Special Education Research Paper

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.

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.

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.

“I would just like to call to the Court’s attention what the realities of that situation are, and I think I can speak with some authority because for the last nine years, my fifteen-year-old- daughter has been denied access to public education…” were the words of Leonard Kalish, a father from the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1972), speaking about his daughter not being able to attain a public education (Kemerer and Sansom, 2005). He continues by stating, “…and as a result of which we have had her in private schools…we have spent approximately forty thousand dollars…” (p. 293). Like Mr. Kalish, many parents have gone in front of the courts to fight for their child’s right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and receive financial compensation, like the parents of Jeremy Wartenberg, from Wartenberg v. Capistrano Unified School District (1995) (West Law, 1995). However, before discussing the Wartenberg’s case, it is key to look back on special education and how it has evolved over time.

Keir Thomas portrays Tom. Keir is truly a traveler on his accord and has taken in cultures from all parts of the world. Keir believes that a mind is open up to the possibilities when seeing what Earth has to offer within the blue and green.

There is a controversy whether or not people who are obese should or shouldn’t be covered by the American with Disabilities Act.

For the social justice project, my group chose to focus on college student with a learning disability. College students with a learning disability can sometimes be overlooked or not represented in the classroom setting that Beneful for them. My initial impression of a person that has a learning disability is having trouble retaining information that can be seen as simple to others. They need a little bit more help which can be tutoring, study method or extra time on assignment. After this project, I have a new respect for people with learning disability. They must do more in order to achieve a goal that comes easily to other. They never complain, nor they do give up on a task that could be difficult to them. The most interesting aspects of what I learned about learning disability through my individual interview is a new-found respect for my best friend.

…“Children with disabilities should be educated in the most open and normal environment possible (the least restrictive environment); when needed, evaluations, diagnose, and treatments should be done without stigmatization and discrimination.”… (Pg. 176)

My action research project was influenced by the national push towards inclusion of children with special needs into the general education classroom. Because our school was trying to adopt a co-teaching program, this was the area I did most of my research on. I found a multitude of studies that supported co-teaching and analyzed the effects of co-teaching on students, teachers and parents. I then researched the affects of a non-inclusive environment on all students. After witnessing how my students self-esteem had plummeted due to their specific grouping, I was not surprised to find research that supported the theory that students who are identified as having special needs will have lower self esteem and self worth. In a study done on students with special needs, all of them reported thinking they would be unable to attend mainstream classes because they did not feel they were successful learners based on their placement in special education (Griffiths, 2007). This study also revealed the children with special needs held fears that all adults would think of them as troublemakers because the classes they were in held a high majority of children with behavior problems (Griffiths, 2007). This study concentrates on students who attend schools for special needs. These students may feel more isolated than those who receive special services inside a mainstream school, but those who are evaluated or receive special education within a mainstream school show the

The year was 1972 at Central High School in the small town of Bridgeport, Connecticut. There lived my father along with his sister, his mom, and his dad later to be known as my aunt and my grandparents. Knowing that my father lived in a completely different state as I live in now, I felt that interviewing him about his high school experience would be a smart idea as there could be major difference between high school in Connecticut and high school in New Jersey especially during that time period. Just after I started to interview my father (Barry Schnee), it was very evident that high school back then was definitely not the same as it was when I went. To begin the interview, I tried to get a good feel about my father's basic high school life

Everyone can remember a special year of school that one school year that tops all of them, well my “special” year was 8th grade. My reasoning for 8th grade being my favorite or “special” year is, because in 8th grade I had a lot of fun. To be specific I had many adventures like hanging out with friends outside of school, going to block parties, going horseback riding, visiting a civil war museum, and going to the school dance. If i'm being honest I may have gotten into a fair amount of trouble like for example I may or may not have lied for one of my close friends. My friend savannah decided it'd be funny to mimic the teacher which caused the teacher to get mad, and threaten to keep the class from going on the field trip to the recplex in

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).

There are vast amounts of people that we come into contact with during our lives. Yet, amongst these immense amounts of people, only some become memorable in a good way. Of those people, there are family members that will always be special at all times. There are friends that have those irreplaceable memories of fun times. There are also the adults that guide us in times of trouble or need. However, people that will always be special in our hearts come few and far between. Joanne Hewitt is one of those people.

Deliberate self-harm is a term that covers a wide range of behaviours some of which are directly related to suicide and some are not. This is a relatively common behaviour that is little understood. This essay provides an overview of the nature and extent of those most at risk of self-harm, including causes and risk factors. Examining some of the stereotyping that surrounds self -harm, and looking at ways in which self-harm can be prevented.

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.