Exceptionality

As a history and political science major in my undergraduate studies, I've read plenty about court cases and laws.  I despise trying to keep similar court cases and laws differentiated.  Reading the chapter and the activity we did in class totally stressed me out.  As I was doing the activity in class I realized that this is what stresses most people out about special education.  Most teachers love kids and want to see them be successful and are one hundred percent behind any policy that will help a child be more successful.  However, with all the laws and paper work the spirit behind what we are trying to do gets lost. 

It seems all the different facets of my life are connecting these days.  After a class devoted to exceptionality on Monday night I accompanied my students to an assembly where Norman Kunc was the guest speaker.  Kunc has cerebral palsy and spoke about not allowing disabilities hold you back.  Kunc spoke of the importance of inclusion and authentically including those with disabilities in all activities.  I found his idea of "authentic inclusion" of particular interest.  He argued most people were nice to him and made him feel welcome but they treated him as different and tried to make things easier for him.  Although this was nice of people, it did not make him feel like he belonged.  He argued he felt he belonged when people allowed him to participate according to his abilities and did not make things easier or make exceptions. 


We talked very little about gifted students in our discussion in class.  After teaching gifted students for 7 years, I feel many teachers lack understanding of the needs of a gifted student.  There is a misconception that g/t is synonymous with academic success.  Many of the most gifted students I have taught have horrible GPAs.  Some need gifted programs to encourage academic interest and success while others lack motivation to be successful in an academic setting.  Teachers also find gifted students to be rude or annoying.  They need teachers who understand and feed their curious nature.  While gifted and talented students are often at the other end of the academic spectrum from most students in special education they do have special needs and are often unique students.  The head football coach at my last school explained it best.  His wife taught resource math and I taught in the gifted and talented program.  He told me that during TAKS week when all the students were in the cafeteria waiting to be released to class he would often encounter some unusual characters.  He would ask them, "do you have my wife or Mrs. Truax for any classes?"  He claims 9/10 spent time in one of our classes!