How do you like the label 'Special Ed's student?

[chipmunkis]

That suprises you? Ignorance is bliss and I believe that much of the perception and treatment of special needs kids can be addressed through education and awareness. Society in general has become way more accepting of people with differences that they were just 10 or 15 years ago. Additionally laws have changed and certian language and lables removed so things are changing.

Flabbergasted is a better word... the things people say sometimes seriously leave me with my jaw dropped!

 

[rockdrummer]

Flabbergasted is a better word... the things people say sometimes seriously leave me with my jaw dropped!

And that is the perfect time to make them aware and educate them in the hopes that they will not say those jaw dropping comments again. Seize the moment.

 

[whatdidyousay!]

How do you like the label 'Special Ed's student?
I did not like being called a 'Special Ed's student when I was in school as the teachers did not want to spend any time helping a student labeled as kid that could not learn.
How do you feel about the tilte 'Special Ed's till being used today?



I worked as a speech therapist. i worked for special education. technically i was a special education teacher. from my point of view, i adore these children. they are special. each child has a yearly individualized education plan [or program, i forget].

lables limit.

i was in special education my for a few early elementary years. i have since graduated with my b.s. in communication science and disorders. i spent the first 2 years studying biochemistry and molecular biology. that was just hard, boring, and annoying.

but i digress...

i wonder how long ago you were in special education. they passed a thing in one year [i used to know the name and date, but as a pothead i forgot, oops ] that basically makes a lot of extra work for special education teachers. their jobs were very difficult and stressful. they worked with more severe special ed students, like mental retardation and austism. on my caseload of 54 students, i had about 20 to 30 kids whose only special education were me. [i hope you are still following my words, i suck at writing]


anyway, i have a yearbook from 2007-8, when i worked in bushkill elementary school. they didn't put me in the year book. i got fired that year for turning in my homework late [not sending in legal documents known as i.e.p.s and evaluation reports [e.r.s], and showing up late or skipping school. i skipped 23 out of 187 days that year. my students loved me, i was a good teacher, but i was overwhelemed to handle the job due to my untreated bipolar disorder.


anyways.........
i loved all my special ed students, but not in a mary kate laterno kind of way.
*joke copy written 2007*

I stayed back in first grade , no one knew I was HOH yet ,I got my first HA when I about 7 years . I somehow made it to fifth grade and failed it. I was send to a class for kids that had all kind learning issues. From there I when to Jr High reject class for 2 years Then I when a private school in Boston where the classes where really small . This is where I found out I had dyslexia,.From here I when back public high school and was in the mainstream class. I was the oldest kid in my classes.
Nothing was done to help me with having dyslexia, I could type 60 words minutes ,but the words where backward!! I when to public high school two years ,after that I was send to a camp to get away from my abusive father. It was a camp for kids that had learning disabilties. From there I when a boarding school in Maine to finish high school .The school had kids that got in trouble in their school or where too 'wild' like having sex or smoking . The school was out in the middle of no where. I was really unhappy there , but I was away from my dad for 2 years and that was good. I was 20 years old when I finish high school. And I never wanted to go near a school again for years!

 

[jillio]

I detest labels of all kinds. They are only used to show the difference between "Us" and "Them"...and usually in a negative manner.

 

[whatdidyousay!]

I detest labels of all kinds. They are only used to show the difference between "Us" and "Them"...and usually in a negative manner.

I agree with you jillio, labels belong on bottles and jars of food , not on people! This could be a bumper sticker! My daugther said she saw this on a bumper sticker already, on well there goes my idea!

 

[dogmom]

yes, the problem with labels among others is that often like "Special Ed" you have a label that implies the absence of "norm", a deviation. Judgment is made based on what is "not", what one is "missing"...somehow you end up with this falsity of "special" or "exceptional" when often kids really don't want to be considered as anything other than human beings - kids first who are also "this" or "that".

 

[deafdyke]

The real problem is not labels, but the fact that smart kids (who simply need accomondations to really suceed) are being lumped in with the kind of students who are either intellectucally disabled, emotionally and behavorially disabled or LD.
Getting rid of that label won't change anything. As a matter of fact, the new label for special ed will become a slur. It happened with the term mental retardation.....it happened with the terms moron, idiot and imbecile and will happen with whatever new label they dream up.
Unfortunatly the special ed/Resource Room system is really stigmatized as "for the dumb kids"
I've got to say I think we need to stop hyperfocusing so much on mainstreaming kids with disabilites. We should STILL have it as an option. Especially for formal program based mainstreaming. But, we need to develop options and placements for the entire contiuum of placement. Special ed is too one size fits all (as is public education in general) and since most sped kids are LD, those who aren't LD tend to get te short end of the stick if we don't suceed with minimal accomondations in a solotaire setting.

