Special Education: Everything You Need to Know

hello and welcome to teachings and education with your favorite special education teacher franca Vella this video will cover everything you would ever need to know about special education this video is intended for parents general education teachers special education teachers and even students we'll begin with a brief overview of special education special ed is intended to educate students in a way that addresses their specific needs so what is a purpose it should build upon and enhance a student's strengths but also identify their weaknesses say mathematics and provide supports for that specific weakness to help them succeed

in those areas the history of special education was a long journey beginning where disabled children were excluded from education and place in institution like schools to now where children are protected by law a large number of special education students feel a stigma from being labeled unfortunately that label causes these students to feel shame and resent to school system in general this label also leads teachers into the soft bigotry of low expectations teachers feel sorry for these students and don't expect them to be able to succeed and wrongly so they dumb down their teaching next how

do students become eligible for special education services well it starts with a referral in fact schools have an obligation to quote find children with disabilities the referral leads to a comprehensive evaluation using psychometric tests licensed school personnel carry out these tests and interpret their results an IEP team is formed and they make the determination of eligibility the determination is measured by two criteria points first the child must fall into one of the 14 identified disabled categories second the disability must be adverse to the child's education if criteria is met an IEP is written the IEP

must be followed by teachers and school personnel annual meetings must take place as well moving on to the least restrictive environment LRE the LRE describes a cascade of services for students and that basically describes the various educational settings that special education students are placed in the least restrictive environment is one where a special education students spend most of their time with non-disabled peers meaning a general education classroom a more restrictive environment is one where students spend part of their day in special education classes and the other part of their time in the general education classes

getting more restrictive is having students spending their entire days in special education classes a further restrictive environment is to place students in an all special education school where they don't get any time with non-disabled peers lastly we have a homebound or residential setting students are further isolated and kept from non-disabled peers this setting is considered the most restrictive of all settings mentioned here now we're going to move on to the individualized education plan the IEP students that are classified as having a disability are giving an IEP which is a legal document to be enforced the

first component of an IEP is a statement of services which details the types of services the child will receive the rationale aligns with the statement of services IEP s must have both short term and long term goals the goals must be measurable and as specific as possible next is the present level of educational performance which simply describes how a student is currently doing IEP s must have the projected dates for initiation and duration of services next is accommodations and modifications accommodations must be put in place for state testing students need to have a plan for

transition and post-secondary life beginning at the age of 16 until they graduate from high school now let's take a look at some of the major legislation that created this system of special education first up is public law 94-142 the cornerstone is fate which stands for free and appropriate public education for all children next it makes improvements to public law 94-142 in terms of research and technology for special education the law also brings to attention bilingual education next up is No Child Left Behind this act is best known for school choice and giving options to students

that attend schools that do not meet their annual yearly progress continuing with the individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act this law ensures equity and accountability for special needs students it addresses a response to intervention RTI and lastly es si gives more power to the states in terms of choosing their standards it also retains some policies of standardized testings from No Child Left Behind on to classroom instruction and the first topic is modifications modifications are a change to the content or learning goal for a student the first example is to allow alternative reading books and materials

for special ed students the books may be tailored to their interest and based on their reading level you can provide opportunities to retake quizzes a more common modification may be allowing students to make corrections on problems that they previously got wrong the next example is to provide word banks on their exams this will of course be for fill-in type questions some teachers reduce the number of questions on their tests for special education students these are modifications that general education students would not receive next are accommodations accommodations are a change in the way a student can

access content or tests the first example is preferential seating the students get closer and closer to access the teacher during the lesson students have trouble accessing material through writing you can use books on tape students can get extended time during testing they can have longer duration of access to questions and test content some teachers use accommodations that go as far as to allow for open notebooks during testing next we move on to some actual teaching strategies for special education students special education students more than most require differentiated instruction and teachers can differentiate by three different

ways the content the process and the product classroom lessons and assignments should be broken down into smaller more manageable tasks formative assessment is important because these students could be fall behind their non-disabled peers graphic organizers will specifically help by outlining connections between concepts and ideas teachers should use questioning techniques to keep students engaged and help expand on their existing knowledge problem-solving strategies will help close the existing achievement gaps found in their standardized test scores help these students out by sending reminders time and time again and use technology to do it and lastly build cognitive rigor

through lesson objectives to develop the necessary critical thinking skills next the classroom environment the classroom environment may be adapted for special education students one way is to limit visual distractions this includes bright dazzling posters models and figures teachers should create and enforce speaker rules this will limit the amount of interruptions that occur for special needs students that quickly forget labels can really come in handy for classroom supplies teachers should also provide class schedules for further organization relaxing music will often help settle down a rambunctious classroom of students teachers need to instill protocols for actions such

as going to the bathroom sharpening pencils and much much more students should have proper lighting so they can see the board and their assignments and special needs students must take preference in the seating arrangement next is behavior intervention strategies special educators of today are becoming more and more familiar with applied behavior analysis as a scientific approach to behavior management functional behavioral assessments known as fbas are used to find the root causes of problem behavior behavior intervention plans are created using data from fbas along with data from ABC charts meaning antecedent behavior and consequence many special

education schools are incorporating positive behavior intervention and support systems positive student behavior can earn them privileges and cash and tokens for rewards the next section is assistive technology assistive technology does not include medical devices that are surgically implanted or the replacement of the device examples of 80 includes specialized wheelchairs switches and controls various apps pencil grips on/off voice activation calculators and much much more assistive technology should lead to an increase in productivity performance and learning it should also be used for vision hearing memory and much much more now let's take a look at curriculum special

education students in particular benefit from emergent curriculum which are projects and activities that have been inspired by student interest similarly there is functional curriculum which focuses on basic living skills along with vocational skills just because these students are special-needs doesn't mean they shouldn't be challenged with higher-order thinking skills the curriculum should reflect that special education students usually require a slower pace of curriculum delivery as compared to general education students and lastly cooperative learning can be used as a way to foster soft skills for special needs students now on to the inclusion movement the inclusion movement

is the belief that students with disabilities belong in the general education classroom this movement is based on an idea that there are no excuses to leaving special needs students out of the general education classroom the school just needs to find a way to make it work and one way to make it work is by providing supports for the student the supports are designed to help students reach the ultimate goal of a diploma and if it isn't working schools create alternative paths to get a diploma onto families of special-needs students educators should look to build relationships

with families of special needs students the first step towards building a relationship with families is to create a safe and supportive environment basically the school needs to do its job first educators should be professional in their meetings with their families families are going to have their concerns and it's up to the educators to explore these concerns educators also have a duty to inform parents of their rights many schools today handout advocacy pamphlets thank you for staying with me don't forget to like share and subscribe to this channel please check the description links below for resources

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