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Philosophy of education for special education
Philosophy of education for special education
Philosophy of special education
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Writing Assignment Two
Introduction
Special education includes addressing students’ academic needs as well as their behavioral needs. A student with a disability is not exempt from disciplinary measures, as students with can suspended and even expelled from the school environment. More specifically, students with emotional disturbance can display maladaptive behaviors. These maladaptive behaviors can generate unsafe learning environments. More importantly, the creation of an effective behavior intervention plan (BIP) is imperative. The development of a BIP can aid in the reduction of maladaptive behaviors, thus decrease the likelihood of a suspension or expulsion. My current role as a special education program specialist permits the
More specifically, safeguarding the rights of students with disabilities, while maintaining a safe learning environment for all are top priorities. I currently oversee a middle school who has a large special education population, as 23% of the students receive special education related services. In addition, the school has two new assistant principals who have limited administration and special education experience. Providing ongoing support as well as relevant information is critical. Sharing evidenced-based practices combined with elements of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBiS) has proven to be beneficial. It is imperative students with disabilities who engage in maladaptive behaviors are exposed to proactive interventions as opposed to reactive response. A suspension may mask the issue, as the primary root of the behavior is not addressed. Creating functional equivalent replacement behaviors (FERBS) that seek to meet the behavior need in a more appropriate fashion is
DEVELOPMENT & IMPLEMENTATION OF A SHARED VISION: Education leaders facilitate the development and implementation of a shared vision of learning and growth of all students, (1C) Implementing the Vision connection to my action plan. I collaborate with key stakeholders with the intention of fostering a shared vision, one that is proactive in nature. Proactive interventions, such as the development of a BIP will aid in a shared vision of learning and growth for all students regardless of ability levels. INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP: Education leaders shape a collaborative culture of teaching and learning informed by professional standards and focused on student and professional growth (2C) Supporting Teachers to Improve Practice (2D) Feedback on Instruction, directly relates to my action plan as I will engage in open collaborative conversations with teachers, administrators, and essential staff members. I will conduct informal classroom observations with the intension of providing feedback, constructing classroom materials, dispersing information. EXTERNAL CONTEXT AND POLICY Education leaders influence political, social, economic, legal and cultural contexts affecting education to improve education policies and practices (6A) Understanding and Communicating Policy correlates with my action plan. I will inform all essential members of the current legal mandates established by federal law, as safeguarding student
Leading organizations of school administrators offer educators various opportunities to encourage educators to become leaders. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has mandated that leaders be better prepared for the task of providing quality education to all. NCLB “… is forcing all educational stakeholders to face the weakness of contemporary school leadership and is making it impossible to ignore the need for higher quality principals” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). It is believed that all educators can be and are leaders in their own right. A leader is a visionary and has the ability to inspire others to aspire to greatness. Of the numerous opportunities that are offered, those that are most beneficial include but are not limited to leadership training programs, professional development, and creating shared leadership opportunities for teachers to become leaders. The systems “…that produce our nation’s principals are complex and interrelated – and governed by the states. Each state establishes licensing, certification and re-certification” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). States use the ISLLC standards “…as the framework for preparation programs and in service professional development of school superintendents, principals, and other leaders” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.3).
For my field experience, I went to Magoffin Middle school and spend time in the Behavioral Intervention classroom (BIC). A behavioral Intervention classroom is a class where mostly Emotionally Disturbed (ED) students attend. Though ED is not the only special need student that could be in the BIC classroom setting. Other classifications could be Autism (AU), Learning disabled (LD), other health impairments (OHI) to include ADD and ADHD. In regards to the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), it is towards the bottom or point of the triangle, meaning it is more restrictive than a general setting classroom would be. The BIC classroom is a last result and not where the school wants to place a student. Let me say what I imagine how the classroom would be before I went to the class was chaos. Due to the time working at the school, I have seen my share of student meltdowns. Many occasions I have seen students outright disrespect authority figures at the school. Passing through the hallway one student was observed outside of the classroom arguing with the campus officer telling him “You’re too fat to catch me!” This was a surprise to me as I continued on my way. Another student in particular, we will call him “Kenny”, had a meltdown in the hallway where he was sitting on the floor hugging his knees and was crying profusely. There were at least three adults including a campus patrol employee, special education teacher and the assistant principal trying to calm Kenny down. Going into this classroom I prepared myself for students being disrespectful and quite possibly violent.
IEP Development. In developing the IEP, the team should determine the child’s present level of academic achievement and functional performance and project whether any additions or modifications to the instruction or services are necessary to enable the child to meet measurable annual goals and to participate, as appropriate, in the general education curriculum. IDEA requires that the team considers the student’s strengths; parents’ concerns; evaluation results; and academic, functional, and developmental needs of the student. The IEP team must also consider individual circumstances. One special consideration is whether the student’s behavior impedes that student’s learning or the learning of other students. If so, the IEP team must consider the use of positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), and other strategies, to address the behavior.
Whether it was in school, the classroom or the home environment students with disabilities may exhibit various behavioral problems. Occasionally, these behaviors are hostile, aggressive, and disruptive and may impede learning for the ones who display such behaviors as well as others. It often a challenge to deliver a lesson or maintain control of the class due to the fact that teacher may not have sufficient knowledge on how to manage these types of behaviors. In “When the Chips are Down” Richard Lavoie give helpful advice that emphasizes on dealing with behavioral issues in a successful manner and also how these problems can be anticipated before they start.
