For the Love of Learning
When I started teaching back in the 1990s, I was so excited to have my own classroom. I couldn’t wait to teach young children! Always envisioning working with the early childhood and the younger elementary grades, I felt right at home in 2nd grade and 4thgrade. Third grade was fun to teach, as was preschool, but there’s just something about 2nd and 4th grade that really appealed to me.
I taught at small, private schools for the most part and usually had typically developing children on my roster. I can recall only two students with documented learning issues. One child had testing done prior to being in my classroom, and the other was in the process of testing while I was her teacher. Both eventually ended up with accommodations, but it was so close to the end of our school year together that I don’t recall how much I personally had to do. I also can’t remember who helped these students, but someone on our small team of faculty members worked with the students in an official capacity.
While I don’t remember too much of their education plans, I do remember saying how much I appreciated the other people working with them. When someone asked me if I’d ever want to work in special ed, I clearly remember saying, “No, that’s not for me. I am so glad that God made special education teachers! They are really amazing.”
And most are.
Ronan had a few amazing teachers and paraprofessionals during his special educational career. We still think of them and are very thankful for the years they spent with Ronan and us. During the good years, I remember sharing my thanks several times, “I am so glad that God made you special education teachers!”
When I got to tiptoe back into the education field a few years ago, I loved being back in an general education environment with elementary-aged students. Blessed to work with both 2nd grade students and later 4th grade students again, I felt like I was on the top of the world.
I have a different position now. Part of my new role keeps me looking closer at early childhood development. For my job, and because it’s a topic I am drawn to, I frequently read about typical milestones, about screenings and assessments for young students, and about education in general. I have spent hours reading about current educational trends and have pondered how today’s educators can successfully implement high quality teaching strategies. The more I read, the more I could see that general education has taken a hit. It definitely changed after covid – and not for the better.
It was time that I do something more than just read and share the information with friends and colleagues. Gen ed, in some places, was starting to sound more like special ed with how many students were dealing with learning struggles. Wanting to understand why they were struggling, and also gain insight on how to help the families I work with, I applied for a grant to take a graduate class all about special education. The thought of taking a course while Ronan is going through his recent medical issues was daunting. My time is not my own, even more so with his needs. But I applied anyway. Within a few weeks of applying, I learned that I could register for the class. I was back in school again…this time for me!
I have actually enjoyed the intensity of the course and the knowledge I’m gaining from it. It’s been five weeks, and it has been eye opening. The best part is that all of the effort that I normally put into the mountains of reading I do is now coming back with a grade (a solid A so far!). The only frustrating part was not from the workload but was when I saw that the textbook brought Wakefield into the conversation about autism. The authors didn’t need to, but they dedicated a page to that old “controversy” anyway.
Autism is just one topic that on the syllabus. I’m learning about severe disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and quite a few other disabilities. The course is heavy with assignments, including reflection papers, quizzes, projects, readings, and optional readings that are geared toward the settings that I and the other educators are familiar with. In a few days, we have the option to participate in a call with the professor and the group that gifted the grants. They’d like to know what we think of the class so far and what are plans for the future are – will we take other classes? or complete the degree? or pursue special education teacher licensing?
They’d like a decision, but it’s too soon to tell.
With two of my kids in college, I don’t know if adding another tuition bill would be wise for us. I took this chance to tiptoe back into my own education to see if I could handle the rigors of a grad-level course while juggling all the things and all the people in my life. I’m juggling things well right now, so if another grant found its way to me, I know I would jump at the chance to continue my own education. Why would I not want to take advantage of putting the reading and researching I’m already doing into something formal like a degree or a certificate?
As exciting as that is, that’s a thought for another day. I’ve got to get back to finishing a project and a reflection paper. Easily, I could bring personal experience in and write about autism and mitochondrial disease for my project, but I’m exploring another topic in special education. With 8 more weeks of classes, I know I’ll get to explore, read, and research quite a bit more. I’ve hit a new level of exhaustion with all of this studying I’ve been doing lately, but I really can’t wait to learn some more.
Cathy Jameson is a Contributing Editor for Age of Autism.
Your Special Education Rights: What Your District Isn't Telling You.
By Jennifer Laviano and Julie Swanson
The definitive guide for parents of children with disabilities is out.
This book is authored by two special education experts and draws on decades of experience from the front lines of special education advocacy.
The authors, Jennifer Laviano and Julie Swanson, detail a strong, practical, and results oriented perspective that helps parents cut through the fog of special education to get the services their children deserve.
