Reflection Paper On Special Learning Needs

Ms. Foster teaches a self-contained classroom of ninth to twelfth graders. Her students have mild to moderate cognitive disabilities and one student is considered autistic although at a high functioning level. Ms. Foster’s students move to other settings throughout the day, but they receive reading and writing instruction from her. She has one child who is considered ESOL but he has been in the US since he was small and does not appear to have problems with English.

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.

Learning disabilities are a life long struggle but if caught at a young age and early intervention takes place. The stress on the child and family is greatly reduced. Learning disabilities spread to every part of a child’s life affecting them socially. Teachers must remain professional and refrain from calling students lazy as in Adams case. A good teacher or specialist can demystify a learning disability and help a child’s

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.

The Special Education team for learning disabilities will test the student. These students have shown signs of continuous problems with interventions in place. Psychologist, psychiatrist, and any other testing will be conducted with parental consent have evaluated the student. Parents will be mandated to attend all assessment evaluations and the team shall review the findings for referral back to tier two or upgrade student to tier four for special educational services based on educational or problematic behaviors.

Learning disabilities:- Initially assess the level of understanding and speak at the appropriate level without using jargon, allow time to respond and if necessary repeat, used closed questions and picture cards.

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.

Process of Determining if a Student has a Disability and the Responsibilities of the Teacher

Disabilities or Special Requirements – Some children, such as someone who is dyslexic, may need extra time to complete tasks so it is important to know if the child being assessed has any such requirements so he/she’s abilities don’t get underestimated.

When I came to the school that day, I could not help but be reminded of my past experience of standardized assessment when I went to public school. I have never been a true support of high-stakes testing, which can to students to become frustrated. With the population I work with, students do have assessment accommodations, but the PARCC assessment still is challenging for students to take. Mrs. Corcoran did warn me how students may become overwhelmed and I will need support these students. On site visit fifteen, I assisted with administering the PARCC ELA by redirecting one student with autism. The assessment directions state to not read the students the ELA assessment, which the student kept asking me the following questions: “Miss B is this right” and “Is that how you say it?” I kept informing the students, “[Student’s name], I can’t tell you the answer.” Not only did I feel guilty by not helping the student, but I still feel the assessment does not truly authentically assess what he knows. When I have viewed at the student’s IEP summary, he is at the second-grade reading level, which the PARCC ELA assessment assessed students at the third-grade level. The emerging question asked, “By knowing the student receive accommodations and assistance with read alouds and the PARCC ELA restricts teachers to not read aloud the assessment, how will the student’s results be evaluated by the state, school,

In order for a student to be diagnosed for any disability, there is a process that involves many people that are important in the child’s life. The school must conduct tests that measure the child’s academic success in the classroom, as well as tests that measure IQ (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children), work samples, developmental history (usually get this information from the parents), physical exams (vision, hearing etc.), psychological tests, adaptive skills (BASC) and other areas as needed. Testing is usually done by professionals from various disciplines. In order to qualify for special education services under IDEA, the disability must impact the child’s ability to be academically successful (IDEA, 2004).

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

The importance of education for all children, especially for those with disability and with limited social and economic opportunities, is indisputable. Indeed, the special education system allowed children with disability increased access to public education. Apart from that, the special education system has provided for them an effective framework for their education, and for the institutions involved to identify children with disability sooner. In turn, this promotes greater inclusion of children with disability alongside their nondisabled peers. In spite of these advances however, many obstacles remain, including delays in providing services for children with disability, as well as regulatory and

The key to any successful school district is the administration. Teachers essentially provide structure, organization, and the background of a child’s future. To educate students with learning disabilities, it is essential that the staff has the training and resources needed for the appropriate people, place, and time (Lazarus) (What is Inclusion, 2001, n.p). It is unrealistic to expect that regular education teachers will always be aware of the latest research or be able to readily adapt the school's

     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.