Baby Beards and Special Education

Our future child.

Chris would like me to learn how to make this for our future children. This might be the greatest toboggan (hat, for some of you) on the face of the planet. I already can't wait to take a picture of our boys (and maybe the girls) next to Daddy in this.

I need to take a moment to thank the people of Anderson County for not stealing my car yesterday. I left it unlocked with the keys sitting in the console. All day. I also almost ran out of gas on the way to work. This never happens to me. Today I smell Easter bunny chocolate and onions. Something is not right. I blame it on stress.

My Essay on Special Education vs. Regular Education

I am a regular education teacher. Certified to teach any child in PreK, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade. "Any child" includes children with special needs. I am very happy to do this, and tend to fall in love most with those precious babies.  However, I have some growing concerns on trends in American education.

I had one course on special education in college. 5 years of college and a Master's degree, and I had one 3-hour course on how to teach children with special needs. Scratch that--I did not learn how to teach children with special needs. I learned how to identify various types of special needs and laws concerning these children.

"Special needs" itself is a very broad topic. I personally hate the term "special needs." Every child I have ever encountered has special needs. Everyone is different, learns differently, needs different motivation. However, I have no alternate phrase to describe disabilities (which we are strongly discouraged to use the word "disabilities"), so I will stick with "special needs" and assume everyone knows what I mean. Some children have low impact needs, such as learning disabilities, ADHD, or visual/hearing impairments. Yes--these significantly impact a child and I do not diminish that--but as a teacher, these can be handled quite easily. You try different strategies. You get creative. You work a little harder. That's my job. Teach every child, regardless of how they come to me.

Other needs are much more significant. Needing constant attention.

I find myself constantly battling a disorder/developmental delay/condition that I do not understand and far surpasses my level of education and expertise. Children are continually placed in my care that have needs far greater than I can accommodate. I am not helping them because I do not know how to help them. I do not have the resources, both knowledge or classroom materials, to help them. "Why not take more courses?" you might ask. I would love to. When? Where? How? And that leads to another question...

If I learn how to reach a child with special needs and the appropriate accommodations that must be made, can I do this with 19 other children in the classroom? Children without special needs who are waiting on me to teach them too? Today, a child with developmental delays spent the day in my classroom. We were hoping an "environmental change" would help her function more appropriately. It did. I stayed right beside her all, and she successfully made it through the day without any major breakdowns or frustrating behavior. But what about the other children in my classroom? I did not get to praise their work, or show them how to spell words in their dinosaur books, or help them count sea shells. I did not teach them anything.

End result: The child with special needs makes no progress. I do not know how to progress her. The other children in my class make no progress. I cannot help them while my attention is focused elsewhere. 

I have not done my job.

I don't know what the solution is. I very much understand and sympathize with parents of children with special needs. I don't want them to be isolated or ridiculed either by being in a special education classroom. But at what point does "how a child feels" conflict with preparing that child for the real world...with real skills they can use. Maybe all teachers should be dual-certified in regular and special education? Maybe the two classrooms should be separated. I don't know. I just feel like this should be addressed. This is part of the burden teachers face when they lose jobs because their classrooms did not meet TCAP standards. 

Okay, enough teacher talk for today. Chris hears too much of it already.

Adventures in Cooking: We went out to dinner tonight. El Chico off Merchants Ave. But last night I made honey glazed baked chicken on jasmine rice. It was good.

You Know Your Hair is Too Long If: You wake up in the morning to find your hair wrapped around your neck multiple times.

 

Person I'm Missing Today: Leslie and our Bruster's ice cream dates...every Friday...for lunch...in pajamas.

 

 

 

My Bachelorette Party

Bible Verse that Rocks Today:
Isaiah 44:22 "I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you."