SPED class: Week 6

Goooooooooood afternoon bloggers!

This week in the always exciting Special Education class of mine we learned about addressing special education students needs in the classroom. Some of the main points I gathered from the reading were:

• Tests
• psychological tests
• individually administered tests
• group administered tests
• alternate assessments
• high-stakes achievement tests
• standardized achievement tests
• curriculum-based assessment
• **FLUENCY & ACCURACY IN DIAGNOSIS**
• Curriculum placement--involves deciding at what level to begin instruction for students

Response to intervention-->Multi-disciplinary team meeting-->Assessment-->Multi-disciplinary meeting-->IEP meeting

As always we try to focus on Christ-like love in this class and what the Savior would do in all of these situations. God, the eternal father, is the ultimate judge of us. 

Thanks for ya' time folks!

Have a splendid week:)

SPED class: Week 5

Hello again everyone!

So this week I read a lot about collaboration and inclusion.
Collaboration is incredibly important to future teachers. As we continue on in our educational pursuits, it is important to always make connections with other people in the community. Collaborating with your fellow teachers really helps to create a better base for the students. When the teachers collaborate together they share their ideas and opinions with each other to better compile their thoughts. This in turn will help the students because the teachers can better prepare together on how to teach their students

I also did a simulation this week where I had to use a wheelchair for two and a half hours. I had to perform many tasks while in the chair. Some of the experiences that I had to do was that I had to push myself up and down a hill, use the bathroom, and make my way around without assistance. It was all very challenging. It took a lot of arm strength for sure, that was the first thing I noticed. Also, getting into the bathroom stall was nearly impossible. There is a small lift in the ground when you try to get through the door that I literally had to pull myself in through. The same thing was in front of another door that I had to cross through. It was terribly difficult to get through them in a wheelchair. Using the bathroom was also impossible. I could hardly transfer myself from the chair to the toilet. I don't know how it is done but it definitely takes a skill. Getting up the hill was equally as difficult. Using the elevator was easy though. 

What I got from this experience was using a wheelchair is difficult and now I can only slightly relate to just some of the daily struggles that come with this handicap. It was definitely an eye opener.

Until next time class! 

 

SPED class: Week 4

Hello and good day readers! Welcome to week 4!

This week our focus was on special education law! 
I want to focus primarily on the history of special education however because it was just the most interesting part of this week's lesson. Here are the brief main points that I gathered:

• Before 1800--->1950
• Special needs cases were a sort of Agrarian society
• People were locked up at home if the were mentally ill
• Placed in poor houses or abandoned on the streets sometimes
• Towns would even cart the disabled to neighboring towns to get rid of them. 
• Rise of institutions
• Separation into groups
• Blind & deaf training schools--->Created to train or correct or "cure" problems with mentally handicapped people
• Asylums
• Was seen as a level of protection from others who might do them harm or be overly critical of them, as well as for others to be safe from them as well
• Deinstitutionalized
• Driven by law suits
• Care for & process of how varied from state to state
• Sometimes people after leaving the institutions were placed in group homes
• Some stayed in shelters and community facilities
• Many were left out on the streets and eventually became homeless

Here are just some of the many points that I gathered from this week. Hopefully you learned something new:)

Have a splendid week!! Stay sane!!

SPED class: Week 3

Helloooooooo people of cyber space and beyond!!

Welcome to another week of my thoughts on special education! Exciting stuff right?! I know.

This past week I learned about IEP's or 'Individualized Education Program'. It's a written statement of the educational program best designed to meet a child's individual needs. We read specifically on IEP's for everyone and the benefits of it. Every child who receives special education services MUST have an IEP. IEP's have multiple team members and contributors who work together to create the best program for the students to achieve maximum benefits and learning from the program. These team members include:

• Parents
• General education teacher
• Administrator
• Special education team 
• School psychologist

 IEP's also include many different aspects to help to meet the needs of the child such as: 

• Related services
• Goals
• Child's strengths
• Child's needs
• Child's present level of performance

I also learned more about special needs education/schooling. I learned that for most of history, public schools were allowed to exclude students with special needs from their classrooms. Some were even sent to centralized institutions depending on the severity of their mental illness. There were quite a few that had little to no access to education outside of the home. Luckily, during the 1960's, federal legislature began to finally protect the educational rights of children. Special needs education also links to the I.D.E.A (Individuals with disabilities education improvement act) as well as F.A.P.E (Free appropriate public education).

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!

SPED class: Week 2

Hello and welcome to week two of my special education learning experience!

This week we read chapter one of the book entitled, Including Students with Special Needs: A Classroom Guide for Classroom Teachers. In the first chapter of this book it really focused on what special education was and the different components that comprise it such as specially designed instruction, or SDI for one. The book spoke that SDI is tailored to meet the individual needs of the student with a disability. The student is closely monitored and their progress is documented to see if they can be eligible for SDI.

The other two components of special education are related services, or assistance beyond academic instruction that enables students to benefit from special education, and supplementary aids and services, or a broad array of supports that enable students with disabilities to participate in general education, extracurricular activities, and other school settings so that they can be educated with peers who do not have disabilities.

The underlying theme that I received from this reading was very impactful to me. As I read this chapter I noticed that besides talking about all the ways that we can help and to teach those with special needs, it is more important to treat them equally. I feel like a lot of times we treat those who have a disability differently than others who could be deemed as "fully functioning". Relating to religion here for a moment I feel that we need to come see these elect individuals as chosen sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. So many times when I meet these individuals I feel such a contentment emanate from them. They just ooze innocence and a lack of corruption. I feel that as current or future parents we need to learn to see these children (and adults) as something more then just a person with an illness. We need to look past the imperfections and to see the inner child of God. We need to have more Christ-like love and respect towards those different from us.

See ya!