Podcast#4: Special Education, A Career or A Cause?

         

     The podcast title caught my eye and made me want to go ahead and start following it.   It concerns the reasons as to why people choose to be special education teacher and why they should go into that field.   it states that special education is not a career but yet a cause.  I am not sure I agree with everything they mentioned but it certainly made me think and question multiple aspects of the topic.
       Children with special needs need one on one attention at times.  The podcast discusses how people need to be motivated for the students not just moving up in the professional ladder.  It emphasizes integrity within ones job.  They are saying that sometimes teachers just do the bare minimum to get by and do not focus on the child.   When a teacher does this the student is not being benefitted.  It also goes over free and appropriate public education.   It does not speak about private schooling which I can understand, because I feel that most people teach public schools.
        In my opinion the podcast is geared more towards parents of kids with special needs.  As teachers though, I feel that we should see both views; the view from the parents and the teachers.  It is a teacher's responsibility to care for and work with the children just as it it the parents. 

Podcast#3: Social Skills Training in Adolescence: Important Issues and Future Directions

    

       The Podcast I have been following entitled, "Social Skills Training in Adolescence: Important Issues and Future Directions"  has been very interesting.  It focuses on different ways you can help your child or student with disabilities interact with other peers on a daily basis.   I found it helpful as a future teacher the skills they were discussing that are geared towards socially enhancing the lives of children with special needs.
      In particular this podcast is one of many created by the MIND Institue Lecture Series on Neurodevelopmental Disorders.  Marjorie Soloman is the speaker doing the lecture and the voice within the podcast.  She explores models for social skills training with a focus on issues encountered when working with adolescents and implications for future research. 
      I found it very interesting that she lectured on the topic, "identity development."  She says that there are four types of the identity crisis that are experienced by all.  Also, she mentions that each individual type of identity is is determined by how committed the adolescent is to their personal identity search.  I agree with her notion that students need to identify themselves in order to act socially with other students.  Marjorie's lecture certainly could impact a teacher on how they go about interacting with their students with special needs and how they are capable of acting socially. 
      The last item that she discusses is "Piaget/ Cognitive Development."  In the podcast she calls it the child's "ages and stages hall of fame."  The stages of development include; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations.  I have learned of these different stages of development before but I enjoyed her metaphors and ways she described it.