Thursday, November 10, 2011

Learning Disabilities

Have you ever wondered how children with learning disabilities were educated before we had our unique system of "labeling?" For years I have felt that the large amount of children that our public education system labels as special education was really ridiculous. As a teacher for more than 15 years, I have seen students with many different types of disabilities. One thing that I have found in common with many of them is that they don't appreciate being labeled. They want to be treated just like you and me, even if their educational needs may be different.

Labeling a child, separating them and sticking them with a "stigma" for the rest of their lives may be the worst thing we could ever do to them. Instead of just labeling them, we ought to find out how they tick. Find out the ways that they learn, and begin to apply methods that will reach those ways. Programs such as Brain Balance and All Kinds of Minds seek to approach these children without labels, but as children who need to be educated in a different way. They minds are just "wired"differently. If we treat them as disabled, we do them a great disservice.

No comments:

Post a Comment