 

[dogmom]

kindly,
DD, just some thoughts of mine here...

the Resource Room is very stigmatized, I agree.

kids with LD are smart....
and I personally "am not" LD , I happen to "have" LD.

 

[whatdidyousay!]

The real problem is not labels, but the fact that smart kids (who simply need accomondations to really suceed) are being lumped in with the kind of students who are either intellectucally disabled, emotionally and behavorially disabled or LD.
Getting rid of that label won't change anything. As a matter of fact, the new label for special ed will become a slur. It happened with the term mental retardation.....it happened with the terms moron, idiot and imbecile and will happen with whatever new label they dream up.
Unfortunatly the special ed/Resource Room system is really stigmatized as "for the dumb kids"
I've got to say I think we need to stop hyperfocusing so much on mainstreaming kids with disabilites. We should STILL have it as an option. Especially for formal program based mainstreaming. But, we need to develop options and placements for the entire contiuum of placement. Special ed is too one size fits all (as is public education in general) and since most sped kids are LD, those who aren't LD tend to get te short end of the stick if we don't suceed with minimal accomondations in a solotaire setting.

There are classes for students that are high honor students , my daughter had a friend that when to class for high honor students as she got too bored in the mainstream class. And she told my daughter that she wish she had better social skills as she was always studying so much that she cut herself off from people. Yeah that how it was my reject class , no one got any extar help if they needed it. The teacher never walked around the room to ask if we needed help and none of the students dare to ask help as they knew the teacher would insult them in some way! I sure hope school is not like this today!

 

[deafdyke]

dogmom, yes I know there are smart LD kids. I'm one of them. There is a contiunum of functioning with the LD population, just as there is with any disabilty. But don't you agree that a lot of the "Resource Room" kids tend to be there b/c it's a dumping ground, not b/c they actually have a learning disabilty or other legitimate issue? And I do think we need to offer a continum of public school placement for the LD/miscellounous disabilty that can mimic LD, such as CP or Asperger's or whatever syndrome population as well, ranging from regular school regular classes with Resource Room style intervention, to self contained regional classrooms to boarding schools. Especially for the jr high/high school population as those years are HELL for kids with special needs.

 

[sheila022]

Eh, I was a special education student, and I'm not ashamed that I was in it. I think it helped to contribute to my education and enhance my lessons during the formative years that I was able to go mainstream in 3rd grade.I gradually got decreasing help from my special education teachers as I progressed towards middle school, which I think is a great way for anybody wanting to transitioning to mainstream. By middle and high school, I no longer needed special education classes, but I still had the IEP stuff to deal with.

Here's how it happened to me:

Pre-k to early first grade: in special education classes exclusively (in my case, a classroom full of other deaf kids near my age).

first grade-second grade: half day in special education classes and half day in regular classes. Unlike some of other posters I've seen about their experiences, I did have my special education teachers who were helpful and active in my learning. They usually reinforced what I've done in my mainstream classes. I remember how one time, I was forced to write one page journal entry almost everyday when I was in second grade!

third grade-fifth grade: 100% mainstream with teacher aides sitting next to me in class to help me to interpret information by writing out simple stuff on the notepad/whiteboard, or help me to process information. I think I was the only deaf student in my elementary school to go mainstream, while other deaf students were still in special education classes only.

middle school-high school: mainstream with no teacher aides needed. All I needed was speech therapy and FM system, and I'm good.

I guess I was lucky to have awesome special education teachers who did help to foster my development as I grew in elementary school, and encouraged me to do stuff or to do better. I still remember how they looked and their names to this day. But don't forget, parental involvement are just as important as well.

 

[deafgal001]

Eh, I was a special education student, and I'm not ashamed that I was in it. I think it helped to contribute to my education and enhance my lessons during the formative years that I was able to go mainstream in 3rd grade.I gradually got decreasing help from my special education teachers as I progressed towards middle school, which I think is a great way for anybody wanting to transitioning to mainstream. By middle and high school, I no longer needed special education classes, but I still had the IEP stuff to deal with.

Here's how it happened to me:

Pre-k to early first grade: in special education classes exclusively (in my case, a classroom full of other deaf kids near my age)

first grade-second grade: half day in special education classes and half day in regular classes

third grade-fifth grade: 100% mainstream with teacher aides sitting next to me in class to help me to interpret information by writing out simple stuff on the notepad/whiteboard, or help me to process information. I think I was the only deaf student in my elementary school to go mainstream, while other deaf students were still in special education classes only.

middle school-high school: mainstream with no teacher aides needed. All I needed was speech therapy and FM system, and I'm good.

I guess I was lucky to have awesome special education teachers who did help to foster my development as I grew in elementary school.

You are so lucky. I was sent to public school from K-12th without any deaf program. But they did put me on front row, FM, write on board but that's just about all they did for me. I stopped having LD English in 9th grade but they made sure I had the easy English teacher. They didn't want me to have a modified diploma. I was the only deaf in my entire life.

