Special Education Strategies
Education majors are taught that educating students with special needs require extra attention in the school environment. Special education strategies are necessary for the success of these students, and require flexibility and persistence on the part of the teacher. It is vital to remember, however, that each special education student will require a unique set of strategies. Often times, education departments will require education majors that focus on special education to write research on strategies for teaching special needs students. Paper Masters can help you formulate an approach to your special education strategies papers.
Special Education and Multiple Intelligence Strategies
In order to assure the best means of success, special education strategies require multi-modal approaches. Students, especially those with special needs, are frequently incapable of traditional learning. Special education must include, at the very least, all four of the following multiple intelligence strategies:
- Visual
- Kinesthetic
- Auditory
- Tactile approach.
These students require quite areas where they can work free of distraction and are frequently assisted by visual checklists.
Bullis and Cheney report that between two percent and four percent of the school population could be designated as either emotionally or behaviorally disturbed, while only approximately one percent are officially designated as such. This means that far less than half of the individuals who are in need of special education are receiving the critical services necessary for their proper educational, psychological and social development. As they point out, "Meaningful and well paid work is one of the hallmark outcomes for adults in the United States." In our society, such work is a requisite stepping-stone to successful integration in education.
Research conclusively points out that emotionally and behaviorally disturbed individuals who do not participate in the special education system, do not graduate from high school, and do not have access to vocational and transitional programs are less likely to successfully transition from adolescence to adulthood. On the other hand, research provides clear evidence that such programs are essential in increasing such individuals' chances for success in adult life. However, there does not seem to exist in the literature work that examines and compares the impact of such different programs on disturbed young adults adjustment to adulthood.
Research Methodology for Studying Special Education Strategies
By employing a survey methodology, Paper Masters recommends that you embark on a research path that will examine whether there is a significant difference in the societal adjustment of individuals with emotional and behavioral problems who have come up through these various programs - traditional formal education, special education and vocational and transitional programs - and to assess what impact each such program has on an individuals adulthood. Such research is critical to understanding whether significant differences exist between such programs. This is a central factor which needs to be understood for determination of future efforts to adequately prepare this special and important population for adult life, as well as to ensure adequate allocation of the necessary resources and sufficient public and regulatory attention.
Often, special education strategies involve adapting the curriculum material into smaller chunks and allowing students more time to complete the material. It is not that these students cannot grasp the material, but they require greater assistance and time in comprehension. Many of these students also require clearer transitions from one task to the next.
Special education strategies also may require the use of incentives for student motivation. Special needs students are often better able to complete task with extra effort and motivation on the part of the instructor.
A critical review of what has been noted about the history of special education in the United States clearly demonstrates that disabled students have long struggled to gain equality in the public school system. As far back as the late nineteenth century, courts were establishing precedents that made it difficult for special needs students to garner an education. For instance, in 1893 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that children that were "weak in mind" could not benefit from public education and could be expelled from public school. Further, in 1919 the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that children with certain disabilities could be denied a public education because their conditions "nauseated the teachers and other students" or required too much of the teacher's time