Learners with Exceptionalities - Part 1
The topic of "learners with exceptionalities" stuck home for me. I spent my entire schooling period in some facet of the special education system, as has my younger brother. Our areas of special ed are polar opposites, but through my experience with his educational problems, I learned a lot about both sides of this important part of education.
The educational system tries its best to meet individual needs of students, but looking the grand scheme of things the fact remains that public schools must do their best to teach efficiently to the greatest number of students. This utilitarian thinking is to be expected given the tough situation teachers and administration are put in regarding the broad spectrum of students they are allotted.
Sometimes, the normal classroom setting is not conducive to the greatest amount of learning for certain individuals. This can be atrributed to many things, including behavioral problems, mental retardation, physical disabilities, or giftedness; but it is important that special needs children are given the best opportunity to show what they can do given the best situation possible.
My focuses within the topic of exceptionalities are speech disorders and giftedness, since these are the things I am most familiar with in my educational experience.
Speech disorders are most common in children in kindergarten and first grade. Many children with minor impediments "grow out" of their disorder with age. This is why many speech therapists choose not to treat most children with slight speech difficulties. Students, such as myself, with more serious speech problems are given speech therapy from trained professionals. Most schools have a speech therapist or pathologist on staff and they are usually very busy people, as this is a common problem with younger children.
It is important that children are taught from a young age not to tease or mock speech impaired children. Often, rejection and teasing can leave permanent scars on kids who already have insecurities about their difficulty speaking correctly. Teachers need to be aware of speech problems and avoid putting children with these deficiencies into situations where they will be embarrassed.
"Gifted" is a term used to describe children who perform oustandingly in the intellectual and/or creative sectors. In the past, being gifted merely meant an exceptional IQ score, but now the definition has expanding to mean a proficiency in any number of areas, including art and mathematics. Anymore, defining giftedness is very dependent on individual states requirements.
Curriculum involving gifted students range from acceleration programs to enrichment programs, each of which have their benefits and detriments. Acceleration programs involve a variety of things, including skipping grades, teaching higher maths at younger ages, and summarizing easier portions of material to speed up lessons. Advocates of acceleration believe that it would be more beneficial for gifted students to learn high school material quicker and enter into college at an earlier age.
Enrichment programs are usually independent study-type learning environments involving exploratory devices for learning and bolstering problem-solving skills. Often these exercises are directed towards a specific project, such as producing a magazine or a lengthy research paper. Group work is also focused on in this type of program. A group of gifted students are given a difficult logical problem and solve it together, bouncing ideas off of each other in order to work through the problem. Advocates of this type of gifted program believe that enrichment paths help these above average students in their higher learning efforts and better prepare them for more difficult topics.
Myths about "gifted" people being weak and physically below normal were dispelled in a study which found students with IQs over 140 were often stronger, bigger and physically adept compared to students of lesser mental capabilities. Research shows the image of the "brainy nerd" is just that, a myth.
The educational system tries its best to meet individual needs of students, but looking the grand scheme of things the fact remains that public schools must do their best to teach efficiently to the greatest number of students. This utilitarian thinking is to be expected given the tough situation teachers and administration are put in regarding the broad spectrum of students they are allotted.
Sometimes, the normal classroom setting is not conducive to the greatest amount of learning for certain individuals. This can be atrributed to many things, including behavioral problems, mental retardation, physical disabilities, or giftedness; but it is important that special needs children are given the best opportunity to show what they can do given the best situation possible.
My focuses within the topic of exceptionalities are speech disorders and giftedness, since these are the things I am most familiar with in my educational experience.
Speech disorders are most common in children in kindergarten and first grade. Many children with minor impediments "grow out" of their disorder with age. This is why many speech therapists choose not to treat most children with slight speech difficulties. Students, such as myself, with more serious speech problems are given speech therapy from trained professionals. Most schools have a speech therapist or pathologist on staff and they are usually very busy people, as this is a common problem with younger children.
It is important that children are taught from a young age not to tease or mock speech impaired children. Often, rejection and teasing can leave permanent scars on kids who already have insecurities about their difficulty speaking correctly. Teachers need to be aware of speech problems and avoid putting children with these deficiencies into situations where they will be embarrassed.
"Gifted" is a term used to describe children who perform oustandingly in the intellectual and/or creative sectors. In the past, being gifted merely meant an exceptional IQ score, but now the definition has expanding to mean a proficiency in any number of areas, including art and mathematics. Anymore, defining giftedness is very dependent on individual states requirements.
Curriculum involving gifted students range from acceleration programs to enrichment programs, each of which have their benefits and detriments. Acceleration programs involve a variety of things, including skipping grades, teaching higher maths at younger ages, and summarizing easier portions of material to speed up lessons. Advocates of acceleration believe that it would be more beneficial for gifted students to learn high school material quicker and enter into college at an earlier age.
Enrichment programs are usually independent study-type learning environments involving exploratory devices for learning and bolstering problem-solving skills. Often these exercises are directed towards a specific project, such as producing a magazine or a lengthy research paper. Group work is also focused on in this type of program. A group of gifted students are given a difficult logical problem and solve it together, bouncing ideas off of each other in order to work through the problem. Advocates of this type of gifted program believe that enrichment paths help these above average students in their higher learning efforts and better prepare them for more difficult topics.
Myths about "gifted" people being weak and physically below normal were dispelled in a study which found students with IQs over 140 were often stronger, bigger and physically adept compared to students of lesser mental capabilities. Research shows the image of the "brainy nerd" is just that, a myth.
posted by Brian at 1:02 a.m.
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