 

[sheila022]

In middle and high school, I was pretty much the only deaf student...which could feel lonely at times...but I think we all should learn how to adapt and persevere in any environment. I think that's what all special education programs should do for the kids.....teach them academic, social, and life skills (and of course, better expectations of the students. My special ed teachers had a fairly high expectations of me.....maybe because I was one of their most promising students they ever came across in years...j/k!)

 

[KristinaB]

My daughter was in a special class for specific students who needed a little extra help in certain areas. They just called the class "Title 1 Math" or "Title 1 Reading". Speech Therapy was called just that. They did not have "special ed classes" or "LD classes". She went to this class, when most of the other kids went to "Study Hall". This was in 5th and 6th grade, before I pulled her from public school. My son was in the "Gifted" program and was picked on more than my daughter. He finally asked to be removed from it since it was too easy and he couldn't deal with the others picking on him.

 

[KristinaB]

We had to special ed classes in any of the schools I went to until I got to 11th and 12th grade. There were also no services for deaf or hard of hearing students. Nothing at all. I was like a "fish out of the water" in school.

 

[whatdidyousay!]

Eh, I was a special education student, and I'm not ashamed that I was in it. I think it helped to contribute to my education and enhance my lessons during the formative years that I was able to go mainstream in 3rd grade.I gradually got decreasing help from my special education teachers as I progressed towards middle school, which I think is a great way for anybody wanting to transitioning to mainstream. By middle and high school, I no longer needed special education classes, but I still had the IEP stuff to deal with.

Here's how it happened to me:

Pre-k to early first grade: in special education classes exclusively (in my case, a classroom full of other deaf kids near my age).

first grade-second grade: half day in special education classes and half day in regular classes. Unlike some of other posters I've seen about their experiences, I did have my special education teachers who were helpful and active in my learning. They usually reinforced what I've done in my mainstream classes. I remember how one time, I was forced to write one page journal entry almost everyday when I was in second grade!

third grade-fifth grade: 100% mainstream with teacher aides sitting next to me in class to help me to interpret information by writing out simple stuff on the notepad/whiteboard, or help me to process information. I think I was the only deaf student in my elementary school to go mainstream, while other deaf students were still in special education classes only.

middle school-high school: mainstream with no teacher aides needed. All I needed was speech therapy and FM system, and I'm good.

I guess I was lucky to have awesome special education teachers who did help to foster my development as I grew in elementary school, and encouraged me to do stuff or to do better. I still remember how they looked and their names to this day. But don't forget, parental involvement are just as important as well.

I am really happy you got the help you needed . I when to elementary school
in the 50's and my school did not have any teacher aides for students that needed extra help. My older sister would walk me home and I had to stay after school a lot because I behind in my math. My teacher was a real bitch and she woud tell my sister that I would have to spend the night at school by myself to finish my work . This would really get me upset as my dad would always threating to aband me. Man no wonder I hated going to school so much! I am happy you had a better time than I did.

 

[deafgal001]

in my school, we even had LD studyhall.

They required me to take this studyhall ALL though Middle and High school, I didn't have a choice. Which mean I only allow to take two electives instead of three because of this.

but since I couldn't do foreign language, it didn't matter because other kids were required to take at least 3 years (or 4 years???) foreign language as one of their electives if they planned on going to college.

 

[sheila022]

in my school, we even had LD studyhall.

They required me to take this studyhall ALL though Middle and High school, I didn't have a choice. Which mean I only allow to take two electives instead of three because of this.

but since I couldn't do foreign language, it didn't matter because other kids were required to take at least 3 years (or 4 years???) foreign language as one of their electives if they planned on going to college.

I had similar thing about foreign language. My teachers thought I couldn't do foreign language and thought about exempting me from it (they did in middle school)...but when I entered high school, all of us were required to take foreign language, so I took the stab and took Spanish classes for 3-4 years...and aced them anyway. Gosh, why did I ever think Spanish was so hard?! It's sooo easy compared to Chinese.

 

[deafgal001]

I had similar thing about foreign language. My teachers thought I couldn't do foreign language and thought about exempting me from it (they did in middle school)...but when I entered high school, all of us were required to take foreign language, so I took the stab and took Spanish classes for 3-4 years...and aced them anyway. Gosh, why did I ever think Spanish was so hard?! It's sooo easy compared to Chinese.

For me, I had a choice to stay but it was my choice to drop the class. I told them that I couldn't pick up the speech. I was a hearing aids (no CI) and speechreader user back in those days, btw. I thought I could it because my older sister who have the same type of hearing loss as I do and went to the same public school as I did, and she survived Spanish. I was exempt from foreign language.

 

[KarissaMann05]

Sometimes, "special eds students" annoy me. I think it is better to say"IEP" or something.