What’s special about special education?

To get started with our discussion of special education, let’s consider this important (and basic) question: What is different about special education?

The claim

Teaching students with special needs is the same as teaching regular students — you just give them less work that is easier to complete.

The facts

The term “special education” means specially designed instruction created to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability. Most students with learning and behavior problems have access to and are required to learn the same curriculum as general education students. Therefore the part that is special about special education should be in how something is taught and not what is taught. Many teachers have an idea that students with special needs require something different than their typically developing peers. Unfortunately the kind of instruction most often used, even in classrooms containing students with special needs is not entirely different at all.

Just what should that “something different” look like? Researchers such as James Kauffman and Daniel Hallahan have been examining the ways in which special education classrooms are different than regular education classrooms.

• First, the pacing of instruction should be adapted to meet the needs of individual students. Some students learn at different rates than others whether they have special needs or not.
• Secondly, the intensity of the instruction is often different because students may need repetition of material, or extended time in lessons to learn the same concepts as their peers.
• Next, you need to be relentless — never giving up and trying new interventions or strategies until something works for a student.
• Another difference is classroom structure. To be successful behaviorally and academically, students with special needs require a higher level of classroom supports and structure — clear expectations, specific instructions, and posted schedules or rules.
• The need for specific and consistent reinforcement is yet another characteristic that sets special education apart. Students with special needs are often taught with lower student-to-teacher ratios than most regular education students. The individual attention provided during small group or one-on-one instruction provides many opportunities for teachers to modify the pacing and intensity of instruction. Often, students with special needs learn better using an alternate curriculum that has been specially developed with specific learning deficits in mind. For example, many reading programs provide leveled books at various reading levels so that teachers may modify the curriculum to better meet students’ needs. Along with changes in curriculum, teachers often engage in progress monitoring or assessment more regularly with students who struggle academically or behaviorally. Daily timed readings can provide insight into students’ reading growth, daily behavior checklists, and weekly assessments can provide valuable information to teachers so that instruction can be adjusted if students do not master key concepts or ideas.
• One final thing that sets special education apart is collaboration. Special and regular education teachers, related service personnel (occupational, speech, or physical therapists), school counselors, and parents work together to provide supports for students to ensure academic and behavioral success.

Conclusion

This week’s claim is fiction. Although what is taught to students with learning and behavior problems is more than likely the same as regular education, the way they are taught looks much different. In fact, most teachers find that using these same strategies with their entire class often helps all of their students learn.