According to the book, Education for All, it states that
special education traditionally focuses on individual- level factors and less
attention to the other levels. I agree with the authors of this book when they
state “if only a given level is targeted, it is likely overrepresentation
issues will not be addressed." In the book on page 144, there is a visual
representation called “The Multiple Planes of Learning and Development (Figure
5.2).” It has an individual plane which focuses on cognition, affect, behavior,
motivation, beliefs, attitudes, and values. The next is interpersonal plane of
development which focuses on communication, dialogue, discourse, interaction,
roles, cooperation, and conflict. The third is community/institutional plane of
development which focuses on shared history, languages, rules, values, beliefs,
identities, and activities. I think attention should be focused on looking at
all the planes of learning and development because they all affect a student. For
example, as an educator, I have seen special education students placed in a
regular education classroom with instructional accommodations but are rejected
because of their social skills. As a result, just focusing on the individual
level factors and ignoring social interaction factors will not provide this
student with the best education possible.
I have also seen misdiagnosing of special education students based on
just looking at the individual plane of development. For example, a student who
lacked motivation and low IQ was labeled ID. But in reality the student lacked
experiences and fell behind in the regular education classroom because he/she did not
attempt to do the work because it was too difficult and lacked the experiences
(prior knowledge). I see students like this being placed in special education
because general educators do not know what else to do with these students. Not
to put blame on these teachers but teachers have a huge accountability piece
for all students today. As a result, some solutions to decrease overrepresentation and misdiagnosis is to look at all planes of development and learning.
Courtney, I totally agree with you that students are rejected for social behavior. Sadly, these children would benefit from staying in a classroom and being modeled to. However the process of modeling can take time. If a student can learn appropriate behavior, that they have not been previously exposed to or taught, this should be done in a classroom of their peers.
ReplyDeleteI also like your comment about students having lack of experience in learning and being misidentified as ID. Just because two children are displaying the same behavior does not mean the behavior is manifesting from a learning disability. It could be cultural, social, or economical factors that manifest in a certain manner.
I agree with your idea that students are identified without regard to their social and personal experiences or troubles. So many factors play into a child at school such as their economic background, the support they have at home, and their educational experiences. All these plus many more should be investigated and taken into consideration before a child is placed into a special education program. I remember my first year as a kindergarten aide in Youngstown City schools, we had to spend so much time feeding children that didn't have dinner the night before and the school provided breakfast wasn't enough, providing extra classtime to do work because the students had no parents at home to help them, talking to students who just needed someone to talk to about their parent not being home that morning or night or them even not knowing where they were going to sleep. So how unfair is it to say because they don't learn something as quickly or easily they are automatically disabled.
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