The Least Dangerous Assumption By Dr. Jorgensen

4. Snow considered his conclusions about cholera to be inferences from observations whereas the reviewer from the medical journal considered these to be conjectures. What is the difference between inference and conjecture?

One in five American students has a learning disability this is according to the documentary “Misunderstood Minds’’ produced by WGBH. Children with learning disabilities are more likely to become outcasts in school and in society. The documentary follows five families dealing with a differently abled child; Nathan V, Lauren, Sarah Lee, Adam, and Nathan S. The film focuses on difficulties the families go through, professionalism or lack of it by school officials and demystification.

1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s, there was change in society’s attitudes toward people with disabilities. In the 1940s, children with learning disabilities were shown to be different from children who were disabled by researchers such as Alfred Strauss. In the Brown vs. Board of education court case in 1954, led the way to a growing understanding that all people, regardless of race, gender, or disability, have a right to public education. In 1960s, Samuel Kirk began to use the term specific learning disabilities to differentiate students with learning disabilities from the much larger group of students who were low achievers or mentally disabled. In 1960s,

Sanson (2005, p. 3) believes that when it comes to accommodating students with disabilities, scientists, practitioners, and politicians are necessary to the process as a whole and communication between these individuals is essentia.

Second, the notion that children with disabilities are incapable of learning things other than practical life skills is dehumanizing. Children with

The author performed two separate interviews face-to-face, selecting two individuals with different backgrounds in order to obtain unique perspectives. The first interviewee, named Jennifer Hodge, works for Allen ISD as a special education teacher for a self-contained DEAR (Developing Early Academics Readiness) class for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. In addition, her experience includes teaching for 22 years, with seven of those years teaching students with disabilities in both self-contained classrooms along with resource and inclusion environments. The meeting to discuss psychoeducational testing occurred in Jennifer’s work place during her conference period over a 45 minute period on Friday, August 28, 2015. The second

In their landmark study, Soukup, Wehmeyer, Bashinski and Bovaird (2007) compared access to curriculum between inclusive classrooms and self-contained ones. They reported that in an inclusive general education classroom, students with disabilities were more likely to be working on a grade-level curriculum and were significantly more likely to be provided some sort of adaptations to improve their access to it whereas in a self-contained classroom, students with special needs were mostly working on below-grade-level standards and tasks. Further, there is considerable evidence that a child’s view of himself or herself is greatly influenced by environmental reinforcements and their perceived competence by significant others in the child’s life (Harter, 1999), and that expectations about the child’s abilities can affect his or her performance through self-fulfilling prophecies (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968). When children with special needs are placed in segregated classrooms by virtue of having a disability, they are automatically categorized as less capable and intelligent than the students from the general education classrooms and, as a result, receive a less stimulating learning experience. It has been

Evaluation: In early 1970, children with learning disabilities were treated much differently than the peers that were at appropriate grade level. In this student’s case, the school system segregated the special needs students placing them in special classroom and labeled them as “slow learners”. With the teachers and school administration lack of knowledge on helping students with disabilities, students were at a disadvantage in receiving a fair education. Children felt as

People with learning disabilities are often thought to have lower intelligence. In first through fourth grade I was thought to be one of the unintelligent kids in my class. I attended Saint Catherine’s of Sienna, a scary cold catholic school with some of the harshest nuns I have ever met. They would scowl at me every time I looked their way. During my time at Saint Catherine’s I was not yet diagnosed with my learning disability, as a result many of my teachers didn’t understand why I was not comprehending the information given to me like my classmates were. They often assumed my poor grades were a result of a

The idea of children with disabilities, whether they be mild or severe has been a very controversial and misunderstood topic. In the past inclusion has brought about huge changes for not only the students, but also the parents and families of these children, and staff at schools. Teachers and education professionals were the first to really feel the wrath and intimidation of this dramatic shift in education. There were several different factors that were coming about that made it very difficult for schools and teachers, the unorganized mandates were strict and didn’t allow much time for change. “President Gerald Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) into law in 1975. Since the original passage of the EAHCA, the law has been amended four times and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)” (Conroy, Yell, Katsiyannis, & Collins, 2010, para.1).

An individual with intellectual disabilities can face many barriers in not only their academic life, but also their social life. Peter, has faced barriers to his successful inclusion in the classroom. One of the barriers the video mentions is teachers displaying unwillingness to including Peter in their classroom simply because teachers do not accept him or his disability. I believe prejudice is a barrier many people with intellectual disabilities are forced to face at a given point in their lives. I think the prejudice stems from fear and misunderstanding of people who are physically or mentally different. In chapter nine of this week’s readings, it highlights on the importance of individual relationships are between the teacher and the student with a disability. Focusing on a student’s strengths rather than there IQ or weaknesses is essential to their success. “Some teachers focus on her IQ, but that’s not a useful fact. Everything depends on the relationship Rachel and I have with educators, on their skills, and on Rachel’s attitude, behavior, and self-determination.” (Turnbull. p. 187). Another barrier Peter faces is the desperate struggle of wanting his independence, yet still needing outside assistance for things. The loneliness and the inability to properly communicate his emotions are one of the biggest mental barriers Peter has faced. Peter overcame and managed these barriers through

A common misconception present in society is that people with learning disabilities are perceived to have less potential to succeed in an academic setting than those without them. However, this statement simply is not true. They just need further accommodations or assistance to maximize their chances for success than the average student. Furthermore, no one should ever have to face the indignity of being thought of as unintelligent, lazy, or inferior by anyone because he or she was diagnosed with a learning disability.

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.

Education is one of free benefits of living in the United States. Within the schools one can find many different types of students that all deserve the best education they can receive. Nonetheless, people with intellectually disability are often forgotten and thought as unteachable. As written by Deweaver et.al. in the article Persons with Mental Retardation: A Forgotten Minority in Education, “U. S. society values high intelligence, independence, and mental acumen, but can shun those people who represent the opposite of those values”. This has been represented with the idea that the intellectually disabled need to be separated from their peers and kept in special education classrooms. According to the journal, High School Students with Intellectual

When we were kids our parents make it priority to teach us moral, values, and instill in us certain beliefs. So teaching was instilled us based on cultural, and many was taught to us based on ways to deal with negative societal influences. Assumptions is other component we operate in daily. As we grow into adults we make assumptions based on our values and beliefs. When I think about values, beliefs, and assumptions many different thought come to mind.