Specializing Education

Specializing Education

Special Education was one of those things I never truly understood as a student in the public school system. Who were these children that had to be taken out of the class for reading and math or who remained in a separate class all day? What was so “special” about them? Believe me, I could have tried to find out what was different about them and how they were taught anytime I wanted; my mom teaches Elementary Special Education. I always heard her throwing around terms like resource room and inclusion when she talked about work. But being the typical self-involved child that I was, I never listened to what she said about teaching or asked her more about her students. What I do know is that teaching Special Education involved a lot of ups and down. As a Special Education teacher, the specific tasks of my mom’s job change frequently. She has taught full-time special education classes, has worked with individual students in an inclusive setting, and most recently she teaches resource room. Now that I don’t have to listen to her work stories all the time, I find myself wanting to know more about what special education entails. What I discovered is that none of the methods utilized in Special Education are entirely right or wrong in addressing the educational needs of children with LD. Children with learning disabilities should be educated in the most appropriate way to meet their specific educational needs.

The children who benefit from the Special Education program are learning disabled. The National Center for Learning Disabilities states that children with learning disabilities have a “neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to receive process, store and respond to information.” There has been a long running debate on the best way to educate children with learning disabilities or LD. Some feel inclusion is the most beneficial method for educating children with LD. As defined by Jean B. Crockett and James M. Kauffman in The Least Restrictive Environment, inclusion is where children with disabilities are placed in regular education classes for the entire school day and are accompanied by special education teachers or aides for subjects where they need extra help (1). Others feel mainstreaming is the best option for students with LD.