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No Child Left Behind Improving Special Education

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The No Child Left Behind Act emphasizes that all children get the same equal opportunities as everyone else in the goal of high-quality education.  Along with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, all students are required to take state assessment tests. Regardless of a disability, a child’s score is counted as part of the state’s Adequate Yearly Progress goal.

Of course, not all exceptional children are functioning on grade level, so No Child Left Behind has made certain considerations for the disabled. Special education students may be allowed to take assessment exams with extra breaks and for an extended amount of time. Large print and Braille are also available and, in some cases, a teacher or instructional aide can read instructions out loud for the student and point out when he or she needs to get back on track. Students must read exam questions and answers by themselves and mark answers appropriately.

In cases where testing modifications are inadequate, alternate examinations may be available as long as they test the child’s specific grade level knowledge.

In years past, children with disabilities were not given access to standard coursework and curriculums. No Child Left Behind has forced schools to pay more attention to disabled students, allowing them to make advancements in reading and mathematics that were almost unheard of before. As with any change in the educational system, some parents of severely disabled students worry that their children are being forced to learn at a pace too difficult for them in an effort to put the state’s test ranking above others. Parents should closely communicate with teachers and school faculty to best determine the necessary assessment modifications and what the parents can do to help their child learn at home.

If a special education student is not being instructed on their grade level, the school may be abusing or ignoring No Child Left Behind. In these instances, consulting a lawyer is recommended.

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Respecting a Wheelchair-Bound Student

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Having a wheelchair accessible classroom does not guarantee that a wheelchair-bound student will feel comfortable in his or her surroundings. Adapting an environment to accommodate the disabled only works when other people in that environment treat the disabled with respect and understanding. For a teacher inexperienced with having a student in a wheelchair, the first year can be a lot of trial and error.

First and foremost, do not treat a wheelchair-bound student any differently. Disabled students need sympathetic teachers, but too much sympathy can lead to feelings of alienation. Putting a disabled student in a “special” area of the classroom, apart from other students, because there’s easier access to the classroom door is isolating.  Offering too much help can, in some cases, be embarrassing for the disabled student. There is no doubt, students with disabilities have special needs and will require assistance, but make sure any help given is discreet. Each day, ensure that the classroom is free from obstacles before students arrive. As much as possible, allow the disabled student freedom to be independent. Help them feel empowered by asking them to help another student with a project or difficult problem.

Model acceptance and nonjudgmental support. Teach all your students consideration and respect for others and hold them accountable.

At the beginning of the year, have a conversation with a wheelchair-bound student to determine any special needs or requests. When having conversations, consider that these students need to look up constantly when you are standing, so sit or squat down so you’re on the same level.

Teachers and fellow students need to respect the student’s wheelchair and personal space. Don’t push the student in a wheelchair without permission. If the student sits in a regular chair during classroom, don’t let anyone sit in his or her wheelchair. It is their own personal property.

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Ways Around A Rambunctious Child

One of the most well known problems with a child who has a learning disability is that they may have problems sitting still while class is going on. Having a hard time grasping a subject for a small child can usually lead to becoming disinterested, bored and restless while class is going on. While they may not act out to the level where they are actually interrupting class or being totally disruptive there are other ways to cause a problem and one of those is constantly fidgeting in their seats.

Of course when the child is moving around as often as some of them will, the standard school desks will constantly creak and crack and even screatch across the classroom floor from time to time. Parents of special needs children should work closely with the child’s teachers to see what kind of solutions can be made to at the very least avoid as much noise as possible. One way to avoid the kind of creaking and cracking is to put a seat cushion down. A seat cushion that comes in the standard ‘O” shape can actually help because the child will think they are getting quite a bit of motion while in fact they aren’t moving that much.

Another technique that can be tried is to use a different kind of desk, one that is separate from the chair can work wonders in cutting down the noise because the one piece desks are notorious for creating more noise. Of course either one of these solves should only be used if the teacher and the school’s administration is 100 percent on board with the idea. There are going to be students who will resent the student who gets a more comfortable or different seat and that may cause more problems for the teacher than the noise that the fidgeting was making.

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Poor Forms Of Discipline With ESE Students

In the current climate in this country and with a rash of violence popping up in schools across the country it seems that more and more school districts are adopting what is called the zero tolerance policy when it comes to disciplining students. While at times it may seem like taking this approach is taking an active role in making sure that students in the entire are being protected, the reality is that some students are going to get cast as the ones who deserve no tolerance when they actually need more than the norm.

