Joey Pigza Swallowed The Key Essay

1056 Words3 Pages

“At school they say I’m wired bad, or wired mad, or wired sad, or wired glad, depending on the mood and what teacher has ended up with me. But there is no doubt about it, I’m wired.” (Gantos 1) Jack Gantos writes, in his book Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, about a school-aged boy named Joey Pigza who, throughout his life, has struggled with being “wired”, being hyperactive. Joey has the inability to sit still for more than a few minutes, has poor decision making skills, and has had an unstable home life. These factors mixed with incorrect meds and the lack of knowledge of the Ms. Maxy, Joey’s teacher, has on integrating students with special needs into a general education setting has led him on a destructive path for himself and those around him. An analysis of Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key through concepts from Including Students with Special Needs: A Practical Guide for Classroom Teachers by Marilyn Friend and William D. Bursuck will show just how many parts of Joey Pigza’s life have intersected to create a student with special needs. A point of …show more content…

This realness is yet another point of intersection that makes Joey prominent example of a student with special needs. There was nothing to make is seem as though having a disability is a life sentence, but there was hope which came to fruition at the end. Gantos makes it clear that change happens with help. Help from educators, special education educators, doctors, etc. Though help and change can happen, it is a lengthy process to identify a problem, implement a possible solution, and see results. This is evident when intervention does not happen until Joey harmed another student, was suspended for six weeks, and then had a trial period on his new medicine. Gantos gave a realistic view into what it is like to have a disability and its effects within an educational setting and its implications when left unattended too

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