Section 1: Ethical Responsibilities I-1.3 To recognize and respect the unique qualities, abilities and potential of each child.
This has significant meaning to me, the saying goes "don't judge a book by its cover" and the same applies to children with disabilties. Until you truly know a child, who has significat challenges, you do not know what they are capable of. For example, in October I got a student from a neghboiring school distict who is on the severe end of the Autism specturm and is 100% blind. They told me she could not to much and when I got her I thought she could do A LOT! She has limited language but is able to make choices, she explores our room, she dances and laughs, fully of energy and true delight to have in our classroom. If I would have just taken the other schools word and thought she was not capable of anything then she wouldn't be doing anything. Instead I thought let's see what we can do and from there we have opened up her world to new experiences and with that, she is becoming much more functional. We must look at each child to see what they can do, not what they can't.
Section 2: Ethical Responsibilities to Families I-2.2 To develop relationships of mutual trust and create partnerships with the families we serve.
We must develop good rapport with families. They need to trust us as educators and we NEED to trust them as parents. Families know their children the best and we need to help support them. We may not always agree with how families go about doing something but we need to be as supportive as we can.
Section 5: Ethical Responsibilities to Community and Society I-4.3—To work through education, research, and advocacy toward an environmentally safe world in which all children receive health care, food, and shelter; are nurtured; and live free from violence in their home and their communities.
If we could we could master this code of ethics, I think our world would be in good standing. However, I believe this is not the case, but this is something that we should be striving for each and everyday. I think that we all want this for the children we work with, it would mean that each child would have the background to succeed in life and school. This is significant for me because this is something that all professionals who work with children is trying to accomplish, but, indeed, it is a difficult one to achieve.
I am glad to see you made your own judgment on your child who is blind and Austistic. Too often teachers listen to what others say about children and adopt the same ideas. This is so "un-teacherish" in my opinion. Its the self fulfilling prophecy. If you expect a child to fail, they will. If you expect them to succeed, they will. Therefore, we need to set our expectations for children high and not judge them until we see what they are capable of.
ReplyDeleteAwesome story about how you didn't let someone else's judgement of a child influence how you worked with her. She is so very lucky to have someone like you in her life!
ReplyDeleteI love that you said to look at what each child can do. We are so data driven in my district right now. We have to focus on where the students are lacking. I understand wanting to help them strengthen a weak area, but what about taking what they are good at and building on it? Thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed your postings this class. Thank you for the wonderful ideas and information you shared.
ReplyDeleteAbby,
ReplyDeleteThank you for encouraging me to share the Marilyn Friend article with my daughter's teachers! It is obvious that you are passionate about our professions! Thank you for being an inspiration.
Good luck in your future classes.
Teri