Example Of Essay On Special Education

Introduction

Importance of special education
Special education facilitates academic progress by providing a conducive environment tailored for each student and restructuring the student schedule to benefit the student in achieving educational objectives. It also helps in socialization; students with the disability can relate to each other and other students. Special education teaches life skills, the expected behavior in the society and workplaces, hygiene and safety, decision-making and how to handle money. These life skills eventually lead to self-sufficiency. Some students with special needs may be offensive, or disruptive in the society. Thus, special education is teaching them the expected conduct while accommodating their diverse behavior. In conclusion, special education instructs a student academically and behaviorally.

Activities for Special Students

The parents should ensure the children with special needs participate in extracurricular activities. Participation in the activities is important because it provides the students with special needs with a chance to assume leadership responsibilities and demonstrate their talents. When helping a child choose an extracurricular activity, parents should not consider the needs of the child but the interest of the child. However, many students with special needs cannot participate in every activity that is of their interest. Some of the activities the special students can engage in are, theater performances, music and book clubs. They can also engage in academic games, which help them enhance their talents. They can also participate in athletics and other physical activities. These programs include athletic events designed for wheelchairs like cycling and basketball. Those visually impaired, with a guide’s assistance, could participate in skiing and long distance running events. Students suffering from cognitive disabilities should engage in local Special Olympics. Extracurricular activities motivate special students to learn.

Inclusion in the mainstream

The persons with Disabilities education improvement Act of 2004 encourages schools always to consider placing disabled students in regular classrooms before settling on special classes. Students with disabilities should receive supplemental support especially those from the general education curriculum. Teachers and parents concern should be whether the needs of the students are being addressed in general education curriculum or setting. Special students can be included in the mainstream classrooms if instructional accommodations are made for all the students. The instructional accommodation can be through student’s individualized education program and each student’s supports.

Importance of inclusion

It helps the student have a positive understanding of others and themselves as they can note the variances in the society and classrooms. It facilitates friendship development because students without disabilities are taught to appreciate the students with disabilities, and they learn from each other. In addition, every student in an inclusive setup benefits from it because students learn at their speed and style. Lastly students with the disability can lead a normal life because inclusion creates acceptance of the students by the society. It changes the perspectives of people thus creates inclusion in the future environment.

Differentiation

In the pursuit of including students with special learning needs in the general school, the curriculum may lose its way at the expense of recognizing these students. Teachers emphasize more on inclusion, leading to negative consequences. Students with more severe learning needs should be differentiated because they may not function well in an inclusion setting. These students require extensive differentiation and modifications to the curriculum. Otherwise, including them in the general curriculum will bring about minimum results. Differentiation puts special students in an unproblematic setup where the size of the classrooms is small. Differentiation creates a good environment for special education to thrive. In a differentiated setup, teachers change the curriculum by providing students with notes that are easy to read. Teachers also extend the time for each student, reduce the workload and include games as a form of learning. Special educators teach the students how to use calculators and place them in peaceful environments away from a lot of distractions. Differentiation applies when necessary and in its minimum. In differentiation, students are programmed based on their strengths, needs, interest and preferences on individual subject base. Since the students in these special schools must learn the same content in the general education curriculum, special education curriculum is programmed by creating parallel schedules with the general education so that the students do not miss out. Here, the services given to a student with special needs are based on each student’s ability (Kauffman, McGee, & Brigham, 2004).

Importance of differentiation

Differentiation enables functional grouping. That is grouping together students with the same disability or different disabilities but have a similarity of educational needs. The needs may include, social development, learning characteristics and styles, levels of educational achievement, management needs of the special students in the class and physical development. It also ensures the correct staffing; differentiation ensures the special education teachers are highly qualified in the subjects they teach. It enhances skill acquisition and generalization.

Differentiation or Inclusion

The more inclusion for a student, the less differentiation a student will experience and vice versa. The special education trainers should know the right time to employ each method because they are worthy goals to pursue in special education. Inclusion requires a degree of independence. The use of differentiation should be limited to only when required. In addition, it should only apply when the objective is teaching the student to differentiate between himself. In conclusion, the student’s ability should be considered in choosing the goal to pursue. How much differentiation and how much inclusion will vary from student to student. Special teachers should aim to strike a balance between the two contradicting concepts.
The problem that exists is in balancing the two contrasting concepts.

References

Giangreco, C. (2007). Extending Inclusive Opportunities. Educational leadership, 64(5), 34-37.
Kauffman, J. M., McGee, K, & Brigham, M. (2004). Enabling or disabling? Observations on changes in special education. Phi Delta Kappan, 85(8), 613-620.