"Our bottom line is parents are often ineffective at advocating for their child because they don't know their rights," said Jennifer Laviano, co-author and special education attorney. "We see it time and again: The child doesn't get what he or she needs because the parents don't know what they don't know.
Thank you all for the replies and suggestions!
Gerardo, I found it encouraging that the textbooks, published by Pearson, stated:
Research on environmental toxins holds promise for discovering their role in contributing to autism spectrum disorders and other neurologically based disabling conditions (Cole et al., 2020; Rahbar et al., 2020). In general, humans can be exposed to neurotoxins either by the food they eat or by the air they breathe. And the exposure can occur prenatally or in the first few years of life, when the brain is in the earliest stages of development. Some of the food contaminants implicated are heavy metals such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium, as well as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The neurotoxic air pollutants are particulate matter, such as smog, cement dust, and fly ash, and aerosols.
Environmentals! Yes!! But then no, not so much when it comes to vaccines:
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a firestorm of controversy raged about whether the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine can cause autism. Although the vast majority of the scientific community believes the debate should be extinguished for lack of evidence, there remain flickering beliefs within the public that the MMR vaccine should be avoided. How did this apparently specious theory come into existence?
This paragraph in the end of that section, though, was spot on again...the media helped destroy Andy's reputation:
Public Reaction to the Wakefield Paper - Although Wakefield and colleagues stated that they did not prove that the MMR vaccine caused autism, such caveats were lost on some of the public. Once the possible connection between vaccines and autism was reported by the media, public fear spread quickly in Europe as well as North America.
To this day, the media still meddles in areas it should not, which is why I love to borrow LJ Goes' wise words: Parents, do the work! Find the truth, and do what you must for your child. Protecting them and their health is so important.
Posted by: Cathy Jameson | October 24, 2024 at 07:27 AM
I always enjoyed taking classes after my kids were older. There is still a lot to learn, a lot we already know, but had yet to organize it in our mind, or even saw what we know in words.
Experienced now to see the little snippets of propaganda tucked in here and there too, and are immune. Yet we worry about those young ones that are just coming into this world. Authority does have it's power.
Posted by: Benedetta | October 21, 2024 at 09:11 AM
Cathy, you need to be aware of this trend. You could be a home school consultant for parents educating children on the spectrum:
The Future of K12 Education, so you can Prepare for It: Public Education is Set to Lose 16 Million Enrollments by 2030
"With the ongoing exodus from government schools continuing to gather momentum, a new forecast by education researchers predicts that almost one third of school-age children will be homeschooled by the year 2030. Just half of the student population will remain in government education by then, the analysts found."
https://www.publicschoolexit.com/news/1-in-3-homeschooled-by-2030-as-16-million-flee-public-school-forecast-finds
1 in 3 Homeschooled by 2030 as 16 Million Flee Public School, Forecast Finds
https://www.publicschoolexit.com/news/1-in-3-homeschooled-by-2030-as-16-million-flee-public-school-forecast-finds
How will this affect the school aged autism community?
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | October 21, 2024 at 12:27 AM
Cathy, this sounds like a wonderful opportunity!
My older sister earned a special ed degree in 1974. At that time, the main emphasis was on Down's syndrome children. Autism was mostly unheard of and was not mentioned in her college books. She moved to California and worked with a private 501c3 that served Down's syndrome adults. Later she took a full time-part time job as a special ed para-pro for her local public elementary school. It wasn't until after 1987 that she began getting children diagnosed with autism. This was something new, and there was no set protocol to go by. The numbers grew, such that eventually she had no Down's syndrome children and only those with autism. Towards the end of her career, much of the teaching techniques centered around ABA therapy. Some of her students could get violent, and she retired a little early so she would not get injured in her old age. She enjoyed her work, but there is a high burnout rate. She was always impressed with the success I had with my children. I took an unorthodox path in helping them, and had no outside help except for speech therapy.
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | October 20, 2024 at 09:52 PM
Cathy, sounds like a great opportunity, you bring so much to the table.
Should you ever have the time and inclination please consider a primer article (or book) on mitochondrial disease.
Best wishes on your endeavor!
Posted by: greyone | October 20, 2024 at 09:00 PM
Hello to all. Glad you are continuing your education in special ed, for now that is. Just curious how Dr. Wakefield was mentioned, if it was in a positive or negative way?. Keep up the great work. Blessings to all!
Posted by: Gerardo Martinez | October 20, 2024 at 12:54 PM