Language and the Child With a Disability, Article Critique Example

This article gives parents, teachers, school administrators, and counselors an idea of what could be best for the students who have to learn with a disability. It helps these individuals understand the importance of goals inside and outside of the classroom and how these relate to the student who has a disability as well as how they can help that student learn. This article helps these individuals understand the importance of quality of life outcomes with development and instruction of standards-based academic goals. The article gives specific ideas on how to help children with disabilities learn such as teaching specific skills during the day in multiple ways and “incorporating authentic tasks into instruction” (Hunt, 2012, p. 146). The main idea of the article is to help inform educators of how to apply standards-based instruction with goal setting and explaining how this helps in developing children with disabilities academically.

This article is applicable to special education and my classroom as it helps me understand the importance of setting goals and helping my students achieve them by implementing multiple learning outlets in my classroom. Children with disabilities have to work a little harder than others to achieve their goals and helping them develop positive peer relationships with students with and without disabilities, participate in the community and learn how to focus their attention on their goals on helps in this matter. If I can do these things in my classroom, my students have an opportunity to achieve more in school, in their communities and at home.

Honestly, Hunt asks a great question: “What can we teach students and how can we arrange educational environments to increase quality of life outcomes; connect the students to their worlds of home, school, and community; and increase post school outcomes of full access and social participation, employment, and independent living?” (Hunt, 2012, p. 141). I feel this is a question we, as teachers, should all ask ourselves when teaching young children whether they have a disability or not. This is a great question and this was a very informative article that helped me understand some of the things I can do and some of the things in which I can incorporate into my lesson plans to help my students succeed.

References

Hunt, P. (2012). Reconciling an ecological curricular framework focusing on quality of life outcomes with the development and instruction of standards-based academic goals. Research & Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 37(3), 139-152.