Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

"I started to notice I didn't like the classed I was taking called special education. I had to go through special ed. almost all of my life. I wanted to take other classes that interested me. I had never felt so mad, I wanted to cry" (Peterson, 1994, pg. 6). While reading this article, I thought to myself of the time I went on my internship in high school at Crayons at the Trudeau Center in Warwick working with classrooms of special education. When working with those children it was a lot different than other classrooms I have been in. The teachers were different, the classroom setup was different, and the children were looked at as different. The difference between this classroom was that in was integrated. There were students that had special needs, and there were ones that did not.

The two children that I babysit are considered "special needs" but instead of keeping them in a classroom they take them out of their room and bring them with a special education teacher and a resource specialist. The children always talk about how they "hate going with that stupid teacher because she treats them like they are babies."

In my high school as well we had a classroom special for children with down syndrome, special needs, behavioral needs, physical problems, etc. The children were with us throughout our entire high school career and we got very close to each and every one of them. They were even able to walk the stage with us at our graduation and it was such a great feeling not only for them, but for us as well.

When learning a little more about each of the students in Shayne's classroom, Issac had down syndrome. She did not let that hold him back in any way and did what she could to help him succeed. She even let the entire class act out his favorite book, "Where the Wild Things Are". She had 6 students in her classroom that were considered clinically identified as disabled and three of them had down syndrome.

It was said in this article that Shayne focused on individual goals rather that goals as a classroom. Which I think in a classroom like that, it is a very good thing. It is good to focus in on each individual child because they need that little extra push that teachers with a large classroom cannot necessarily give. Teachers need to be able to treat children in a way that is respectful, caring, and helpful to each and every student. Regardless of their academic achievements, race, family background, and religion. Each student should be able to walk into each classroom every morning with a feeling of excitement that they will be told they did something "good" today.

Follow this link to read more about inclusion in the school system:
Implementing Inclusion in Schools