I agree with our text Education
For All, that “special education gave general educators permission to ignore
students whose behavior and academic abilities made them more challenging to
teach” (p.78). ELN students were pushed
to the side in hopes that someone else would take care of their needs. I think educators didn’t challenge these
students and I still think that’s a struggle today. Watching the videos for this module really
reminded me how differing our views can be on inclusion. There are so many
different sides: parents, children, educators, etc and if we want to make this
work it (inclusion) “takes commitment” (Are You Happy- youtube video).
American Federation of Teachers say that “when
inclusion efforts fail, it is frequently due to ‘a lack of appropriate training
for teachers in mainstream classrooms, ignorance about inclusion among
senior-level administrators, and a general lack of funding for resources and
training” (http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues43/concerns.html).
If we are going to do inclusion,
then I think education as a whole needs to reexamine what it’s doing. For so long we relied on the special
education department to be able to help these teachers, and unfortunately that
is not happening due to varying reasons.
For now, expectations for ELN students are to be a part of the general
education setting and “to keep up” with their peers all while receiving accommodations.
The school that I have been
blessed to work at for the past 5 years is a school specially designed for
students with learning disabilities. Students
have varying disabilities such as ADD/ADHD, receptive/expressive language
delays, lack of fine/gross motor skills, etc. My students are those who have “fallen between the
cracks” so to speak. They have been
pushed through a system trying to keep them academically challenged. A system of high stakes tests, grades,
pass/fail mentality, one size fits all, etc.
Parents come crying (literally)
to administrators at our school because their child (in the general education
setting) takes 3 hours to do homework that should take 20 minutes or that their
child can’t keep up with their peers. The parent/child relationship is hurting. I
read reports from teachers stating that these children have behavior problems
in the classroom and parents would agree that they carry over to home. Many are medicated
just to be able to stay seated in the classroom or to be able to coexist with
their classmates.
Then, I get the opportunity to
work with these students firsthand and see many of these issues go away. When the pressures are taken off, the
students feel more comfortable being themselves, they don’t feel that they have
to compete anymore, they can learn at their own pace, and they can feel
successful. To me, having educational
options is so crucial to the well-being of our society.
I believe that every parent should
have the right to choose what works best educationally, socially, emotionally,
physically for his/her child. I believe
if your child can be successful in an inclusion environment then you should do
that. If your child comes home crying every
day because they cannot keep up in class, or homework is taking hours, or they
are not receiving the services they should be, then you should go
elsewhere. As the video Including
Samuel stated, “When we do it poorly, we reinforce that this cannot work”
referring to inclusion. I believe that
my school exists because some schools have been doing it poorly
If we really believe
in the least restrictive environment, which can be a variety of placements
(Education For All, pg.75), we need to have varying educational opportunities. I think it’s crucial for a child to be in the
least restrictive environment more now than ever before. I have seen students come to our school
grades behind their peers, low confidence, anxiety driven, and coping with
their stress by acting out: seemingly “a lost cause” in the general education
setting; turn out to be amazing kids who rise to appropriate expectations, are motivated,
confident and ready to take on the world!
I think every teacher needs to be trained or have some exposure and background when dealing with special needs children. It can help them be more confident in presenting material and dealing with these students, but also give themselves that exposure and try to find new ways to reach out to these kids. A least restrictive environment should be the goal so special needs children are with their peers and not isolated.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with you that they should not be isolated. Absolutely, that should be the goal. I think that I come from a different perspective because I see that the students I have were not successful in the general education setting. They didn't receive the help they needed and were not able to learn. I wish that general ed. was doing a better job so these students could stay. But kids don't have forever to wait for gen. ed to "get it together". I think we are years away from making this happen especially when the pressures and expectations just keep rising.
ReplyDeleteCourtney I agree that many general education settings are failing the ELN students and exactly the reason our textbook says along with the examples that you have experienced. But, there are many good inclusion classrooms that are providing students with the most appropriate education in the least restrictive environment and despite the quality education they are being provided with the ELN student still doesn't succeed. Many schools do provide all the resources that are needed but for whatever reason there isn't success. That is part of the debate on inclusion that despite everything being done right it does occasionally not work.
ReplyDeleteYes, Karen, I would agree that even though a school may do everything in their power to work with an ELN student that he/she may still not be successful academically. Hopefully socially and emotionally they are though;) I would think that the reasons they are not successful still would come back to the unrealistic pressures, demands and expectations that our laws for education are putting on all our students.
DeleteCourtney, the point that you make about parent/child relationships hurting is so true. There are many factors that negatively impact our children growing up: parents working nights, divorce, neglect and many others. Inclusion is not a one size fits all perfect remedy for all students. Every child has a unique situation where the find the right place to fit in. It's our job as teachers to help them find their way.
ReplyDeleteVarying options is what we need but unfortunately many districts see varying options as added expenses to already money strapped schools and that is just a sad reality.
ReplyDeleteBreaks my heart when money drives decisions for whats best for a child. Or when we run our schools like a business. Someday I hope more of us start speaking out about what is going on in education. I hope we as teachers can find it in us to advocate for the kids who are suffering (and its not just our ELN students).
DeleteThere are so many good points in this post as well as the comments. While I totally agree that ELN students should not be isolated, I also agree that we don't have time to wait for gen ed to get it together. I wish there was more of an option for regular educators as to the types of children placed in their classroom. In a perfect world every teacher should have the knowledge, skills and temperament to teach a diverse group of children. However this just isn't the case and quite frankly just like the student population, we as teachers are diverse as well. We have strengths and weaknesses just like anyone else. I really like the idea of co-teaching and wish more schools would utilize it. Co-teaching benefits the teachers in that they can build off the strengths of each other while meeting the needs of the diverse learners in the room.
ReplyDeleteDiane, I like the idea of co-teaching for so many reasons:) I really love working with another teacher because you are right... you can build off each other's strengths. This is especially beneficial for inclusive classrooms. I would love every classroom to have only 15 students, include every type of student, have more of a family type learning environment, and really be able to receive individualized education, but that is a dream.
ReplyDelete