Crises in Special Education

Crises in Special Education

Why we are All Crazy

Why are we all crazy? As I internalized this question it just occurred to me, so I am crazy? Well, there is some truth in that. As I have been involved in the field of early childhood and special education, I have realized that we are all “crazy.” Look at it this way, is everything working the way it is supposed to? Are the deficiencies as a result of our actions? Does everyone seem to play holier than thou? Everything is not alright, but none of us has contributed negatively. Then now you believe that we are all crazy.

We are crazy because we do things in a certain way, but expect that the results will somehow turn out to be different. There is no way a farmer can plant corn, and expect to harvest oranges. We as professionals involved with the special education inclusion aspects fail to put the necessary foundation that would ensure its success in the foreseeable future. There is less effort being put in place given the sensitization and evidence that this structure would be very effective for students with various disabilities. What we have is a lot of information on what ought to be done, but people are not working towards the implementation. Yes, the message is being spread, but even the bearers of this information are doing very little. It is quite vivid that inclusion will only work effectively if certain structures are put in place. However, we tend to expect favorable results from this encounter. We expect inclusion and other auxiliary activities to work in the long-run, yet we have erected a very poor foundation. We are crazy, right? You will only get positive results if you work positively towards attaining a certain goal.

Special Education Crises

Special education is engulfed with various crises based on how it operates and promulgated. Among the current crisis facing special education includes inadequate skills among the teaching staff more so, in this era of inclusion. Teachers available in this field do not have all the necessary requirements that would make it possible to develop a successful encounter. This can be blamed on the institutions that the teachers pass through before they are absorbed into actual teaching. Their attitudes also play a major role when it comes to competency aspects. This scenario has been witnessed more on issues to do with inclusion whereby teachers’ attitudes towards the practice have been a major stumbling block.

Another crisis that is prevalent within the special education sector is a modification of activities. Inclusion requires various modifications to be instituted in order to accommodate students with disabilities. Most general educators are not willing to modify their curriculum and other activities conducted within the school. The modifications are necessary because there is no way students with disability can learn the same way as the other students and expect them to perform well. Individuals resisting the modifications usually cite time management and disorientation as the major reasons for their resistance. This has become a major crisis due to the major debates that emanate. The debates never come up with lasting solutions, and students with disability are still not receiving 100% from the inclusion perspective.

To some extent, the crises mentioned above are related to time management, personal organization, and class size. The aspect of having teachers with inadequate skills to fit into the special education sector can be viewed as a personal organization issue. This is because of the attitudes that teachers have while they are being trained. Maybe, some of the teachers are being provided with adequate and favorable training, but they usually ignore some aspects during this process since they do not deem them as being very important. Their attitudes are also a reflection of how well they are organized at a personal level. Class size can be related to the aspect of educational modification. If the class size is small, the modification would not be very difficult. This is in comparison to a large class size. Inclusion will only work better with small class sizes compared to large class sizes.

Trends on the Above Crises

There is an expectation that these crises will be solved in future. Observing from a professional point of view, these are not aspects likely to cripple special education. They are not of great magnitude but are stubborn so long as they exist. The aspect to do with inadequate skills would be easily dealt with if the relevant stakeholders get serious on the issue. It is apparent though that this issue does not affect special education solely. Even general education is affected in a way, but special education endures the most consequences. Setting up-to-date infrastructures would be a favorable way towards eliminating the crisis. It would ensure that teachers get all the relevant training. There should be some form of standardization in order to ensure uniformity, and that no one is left behind. Personal aspects should be considered too so as to eradicate the negative attitudes. Devising a program that does not put this into consideration would be a failure.

The issue to do with educational modification is just a matter of resistance to change. This is expected since people tend to resist change for various reasons. However, the fact is that change is inevitable. In the long-run it will prevail.

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