Learning Differences

Another year. Crazy. The learning curve keeps getting steeper and steeper. As usual, I like to include the self-reflections I've written at the end of each of my classes. The first one has definitely helped me discover another love--special education and learning (dis)abilities. I am still trying to figure out...my life...at the moment (when have I not). Haha. I mean, I am still trying to piece together what paths I really want to pursue in the coming year, so, my mind is honestly still over the place. Till I get my crazy mind sorted!

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I decided to take this course in the beginning because of my interest in communities of learners with learning differences—it tied into my goals in my Division 2 of exploring how nature and nurture affect the process of learning and questioning the line between having and not having a (dis)ability. I was drawn to this idea of inclusion, which I knew very little about, let alone the policies in place within special education in America. I guess my goal was to dive as deep as I could into this new topic in order to gage if special education or working with communities of learners with learning differences were things I wanted to pursue further. This curiosity definitely transformed into something bigger than me. I was refreshingly surprised by the journey learning disabilities has taken in America, perhaps partly due to the fact that I was coming from a different country that is still in the very early stages in obtaining the same rights allocated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504, even as we critique and dialogue in class about the ways in which they can be improved. 

I appreciated getting a clearer breakdown within learning disabilities such as emotional behavioural disorder (EBD), attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), mental health, and trauma, which more often than not, intersected. I thought the introduction to classroom management, differentiated instruction, and social-emotional learning answered some “how” questions I had but definitely feel like I could explore this more—there is only so much a semester-long class can cover. It has definitely made me extremely eager to learn more about how these strategies are used in real classrooms, the real-life challenges that happen, and just keep diving deeper.

In terms of work, I found the reflection papers very helpful in fleshing out my opinions and helping me think deeply about the issue at hand and the guiding prompts as good scaffolds for my learning and ability to engage in discussion and written reflection. I was grateful for the action-based tasks we did like the fishbowl individualized education plan (IEP) meetings, the community-engaged learning (CEL) placement, and active discussions with issues we genuinely cared about because I felt I learnt best when I was able to express and practice the theories that I read in some way. I think the free-writes helped me recall prior knowledge but I think the discussions and written reflections were a better representation of what I learnt and thought about the readings. I feel I have improved in my participation in discussions as compared to previous semesters but I do think I can prepare more for readings before class in order to better participate in class (also dependent on workload), given my more introverted nature. My CEL topic was about alternative classroom management strategies for learners with EBD to the token economy system—I found the idea of intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation in educational practices intriguing but I think my initial struggle in tackling too much with this paper reflected my struggle in education as a whole: an eagerness to learn and cover too many different components that I struggle to narrow down what exactly I want to focus on. While I hope I managed to narrow the focus on my final paper, I hope I will find a way to do that in my educational journey as well.

Some new goals I have discovered along the way include a growing curiosity in finding connections to situations back home in Malaysia, perhaps learning more about the policies set in place not only in education but in special education as well—considering doing a field study or independent project focusing on education in Malaysia in light of my interest to potentially bringing all these great things I’ve learnt back to my home community. It would be very great to find opportunities to compare systems with other countries in Europe as I know places like Finland have been highly regarded for education and early intervention. I have been very invested in seeing where exactly I see myself in all of this—what kinds of roles are needed? Do I want to be a teacher, counselor, psychologist, therapist? What are the differences? How can I be a part of the change I want and where I can I make it? I am also struggling in wrestling between my interests in education as a whole, special education, and thinking about ways they connect or don’t.