Week of 5/25

This week we had a couple of great opportunities to learn and understand more about special education along and special education law. We had the opportunity to participate in a mock court case and in a mock IEP meeting. Both these opportunities helped to further my knowledge and helped to solidify my understanding of the things involved.

During the mock court I had the opportunity to act as a hearing officer, which was a really interesting experience for me, in which I learned a lot. In this position part of my job was to interpret and understand the law, which is something that I have been working hard to do in my sped 310 and 380 class, and this court case really helped me to fell like I understand the law more and helped me to see how it would apply to me as a special education teacher. This also helped me to fee a lot more comfortable with my knowledge of special education law because I was actually actively using what I had been studying.

The mock IEP/MDT meeting was also really interesting to me, and helped me to learn a lot. Through this I had the opportunity to participate in the process as the special education teacher, which helped me to see what my role will be when I am actually a teacher. This also helped me to actually understand the process of an IEP and what happens in the meetings and what I covered. Because of this experience I believe that I will feel much more comfortable going into IEP meetings in the future.  Through this process we also went over eligibility requirements and test scores which can make students eligible for special education and coverage through IDEA. I found this really interesting and helpful because now it is a lot easier for me to look at the scores and see about where they would be considered for special education along with the severity of a disability.

This week was one that was extremely helpful for me because it helped me to feel more comfortable about my knowledge and how these things can apply and help me as a future special education teacher.

Weeks of 5/11 and 5/18

This week we had the opportunity to learn about the law as it applies to special education, especially focusing on IDEA and how that helps our students with disabilities. We spent time learning about the six principles of IDEA, which include, zero reject, non-discriminatory evaluation, FAPE (free and appropriate public education), LRE (least restrictive environment), procedural safeguards, and parent and student participation. These things are all very important that we understand when we become teachers because they will be used in IEP meeting and to prepare for those meetings. These can also help us to become effective advocates if we are aware of what the student needs and what they are entitled to. With this unit on the law we also talked about court cases and how specific cases eventually lead to the principles in IDEA. One example is the Rowley case which discussed FAPE and the difference between the best education and what it appropriate for the student. Another is the Mills case that discussed the principle of LRE and what is included with that and introduced more guidelines to help specify what schools are allowed to do. 

In these weeks we also discussed the history of special education that helped me to realize how far we have come and how lucky we are to live today versus even 50 years ago. We discussed the institutions more and how they originally started as something good and then after years the ratios got larger and the institutions became less successful and then eventually not many years ago institutions were ended and the children with disabilities have been more integrated into schools since then. We talked about the case law that helped lead to this social change and along with that statutory was introduced like Section 504 in the Rehabilitation Act, which helped to lead to IDEA. Which like mentioned above has helped students with disabilites to be able to get the services that they need because of the funding that IDEA is backed with. I know that these weeks have helped me to realize how blessed we are to live and teach in a time where there are so many great programs for students with disabilites. 

Week of 5/4

This week, I feel like I have learned a lot about Special Ed law and about things that affect my philosophy of education. The things that I want to focus on though are the ones that have an affect on my philosophy of education.
I class we were invited to watch this video about mental institutions in Serbia. This video showed appalling footage of what these people with disabilities have to live like. It talked about how most people who will have children with disabilities are told that the best option for their child is to send them to intuitions like the ones shown. The videos of children in these institutions were hard to watch because these children spent many hours on end feeling and being completely alone.
To me this is not okay, and this helped me to realize how lucky I am to be born into a country where people with disabilities are able to become productive members of society.
This affected my philosophy of education because it helped me to realize and more fully understand that we are all children of God and that he loves all of us. It also helped me to understand that importance of our knowledge that we can all learn and that we all have the ability to grow, and that it is my responsibility to help with that and help my students to have the best experience possible. It also helped me to understand how important inclusion is, because the people who go to these Siberian mental institutions are considered outsiders in their society and in our society that doesn't need to be the case. Studies have shown that when student with special needs are included that both students are likely to learn more when integrated.

Week of 4/27

This week I learned a lot about the need for compassion for students with special needs. I had the opportunity to read four amazing talks from our general authorities about compassion. In discussion with a group we talked a lot about how we are advocates for students with special needs and that we need to be willing to stand up for them, and how if we stand up for them then it may soften someone's heart towards children with special needs.
One thing that I really loved was in Elder Wirthlin's talk, Concern for the One. Elder Wirthlin talked about how people get lost and how we can help to find them, one section of his talk was titled "Some are lost because they are different" and then in this section he gave this amazing insight that I absolutely love. He said, "The Lord did not people the earth with a vibrant orchestra of personalities only to call the piccolos of the world. Every instrument is precious and adds to the complex beauty of the symphony." I think that it is amazing to think about it in that way, we all have something to add even though everyone may not see it that way, but we really do!
I also really liked how we talked about how assumptions hurt relationships, and often going in people have very strong assumptions or ideas about children with special needs, and the assumptions that people go in with are often very wrong and can hurt those relationships. We can be a friend to everyone and help them to feel loved. In my life I have found that some of my very best friends have been people with special needs, and that all the assumptions or ideas that I went in with were totally and completely wrong. It is very important that we treat everyone like the child of God that they are.
We also discussed entitlement and how we need to be sure that we are not thinking that we are superior to anyone, especially those with special needs. People often feel that they are superior in some way but when we have that attitude we are making our life harder and hindering ourselves. We will have a better attitude and outlook on life when we believe that everyone is capable of anything that they set their mind to.
Overall this week I have loved reading the talks and applying them to my field of study, it has been an amazing experience. I have come to know and understand that it is very important that we include and have compassion on children with special needs, like Elder Wirthlin said; they play a very important part in the orchestra.