There are six key principals in the individual with disabilities education act
(IDEA) all educators are expected to uphold: free appropriate public education (FAPE),
appropriate evaluation, individual education program (IEP), least restrictive environment
(LRE), parent and student participation in decision making, and procedural safeguards.
All principals are equally important when working with students with disabilities. In my
opinion, the one that made the biggest impact on students with disabilities is the least
restrictive environment (LRE). When the government required LRE, they had students
with disabilities best interest in mind. Students not only learn from teachers, but also each
other. Therefore, children with disabilities should be placed in a setting with students
without disabilities. Some argue that an inclusion setting forces teachers to be patient and
slow down their instruction, which prohibits other students from learning. This is one of
the major faulty notions about special education. Educators should actually avoid slowing
down instructions for students with disabilities. Research shows that students with
disabilities learn more with fast-paced instructions. Fast-paced instructions keep students
engaged along with many other benefits. Therefore, when working with students with
special needs, I will use fast-paced instructions to keep my students engaged in the lesson
being taught.
As a special educator, I will be responsible for developing IEP’s for students. An
IEP is an important part of the student’s educational experience. Special educators should
do whatever possible to make sure both the parents and students have equal say in the
decision making of the IEP. I have participated in classes at Auburn University
Montgomery (AUM) where parents of children with disabilities would talk about their
child’s school experience, along with the IEP process. One thing I have learned is that I
will never know what the family of a child with a disability goes through. Therefore, as
an educator, I will make every effort to satisfy the parents of children with disabilities
when it concerns their child’s IEP. To develop a successful IEP, the IEP team needs to
collaborate effectively with each other. The special education teacher should make sure
that any general education teacher listed on the IEP is fully aware of what is outlined on
it. Moreover, the general education teacher is expected to carry out anything listed on the
IEP. Therefore, all members of the IEP team should make sure they understand what their
expected to uphold according to the IEP. Teachers should also use research-based
strategies while teaching. For one class at AUM, I had to write a strategic lesson plan and
teach either the before, during, or after part of the plan. Research-based strategies are
important because they have not only been researched, but have also been shown to
specifically help students with disabilities. Whether it is using Quick Response (QR)
Codes, Narrated PowerPoint, VoiceThread, or other technological devices, educators
should use whatever resources are available to implement a research-based strategy
during a lesson. With technology growing at fast rate, teachers should take full advantage
of the new opportunities they are given to impact the learning for students with
disabilities.
A key to being an effective teacher is behavior management. The teacher must
have control behaviors in the classroom before learning takes place. As a future special
educator, I will make it a priority to establish behavior management the first day of class.
As a student of AUM, I have been taught how to conduct a functional behavior
assessment (FBA) and write a behavioral intervention plan (BIP). It is important to know
how to do a FBA and write BIP when working with kids who will have an emotional
behavior disorder (EBD). I will carry out what is on the BIP for students. In addition to
my behavior management class, I had to attend 100 hours of conferences in the area of
special education. One conference I attended was the APBS international conference on
positive behavior support in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference lasted three days and
explicitly taught attendees how to use positive behavior support in the classroom. I will
take strategies learned from that conference, in addition to my behavior management
class, to instill proper behavior in my students.
Another great class I have taken at AUM was one that dealt with assessment of
exceptional children. For the class I was responsible for conducting a Kaufman Test of
Educational Achievement Second Edition (KTEA-II). Though most psychometrist
administer the KTEA-II in pubic schools, it was a great learning experience for me. I
learned the importance of implementing test to students who are at risk for learning
disabilities, intellectual disabilities, etc. After administering the KTEA-II, I was
responsible for writing up an assessment report on the student I tested. Again this was
great because I had to do multiple things. One tasked involved listing observations I
made during the assessment of the student. Therefore, the assessment report held me
accountable for paying attention to details of the way students responded to questions
throughout the KTEA-II.
As an educational specialist candidate, I had to conduct a research project. For my
research project, I wanted to combine special education with my past educational
background, exercise science. Therefore, I decided to conduct a study that cross-validates
body composition methods in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). I chose DS because
the population has a prevalence of obesity, in addition to other health concerns.
Unfortunately, little research existed on what body composition methods accurate to use
for people with DS. After my study was approved, I decided to establish an exercise
group for individuals with DS. I currently have 6 individuals with DS who come in twice
a week and exercise with me. The best thing about the exercise group is that I can apply
what I have been learned at AUM, even though it is in an exercise setting. I have found
that a lot of strategies I learned in my special education classes can be used for
individuals with disabilities in an exercise setting, with slight modification. One thing I
learned in class that has helped my exercise group is chaining and prompting. In the
exercise class, there were individuals who had problems with walking on a treadmill. I
used forward chaining in addition to physical and verbal prompts to teach them how walk
on the treadmill. It was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.
Therefore, I really enjoy chaining and prompting and plan to use it in the future.