to enroll for an education course. I believe that educators have a lifelong impact on their students and on the development of resilience. Thus, I aspire to inculcate my love for learning into the next generation, by influencing and inspiring children all through their formal education.

Tuesday was my first day in my general education classroom. When I arrived, there was a substitute in my classroom for the first half hour of the day, because Ms. Keane was in an IEP meeting. The substitute and the paraprofessional showed me around the classroom and told me about some of the students. There are 20 students in the classroom, and two of them are English language learners.

I completed my field experience at Cedar Crest High School in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Since I serve the role of building principal, I am exposed to many different special education situations on a daily basis. Through this leadership field experience, I have learned a few additional things. It has taught me to stop and listen to what is occurring in our special education classrooms. By completing classroom observations, I was able to focus on the students, instead of rushing through a classroom observation on a teacher.

People are thought as child to dream big and reach for their goals. Throughout grade school to high school there are often asked what inspires them. Some people dream to become police officers, dancers, lawyers, and doctors. There are some people who chooses to become an educator. As they journey through college, to pursue the knowledge needed for their career, their passion leads them to special education. These teachers fine this career to be job satisfying, have empathy for the children, and the vacancy of the position viability. Not all teacher feel the same however, over time their dissatisfied with their job and leave because their brunt out.

One of the most essential aspects of the educational process is to know how to motivate students for learning. A challenging part of being a teacher is to know and learn how to motivate students. First of all, a good definition for motivation is as Byrnes quote “Motivation is construct

I interviewed several service providers in my school, Stephen Knight Center for Early Education, that included the psychologist, special education teacher and a general education teacher. I interviewed Ms. Iris, the school psychologist, Ms. Kathy, the special education teacher, and Ms. Hilary, a general education teacher. Ms. Iris’ responsibilities include working with students who have social emotional needs. This can include behavior challenges, learning new social skills, managing grief, etc. She works directly with parents and teachers to provide resources regarding the child’s well-being, and ensure good attendance by setting up plans. Ms. Iris works with children in general education, counseling groups, and one-on-one situations, including special education minutes. Ms. Hilary is a general education classroom teacher. She is responsible for the well-being of her students academically, socially, physically and developmentally. Ms. Hilary also advocates for families and students to receive the support that they need to feel successful in their first years of school. Finally, Ms. Kathy is the staffing

The special education teacher interviewed, co-teaches algebra into three class periods. She is able to teach up to 50 students. In her classroom she can teach children with disabilities or up to 25 at-risk students.

Those simple instructions helped the students to get into their daily routine. With the increased discovery and changes in special education, the kids will benefits from newly developed technology in the future. During lunch, the students sat at the table with their peers. I felt like the school needed more set of hands; in other to achieve their desired goals. Ms. Gonzalez was a very happy and hardworking teacher who loved her job. I asked Ms. Gonzalez what motivated her to become a special education teacher. She said that she was motivated by her son. She had a three year old son who was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Conduct Disorder (CD). She said during the initial stage of her son diagnoses, she felt hopeless, frustrated and taught she will not be able to take care of her child. She attended a lot of seminars and training on how to care for a child with such disorder. After series of training, she was able to care for her child and love her child just the way he was. When her child got older, she decided to become a special aid teacher. Her goal was to share her story; as well as educate the parents on how to care for children with disabilities and ways to reduce parental anxiety and frustration while caring for their

My over all experience from doing these informational interviews, is that I had a wonderful time and I really learned a lot. I had a great time getting to know each person, and getting to know more about their careers. I learned there are many careers you can go into with an education major. Dr. Jackson shared with me that some companies’ hirer education majors to train their new employers, so my career field is not that small as I though. I was even shock when more than half of my interviewees gave me another major to look into. Special education came up a lot during some of my interviews, and Nudell told me that more openings for teachers with special education majors. Special education teachers for elementary school make a thousand five

My interest’s in special education goes back to my high school years, where I was taken out for testing, and to get help with homework. I was that student that had an IEP and was in a resource room twice a day to get help. It was hard for me to understand why I had to get taken out for exams, homework or even big projects. Well it helped me get good grades and pass exam usually. I couldn’t get the jest to why I wasn’t a “normal” student and to be able to take an exam in the class room. While I was in elementary school I had to get tested a lot for academics to see what was going on. Finally came to a conclusion that I have and disability with an IEP, bad test anxiety and that’s why I had an IEP in school. I came to realize in high school that

Millions of children now a day are being identified as “disabled children.” Over the semester I have been enriched with information that will stick with me throughout my teachings. When I tell family and friends that I am studying to be a special education teacher they go “wow you must be a really patient person.” I feel like it takes a special person to have the passion and patients for these children. This course has made me more excited to be able to move on next semester and start my clincincals.

     Special Education 332 (Education and Inclusion of Individuals with Special Needs) has been enlightening for me as a secondary mathematics educator. In the beginning of the semester, my feelings towards special education were those of apathy and insensitivity. I now understand that my feelings were due to my lack of knowledge and my judgment based on stereotypes.