I Told My Students They Were In Special Ed
My classes had deep and difficult conversations about disabilities
“So this is special ed,” I told my classes on the first week of school. “How does everyone feel about that?”
As a third-year special education teacher in Baltimore City, I teach in the most restrictive setting, self-contained. All my students have moderate to severe disabilities and most of them have less than 40% of their classes in the general education setting. Their disabilities range from ADHD, intellectual disabilities, emotional disabilities, autism, and specific learning disabilities like dyslexia and dysgraphia.
In the past, my students have had very pejorative opinions towards special ed. It is associated with being “dumb.” Many of my students don’t like questionnaires that ask them about their disabilities. This is not meant to reflect poorly on my students, but meant to reflect the viciousness of many teenagers towards special ed. I have heard much more negative perceptions of special ed from students that weren’t my own, students who spend most of their time in the general education setting.
To me, it indicates a lack of maturity. But I had a lack of maturity as a special ed teacher in how I talked about special ed with my students too. I certainly knew how my students felt…
