My Special Education Philosophy, Essay Example

Part 1: Philosophy

A philosophy is always considered an idea or ideological premise through which someone guides action. Special education is a unique discipline in the teacher career discipline. In expressing my philosophy of special education inevitably mention must be made regarding reasons for choosing this type of educational vocation as against music, arts, mathematics or even science. For me special education has its challenges and misconceptions regarding its usefulness to the populations it is meant to serve. My primary philosophical assumption is based on the paradigm that students classified in a special education environments do not just need a different curriculum catering for their specific need, but also understanding, love and validation.

Therefore, as an extension of this philosophy whereby special education must embrace more than teaching in a different method, but also a validation atmosphere, supportive and love filled environment it is my aim that by becoming trained to empower this significant group of learning in my society. My role as educator would go beyond merely a channel for disseminating education, but also values which will transcend into a child’s life way beyond the classroom, because my belief is that every child could learn regardless of their perceived disability.

Part 11: Growth

In embracing this validation, supportive and love filled special education philosophy I have learnt during my training that validation is an essential feature in special education curriculum dissemination and instruction practices. For example even though these children may be at a very early they recognize that they are not like children their ages. This has a very huge impact on their self-esteem and interaction with other children with learning disabilities as well as those considered normal. Importantly, this can greatly affect the way they absorb knowledge since the belief of incompetence may have become a mindset.

When embarking on this journey while I knew that these students may have low self-esteem issues articulating building a greater self-image was beyond me. During my training I learnt  that when validating to be honest since there could be both positive and negative outcomes emerging from this process. If a child makes a great accomplishment he/she must be awarded appropriately for a job completed with excellence. At any time if the standard goes below the expectation while the student may become discouraged or even ashamed, the special education teacher still has a responsibility of validating through encouragement and supportive remedial work ( Bowe, 2007).

Therefore, the next important feature in my philosophy, which during my training has helped me demonstrate the caring nurturing elements of my teaching career towards this special group of students, is being supportive. Being supportive to students is essentially but of greater significance parent support even though they are not in the classroom becomes a major factor in the effective learning process. Many parents find it difficult coping with children who have learning disabilities. The psychology often relates towards them becoming guilty of producing children who are incapable of fulfilling their roles in a very demanding world. As such they too I learnt need validation support and love. Now that I have come to this stage in my training it has impacted me that on many occasions parents need more validation as parents than students as capable human beings (Smith, 2007).

Part 111: How has my Philosophy been altered after reading the text

Reading the text has confirmed much of my philosophical assumptions. As a special education professional, already my assumption is that every child has unique abilities which can be manipulated into enormous expression of hidden potential. Profoundly it is my philosophy that as a special education professional I have the ability to make this a reality.

Reference

Bowe, F. (2004). Making Inclusion Work. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-017603-6. OCLC 54374653.

Smith P (October 2007). Have we made any progress? Including students with intellectual disabilities in regular education classrooms. Intellect Dev Disabil 45 (5): 297–309.