they don't just drool.
I'm not really sure as to why i feel the way i do or really why i'm even typing this in a journal but i guess i feel the need to do so. Therefore, i will go ahead and do it. I want to make you aware that my intentions for this journal are not to be ridiculously stupid but unabashedly informative. I'm a special education major, and no that doesn't mean i'm majoring in P.E. My expertise is in the special education adapted curriculum which means i will work with students who have severe to profound cognitive disorders. The ones who are most likely in wheelchairs, need feeding, changing, etc. I'm having a hard time trying to understand why there are so many misconceptions with this field. Some regular education majors are insanely critical and think that special ed. majors don't have to learn anything because we're only dealing with people that drool all day. It just angers me to see the ignorance. I think, if anything, Special ed majors (especially in the adapted curriculum) do more than humanly imaginable with the curriculum. We can't just come up with a lesson plan out of our ass the night before and implement it into the classroom, we have to spend days, hours, weeks, modifying texts and instruction so that it can be understandable to our students. We not only have to hunt for assistive technology so that the students who are nonverbal can at least reply through a machine when asked a question, we have to fill out Individualized Education Planning (IEP) paperwork and goals for each individual student stating their own strenghts and weaknesses and what they can and cannot teach. We not only have to abide by the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for our students, but we have to also abide by the NC Extend 1 standards for students with significant cognitive disorders. We conceptualize and individualize programming it would make you so sick to hear it. I just feel pity for those who can't grasp the understanding that we don't just clean up students all day long and let them listen to music and play games. These students are just as capable as any "typical" developing individual. They can still perform, they're not just dead weight. It angers me, it hurts me, and i just can't come to terms with it. Especially when i'm busting my rear-end learning to modify and adapt and make sure that i am in complience with the No Child Left Behind Act and IDEA and ADA and Section 504. I just don't think anyone knows, no one knows. I just want to scream when someone says "bless your heart" when i tell them i'm majoring in special education. No, bless your heart because you have no idea what it takes to comply and modify and accommodate and develop plans and goals and lesson plans and equip these children with what they'll need to become successful in their lifetime. I just wish the human race would overcome their ignorance and get informed, seriously. enough.