• Least Restrictive Environment: Students with disabilities are allowed to spend the maximum amount of time in school with students who are NOT handicapped. The overall goal is to place these students in the regular education program - not isolate them in a resource room. This desired placement has to be a compromise between both the parents and the school system .
• Mainstreaming: Students who are disabled are placed either full or part-time without resource assistance.
• Inclusion: Students with disabilities are in Special Education all day long - they are isolated from their peers who are not disabled.

I feel that comparing these areas is like mixing oil and water. Inclusion lies on one extreme end of the spectrum, while Mainstreaming lies on the other. Ideally a student’s LRE would be in an Inclusive environment. However, creating an Inclusive environment that works for EVERYONE involved is almost impossible. The collaborative actions of special ed. and regular ed. teachers is a MUST. Then there’s the money issue! HA! Most school systems I’ve dealt with have a hard time finding ONE special ed. teacher for each elementary school. How in the world are they going to come up with a special ed. teacher for EVERY room? NOT - Let alone pay the salaries for these teachers.

11. What are the five key issues that both general and special educators are concerned with?

• Teacher Expectations: Teacher’s expectations for students and themselves greatly influence student performance and success in the classroom. Teachers must be willing to encourage students and believe that students can succeed.
• Classroom Organization: The teacher must be in control of all aspects of the classroom. No time should be wasted during transitions! Instructional time is crucial in determining student success.
• Standardized Tests: This type of testing has gained popularity because it is a money-making scheme! The tests themselves do not give accurate representation of student knowledge! These tests should not be used to judge students academic success!
• Discipline: There is no national norm for discipline. Teachers are allowed to implement whatever type of discipline policy they choose. Regardless of the discipline method, teachers and students must get along in the educational environment in order for learning to occur.
• Administration: The administration must develop policies and enforce these policies. Their goal is to create the ultimate learning environment in which everyone can and will thrive! The administrators, regular or special ed., are in charge of EVERY ASPECT of children’s education!

1. Do you think Luis’ problem is a fair representation of how special education teachers feel about their work?

No, I do not feel this is a fair representation of how special education teachers feel about their work. First of all, Luis is living in a fantasy world if he thinks that his job is to "cure’ these students. The disabilities that his students, or any other student in special education, have WILL NOT GO AWAY! Luis’ job is to teach these students to compensate for their disabilities, not cure them.

Having the very best special ed. program should be Luis’ goal! What’s the alternative? Create an awful program that no one respects and everyone criticizes? Shouldn’t these students be proud to be involved in a GREAT program? How would they feel if the program was terrible, and they still had to be involved with it?

2. Did Luis overreact?

I feel that Luis’ reaction was a result of him not understanding the purpose of Special Education. Of course everyone wants to be viewed as "normal", but in reality - Is everyone really normal? Again, his job was to teach these students to compensate for their disabilities - and to be proud of who they are - no matter what their disabilities! His job was not to make them "normal". He’d be rich and famous and wouldn’t have to teach school if he really was capable of doing this!

3. What other options did Luis have beside quitting?

The first thing he could’ve done was change what bus these kids were riding to school. They shouldn’t have been on a bus just for "retarded students". They should be able to ride the same bus as any other student!

The next thing he should have done was accept these kids for who they were! He should become a team player WITH these students, to make them the very best students they could be. Where this was in comparison with where "NORMAL" was should never be discussed.

Another thing Luis should have done was TALK with the students. When they all entered the room complaining of being "retarded", Luis joined right in with their pity party. In reality, what he should have done was tell these guys to "grow up"! They all needed to address the issue of using their disabilities as a "crutch and excuse". Face the facts, and live with it! Luis and his students needed to rise above the disabilities, and get on with their lives!

Obviously, Luis and the students were all capable of succeeding. They needed to focus on this success and go with it!

4. Did Luis let his students down by leaving?

Absolutely! These students were already convinced that they were "retarded". Him leaving confirmed this! He had not taught his students to be proud of who they were, and to be proud of what they could do! Then he up and leaves, telling them that he didn’t believe in them after all! How sad! Luis let his own pity rule his decision, just as he let the students’ self-pity rule their success!

5. Is it common place for students to be stigmatized because they are placed in self-contained special education classrooms?

It depends on the special education classroom and the teacher involved! I won’t deny that it is possible for students in a special ed. classroom to become stigmatized. However, this depends upon the teacher and how the special ed. room is handled. Learning should be the goal! Students have to be taught to be proud of WHAT they can do - not to focus on what they cannot do!

I also feel that this "stigma" is present long before the student arrives in the special ed. classroom! When a student enters the school environment at age 5, he/she is expected to perform like all of the other kindergarten students. Everyone knows how to color, cut, glue, sit, and listen. Well, almost everyone! There’s that one student - who’s just a "little immature". This student is immediately "stigmatized" as being the class baby. When 1^st grade rolls around, this child is assumed to have grown - up over the summer. He/she is ready for 1^st grade, right? Wrong! All the other 1^st graders know their ABC’s, are writing their names, sitting in their desks, listening, coloring, cutting... And this child doesn’t have a clue! Do all of the others remember him/her as being the baby in Kindergarten? Absolutely! Do they know that this child is lost in 1^st grade? Absolutely! Who are we trying to fool?

Again, this child muddles through 1^st grade! The teacher admits that he/she is a little behind. BUT, she doesn’t want to admit this to herself or the parents. Thus, the child goes on to 2^nd grade.

In 2^nd grade, all of the other students are reading fluently, adding and subtracting numbers, writing legibly, etc... This child has learned to write some of his/her letters, can sound out some of the letters, and is writing his/her name. Again, does this child know that he is different from everyone else! Of course! Do the other students know that he can’t read, and that he can’t do math, etc...? Of course! Is the child stigmatized? YES! Is the child in special ed.? NO!

As the child’s inability to succeed continues to manifest, the child becomes a behavior problem! He/she can’t do anything else in the regular classroom, so why not get attention from this? Eventually, as a last resort, the regular ed. teacher refers the child for special education testing. The problem has been evident for 3 years, and now someone dares to say it might involve special education!

Would it not have made more sense to admit in Kindergarten that this child was DIFFERENT and needed assistance on his/her level! The areas of deficit could have probably been addressed and erased in that one year. Instead, we deny the problem and pass the student on from grade to grade - our primary concern being "stigmatizing" the student. We should face the fact that not everyone performs on the same level at the same time - and deal with it! Take these kids that aren’t ready for Kindergarten, and teach them what they need to know! Get everyone on the same page so that the students can benefit! Stop focusing on how bad it is to be different, and focus on what it takes to succeed!