Special Needs. Feedback Friday

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Two of my friends recently got into a small spat over a story about special needs students integrated into a public school classroom. My friend talked about a teacher who always has an over abundance of special needs students while other classrooms have none. She was trying to explain that this isn't fair to the other students in the class due to numerous disruptions and behaviors displayed by 5 of the students while the other 15 students are trying to learn.

One mother told a story about an adaptation for tests that required one student to have the test read aloud while the remaining students were to read the test silently. The students reading silently were distracted and frustrated because this adapted form of testing occurred within the same room. This same 6th grade student was unable to sit at a desk and only stood and had several crying outbursts during the day.

The other friend became agitated and told her that kids need to learn to accept others and she didn't see the problem. She was clearly offended.

I started to think of two separate friends of mine who made different choices for their own special needs children, one chose a special needs school and one choose inclusion in the public setting. They both have valid arguments for their own choices.

So, a Feedback Friday topic was born...

Do you believe adapted testing should be conducted in another room or should everyone be together at all times?

Is it realistic for a whole class to adapt to one student or should one student adapt to the class?

Do kids learn about acceptance of others by including special needs students in the classroom or does it cause resentment?

Have you ever seen kids feel burdened and/or enlightened by spending classroom time with special needs students?

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