Blog 10: Going to School- Reasonable Accommodations in the Classroom

 Going to School 

Reasonable Accommodations for Students with Disabilities 

Three Talking Points

1. Up until around 1990, students with physical and/or cognitive disabilities were discriminated against and systemically segregated in American schools. 

• This felt unbelievable for me to think about at the beginning of the documentary. While 1990 was over thirty years ago, it is still very recent in our American history. The fact that students with disabilities were maltreated, unseen, unheard and undervalued in schools prior to the 1990s is unjust and inequitable. Students were placed in alternative schools and treated completely differently from general education students. I think about all of the students who attended school prior to this time who endured their education with a cognitive disability that went undiagnosed, ignored, or  unrecognized. Special education has come a long way since this time. 

2. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1990 ensures that all students with an identified disability are provided with special education and accommodations to ensure that all of their educational needs are met. As mentioned in the documentary, a student's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) serves as a promise to families and students with disabilities that the student's needs will be recognized, services will be provided, strengths will be highlighted, and goals will be implemented.

• A student's IEP is a legally binding document that educators must become familiar with and honor to implement reasonable accommodations in the classroom for students with disabilities. As a general education high school teacher, I usually have 3-5 students with IEPs in each of my classes. I prefer to print the IEPs in a hard copy, and I highlight the necessary information that will pertain to the student's experience in my Spanish class. At the beginning of the year or semester, I take time to meet with each student privately to review their IEP accommodations and give the student the opportunity to share with me anything else that will help them feel accommodated in the classroom. This usually works very well for my students. My goal is to help them feel respected, supported, empowered, and valued in the classroom. 

3. Treating special education as completely separate from general education is extremely isolating and emotionally damaging for students with disabilities. When separated from other students, children with disabilities lose their sense belonging in their school community as well as the hope that they can demonstrate mastery in their academic subjects.

• The most damaging thing to do to a student with disabilities is to socially and/or academically isolate them from other students. Students with disabilities need to be in the least restrictive environment where they can learn and grow alongside their peers. Isolating students with disabilities from others can make those students feel lonely, insecure, undervalued, and powerless in their education. Students with disabilities learn best when they are treated as equals to their peers and included as much as possible with other students. 
  

Argument Statement 

Richard Cohen's documentary "Going to School" follows the uplifting stories of middle school students with disabilities and their families from a middle school in Los Angeles, California. This documentary argues that integration, inclusion, and the upholding of human rights for students with disabilities is of the utmost importance in schools. Students with disabilities learn successfully and grow socially when they are provided with high learning expectations, reasonable accommodations, and ample social opportunities with other students in their school community.