Mindfulness in Special Education
Over 20 years ago I began my journey into the Special Education field. Growing up I had noticed how students in the Special Education classrooms were sort of a mystery to me because they always seemed to be put in a far away classroom, different recesses, etc. I had had a few encounters with children of varying abilities during my early elementary years, but the big shift came when I went away to camp the summer of my 3rd grade year. The cabin was a combination of students or varying ages and abilities. Our camp counselors were teenagers and weren’t around much so we all sort of ran wild and did what we wanted. I was extremely shy and tended to keep to myself and just watch people (one of the traits that serve me well as a behavioralist). During that summer I noticed a trend in how the children with Special Needs were treated by many of their fellow campers. They were bossed around, told to do things to embarrass them, and were generally treated pretty poorly. At the time my best friend at camp was deaf (another reason I learned ASL growing up) and I remember some other campers yelling at her when her back was turned and saying rude things. It was during that summer that my 9-year-old self made a promise that my grown-up self would do whatever I could to make sure all children felt respected and supported.
I started in the field by becoming a paraprofessional in a Severe Special Needs classroom. During this time I was paired with a wonderful teacher who taught me about the differing diagnosis, services students can receive, and how to scaffold curriculum for the varying levels of abilities within that classroom. I loved it so I decided to go back to school and get my Moderate/Severe Teaching Credential. A few of my professors told me that there weren’t many people in California who had this because of the level of difficulty, which in turn raised the teacher burn out rate drastically. A few years later I started working with a company that implemented ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis). We would go into the classroom and homes and work with children, teachers, paraprofessionals, and families. I really enjoyed the interactions and was now becoming part of the IEP (Individualized Education Plan) team and found that really fascinating. But I had a difficult time with doing things such as DTT (Discrete Trial Training: A specific method of instruction in which a task is isolated and taught to an individual across multiple trials. A specific opportunity to respond is presented, and a specific response from the learner is expected). The majority of ABA techniques we used were very clinical and difficult to use for every child. I was successful with my clients at this time because I would use natural reinforcers to activate learning, little did I know that this is when I was beginning to cultivate my foundation for Mindful ABA. I was involved in a lot of parent education at this time and noticed a lack in guidance for parents in their journey with their child in the Special Needs field. I wasn’t a parent yet so I didn’t understand quite then the magnitude of isolation that can overtake a family. This would come in good time where I was shown just how confusing and isolating it can be to not only be a Special Education teacher but to be one with a child with chronic health challenges and have to fight to have her own 504 Plan followed legally.
2 comments
Jul 23, 2018 12:34:55 PM
Ronette Grabeel - You are so welcome! I loved hearing how your sons school treated all their students with empathy, patience, and understanding. I think it’s so very important to take the clinical aspect out of teaching children and going back to giving them what they need. Everyone just wants to be respected and accepted, I’m hoping Mindful ABA can help with that part.
Thank you so much for your response!
Warmest,
Ronette
Jul 23, 2018 11:36:48 AM
Mostly Always Right - Oh my gosh, thank you so much for writing this post!! I haven't always been the biggest fan of ABA. Though there were parts of it that I wasn't a fan of (the rigidity, trying to control stimming behavior, make them act "normal", etc), there were plenty of parts of it that I liked. We got our son into a language acquisition preschool at a local university, where 1/3 of the kids were typically developing, 1/3 had communication issues, and 1/3 were learning english as a second language. They had structure for the entire classroom, but didn't impose the structure if the kids didn't want to participate in a certain activity. Each child with communication issues was paired with a graduate student who continued to engage them, whatever they were doing. They implemented some of the ABA techniques that I had heard about, but it wasn't so rigid and structure wasn't strictly enforced. My son did so well in that program and I've felt so glad that we didn't do traditional ABA therapy. I'm glad he got to be around kids of all developmental types and he has now integrated well into public school. I love what you are doing with your Mindful ABA program. I hope more different options for early intervention, like yours, become more readily available for kids like my son!