Reflection Paper On Special Education

Special education teachers make a conscious decision to work on a daily basis with students who display various disabilities. Some of the disabilities include autism, negative social and emotional behaviors, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, mobility disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, as well as students who suffer from being blind and deaf. When these disabilities interfere with the daily educational activities of a child, the child is in need of the valuable opportunities provided in a self-contained classroom.

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.

I enjoyed this 20-hour field experience, special education has always been a passion of mine. This gave me the opportunity to see first-hand what my future teaching job could look like. I noticed there was numerous amounts of paper work that must be filled out for each student that is in the special education classroom. There is also a lot of data scores that must be collected and used when determining a student’s IEP. Time management is very important when creating a daily schedule to meet the student’s needs.

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.

For this assignment, I interview a service provider for special education services. The service provider I interviewed, takes part in the educational team, and provide services. The service provider is developmental therapist. I was able to develop a better sense of the importance of inclusion. After interviewing the service provider, and learning her philosophy of inclusion I have was able to better understand the accommodations and modifications for special needs students.

My personal philosophy of special education drives not from teaching in the field, but from, observations, and personal experience, and the workshops I attended. I have had the opportunity to work with individuals with special needs in many different settings, all this help cultivate my knowledge in handling the needs of the special needed student. Special needs students have the ability to learn, to function, to grow, and most importantly to succeed. The difference comes into how they learn or how they need to be taught. There are as many beliefs about the "hows" as there are teachers and each of us forms our own philosophy through our experiences and research. As a student in a special education teachers’ program, learners with

Analyzed below are the two journal articles about special education assessments entitled, Predictors of Assessment Accommodations Use for Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing from the Journal of Educational Research & Policy Studies (Cawthon & WurtzBest, 2010) and A Methodology for Assessing the Functions of Emerging Speech in Children with Developmental Disabilities from the Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis (Parten, et al, 2005). The analysis revolves around the following areas: nature of research, summary, critique, personnel, future practice, and future research.

My observation this semester is in a self-contained classroom for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The class is taught by one special education teacher who is assisted by a teaching aide. The desks are spaced out from one another, allowing each student a lot of room to move around. I believe the desks are arranged this way so that the students have limited contact with one another. There are books and games on a shelf that the students are allowed to use during break time. There are also two computers that they may use during breaks or after they have completed their work. In one corner of the room, there are two bean bags and a sign that says quiet zone. The students are taught reading, math, and language arts in this room. They go to an inclusion room for science and social studies. They eat lunch in the cafeteria with the rest of the fifth-grade students. They also leave this room every day to attend related arts with the rest of the student body.

Week two of field observation at Crestone Charter School. My Second week of field observations was really fun and interactive. I had the opportunity to work with several students from the k-1 class with special needs. We traveled to several reading stations and did a read along with the fourth and fifth-grade students. At arrival, I met with the main Para, Ammie Morphet and was informed that Lexi whom is one of the charter schools highest priority/needs students was the student I would be working with. Lexi usually has a personal in class Para that works with her throughout the day, but she was out sick. Since I know Lexi and have personal experience working with her we came to the conclusion that it would be best if I assisted with Lexis daily routine and any other classroom needs. This allowed Mrs. Morphet to attend to the other students she had previously scheduled for us to meet with.

The purpose of schooling is to help our special education students to be functional and independent in the real world. I want them to learn how to deal with real life situations and to be able to understand and adapt to the changes it may bring. For example, being an autism teacher of high school students, my philosophy is different than of an autism teacher of elementary students. The most important thing of concern for the older students is to make sure they are as independent as possible and teach them some type of job skill to help them acquire a pay check to help with their care. I also help them have an

This article discusses whether or not special education teachers, as well as general education teachers, are prepared to teach students with autism. According to the article, autism is ranks at the sixth most commonly classified disability in the United States. There is a very wide spectrum for autism which include disorders like Asperger’s and pervasive developmental disorders not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). 1 out of 150 American children will be born with autism (Autism Society of America, NDb).

Special education has faced many changes during the last century. During this time there have been many opinions on the way students with differences should be taught and treated. This paper will discuss the history of special education during the twentieth century. We will also discuss the laws associated with Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Finally we will discuss the current and future challenges that the laws have on special education.

One of the most controversial issues facing educators today is the topic of educating students with disabilities, specifically through the concept of inclusion. Inclusion is defined as having every student be a part of the classroom all working together no matter if the child has a learning disability or not (Farmer) (Inclusion: Where We’ve Been.., 2005, para. 5). The mentally retarded population has both a low IQ and the inability to perform everyday functions. Activities such as eating, dressing, walking, and in some cases, talking can be hopeless for a child with mental retardation.

Throughout my career I have always been amazed by how little regular education teachers know about the special education process. On numerous occasions I have had teachers ask me, “Why don’t you just test him, to see if he qualifies?” And when I tried to explain that there was more to the process then just testing, most of the time the teachers would walk away in disgust, without knowing the steps we had to follow in the process.

     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.