Reflection On Special Education

After taking time to reflect on everything have learned throughout this class and the rest of my courses, it seems as though I have learned a lot and have developed many skills that will allow me to progress as a teacher. This class allowed me to gain a better understanding of education laws, as well as what brought these laws about. Additionally, this class also shined light on many aspects of working with special needs students that I was not aware of before.

This week we learned about dispute resolution hearings and how they differ from Due process hearings. Dispute resolution hearings are an effective and cheap way to handle disagreements regarding a special education student’s schooling; which I was not aware of before (Osborne, & Russo, 2014). I thought that most disputes not handled in an IEP meeting almost always ended in a due process hearing. It was nice to know that there is another option for these situations that do not require going to court.

I think that one of the key points learned through this class was that school districts can refuse services to a student if they are already making adequate progress, even if the service would really help a student (Osborne, & Russo,

This may involve handling disputes regarding IEPs in dispute resolution hearings, or teaching proper social skills as a service to help build skills (Hardman, et al., 2013; Osborne, & Russo, 2014). Moreover, as a special education teacher I will need to know how to appropriately fill out paper work, such as IEPs and transition plans (Hardman, et al., 2013; Osborne, & Russo, 2014). This class helped me understand what is expected of me when doing this. Additionally, I will do what I can to ensure that my students make adequate progress and are learning to the best of their ability (Hardman, et al., 2013; Osborne, & Russo,