Disabilities

Banks introduces the topic of disabilities with the term exceptional.

Exceptional can include students with advanced skills and students who have

troubles learning; basically, it means a student who learns differently than

the average student. The term is more inclusive than disabled which is

something that I like. Banks also notes that there should not just be two

types of students, those who are normal and those who are not, which is

something that I also believe to be true. All students differ from one another

and learn slightly different from one another.

Learning about IEPs in my SPED class has really opened my eyes to the

idea of a need for individual programs for each student with a disability. As

Banks noted, classifying a student under a certain disability does not mean

that you can teach all students with that disability in the same way. Students

need IEPs to learn in a way that is most beneficial for their individual selves.

IEPs eliminate functional exclusion, which is a good and necessary step in

teaching students with disabilities. The battle for proper education for

students with disabilities continues to this day, though many improvements

have been made through judicial authority. The major principles for the

Disabilities Education Act, which Banks talks about, are Zero Rejection,

Nondormitory Identification, Free and Appropriate Education, LRE, and

Safeguards. All of these principles were put in place for the benefit of the

student, and I believe they are great steps to full inclusion. I believe that
exceptional students should always be included and should always be helped

when needed for better learning. This can be done through coteaching and

individualized assessments. I have seen coteaching in my practicums, and I

have seen it to be extremely beneficial for students with disabilities.

As the ESL speaker in our class noted, ESL classes are not watered

down, and neither are special education courses. It is simply different

education to better the lives of those students with disabilities. I do not

believe that these students should have easier content to learn, but simply

different content like Banks noted.