What’s So Special About Special Education Class?

As Congress considers reauthorizing programs for students with disabilities, I find myself contemplating third grade.

I don’t remember a lot from that year, but I do remember feeling stupid because I was pulled out of class to go to a special reading group.

Why was I sent to this group? Because it took me a long time to complete reading worksheets. The experience left me painfully aware of being different.

In the middle of third grade, my “reading problem” suddenly disappeared. The reason was simple: My family moved.

My new school placed less emphasis on worksheets. This better suited my learning style, and I was placed in an advanced reading group. In turn, I was excited about having the opportunity to learn and felt a sense of relief as my categorization of being slow or possibly learning-disabled was lifted.

By sheer happenstance, I was taken out of a school that did not work for me. Other children are not so lucky.

When it comes to education, one size does not fit all.

We are stuck in a Catch-22. Given the structure of our educational system, labels are necessary to provide vital services to students. Labels provide funding to support teachers who are trained to teach students with diverse needs and to provide speech and orthopedic therapy, classroom aids, smaller class sizes and appropriate textbooks and materials. But with this critical funding comes the labeling and categorizing of students.

Special education is not a response to pathology or inadequacy. Instead, special education is the response of a complex educational system to human variation. Students in both special education and regular education classes have diverse needs that must be met by this vast system.

Yes, there are kids with disabilities. But what does that mean? Shaquille O’Neal is an outstanding basketball player and has been named the most valuable player in the National Basketball Assn. finals three times. Yet he has consistently needed special assistance in making free throws. I don’t think anyone would argue that he is basketball-impaired because of this special assistance. Everyone needs assistance in some context.

As a teacher and student, I am outraged when I hear people make a distinction between “normal” children and other children. While teaching in a middle school, my heart sank when a student exclaimed to my whole class, “I don’t want to go with the stupid kids”--referring to studying with students with disabilities.

One in every eight students in public school participates in special education. With numbers like that, what does it mean to be “special”? Who’s different?