What makes special education special?

Please address three separate and distinct issues relative to special education in your
response. Please also justify each of your identified issues (i.e., why you think each of your
issues makes special education special) .

What Makes Special Education (So) Special?

I feel I must open this modules discussion board comments in a non-academic manner,
i.e., with a contrite heart and heartfelt confession. Years ago, as a student in my twenties
choosing graduate school directions and options, neither general education nor special education
were even remote contenders for my professional energies. I am now chagrined at the
innumerable occasions I silently concluded that getting a degree in education was certainly fine
for othersbut for me would be a diluted version of a true professional pursuit. It was what
ordinary women did, I decided, and I shunned behavior I associated with my vision of
ordinary. What ignorance. What hubris. Never did I bother to investigate; I simply concluded
there was nothing special in being an educator, much less being an educator to special
populations. Today, I am horrified at the shallow bias inherent in such conclusions. Education,
both general and special, goes beyond special indeed and I look forward to spending my
remaining life living out the diametric opposite.
Of the many issues determining what makes Special Education so special, my three most
compelling are accessible and effective instruction, inclusion and collaboration. In his video,
Overview of Special Education, Dr. Randy Soffer notes the law defines special education as
specially designed instructions to meet the needs of unique studentsgo[ing] above and beyond
the standard provided for general education students anduniquely tailored to the individual's
needs (Soffer). In my near-decade of tutoring students with learning differences, I completely
concur with Dr. Marilyn Friends assessment that well-applied unique formulations of
differentiated instruction, evidence-based practices and assistive technology (particularly when
combined with a person-first approach1) can produce significant, positive and even powerful
improvements in a students comprehension, retention and self-assurance. I experience such
results frequently in my daily work, regularly commenting to parents that 50% of my work is
appropriately building content; the remaining 50% is appropriately building confidence.
Both Drs. Friend and Soffer discuss the challenges inherent in inclusion yet, pros and
cons weighed, I share the viewpoint adopted by Friends textbook, i.e., that inclusive schools
are possible and necessary for twenty-first century education (Friend, 24). Dr. Friends succinct
summary that inclusion is not about where students sit as much as it is about how adults and
classmates welcome all students to access learning and recognize that the diversity of learners in
todays schools dictates that no single approach is appropriate for all [italics added] (Friend,
1 I highly value both Drs. Friend and Soffer emphasizing the importance of disability etiquette and their
encouragement to view persons being differently-abled rather than disabled (Soffer).

22) profoundly resonates in my own approaches to students and their parents. In my

experience, inclusion can best be achieved by implementing a hybrid of general education
opportunities with accommodations (and often, outside-the-box innovations) tailored to a
special needs students unique concerns.
I find Dr. Soffers description of collaboration appealing. Its more than a buzzword,
he notes, asserting collaboration is "really essential for the work that is done by special
educators". Dr. Friend affirms this, noting collaboration was originally conceived from parents
defending the rights of their children with disabilities along the civil rights front (parents
argu[ing] that separate schools and classes caused their children to miss the full range of school
experiences and that this practice was discriminatory (Friend, 22)). Fostering collaboration is
further supported in the courts, in the form of additional litigation, usually brought by parents
of children with disabilities who are dissatisfied with their childrens special education (Friend,
13). That is collaboration, too, for parents (often the key decision-makers in education matters
for their children, Soffer observes) even in the courtroom, are not standing idly by and allowing
others to independently determine optimal options for their children. This is hands-on, heads-on
teamwork on the part of parents, teachers, administrators and students. In my role with families, I
typically emphasize that our work together is a team effort (I usually dub it Team Students
Name2) and that every member, student included, is a full-fledged, fully participating, fully
voting member with a profound voice in how we determine our work plan. I have found this
approach has resulted in significant buy-in, especially on the part of the student. It seems to
create a sense of Ive got skin in the game here. In one of the schools I serve, for the past three
years, I have keynote-addressed the regular fall meeting of parents to students with learning
differences. My presentation changes its face every year yet the underlying message of
collaborations critical importance remains bedrock to it.
Dr. Soffer captions his website home page3 with a Robert Byrne quote: The purpose of
life is to live a life of purpose. This deeply resonates with me as well; I have found a profound
life purpose in helping a student discover their own path for learning how to learn. Both Friends
and Soffers extensive experience, publication history and insightful presentations shape them
into valued friends indeed to special education; their insights are already aiding and abetting my
continuing wish to go and do likewise. For me, this is education at its most special.

REFERENCES
Friend, M. P. (2014). Special education: Contemporary perspectives for school professionals
(4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Soffer, R., Ph.D. (Director). (n.d.). Overview of Special Education [Video file]. Retrieved
September 05, 2015, from http://clare.stthom.edu/videos/week1.html.
2 Not very original, but it seems to work.
3 Soffer, R., Ph.D. (n.d.). Dr. Randy Soffer - Homepage. Retrieved September 06, 2015, from
http://www.drrandysoffer.com/index.html