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Without delving deeply into apathy in general education system, what exactly is special education? Imagine going to a tailor for a suit; he measures your arms, legs, and other body parts, and constructs an outfit that perfectly matches your build. Another client who is the same height may not be able to fit into your clothes because he/she has longer arms or wider hips. Special education simply recognizes that one size does not fit all.
Every student understands things differently. Some people learn visually, while others are auditory or kinesthetic learners. To assume that any group of students is alike undercuts their individual abilities. Therefore, special educators try to find and build on a child’s strengths, while working to mitigate his or her weaknesses. Special education was first employed in 1876 by a physician named Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard. His professor had given up on educating a young wild boy called Victor, whom Itard believed he could teach more effectively through patient and careful monitoring. Although he failed to bring Victor to a high academic level, he succeeded in teaching him, thus becoming the father of special education. Itard taught us never to give up on any student—a dictum many Western countries have widely accepted.
When students have problems in school or with learning, we are quick to label them as dense or dull. The concept of “education recovery” is alien to most teachers and parents. Simple things like checking the eyesight of a student or examining his/her hearing could make a world of difference. A child with either an expressive or receptive learning disability or both may not be able to compete academically if the disability is never diagnosed. As parents and as a nation, we must recognize and respond appropriately to the challenges these students face.
Moreover, like Itard, parents, teachers, and the public must understand that just because students do not thrive in the traditional educational system does not mean they cannot learn. For instance, Albert Einstein was thought to be mentally handicapped because he could not cope with schoolwork. He was lucky to have been born in a society that understood he had a different way of learning. Thomas Edison’s mother withdrew him from school because he had learning difficulties and possibly ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). His scientific breakthroughs would have been impossible without the special education his parents provided. How many Edisons are conducting our buses or sweeping our streets just because society didn’t give their education the attention it deserved? If a child has trouble with comprehension, we must ask ourselves whether we are exploring his or her learning style or forcing our own style of teaching on him or her.
Unfortunately, even with the best of intentions, administrators have misunderstood the role of special education. This has caused mistrust between educators and parents, who routinely resist placing their children in special programs because of labelling and stigmatization. In the past, student s have been wrongly placed in special education because teachers could not distinguish between cultural differences and learning disabilities. However, this misapprehension has been corrected. Now, special education is most often advised for students who have some form of learning, communication, emotional/behavioral, physical, and/or developmental disability. Common Questions about Special Education:
My child has a very high IQ. Why should he/she be in special education? Special education does not only address a student’s intellectual development, but is also designed to accommodate for any issues he or she may have while in school, including emotional or physical disabilities. Of what good is a student who is book smart but lacking social skills? Special Education is an attempt to segregate my child. Nothing is wrong with him or her. Parental concern can sometimes stand in the way of children getting the help they need. Di scrimination is unavoidable, and no parent wants his/her child to be segregated. That being said, students who indeed need special education should get it, especially since denying it to them may translate into years of struggle and frustration. Once my child is committed to special education, he/she will never be part of the general school system again.
Firstly, parents have the right to accept or reject an administrator’s evaluation of their child and can ask for re-assessment if they do not completely agree with it. Secondly, schools are doing away with self-contained twelve-to-one special education classes, where one special education teacher is present with one or more paraprofessional teacher’s assistants. The new system, which is currently being implemented in public schools across New York City and elsewhere, is to integrate special education students into inclusive classroom settings, where one general education teacher and one special educ ation teacher collaborate to provide quality instruction. In short, the idea of segregating students is being phased out.
Special education classes are substandard or watered down. Special education recognizes that people learn in different ways and at different paces. Therefore, it is counterproductive to place fast-paced learners with slow learners or kinesthetic learners with visual ones. The whole idea is to tailor education for individual students to maximize their potential. While some students can combine different types of learning, thereby improving their cognitive skills, this does not mean that others who have one dominant learning style are less intelligent. Even when students are in slower-paced classes, the quality of education remains the same.