Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome- Reflection

This week while I was reading Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome I thought that I would do a reflections post because from personal experiences from past experiences in middle and high school. From my experiences in school it depended on the grade level whether or not special needs kids were in the same classes as kids not classified as special needs. For example grades k-6 there were special needs children mixed into regular classes and there was no special needs class that was separated from other classes, but they would get pulled out here and there like everyone else who needed help with math or English. Then when I made it to middle school and high school kids that were special needs only attended gym and other electives like art with the rest of the school population. The rest of the day they were segregated to one room for the rest of the day. They stayed in that one room for around four hours or a little more. The bells would ring to change classes and they would pop there heads out of the room for a few and just watched us pass. To be honest it was a sad thing to see. Because if you asked them if they wanted to sit in that room all day, just like us they would say no.

This quote I found in the reading really ties into this on a few levels one being them being separated and a second on the point of them being labeled; “It’s not like they come here to be labeled, or to believe the label. We’re all here- kids, teachers, parents, whoever- it’s all about all of us working together, playing together, being together, and that’s what learning is.” This really hits home to me because I believe that just like kids that are not special needs, children with disabilities have a lot to bring to the table in the classroom as well and including them in regular classroom activities is crucial

This week i decided to do a hyperlink to to an article i thought fight this post well. It is called inclusion in the Classroom.