A behavioral intervention plan (BIP) is designed for a specific child to try to help that child learn to change her or his behavior. Once the function of a student 's behavior has been determined, the Individual Education Program (IEP) Team should develop the behavior intervention plan A behavioral intervention plan can be thought of as a plan to support the student in order to help him or her change behavior. Effective support plans consist of multiple interventions or support strategies and are not punishment. Positive behavioral intervention plans increase the acquisition and use of new alternative skills, decrease the problem behavior and facilitate general improvements in the quality of life of the individual, his or her family, and
Schools are in great need of systems, processes, and personnel who are able to support the needs of students with problem behavior. Research indicates, however, that (while I am a big, fat cheater) information has not been made available to teachers and other professionals in a format that allows these strategies to become common practice. Many teachers choose isolated behavioral strategies that are not applied immediately after the problem behavior has occurred.
For a special education student to be successful and reach their true potential, it takes a collaborative effort between both the special education and general education teacher. Both teachers need to have an understanding of each student’s disability and unique academic needs. Both teachers play vital roles in participating as part of the IEP team, providing professional input, and best practices to develop the student’s IEP, which will provide all stakeholders in the child’s education the accommodations and modifications for the special needs child to be successful in the
Behavior modification is based on the principles of operant conditioning, which were developed by American behaviorist B.F. Skinner. In his research, he put a rat in a cage later known as the Skinner Box, in which the rat could receive a food pellet by pressing on a bar. The food reward acted as a reinforcement by strengthening the rat's bar-pressing behavior. Skinner studied how the rat's behavior changed in response to differing patterns of reinforcement. By studying the way the rats operated on their environment, Skinner formulated the concept of operant conditioning, through which behavior could be shaped by reinforcement or lack of it. Skinner considered his discovery applicable to a wide range of both human and animal behaviors(“Behavior,” 2001).
This source is a methodical article on how to, as an educator, help a special education student achieve the appropriate accommodations for the student's disabilities. The article is very extensive. Whitby's article also has specific examples on student advocacy. Included in the article are definitions of terms commonly heard in IEP meetings, such as Free and Appropriate Public Education. This article will be helpful because it goes into detail on how a teacher can get involved. The article's reliability is evident, as the article was found using Galileo. Galileo described the article as scholarly. Additionally, the author is a specialist in Autism and a behavior analyst. The author also has a Ph. D. from the University of Central Florida. Additionally, the author is the director of the center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
I believe every student is entitled to a safe learning environment where they can reach their full potential academically and behaviorally. Students will reach their full potential in a positive learning environment. The positive learning environment will be established from the beginning of the year providing a lasting impact on the students academic, and behavior performance throughout the entire year. The positive learning environment will be a classroom setting, which allows students to feel welcomed, safe, and important on daily basis allowing learning to occur to its fullest potential. To ensure my students are in a positive learning environment there must be a behavior management plan clearly explaining the expectations I have for my students. Throughout my behavior management plan I will explain how I plan to implement expectations so students act accordingly. My behavior management plan will be individually tailored to my students allowing me to push them to their fullest potential to by taking into consideration each student’s behavior and personal needs.
The intervention central organization (n.d.) declares that, “Punishment generally does not improve student behaviors over the long term and can have significant and lasting negative effects on school performance and motivation”. Standard 1 of the Florida Leadership Standards defines student success when describes, “Student learning results are evidenced by the student performance and growth on statewide assessments; district-determined assessments that are implemented by the district”. In this case study, the school and district administrators used behavior, disposition to follow instructions, and peer relations as their indicator for success. As established in the Part II. Policies and Procedures for Students with Disabilities, Section
Behavior means the way that someone behaves. Then, modification is the small change to something or the process of changing something slightly, especially to improve it. So, behavior modification means the slightly change of behavior in order to improve it through the present of positive or negative reinforcement. Furthermore, behavior modification also can be manipulated through the punishment as well. On the other hand, behavior modification is a set of techniques that underline with instrumental conditioning (Skinner,1938, 1953). Besides that, behavior modification also include reinforcement and punishment in order to strengthen the desired behavior or to terminate the undesired behavior (Skinner, 1938, 1953).
Due to the large behavior problem and the many referrals written daily it was crucial to evaluate a new behavior intervention plan to see if it was successful in reducing classroom misbehavior. The goal was to implement the program into the three Kindergarten classes and use the same strategies from the program into the classes and observe the data through referrals, observations and teacher feedback for four weeks. At the end of the four weeks the data showed that students were positively responding to the program. There were less classroom-based referrals written at the end of the four weeks than in week one and the observations showed that there were less behavior problems and more conscious discipline strategies observed. Additionally, the teachers expressed through the surveys that discipline issues were less of a problem when the discipline program was
Alanaim goes on saying, “Some of these behaviors are because of many factors including the children not being taught appropriate behavior, poverty, trauma, safety concerns at home, hunger, and disability,” (3). While the Zero Tolerance Policy is to protect the students at school, it does not do much help to those who have problems and safety issues in their own homes. The students who tend to need the most help, those with disabilities, are being given a five day suspension. In some research Alanaim found, it said, “the total number of students with disabilities enrolled in public schools represented fifteen percent, but twenty-seven percent of them were suspended within the same year,”(3). He talks about how administrators and educators would rather suspended these students rather than help them. Alanaim explains that these actions are making the situations worse for the students with learning disabilities because they get behind in their school work and tend to get more frustrated and end up dropping out. He believes that the policy is unaccommodating and stops the schools from providing professional judgement to the students with
I will need to get a group of teachers together to help participate in the target behavior. Having another person watch the target behavior may help find the trigger. The other person will be observing Jammie and taking notes. We will take notes on the time the behavior takes place, how long the behavior takes place, and how many times the behavior takes place. Having all this information is very important to the BIP. Teacher’s will compare notes and discuss what they saw with each other.