Our course text(Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010) states that when you are choosing a research project you first need to choose a topic that interests you personally. Immediately I knew that I wanted to learn more about educating children with special needs/learning difficulties while incorporating music/poetry and parental connections. My last three years of teaching have left me perplexed about how our high functioning autistic children are being educated in the public school system. I also want to learn more about the different types of learning disabilities as well because I always had students who did not qualify for any type of special education services but could not function day to day in a regular education classroom. Americans have always put their faith in the power of education to enrich the lives of children and make our nation stronger. One of the biggest challenges facing education today is providing the best, most effective education possible for children and youth with special needs or learning problems. For many years pull-out programs have been the approach to serving these children. In many instances these programs have failed to meet their educational, and social needs (Will, 1986). This week I have found many articles and websites that support the idea of inclusion teaching methods. What I have found out through my own personal experience is that inclusion works only if all parties involved...teachers, administrators, parents, and students know what is expected daily and what the ending goals are.
References:
Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Will, M.C., (February, 1986). Educating children with learning problems:a shared responsibility. Exceptional Children. Retrieved from http://eden.rutgers.edu/-nork/SNS/Educating%20Children%20with%20learning%20problems.pdf.
Teresa,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a great point! How are we defining the words "Special Need". People do not realize that social-economics is also defined as a special need. Challenged behaviors is another one, and you are on point in asking how these children will be cared for in a school setting. Sadly a lot of them may never receive the support that they need. There are so many levels of special need that will never be addressed, but maybe your determination and reearch on theis subject can pave the way to ensure that every child with a need will get the support they need.
Alice Jones