Thursday, February 17, 2005

interview

Instead of interviewing one of my professors, I interviewed a teacher from my future profession of Early Intervention. The teacher I interviewed had little to say about grammar. For him, teaching children to properly communicate if more important than the details of how it is done. A major goal in teaching children with Autism to communicate is integration. Teacher B. mentioned that he tries to teach children how to speak with grammatical correctness so they have a better chance of blending into an intolerant society. Teacher B. made an extremely interesting point when making a comparison between Special Education goals and typical education goals. Typical developing children are in essence gaining the same type of education as special needs children; they are both learning to function in society. Children with special needs are given more intense attention because they are farther off the path; however, typical schools are also about learning how to blend into society.
It was interesting to gain this insight from Teacher B. I never really thought of the ultimate purpose of education before, and to think that Special Education has the same goal as typical education is a fascinating perspective.