I am a graduate student in a teacher credential program who is interested in hearing current teachers tell me about their experiences teaching students who have been identified as LD or SPED and are in a mainstream classroom.
I have worked/volunteered/student-taught in several classrooms consisting of students classified as LD or SPED, one of which was an SDC classroom. In each of my experiences, I felt that the LD and SPED students unfairly received a sub-par education. My questions to any educator who would like to respond revolve around what you have done to accommodate these students.
My particular questions are:
How do you decide what is essential for the student to learn and what is not?
When and how do you decide that it is time to move on to a new concept even though the student has not achieved what you want or expect them to?
What specifically do you do to teach those children more effectively?
Are there any learning tricks or shortcuts that you try to teach these students to help them become better learners?
Anything else anyone might like to contribute would be greatly appreciated.
Re: LD students &meeting content standards conversation want
I do NOT think they receive a subpar education.
Also, there is no such thing as the average sped. student.
Many struggle mightily to learn things that nonLD students learn with much more ease. Often times they require a great deal more explicit and concrete instruction than nonLD students. For this reason, it often takes longer to teach them the same skills. This is particularly true in areas that their disability particularly impacts.
Of course, those LD students who have superior intellectual capacity to comprehend concepts, but may lack the reading/writing skills, it is much easier to adapt the presentation to their stronger modalities and they do learn as much as fast.
All are different and if there is one thing I have little patience with it is branding situations as all or none. As in, all students receive a substandard education in sped. programs. All sped students will do better in full-inclusion.
This is contrary to the very basis of the IEP.
sub-average education for LD kids
I agree that we (many LD teachers) have resorted to “dumbing down” their students’ education- particulary at the late elementary/junior high level. At least through the late 80’s and 90’s - we tended to focus on their deficits- providing education that was “at their level”. However, in the process the kids we produced out of that setting didn’t have much better skills than when they went in!
Now, and especially since NCLB, we have to focus on better outcomes for LD students- forcing secondary LD teachers to seek parallel curriculum- that doesn’t “dumb down” their education!
Re: LD students &meeting content standards conversation want
From 1978 — 1981 ( when I was in Westfield, New Jersey, Public Schools ), Special Education was provided to students on their “as needed” basis. I had “Resource Room Period”, and otherwise was
“Mainstreamed” for the rest of the day. ( We used an 8 period day ) .
I graduated from Westfield High School in 1981, but in the ’70s was
taken out of class, and tutored out-of-town for Cursive Writing
( original diagonsis was Dysgraphia ) . In 8th grade I took up typing.
Other students might have two (2) periods of resource room; with a
5 minute break between periods.
Westfield, New Jersey is in Union County; closer to New York than
Philadelphia.
best regards
My particular questions are:
How do you decide what is essential for the student to learn and what is not?
I emphasize skill development. Content is really just the opportunity to build skills. It is essential whenever possible to have all students, ld or not, move ahead in their reading, writing and computational skills. It’s also essential that they be helped to feel they are successful learners.
When and how do you decide that it is time to move on to a new concept even though the student has not achieved what you want or expect them to?
In what subject? If math, they pretty much have to ‘get it’ before I can move on. If the math curriculum is well-organized, it should build and the next unit is dependent on having mastered the previous unit. In a social studies classroom, I move on to the next content unit when we’ve explored it and need something new to occupy our attention. Skills are more important than content.
In Language arts, I don’t teach the essay until they’ve mastered the paragraph.
What specifically do you do to teach those children more effectively?
I accept them as indivudals. I don’t encourage competition between students - I encourage cooperation. I don’t deem them lazy or uncaring. I dont see myself as their judge and jury but rather as their guide and counsel. And I’m flexible always willing to change what I’m doing if something different better meets their needs. Their learning is more important than curriculum. The curriculum is supposed to serve their needs - they are not supposed to serve curriculum.
Are there any learning tricks or shortcuts that you try to teach these students to help them become better learners?
A legion of them - too many to put in a post here.
Anything else anyone might like to contribute would be greatly appreciated.[/quote]