Essay on Assessments: Learning Disability and Special Education

Submitted By johnkbias
Words: 1564
Pages: 7

Special Education Assessments John K. Bias Grand Canyon University: SPE-529 October 16, 2012

Frustrated Education is significant to a successful career and life at least most teachers teach their students to motivate them to try harder in the classroom. Education can give students better opportunity to succeed at their dreams or goals in life. It can be the gateway to heaven and financial success if use properly with hard work and intelligent thinking. Special education is not thought of in the same ramifications. Some people think of special education as a negative outlet to education. Students with disabilities come to mind, informalities seems to surface the atmosphere, and people tend to shy away from children with disabilities because of ignorance. The world was built on special education, there was nothing general or normal in the beginning of time, and sense normality is established by a majority, people have the audacity to treat conduct that is unfamiliar nasty and unfair. The land of the free and the brave is the slogan the United States prides itself on but such words are taken out of context in many ways. Special education in the past or in the beginning stages is used as an educational jail for persons who do not fit the norm in society, have problems grasping the content, and those who did not make the color barrier. Some people refer to it as over-identification and there is nothing free or brave about that. The fact remains that students who struggle with content or fall in the realm of special education will encounter assessments to aid in the reassuring of knowledge and to restrain behavioral issues. Assessments Assessment is a multifaceted process of collecting information for the purpose of specifying and verifying problems and making decisions about student (Greenwood & Rieth, 1994). Assessment results are critical to instruction and support the teaching-learning process. Programs may vary in their methods of conducting assessments, analyzing data, determining results, and disseminating information (Domscheit-Chaleff, 1996). One particular assessment that special educators find effective is the strength-based assessment. Recently, strength-based assessment has garnered considerable support in special education, mental health, family services, and other social services. It is defined as "the measurement of those emotional and behavioral skills, competencies, and characteristics that create a sense of personal accomplishment; contribute to satisfying relationships with family members, peers, and adults; enhance one's ability to deal with adversity and stress; and promote one's personal, social, and academic development." Strength-based assessment is based on a set of core beliefs:
1. Children have strengths.
2. A child's motivation is enhanced when the adults around him or her indicate his or her strengths.
3. A child's failure to acquire a skill does not mean a deficit; instead, it indicates that a child has not been afforded the experiences and instruction to master the skill.
4. The goals, objectives, and services included in IEPs and family service plans are based on the strengths and resources of the child and family (Epstein & Rudolph, 2000). The Reasons In the beginning, Special Education assessments were directed through special programs that distinguished between distinctive kinds of low achievement through thorough case studies directed by psychologist and his or her colleges. There was an everlasting demand for an objective procedure to understand the cause of students achieving low standards. Another form of early assessments