What is Special Education?

As a mild/moderate special education teacher, I give my point of view of how disability is viewed in the United States. Spoiler alert!!! We have treated disabled people , like trash and we are barely trying to turn the ship and include people with any type of disability into our society.


Text Transcription for this episode is Available here
https://inclusiveeducationirl.buzzsprout.com/ 

Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:00  
Welcome, I want to talk about what special education is and how someone can have a podcast about it. Hello, I wanted to talk to you guys about what special education is because a lot of people are confused, including teachers that work in the United States that it is required for them to know about special education. Even these teachers are confused about what it is. It's kind of bewildering. And also, I don't blame them, because I didn't really know about it until I started looking into teacher programs. And it's a relatively new thing. But it does have like a really long history, and a lot of it is legal stuff. But I'll try to summarize that for you guys. In a way that's a little bit more entertaining than going through a YouTube video. Like if you type in history of special education, there's a bunch of like slideshows and cool stuff that go into that performing, I mean, like, presenting the visual information with like, the laws and the timelines. And unfortunately, I'm not there yet. So we're gonna push forward here with just the audio, and like a free, but entertaining history of special education. So just to clarify, there has been people with learning disabilities since the beginning of history. And I need to say that because I've heard people mention, parents and people in my community mentioned that learning disabilities are made up, and that they're like a modern phenomenon. Like, I'm assuming they're tying it to like the Industrial Revolution, and like how people have been getting sick, because of like our living conditions, which I do agree with. But I don't think that that's the only factor within having people with learning disabilities, and even that term is kind of limiting and like framing the conversation in a particular way. What, there's this idea that not everyone's brain in the world works the same way, which is a revelation for a lot of people. So not everyone can do the same thing. In the same way. A term that's been used in, like special education, research and like communities, is the term that I've come across, which is pretty recent, is neurodiversity. It's a term that was made up in the late 90s, by a researcher called Judy singer, but it's supposed to represent the diversity of brains in the world, and how you can ask someone to do something, and people do it all in different ways. So like, not everyone's brain is essentially wired the same, we start to figure out that we have certain tendencies. And different people have different tendencies and think about the world in different ways, regardless of culture, and despite culture. So neurodiversity is a thing that we're still learning about, and it's very new. So, I mean, humans have existed for not that long in relation to the earth. But different people are good at different things. And that has definitely been the trend up until now, for humanity. So I think like some of the things that I've read in these books is like a, you know, like, someone that's not that great at executive functioning would have done something else. In the past, like, I don't even know I don't remember exactly what the examples were. But not everyone. Like in modernity, like we all need certain skills and we're considered like terrible human beings if we can't stay still or if we can't read or we can like listen to someone talk talking to us. There's certain expectations like being able to sit still and all that. So special education, in theory, or in practice is how to take people that

Unknown Speaker  5:01  
Think differently, and behave differently and put them into the molds that we currently accept in society. And that kind of sounds harsh, because I'm a part of that, as an educator working this system, like, that's the system's overall goal. We're just trying to get kids to be able to work in the environments that they're in. So I think, since like our modern school system, like the way that we know it now, there was a huge fight for equal rights. And we always think about it, like something that happened in the past that was like, super remote. And I've seen on like Twitter, and like Instagram, how, at this year 2021, I saw that there was a push for trying to include more pictures of Martin Luther King, Jr. in color, and I pictures from that era, the civil rights movement in color, because it wasn't really that long ago. So it was like 50 or 60 years ago. So I think that to address what special education is, also includes what people like what think about people that had a learning disability, or weren't able bodied, which means that you can like run and jump and like you have all your limbs and your eyesight and your hearing is people really excluded those that weren't able bodied, and weren't, like productive, deemed productive in society, to the fringes of society. So kids with disabilities did not get to go to the same schools as their peers. Like before the 70s. There's a huge stigma for people that identify themselves, or their family members with different types of disabilities. And that's what I've seen and researched, is deeply rooted in, from what I understand at this point that in the United States, we treated people very poorly, that were not deemed productive in society, they would put them into someone to say camps, but it kind of similar conditions, it was just like institutions, institutions would be the word for those places. If you watch the movie on Netflix, right now called crib camp, they kind of show a little bit of that I don't remember the name of the these institutions were run, they just had people in there, like basically until they died. So they would shower them, like in groups by like spraying water hoses on them, feed them, like low quality food and just kind of contain them in a room. And they weren't given any dignity, they didn't have any clothes. So if you had any problem before you got in there, that's mental health. By the time you know, a couple days or hours in there, you they would definitely be amplified by a lot, because you're seeing that footage is pretty disturbing. I've seen it on YouTube before. But it's kind of contained in that movie crip camp, which details some of the the fight for inclusion and schools in the way that special education is implemented into schools at this moment, is that students with learning disabilities and physical disabilities are to be included in the general education curriculum. Which means most likely, if you're listening to to this, like the school that you went to, now, in what in modern day times has students with disabilities attending the same classes as general education students, there's no longer like a huge separation like I remember in my schooling, there will be kids that had special classrooms just for them. And that's usually called a special day class now, and the students that are eligible for that have a moderate to severe learning disability and

