Pedagogy of the Depressed: experiences as a special ed student in the 1990s.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. The problem with these types of stories

Last edited Sat Jan 5, 2013, 02:52 PM - Edit history (1)

is they reflect the personal experiences of the student and usually fail to take into account the impact these children have on the rest of their classmates in the general ed setting.

I've taught quite a few kids with Aspergers and some have done very well - mainstreaming worked. But there have been a few others who were so disruptive the entire class was affected. And it's very hard to do what's best for children as individual learners while considering their impact on the climate in their classroom.

There are truly no easy solutions. Schools like the one described in the article are obviously not good learning environments. And we don't have enough adults with the training necessary to work with kids who have Aspergers.

Sadly while the focus nationally is on Common Core and destroying teachers unions, our most needy kids will get left behind. That's the only certainty at this time.