Parent’s Perspective: A Special Education
My six year old was a high school cheerleader for a day. This cheer clinic was a brilliant way to create emotional connections in elementary students toward their future high school. It’s also not a bad way to get elementary parents to come out to the high school football games.
When my Madelyn stepped onto the stadium track before the game, she was greeted by one of the varsity cheerleaders. Savannah ran up to Madelyn, took her hand, and guided her into the group of other cheerleaders and mini-cheerleaders.
Savannah is part of the special education program at our schools. When I looked again, I noticed that 2 out of 10 cheerleaders were special ed students. It made me think of my other daughter, Mackenzie, who is in a kindergarten class with three students who have Down’s Syndrome.
I once asked Mackenzie about her classmates, specifically about the kids with Down’s Syndrome. The look on her face told me that she didn’t know what I meant when I used the term, but after further prodding her face cleared up and she said, “Oh you mean Noah and Carter and Kallie? Yeah, they’re nice. They’re still learning their words and sometimes Noah likes to look up at the ceiling,” she said. “I think he’s looking for spider webs.”
She talked about them like she talks about all of her other classmates. There are kids who run when they’re not supposed to. There are kids who are good at the monkey bars. And there are kids who are still learning their words.
My kids aren’t in the special education program, but I love the fact that our schools have developed inclusive classrooms for students with special needs. My kids are going to learn a lot from their special education classmates and friends as they grow up together.
They will learn about the different ways God made each of us. They will learn how to communicate and work with lots of different personalities and abilities: shy people, overly friendly people, people with Asperger’s or Down’s Syndrome. And they’ll learn to see a little bit of themselves in a wider range of kids who are different than them. We all of have strengths and weaknesses. We are all dependent on others at certain times in our life.
It’s easy to see the benefits for special education students of an inclusive classroom philosophy. But as a parent of three “neuro-typical” kids, I’m excited about the educational benefits that my daughters will get by having the opportunity to develop relationships with students who are part of the special education program at their school. These are the skills that will help them honor God and function more effectively in a diverse world.
