SPECIAL EDUCATION

Today in my field placement the special education teacher and I had a very good discussion about her classroom. She told me that at the beginning of every year she goes around to the general education classrooms and introduces herself and gets to know the student. She does this because some day some of these students might be in her classroom. She explained to me that it is a good way for the students to understand that some students need more help in reading and writing than others. She introduced herself as the teacher who "is there to help students who struggle with reading and writing, concentration, and if they have behavior problems." She does not use the words special education. I think this is a really good thing to do when I become a special education student because she said that some students start to come to her classroom and talk to her about wanting to be in her classroom. She says many students will self refer themselves to her classroom because they think they need extra help with reading and writing. I thought that was really cute and I just wanted to share that with you guys!

The teacher also told me that tonight she is going to a meeting to talk to the general education teachers about who they think should be referred to special education. They are going to plan what assessments they can give and what needs to be documented to see if that child needs to be in the special education classroom. She said that after they do these assessments, then they will contact the parents.