Unknown Speaker  9:59  
it's deemed that they will benefit the most from being from in that space. But to get to this point, it's not that long history. But it's kind of too much term altruist. Like, during the 70s. If you had a learning disability, you were not allowed to go to the same school as your peers. Many times you were denied access to just attending a school, especially if you had a physical disability. The other you were you were not allowed to go into the school. So you would sit at home and do whatever your parents told you to do. So the first legislation in 1975. And we still use the same term, it's called Section 504. Today, like, that's what the part about So in 1975, there was a non discriminatory law passed, and it was called, like, the five section 504. C, and all it said was that people with disabilities were not allowed to be discriminated in education, in hospitals, and transportation that received federal money. It was in likes, it was like, sorta happy, like, if passed, but not a lot of there was no, like, there was no enforcement to it. They were always like, at the verge of getting vetoed, the funding for that type of stuff was always like, super low. But I think in the movie that I mentioned, crib cap, on Netflix, which you should watch as a, as a supplement to this podcast is it kind of mentioned, like the fight for during Vietnam, that was a time in the 70s. So the returning veterans, a lot of them returned disabled. And that's a super interesting idea that disability rights is super important for everyone to fight for. Because it's like the only like ism, that you can suddenly find yourself in the marginalized group. So like, for racism, like you don't wake up in other race or for disability, you can find yourself to be disabled, physically impaired, in a moment's notice. And it's it changes your whole life. These veterans that have returned from Vietnam, they try to help kind of get some more enforcement for Section Five of five Bible for excuse me, the veterans that returned from Vietnam, they were able to help, kind of bringing more awareness around sections Bible for and like the implementation of it. And kind of like the big thing, that when I went to school for special education they talked about, so 1990 American with Disabilities Act that kind of changed the game to how we view students with learning disabilities and physical disabilities in public spaces. And so then what's crazy about watching that movie was that during the 70s, and 80s, people didn't, weren't used to seeing people that had disabilities all together in one place. So they had some demonstrations and sat out, they took over like, I think the mayor's house in San Francisco, they have like they stopped traffic in New York. And it was like a lot of commotion. They did like a hunger strike. They were assisted by the Black Panthers, that really stood out to me in San Francisco, the whole mutual aid, they provided them food, while they were camped up in the in the building trying to get Congress and the education secretary to kind of review their fight for inclusion, which was extremely vital and to get to 1990. With the Americans with Disability Act. The biggest thing that you should know is that the IDEA Act is a federal law that stops discrimination against eating and public hiring, pay transportation, and can include physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activities.

