The book starts off by discussing generalaties about what it means to be disabled/have a disability and how people with disabilities have been affected by their disabilties and the many negatives that come along with it.The book says that "children who fell outside the "typical mold found themselves identified with classifications indicating their dysfunction." I have met and worked with many people with disabilities throughout my lifetime and I have been around people with disabilities all of my life. My father, due to a accident at his old job, has been disabeled for as long as I can remember. I have seen the many classifications that the book talks about pressed upon my father thoughout the years. He has a broken back with 2 steel rods in it, 4 fused vertebrate, a leg that gives out frequently, and he is constantly in pain. He is unable to work and unable to do any heavy lifting. He pretty much isn't able to do anything that your average father wishes he could do. He has experienced a lot of harrassment, both physcial and verbal, and he has to put up with that along with his pain and sickness everyday. He has told me lots of stories of harrassment and things that really make you wonder what is wrong with some of the people in this world.
I also have been around many children with multiple disabilities. I had my SED 285 field placement in a multiple disability classroom in the Conestoga Valley School District, at Fritz Elementary. There was 6 different children at this placement, all who had multiple disabilities and multiple capabilities unique to themselves. Some of the children were deaf, most were blind, some experienced seizures, some had feeding tubes, one had autism, and they all needed a lot of extra help to perform many of the daily routines that most of us take for granted. They need assistance going to the bathroom, walking, eating, reading, and could not be left out of sight for more than a minute. They they required constant care. There was often more adults, teachers and aids, than students in our classroom. Although this may seem a bit extreme, I think that it was necessary due to the childrens IEPs. Even though most of these children had severe disabilities, It was still very nice to see that they were "included" in certain instances with the typical students. I went with some of the students to specials like music and art. The special education teacher often had reading buddies come into their classroom to help read stories to the students. I think that these students were included into the general classroom as much as their disabilities would allow, which I really liked to see because I feel as if some students in other schools are not as lucky.
Currently, I am still often around children with multiple disabilities. My girlfriend's sister, Katie, is 13 and has cerebral palsy. Although she is 13 in appearance, cognitively speaking, she functions on a similiar level to a 2 year old. She also requires around the clock aid. Although some people would see these many disabilities as a curse, I see them as a gift. people with disabilities can teach us alot about ourselves and can makes us grateful for the many things that we have. Everytime I look at Katie I can't help but smile. She brightens the world around her, as do many of these children with disabilities. I went to a christmas show that was put on at her school, a special education school, and all of the kids had so much fun performing and it was such a great experience.
After talking about disabilities in general, the authors then move on to talk about high prevalence disabilities, and how although a disability may be mild, mild does not mean "not serious". The authors talk about how although a student may be "close to normal", being close to normal or being "almost" like everyone else is still no fun. I have met many kids with mild conditions who were close to normal, but they still stuck out in a crowd. I worked with a kid named Robert last summer, and although there was nothing physically wrong with him, you could just tell that there was just something not right about him. Robert would often call out during training seminars and get overly excited about random things and the other employees would often stare and laugh, and would sometimes catch them making fun of him. Although Robert seeemed to have an above average IQ, he still didn't seem to fit in well with his peers due to his disability. Due to my time spent with him and the many things I noticed about Robert, I believe that he had Asbergers and that is why he was socially awkward. I hated seeing people make fun of him for being different. I believe that we are all a little bit odd in our own ways, Robert's oddness just stuck out more than most people's, but I do not think that it is fair that he be critisized for his.
The authors and our classmates also talked a lot about using people first language and how to properly label/identify people in a lawful and respectful way. I have tried to demonstrate what we in class and the book discussed throughout this blog post. The book also talks a lot about the history of Disabilities across time from the Middle Ages to current era. Our country has come a long way in serving children identified as having disabilities and many movements are still being made to improve the way of life for people with disabilities. In the section titled "disabilities in the United States from 1950 to the present" the authors talk a lot about the past and current legislation, their ideas and principals, and how they are function to aid students with disabilities. IDEA is discussed and IEPs are mentioned on various occasions. I have been able to look at several IEPs throughout the past few years. I have seen Katie's IEP, and I was also allowed to look at several of the students IEPs at Fritz Elementary. I have also seen many examples of LRE (least restrictive environment) being used in both of these cases.The chapter ends by talking about Trends in history and gives a timetable of court cases supporting equal access to educational services.
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