Teamwork and Collaboration

From the readings this week and class, the main thing that stands out to me and that I learned the most was the importance of teamwork and working with others to develop the best possible plan and solutions for children with special needs in the classroom. I really enjoyed an activity that we did on Monday in class, the Mock MDT meeting. It was cool to pretend to be part of a team that was discussing the needs of Esther Ramirez. My part was the Special Education teacher. It was really cool to see the different roles and how each one of them all contributed to a similar cause, deciding whether Esther qualified for Special Education or not.

Collaboration is key. There are so many different factors that determine special education and all come together for each and every individual student with special needs. One person such as a general education teacher cannot provide the needs that a student needs alone. It is so essential for all the different people involved to actually be involved. Since I am an early childhood special education major and will be specializing in that, I will have to work with the general education teacher as well as the principal and any other professionals involved to provide the students with the services that they need.

I learned this principle a lot on my mission. Us as missionaries could not provide the people with what they needed alone. We most importantly had to collaborate with the Lord through prayer. But we also collaborated with the ward members, the bishopric, the ward mission leader, and other missionaries in the area. When we did this and sought council and advise, the people were able to progress much more because we were teaching them what they needed to know. It is an eternal principle.

The Rights of Special Education

These past two weeks have been full of so much information and experience about special education. From the reading, I have learned a lot about all the different people involved in a child with special needs' education. To begin, there are many resources and professionals available to help the student to receive the proper education that they need. According to IDEA, they have the right to FAPE (free and affordable public education), LRE (least restrictive environment), zero reject child find, due process, IEP, and non-discriminatory evaluation. With all of these, comes the resources of different teachers and professionals that are available to help the students receive the help that they need.

This week in our mock due process trial, I was the attorney of the family. There was a case that we had studied about a boy named Garrett who had been in a horrible motorcycle accident when he was 4 years old. He didn't have any damage to his brain and didn't have any intellectual problems. However, he was paralyzed and did not have any control over his body. Therefore, he was in need of assistance at school everyday. When he got to fourth grade, his parents desired the school to start paying for a full time nurse to be hired and be there with Garrett everyday at school. He did not need help with anything medical, just needed that extra physical care. The school argued that they did not need to provide a nurse and that the parents should pay for it if they really felt he needed it. The parents did not agree and decided to sue the school.

Because of due process, which is the right to be heard and appeal, the family appealed and it turned into a very lengthy court case. As the attorney of the family, my job was to argue why the school should be paying for the nurse. The main argument was that the needs Garrett was in need of were not medical because they were in need of a nurse, not a physician. Also, because of LRE, Garrett needed to be in the classroom with his fellow peers in order to fully receive the education that he needed and be able to learn the way he needed to. It would be completely ineffective for him to learn at home because the school would not pay for a nurse to help him during school hours. Also according to FAPE, he had the right to receive a free and affordable public education. The parents did not have the money to afford the services that he needed to get an education and be at school.

I enjoyed this practice because it helped me to understand and apply the different principles of IDEA and see how they work in real life cases. I also learned that usually special education teachers are working a lot with general education teachers coming up with strategies and ways to help provide the best education for the kids with special needs.

The Who's and Why's of Special Education

After reading Ch. 1, I have learned a lot about who is eligible to receive special education and why we have special education. But first, it is important for us to recognize the law and acts that have been passed to make all of this possible. For example, IDEA, Brown vs. BOE, No Child Left Behind Act, Section 504, and many more. All of these together have made it possible for kids with special needs to have the chance and ability to learn at and attend public schools just like all other children. It protects them from inequality when it comes to education. It allows them to be educated in general classroom settings with the other kids that do not have special needs.

I thought it was so interesting to read about who qualifies for special education. The list goes as follows:

• Learning Disability (LD): when there are difficulties in reading, writing, and computing. It is the most common disability and half of special needs students have LD.
• Speech of language impairment (SLI): difficulty producing the sounds of language or meaningfully using language to communicate.
• Intellectual Disability (ID): limitations in intellectual ability and adaptive behavior.
• Emotional Disturbance (ED): problems in the social-emotional area where learning is affected.
• Autism: a neurological disorder where the person cannot make social interactions and connections and have difficulty in social responsiveness. It may be mild or severe.
• Hearing Impairment (HI): partial or complete hearing loss.
• Vision Impairment (VI): partial or complete vision loss.
• Deaf-Blindness: where there is both significant hearing and vision loss.
• Orthopedic Impairment (OI): physical limitations that makes it difficult to move or complete motor activities.
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): when learning, behavior, social skills, and language are affected due to a serious brain injury.
• Other Health Impairment (OHI): a health disorder that is so significant it affects learning. ex. cancer, sickle-cell anemia, and diabetes.
• Multiple Disabilities: where there are two or more disabilities simultaneously. Usually physical and intellectual. 
• Developmental Delay (DD): a category that can be used as an alternative to specific disability labels.

Because of the laws and acts that have been passed, these students are protected and reserve the rights to receive the same education in general education settings coupled with special education classes. It is then the educators responsibility to make modifications and accommodations to the students needs, as created by IDEA. I think its great that these students are receiving education in this way because it allows them to learn to make those social connections and grow rather than just be around other kids with special needs.