There is often a stigma for those with physical, emotional, behavioral, and/or cognitive disabilities. And there should not be. That is why I am being honest about my own disorder.
My first year teaching I had several students with IEPs in one classroom. I was overwhelmed as it was, and while I had researched, student taught, and was subbing previously, this was absolutely nothing in comparison. These were MY students, and I had a duty to educate them properly- an overwhelming responsibility that was entirely new to me.
Just like I had been taught in college, I started the first week with procedures. We completed a sheet of Do Nows and Exit Slips for the week. I collected them on Friday to see what my students were able to do, and what I would need to re-teach.
One student's work particularly stuck out to me. I'll call him "Alex". As I read Alex's Do Nows, I saw that all he had been able to do was copy the text from the Do Now on the board. All the other students with IEPs were able to respond to the questions in some fashion, but all Alex could do was copy them.
I spoke with the special education teacher. Alex suffered from severe dyslexia, in addition to being severely learning disabled in other ways. My first thought was, "Wow, I wouldn't notice this just by looking at him."
There's an intrinsic problem with that assumption; I had preconceived notions of how special education students should appear. I did not acknowledge the vast diversity in student needs, as well the various ways they can appear on the surface. Alex looked "normal" to me, but the irony is that he needed more help than any other student.
I thought long and hard about how to make life science successful for Alex, because no book or professor had explained to me how to differentiate instruction for a student like him. I had a very rudimentary concept of how to make material understandable for a kid like Alex. I knew I could give him extra time for assignments or fewer questions on timed tests, but solutions beyond that escaped me.
Our first quiz was on the scientific method. I gave him fewer questions. On the multiple choice questions I eliminated some choices to try to make it easier for him. He got an F.
After class I spoke with him in private. I asked him if he wanted seperate assessments- homework, tests, etc. He did not. I asked, "Are you sure?" He confidently replied that he was.
Differentiated instruction- content, process, product. I could not figure out what I was doing wrong. And then it hit me. Shame.
Alex was ashamed of his cognitive challenges. He was tired of being "different", and not just from students. I found out that one teacher had not even looked at his IEP and had called on him to read aloud in another class. Of course he could not, and she started yelling at him. He cried.
The next day I asked to speak to Alex after class again. I guessed, "You just don't want to take a different test from everybody else, right?" He nodded his head and told me that was exactly it. We came up with a solution; I would give him a normal assessment just like his peers and collect it at at the end of class. Afterwards I would recycle it and then we would meet and I would create something that was appropriate for his schema. Instead of a quiz on cells, I would give him three circles describing different organelles. I would read him what needed to go in each box and he drew the organelles. He loved it.
This showed me something interesting yet extremely obvious; there is a distinct connection between conprehension and self-esteem. When students understand material, they feel positively about themselves; when they cannot master content, they develop a negative self-image. This connection was shown when we got back the results from our standardized testing. Between math, reading, and science, his highest scores were in my class, science. He ran to show me and was so proud of himself.
Data like this can also show us where a student with special needs is specifically having trouble. All of the material on the test was read to him, so it became clear that while he lacks decoding skills, he has comprehension, especially in terms of listening.
Too often special education students are made to feel "special" and different. Alex taught me something I will never forget; all students want to be treated as normal kids, and the more we do that as educators, the more successful our students will be.
I have epilepsy, and I refuse to be ashamed.
