Running head: CLOSING THE GAP: MOBILIZING SPECIAL EDUCATION

Closing the Gap: Mobilizing Special Education Practices for All Students Vanessa Graves Foster Montclair State University

CLOSING THE GAP: MOBILIZING SPECIAL EDUCATION Closing the Gap: Mobilizing Special Education Practices for All Students

This paper showcases the need for more enhanced, accessible, and permeating training of general education teachers in special education techniques and practices. It explores the societal reasons for special education, the ways that special education impacts general education students, and potential solutions for helping general education teachers become more comfortable with the idea of teaching special students. Stacy Smith. IQ 70: Cognitively Impaired. Resources allocated: special education resource teacher, study skills support, and a scribe to help mitigate motor challenges. Nancy Nottings. IQ 73: Normal Range. Resources allocated: none. All students, all people, are special. We all have our unique quirks, our likes and dislikes, our particular forms of intelligence, and our individual ways of approaching the world. What are we doing when we single certain students out for special education? Are we saying that these students are so deficient in skills that they need to be removed from the general population to keep them from dragging down the overall ship? Or are we saying that those in general education are normal enough to not need any allowances for different ways of learning, being, or knowing? Does differentiated instruction only show up in special classrooms, and if so, how is the uniqueness of the general education population being undergirded? Selfcontained special education, or the practice of singling out certain students with particular disabling conditions, for education that is separate both in content and in context, deprives the overall classroom community of the resources that they offer. Self-Contained Classrooms: How did we get here? As discussed by Baglieri and Shapiro (2012), there are currently 13 disabling conditions that are recognized by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, or IDEIA.

CLOSING THE GAP: MOBILIZING SPECIAL EDUCATION The IDEIA is the body of federal legislation that dictates how special education services are designed, funded and implemented in the United States. The disabling conditions that are recognized are: Visual Impairments Hearing Impairments Deaf-Blindness Speech of Language Impairments Orthopedic Impairments Traumatic Brain Injury Other Health Impairment Multiple Disabilities Cognitive Impairment, Cognitive Disability, Intellectual Disability Specific Learning Disability Emotional Disturbance and Behavioral Disorder Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder

The passage of IDEIA was designed to increase educational attainment for people with disabilities, who had previously been barred from public education due to a lack of available resources or public understanding regarding specific needs. The irony of the IDEIA is that the very laws that have been intended to increase access to public education have resulted in the creation of a segregated system of schooling for students who are deemed to have one of these disabling conditions. As evidenced by Lalvani (2012), even parents who desire to have their special needs children placed in inclusive educational settings are often met with a frustrating lack of access to the general education environment. As a way to ensure the education of all, a

CLOSING THE GAP: MOBILIZING SPECIAL EDUCATION system of apartheid has been introduced and flourishes, largely unchallenged, in our public educational spaces. According to Valle and Connor (2011), there is a common belief in educational spheres that only specially trained educators are special enough to teach special education students.

The needs of children, when described in the scientific and jargon-laden way that is so prevalent in educational settings, can seem overwhelming and daunting to general education teachers. How can we support general education teachers in seeing and believing that they, too, are capable of meeting the needs of all students? The benefits of inclusive education Some identified benefits of inclusive education include: Children all children, whether general education or special education - develop a positive understanding of themselves and others. Students are better able to understand diversity as it applies to the world, and develop skills for dealing with and appreciating all kinds of people Friendships develop that transcend the bounds that might ordinarily separate the normal kids from the special kids Children learn important academic skills, with access to highly trained academic educators and a variety of educational activities. Both special education and general education students are able to benefit from the infusion of support services, and all students benefit from a strong curriculum (Adapted: http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/learning-disabilities/inclusiveeducation/the-benefits-of-inclusive-education/)

CLOSING THE GAP: MOBILIZING SPECIAL EDUCATION

According to Villa and Thousand (2005), in order for inclusive education to truly work in the classroom, significant opportunities for collaboration between professionals is needed, as well as additional training and support for the classroom teacher. The time that is necessary for teacher collaboration is often scarce in real-world urban educational environments, and the resources that are required to infuse more support are often few and far between. In my own observations of preschool environments at the Ben Samuels Center in Montclair, NJ and the Early Childhood Learning Center South in Newark, NJ, I was able to see first-hand the impact that increased professional collaboration can have on the inclusivity of the educational environment. We must start from the premise that teachers do indeed care for their students and have the best intentions of serving their needs. If the issue of teacher empowerment stands in the way of a successful educational environment for all students, then we must do more to empower teachers! Proposal As a means of engaging ALL teachers in Newark, NJ, I propose a website that will serve the following functions: Provide basic instruction in the back-bone elements of a thriving inclusive classroom, such as Universal Design for Learning and an understanding of child development Allow a space for successful teaching practices to be showcased and rewarded, and for practices that are working well to be quickly and widely disseminated throughout Newark

CLOSING THE GAP: MOBILIZING SPECIAL EDUCATION Allow a space for community development amongst like-minded teachers, with the creation of an online community that is exclusively for Newark teachers who are committed to truly teaching all children To orchestrate the learning symphony, each instrument is important. All must work in cooperation with each other to produce the larger whole, and all must understand self in relation to others. By widening the bounds of the classroom beyond the four walls experienced by the teachers daily life, empowering teachers to act as leaders and experts in the educational practices that they already know and implement well, and providing opportunities for reflection and concrete skill and concept mastery, we better enable teachers to confidently steer the helms of eclectic and symphonic learning communities.

CLOSING THE GAP: MOBILIZING SPECIAL EDUCATION References Baglieri, S., & Shapiro, A. (2012). Disability studies and the inclusive classroom: Critical practices for creating least restrictive attitudes. New York, NY: Routledge.

Lalvani, P. (2012). Parents participation in special education in the contexts of implicit educational ideologies and socioeconomic status. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 47(4), 474-486. Valle, J. & Connor, D. (2011). Rethinking Disability - Ch 3: Examining beliefs and expanding notions of normalcy. Villa, R., & Thousand, J. (Eds.). (2005). Creating an inclusive school (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ACSD.