Responding to the Discussion Question250 word response with reference
The difference between anything secular and biblical will always be that the secular
approach does what is best in man’s eyes and a biblical approach will be what is God’s
way to the best that man is able. The secular approach to special education
focuses solely on the student’s educational and physical needs, while a biblical approach
will focus on the educational, physical and spiritual needs of the student. A biblical
approach will be led by the fact that we are all made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27,
ESV) and we are called make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20, ESV). In the case
with Christian schools Dr. Beth Ackerman points out that Christian schools must decide
“whether they should be elite and among the best or whether they should care for ‘the
least of these’ and reach all students” (Ackerman, 2012, p.3-4). I have a child with autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) and I know first-hand the struggle it is to find a program that fits
your child’s specific needs. We tried to get my youngest son who has autism enrolled in
the preschool program at the Christian private school that my oldest son attends, and
they said that they do not have a special needs program. The second option was at a
public school that offered an inclusive class where typical and atypical students would
learn side by side. The administrators assured us that this would be a good fit because
the typical students would learn compassion and perspective from the atypical children,
and the atypical children would learn from the modeled behavior of the typical children.
The school had their own OT (occupational Therapist), PT (Physical Therapist), and
Speech Pathologist, and allowed ABA therapists to come three times a week for three
hours at a time. It sounded great to us, but the reality was far from great. The teachers
were either not trained to deal with the student’s behaviors or were not comfortable doing
so because there was no control in the classroom during instruction time. The head
teacher was constantly being undermined by the two assistant teachers. I have
even looked into a private school that is nondenominational and they will allow one
student with a diagnosis in a class, but the student is not allowed to come to school
unless they are accompanied by the aid who works with them. In our case my son
receives ABA services (Applied Behavior Analysis) from an RBT (Registered
BehavioralTherapist), but if she was ever sick or had an appointment my son woul
d not
be able to attend class that day. His prognosis is good, so we are trying to enroll him at
my oldest son’s private Christian school again because of how much progress he has
made this year, but there are still a lot of hoops to jump through because of the diagnosis
that he has and the lack of a special education program at this school. Dr. Beth
Ackerman describes how differentiated instruction benefits all children from those
students who are gifted to those students with special needs. Dr. Ackerman says that “all
students are active participants in the learning process” (Ackerman, 2012, p.12). This is
an effective way to allow students with varying needs to have the chance to engage and
have their interests held so they can learn the material that is important for them to learn.
This means that teachers both at public schools and private schools need to be flexible toadjust a plan to meet the needs of the child keeping, “What the key objective that we
wish the students to know?” ahead of their specific plan for how to teach that objective.
My husband says people sometimes “fall in love with their plan” and become hesitant to
change it even after it has proven unproductive.
Ackerman, B. (2012). G.U.I.D.E. to differentiated instruction for Christian educators.
Lynchburg, VA: Liberty University Press.
Bible, ESV, 2008. Answer Preview
When providing special education to students, I believe that special educators should always focus on ensuring the students educational, physical and spiritual needs are attained in the long run. In addition to the post, I believe that it will be important for educators to utilize the biblical and secular approaches of teachings to students as this would help them grow both spiritually and educationally. In my experience as a special educator, many of the Christian schools usually reach to all particular need students to enable them to develop spiritually together with attaining an education that would be of help to them. Schools should not engage in discrimination policies especially on the students who require special education as they usually experience many difficulties in their lives. Many of the private schools are typically lack resources to cater for those individuals with different special needs, and I believe that the government and the community should engage in practices that will allow public schools to offer education to any students who require special education irrespective of the physical and mental conditions
.APA 294 words
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