History: What has happened to change the ways that schools treat students with special needs?
There has been a marked change in the way that schools treat students with special needs. “With regard to equality rights, the Charter has led to the recognition and enforcement of the rights of a number of minority and disadvantaged groups” (Guide to Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms). Laws have since been passed that uphold the rights of people with special needs to an education. Some examples of the inclusion of students with special needs follow. Students with special needs are now integrated into the regular classroom, whereas before students were either segregated into different classrooms, different schools, or in some cases, not allowed to attend school. Teachers now also look at ways to adapt or modify their lessons, or curriculum, in order to meet special needs students at their individual levels. Further, students with specials needs often have support workers working with them to achieve their individual success. There has also been a shift in educating teachers on how to treat students with special needs. Inclusion support teachers are a district resource that go to various schools in order to help teachers develop inclusive plans for students who possess a wide variety of challenges. Anytime a student displays a behaviour, it often means they have a need that is not being met. Now, teachers work very hard to identify the need that is not being met in order to encourage desired outcomes and behaviours.
This case study caused me to reflect on my own experiences from my first practicum. As new teachers, we are being taught to include universal designs for learning as well as implementing differentiated instruction for the students that need it. In the classroom that hosted me, we had several students who were listed as having special needs. Darlene, from the case study, reminded me of a student from my practicum class. They would remove themselves from the other students occasionally, and were capable of outbursts similar to Darlene’s. My Teacher Mentor found an effective way to mediate these outbursts with a type of reward system. For everyday the student did not have an outburst, made positive decisions with classmates, and stayed on task during their work, they would earn a point with the goal of reaching 25 points. At this point, the teacher had a deal that they would bake cupcakes for the entire class, which helped the student and the rest of the class work in cohesion together. It is also supported that having students with special needs in the same classroom as students without them improves the learning environment for all within it. While being able to mitigate any foreseen problems with students, there should be no reason to segregate students with special needs.
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