Unknown Speaker  14:31  
So again, like for your employment for your public domain, so like entering and exiting buildings, like buildings and public transportation are supposed to be accessible. And that's like a fairly new thing. And that was one of the major pushback from like lawmakers and like business owners is that they did not want to make their buildings and services more accessible because it will be more expensive. So this includes like state and local transportation, housing, like convictions and all that. So the  IDEA in 1990 cannot change the rules in how students with disabilities are included into public education. As a result, I have a job as a special education teacher. So my job is to work with students that have different learning disabilities. And one way that that is kind of determine this through academic testing and like social emotional testing, and, like very basic physicals, with the student and with their families. So at times this is the first time that the parent might feel that their child is being othered. And it's like a, it's a difficult process, because they might say, like, oh, well at home, you know, they're completely normal, and probably yes, because they're not being asked to do school activities, such as like reading, writing, and math, and doing different cognitive activities that they who normally would not be asked to do at home. So that's very difficult for the parents, and for the students to kind of accept, but usually, what is kind of like, the red flag for the school to try to figure out if they should support a student or not more is whether or not they're doing well academically. So people that do well, academically are never considered for an IEP, even if they have a doctor's note that says that they have ADHD, or autism, or whatever. Usually, they're like the very end of the list for schools to support them academically, because they're already doing well. And those people do exist. I know a lot of people that feel that students with disabilities can't do well in school. But that's kind of my job to kind of help them the teachers and the students to both do well in their roles. But common, like eligibilities that we see for IEPS, which are individual education plans made for students with learning disabilities are, the first one that a lot of people get confused with, is the eligibility of specific learning disability. So this could fall under like processing visual, or auditory information. So it's not like a diagnosis doesn't change anyone's life. Magically, it's just like you have trouble processing information that you hear, you have process problems, processing information that you see, like that's a big one. Another eligibility is other health impairment. So this can be something that prevents students from performing academically. So usually, this comes down to like attention problems, and other mental health issues as well. And it's pretty complicated. And it's not necessarily my expertise to talk about the eligibility. And it's kind of just like a label to kind of put on the kids so we can start giving them additional supports. Because each kid, even though they might have the same eligibility or not gonna benefit from the same accommodations always or you can work with them the same exact way, just because they have the same eligibility. And then the third one that people like I love to talk about how they really know a lot about this topic is autism. There's a lot of people out there that are autistic and they don't have IPs. It's only when they're this child is not performing well, academically, and they get an IEP, and then through that, usually they'll receive services from an additional teacher. The resources teacher, and I make sure that they receive the accommodations that are listed on that IEP. And I might work with them outside of their regular math and English classes, like maybe during their elective class, or during a period of the day, review some of the information that has been taught in the classes. Or I might just be in the classroom, working with the whole class, but making sure that the material is accessible to the students that have a little bit of trouble just figuring out what's going on in the classroom. And a lot of times, it's just not the special education students. I mean, a lot of the kids have the same hang ups, like reading is hard. We got to make it easier for them. And essentially, it just comes down to good teaching. Like how, how do you become a good teacher a big part of the IEP help students as well, that isn't necessarily my role is that they are eligible to receive like counseling through the school for free, which is a big deal. And different services, different things that would help them so like, I will say counseling is a big one. And also, if they have a physical disability, then they can get adapted physical education, a speech. So speech, they can get like a speech therapist to work with them through their IEP. So I received speech therapists shout out to my school. I don't remember what, like what was difficult for me to say. But I think they just didn't think I could speak English because I was very quiet and folly. When I spoke English. I was speaking English, the English I heard was, I don't know where I would hear it because everyone at home spoke Spanish. So I guess I would only hear it at school. The people that I most talked to which were other students were also learning English in a very similar situation. As myself, I need a speech therapy to talk louder and probably pronounce words correctly. And I started remember her her name is Miss Peterson. Shout out to her. So to summarize, special education, the main goal of it is to include people with disabilities into regular life, because for a long time, they were not allowed to be in the same schools. This is a super modern thing. So most people, they don't know about what special education is because it was it's been developing, it's been like a little baby, underfunded still, like education as underfunded. Slowly, there's been more acceptance like kids that have graduated, currently, probably within the last five years, they definitely know that there's been more than one adult in the classroom, during their classes. And it's not weird to them. But it is weird for the staff at times, and that becomes a problem. So we're still learning how to do this, which is exciting. And it is exciting for me, because we get to figure out how to include more people in the world, what we're doing, which is always a good thing. And it's very scary to look at footage of people being very nasty to people with disabilities. From here. I mean, it's been a huge, like learning opportunity to do this podcast, it's by a yearly goal, it's gonna be like a long term project, I just want to continue making a podcast once a month, at the very least. And I want to talk about different things that pertain to like inclusiveness and education because that's like my specialty, my career. But I do want to, I kind of want to throw this out there, like I want to talk about like hidden disabilities, like, kind of briefly mentioned some of them. During this one, this podcast, I want to talk about the stigma of being a student with a disability. And, and I also want to talk about how like, inclusiveness can help all students and how it's actually improving teaching in general. I want to thank you for listening to my podcast and I want to encourage you to follow it on the app that you're listening to. And if you're on Apple, please rate me five stars. That way other people can discover this part Cast I'm slowly going to try to promote it I do have a full time job right now thank you very much for listening to this episode