Disability vs. Learned Behavior

Working in a high school level life skills class one gets to see how the educational system has benefited or hindered a student. It never ceases to amaze me how people can undermine the abilities of a person with a disability. Case in point: K. who is a student who has autism and seizures.
This student would throw fits and scream when he did not get his way. So in order to prevent the behaviors, his former teacher put him a wheelchair in case he had a seizure. This also controlled him enough that the were able to push him around the gym to appease him. He was isolated from his peers. He had no expectations placed on him.
Then he gets to Steve's amazing class. And Steve creates an environment where students are given the tool to be independent to the best of their ability. The student no longer has the wheelchair (he only needed it in case he had a drop seizure). He goes to P.E. and joins the group. He gets his own snacks. He even uses a switch to go in front of the class and communicate a message of his choice (i.e. talk about the weather, schedules, something special, etc.). He has a voice.
The reason I bring up students like K. is because they have so much potential in the right hands. So much of what we define as "disability" is actually a learned helplessness. I am not downplaying the fact that these students do have disabilities and it means that they may interact with their environment in more creative ways than most people. BUT sometimes the people who should be pushing them to be the best they can be (i.e. parents and teachers) are the ones holding them back. I think every person wants to have a voice and be heard. This population is no different. They don't want to be treated like helpless babies. They can be successful if they have creative people working with them who think outside of the box in order to find ways for them to be heard. That is what I strive to do in my class. Let's see how it works out:).

Foreigner in a Strange Land

Week 3 of student teaching. I miss my behavior kids. No restraints. No yelling. No cursing. No runners. What is this horrible place? What is a girl who is used to dodging punches and being called every name in the book supposed to do? It just doesn’t feel right. These kids listen. I don’t even have to count to three. I am a foreigner in a strange land.
Alright some parts of a life skills class are nice. I don’t come home exhausted from having to do a seated restraint on a kid because the safe room that was supposed to be built in the summer was never built and now it is November. Definitely don’t miss those days where you hate yourself for having to put your hands on a kid. Or coming home with bite marks and bruises.
But being in a life skills classroom is different. I feel like I moved to a different country. I like the culture. The staff is awesome. The kids are amazing. I just don’t speak the language or completely understand their culture.
I feel like a tourist who has studied up on a country and then when you arrive at the country you feel completely unprepared. Granted, most of my training in low-incidence disabilities has been beneficial. But I am working with individuals, not statistics. Each individual person is different and deserves to be treated like an individual and not a list of characteristics from a textbook on disabilities.
I always felt the best way to learn the language was to immerse yourself in the culture. When I took Spanish in high school and college I became increasingly frustrated. The Spanish I learned wasn’t what was going to help me out on the streets in Mexico. I needed to be in a position where I had to be completely immersed in the culture and could only speak the language.
The problem with life skills is that I feel like I am in a U.N. meeting with no translators! I am trying to communicate with various individuals who all speak different languages. Some are non-verbal. Some use itouches to tell you their basic needs. Some speak ASL. Some show you pictures. All of them don’t understand body language at some level. Do they make an English to disability dictionary to help me translate? Of course, if I could understand those students they are probably feeling the same way.