SPED 608 ("We don't teach academics.")

I was an instructional assistant for nine years before I became a teacher. One of the catch phrases that you hear all of the time in Adaptive Life Skills is that "We don't teach academics." While the phrase still bothers me, another teacher was able to clarify what most people mean when they say this. She explained that an Adaptive Life Skills classroom needs to look at how academic skills are used in day-to-day activities. How does the student use addition when they're at the store? What reading skills does that student need when crossing the street?

The problem with this approach is that it makes it really easy to underestimate our students. Teaching to their limits doesn't expand their horizons. Kids in Adaptive Life Skills are first and foremost kids. Most everyone (Myself included) forgets that (From time to time).

My X (My ex-wife) has a younger brother with exceptionalities (Autism, Developmental Disabled, and Seizures). He is in his 30s so he missed an education within the strictures of IDEA. Needless to say, the local school district did little to help him. There are other factors in the mix as well, but the reason that I bring him up is that once he was in his 20s, he taught himself math and spell. Using different Speak-And-Say toys, he taught himself addition and subtraction (And some multiplication). He also learned a variety of spelling words as well.

Granted, this was a matter of memorization and you have to ask how much he does know, but what I'm trying to show is that learning doesn't stop. So many people look at our students and wonder if they'll ever get academics and I like to say, Yes, they might.

The other point in this example is that while my X's brother can tell you how to spell or add and subtract, these skills are not transferred to the "real" world. So while he has been taught academics, these skills don't have any meaning in his day-to-day activities. That extra step between academics and reality was never made. This happens all the time in education, but most students can take that extra step (Between academcis and reality). Most students with special needs can't take that step.

As Special Education teachers, we need to look at instructional strategies with more common sense than general education teachers. We need to recognize that while all knowledge is important, knowledge that these students can use is more important. Does it really matter if these kids can recite the Declaration of Independence or know how to cross the street safely? Obviously, knowing how to cross the street is more important to most of these kids (Like everything, there are exceptions 8).

I sometimes feel that students with special needs are not challenged enough at school. Especially in Adaptive Life Skills. Like every kid, these students can be underestimated. That's one of the issues that I have to look at next year. It's too easy to say that a student can't do something without even trying. If you don't try, you will fail.

That happened a lot in my room last year. Staff decided that a student couldn't do something and they were shephered into other activities. Rather than challenging the student (And the staff), that road wasn't taken. Staff and student went down the easier path. I want to change that next year.

This issue is going to take leadership, initiative, and direction, something that I wasn't able to provide last year (Some, but not enough). Again, the situation will be VERY different from last year and I hope that I'll make things much better.

I've got a meeting with my supervisor on Monday afternoon. We're going to discuss my classroom and my instructional assistants. I'm a bit apprehensive, but also looking forward to seeing what next year will be like. Oh, did I mention that I'll be at Gold Beach next year?

Again.