Back in the day, when special education was all about supporting students with disabilities without a “standards-based” filter, many of us would do whatever it took to create connections and lend a helping hand through an individualized approach to intervention, Simply, we worked from a position of love, understanding, and compassion. Now, special education often feels like a check-list of guidelines and the primary focus is on each child’s short-comings and failures to meet standard. The power of potential and possibility, and a true sense of hope, take a back seat to one-size-fits-all programs, formulaic curriculum guides, and standards, which in some situations have no connection to the student’s needs. Absolutely, I understand this message may not resonate for everyone,and for some, there may be a defensive response, however, there is a grain of truth here and the intention is to highlight concern needing to be addressed within the special education community. Certainly, I don’t want to go back to the dark ages when Autism, ADD/ADHD, and other behavior related disabilities were cloaked within the context of mental retardation or severe psychological illness. However, I am not a big fan of the latest standards based measures and so called “best practice” approaches if it limits the possibilities of the intervention menu, takes creativity out of the instructional process, and diminishes the importance of relationship within the learning process. Most notably, I have seen the general tone within special education shift from a heart-centered approach to instruction to a cold standards-based perspective. Also, I see that many of the behaviors which used to be part of growing up, what were once developmental benchmarks, are being called out through clinical and medical references like “executive functioning” and “behavior self regulation”. All in all, I am throwing out caution into the wind that the nature of special education is turning business-like in its approach. And this will fail for the business of education is founded upon the social-emotional connection to learning first and foremost. Academics, a standards-based approach to learning, will always take a back-seat to a heart-centered relationship between students and their teachers. Furthermore, the creative connection between instruction and learning, demonstrated by the teachers themselves, will always generate enthusiasm and an organic love of learning which are essential to the intervention process. Heart is where the home is; whether in the classroom or anywhere else in school; the most meaningful connections take place between teachers and students through relationship with social and emotional frameworks guiding this process. If it isn’t monitored closely, an exclusive standards based approach to instruction will create a slippery slope toward failure where all children with special needs will be left behind.
