Special Education

I am very passionate about special education, because my older brother is autistic and I feel he did not get the education that he deserved. This is probably why I want to become a special needs teacher. Special education is now becoming inclusive. I am not sure how I feel about this. I think it can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending how a lot of variables. In elementary school I think inclusive education could be okay, because the child should be learning the same things such as, spelling, and simple math, but depending on the child and their disability they may need an aid. There are so many types of disabilities on the spectrum from ADHD, autism, or Down syndrome and it may be very hard for a teacher to help each student and their specific needs let alone the other children without a disability that are in their classroom.

I think coding is a good thing, as it may give children the help they need to do well in school and in life. For example, I think diagnosing someone with autism is a good thing as that will help them and help people understand that person, but disabilities that are not very extreme, as the person can function in our society, like ADHD may have a stigma that is unnecessary. People with ADHD can live a perfectly normal life, but diagnosing them in school may be good so they can get the help they need to do well in school and succeed in the school setting, but hopefully that diagnose does not hinder them their entire life.

I think this subject is very complex, as every child is different and has different needs in their learning. Unfortunately the way our school system is set up it does not cater to all these types of learners. I think teachers need to try their best to accommodate all these needs, but it can be hard when there are 30 students in their classroom. Therefore, I think a Learning Coach is a good idea, as I think teachers need resources to go to help them provide a prime education for every student.

This is a picture of my brother, Eric he is autistic. He and my parents had a very hard time with his schooling and fighting for his education. When he was in elementary school there were not as many problems, as there was in middle school and high school. He had problems with aids and his special needs teacher in middle, so my parents kept him home a lot because of this. Then is high school it did not get much better. He stopped going to school in grade ten and my mom tried to provide a program for him from home. When Eric reached middle and high school he was not able to learn the same thing his peers were learning. Therefore, I think inclusive education is not always a good thing. Eric needed to learn more life skills. Being with other students may be good for some things, but an aid should still be with Eric at all times to make sure he is acting appropriate with the other students. Having inclusive education may be good for other students without disabilities, as they can understand different types of disabilities and not be afraid of them, so I think that can be a good thing, but the student’s aid needs to try to educate the students and explain why that student may be acting a certain way so the other students understand and are accepting of that. I think aids need to be educated more than they are. Many aids to not have an education and I think it should be required, so they can understand the student they are dealing with and teach other students about disabilities.