Exceptional Student Education (ESE) qualified students will often appear as massive trouble makers to those who do not understand the kind of learning disabilities these children have come down with. It is even worse when ESE eligible students have not yet been diagnosed with a treatable learning disability and everyone including the child’s family just thinks they are either bad seeds or incorrigible. These types of students are usually the ones who are singled out and pointed to when school boards argue that they need the no tolerance policies in place in the first place when they should be taken aside and taught how to behave and how to handle themselves in the classroom.

ESE students are not the lost cause so many schools have suddenly decided they are, but treatment for the various learning disabilities they may be diagnosed with can be expensive and the funds for continuing to educate them in a totally different way than the rest of their class can sometimes be hard to come by. So instead the school district decides that these are the kind of kids who must be expunged from the rolls and they are left to fend for themselves in a world they aren’t fully equipped to deal with. Zero tolerance policies do fewer people less good than their brochures trumpet.

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Diagnosing Dyslexia In a Young Child

Arriving at a diagnosis for a learning disability like dyslexia is never easy. There are many different problems that could be leading to the child’s underperforming at their grade level and rarely does a school, a teacher, or a parent want to hand a stigma like a learning disorder over to a child. Few people realize just how liberating being diagnosed with a disease that is every bit as treatable as a real virus can be. Once the child and its parents know what the problem is the long journey of treatment can begin. It is at this point that everyone involved will admit they can actually see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Diagnosing dyslexia in children from kindergarten until about fourth grade can actually be a fairly simply process of noticing when the child is having an especially hard time with one task or another. For the most part, younger children’s symptoms will actually pop up as a bit more obvious because everyone is just learning how to do, say, write and read new words. When one child is lagging behind all the others in the first couple of years of their education, it becomes a little clearer where the problem lies. For most kids in this age group, there are some specific symptoms to look out for. In the area of mathematics, one of the bigger signs that there may be a problem beyond lack of interest is when a child is constantly confusing the various symbols (+, -, =, x, /). In the area of reading and writing the problem will usually present itself as a juxtaposition of certain letters and words. The letter “m” might often be confused for “w” or the word “pot” might be used when the child meant to write “top.” Of course in order for any of these to count as symptoms there has to be a pattern emerging.

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Dealing With Dyslexia

One of the most common and recognized learning disability among the general population is dyslexia. While 30 to 40 years ago people with dyslexia were simply dismissed as being stupider than their peers, we now understand that intellect has absolutely nothing to do with it. Dyslexia is simply a condition in which the brain filters information such as how words are spelled in a completely different way than the norm. Millions upon millions of children are diagnosed with Dyslexia every year and despite all we know about the affliction it can still be hard to understand it and to really tell when it is present.

There are several warning signs that should be able to tip parents and teachers off about a student and whether or not they are dyslexic. Of course like every disability in this area it pays not to rush to judgment, but rather make sure that the child truly has a disability. Sometimes a student may actually just be taking longer to grasp something than the others, only to catch up later on in life. When looking for the most common signs of dyslexia in kindergartners to fourth graders there are a couple of general signs. If the child reverses the directions of certain letters on a consistent basis, such as substituting “b” for “d”, “bog” instead of “dog” for instance, that could be a signal. Entire reversals of words can be another sign, in other word if the child is consistently writing top instead of pot warning bells should be going off.

In older students it can be even more difficult to diagnose because at this point they may simply have gotten used to struggling. This is where a great deal of students simply give up thanks to a lack of understanding or help from their teachers or parents.

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Special Needs Children In Traditional School Settings

Children who have learning disabilities face more challenges in a traditional school setting than children who do no have learning disabilities. The challenges exist not only in the curriculum, but in the social setting of a normal school environment as well. If a child with a learning disability makes the choice to be a part of a full inclusion classroom, then they will be given special consideration when it comes to learning the desired lesson plans. There are two things that a special needs child can expect in a classroom.

The first thing that they can expect is that there will be a paraprofessional in the classroom to assist them with subjects that they struggle in. A paraprofessional is someone who assists the teacher in the classroom. They can pass out papers or assist in making lesson plans. For children with special needs, there is an increased importance on the paraprofessional’s assistance.

The other thing they can expect is time that is tailor made for them. They may have more time on their tests, or extra days to finish homework assignments. The real challenge though, may lie in getting the other kids in class to accept the special needs kids as peers.

Children tend to be hesitant to accept others who are different from them. There is no question that these children will come off different. Certainly, children will be skeptical, but that is why it is important that the teachers do everything in their power not to single out the special needs child. The challenges of special needs children in a traditional school setting is much like auto insurance Albany. There has to be a certain amount of protection given to these children to ensure that they integrate well with their settings.

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