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THE BATTALION Page 5
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1981
Special education challenges students and teachers
Editor’s note: This is the second of
a three-part series on the special
problems of handicapped chil
dren.
By MARJORIE MCLAUGHLIN
Battalion Staff
The room is littered with half-
finished projects,. The walls are
lined with crayoned portraits. A
cardboard voting booth labeled
"Vote for Somebody’’ dominates
one comer.
This is a typical, late-aftemoon
elementary school scene. But this
class is anything but ordinary; it is
a special education resource
room.
In the resource room, hand
icapped and learning-disabled
children get special individualized
help, in addition to their regular
classroom instruction.
“The (handicapped) children
have very low self-concepts,” said
Carol Brackett, educational di
agnostician for the College Station
Independent School District.
“They’re always being told
what they can’t do. We take them
out of situations (normal clas
srooms) where they are failing ...
and put them into resource rooms
where they can achieve success,”
she said.
“The resource concept is suc-
cess-orienfed, ” said Merritt Cole,
a special education math teacher
at Oakwood Elementary School in
College Station. She teaches chil
dren with perceptual, motor,
hearing and general learning dis
abilities.
“They come in here and we
provide materials and they work
on their own levels,” she said.
Cole, who teaches fifth and
sixth graders, said that misunder
standing is the major problem
faced by special education prog
rams.
“You say that you are a special
education teacher and people
think that you teach retarded chil
dren,” Cole said. “But, it is not
that. We deal with all types of
learning disabilities, from severe
to mild or those who just need
help to learn self-discipline or bet
ter study habits.”
“When I was in school, there
was no special education program
as such,” said Virginia Young, a
special education language arts
teacher at Oakwood. She said that
children with learning disabilities
were kept separate from the other
children.
“The portable building out in
the field is a classic example,” she
said. “Here, the situation is ideal
because the special education
classes are in the regular school
building. ”
Brackett said that children
accept the special education stu
dents because so many of their
friends are in the program.
“It is still somewhat of a stigma,
being a resource kid,” said Cole.
“But, we try to avoid that. We tell
them that they are here to im
prove and maybe eventually, go
back into regular classes. ”
Parents also cause problems for
their disabled children.
Brackett said that she has to
Mosher extends visitation hours
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The convent dorm has changed
its habit.
Mosher Hall residents have de
cided to align Mosher’s visitation
hours with those of other campus
dormitories by opening the hall to
males two hours earlier, 10 a.m.
Known as the convent dorm
because of its traditionally strict
visitation hours, Mosher is the last
dormitory, other than those on the
Corps Quad, to adopt the Univer
sity's maximum visitation policy.
Last year Mosher was the last
hall to extend its night visitation
hours from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sun
day through Thursday.
This semester Mosher resi
dents voted 374-138 to change the
morning visitation hours from 12
noon to 10 a.m., Sunday through
Thursday. The earlier visitation
hours will be easier to enforce be
cause they match the hours of
other halls, Mosher Head Resi
dent Susan Vanecek said.
Mosher’s male visitation hours
are now 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sun
day through Thursday, and 10
a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Friday and
Saturday.
Spence and Briggs Halls are the
only civilian dormitories that have
not extended their visitation hours
to the University maximum.
Since they are located on the
Corps Quad, their visitation poli
cies are influenced by the Corps of
Cadets. As a result, weekday visi
tation is non-existent in Briggs,
and limited in Spence.
deal with several types of parents
when she diagnoses a learning-
disabled child.
“You run into parents who say
the kid will outgrow the prob
lem,” she said. “You run into pa
rents who say that there is no
problem or that the problem is
bigger than it really is. Some pa
rents blame the children, others,
the school. Then there are some
parents who are realistic about
their child’s limitations.”
Brackett said that once a child is
diagnosed as learning-disabled,
the choice for special education is
left up to the parents.
“They’re the parents,” she said.
“If the problem is severe enough,
the district can go to the Texas
Education Association for a hear
ing, but if the problem is mild and
the parents are adamant, we don’t
force them.”
Karen Cooper, a special educa
tion reading teacher at Oakwood,
said that many parents don’t
bother to check on their child’s
progress.
“We need parent support like
any other program,” said said
Cole. She said that parent interest
is vital to the success of the special
education program.
In addition to misconceptions
and lack of concern about the spe
cial education programs, teachers
must face frustrations that arise
from teaching the disabled.
Brackett said that “burn-out” is
more common among special edu
cation teachers than regular clas
sroom teachers.
“A lot of special education
teachers feel like they need to go
back into regular classrooms to
re-adjust their perspectives. But,
quite a few principals don’t like
them to go back and forth because
of the lack of qualified special edu
cation teachers,” Brackett said.
“You’re dealing with kids with
problems and it is often frustrat
ing,” Cole said. “You make a lot of
gains at first because the child is
responding to the individualized
programs. But, then you hit
plateaus.” But she said that her
interest in disabled children will
keep her in the special classroom.
Cooper agreed, saying, “I get
frustrated. When the child fails to
progress, you feel like you’ve
failed. At least in regular clas
srooms, you see constant prog-
“But, I don’t think I’ll ever
want to go back into the regular
classroom. I don’t know why. It is
very rewarding to (finally) see
gains made.”
Next: The parents and children
MSC “Keep off the grass
signs erected, lack letters
an art instniS
y of Minn®
Black Angus
) be a model
By CARLA SUTTER
Battalion Reporter
Two unlettered signs have been
put up at the Memorial Student
Center, and within two weeks the
“Keep off the grass” message will
be finished.
The student senate decided
two years ago to buy signs asking
passersby not to walk on the grass
in honor of Aggies who died in
war. The tradition of not walking
on the grass followed but was nev-
something so big and expensive,
but we got it,” Langford said. “I
think the reason we got the signs
we did is so they would match the
others around the MSC.”
The 5-by-2 signs are anodized
aluminum and will have bronze
lettering.
“We’ve been expecting the
signs to be up for about a year,”
Adair said. “Jean Ray with mainte
nance had to do the ground work,
and we had to wait for our turn in
line with everyone else.”
er made official. Dr. Carolyn
Adair, director of student activi
ties, said. The signs will make it
official, she said.
Many former students and visi
tors are not aware of the tradition,
and the signs are a nice way of
telling them, Eric Langford, vice
resident of student services,
Isaid.
“Hopefully visitors will avoid
getting yelled at and getting a bad
jimpression of Texas A&M when
(the signs are finally finished,”
own a longb Langford said.
The signs cost $1,265. Funding
came from the University Center
Complex.
“I don’t know if we wanted
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udents to
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MAKE I rTL-L. TIME
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Relax or Study in Our
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Advance tickets on sale starting Wednes
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Back Row (Left to Right) Albert Martinez, Jesse Liscano, Michael
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Albert’s Hair Design
Operated by Albert Martinez (formerly of New
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9-6 Mon.-Sat.
Woodstone Center
696-3003
We use
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846-4611
How About an
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Openings available with the
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Contact Career Planning and Placement
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Ray Adams, Engineering Recruitment Officer
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Room 503, P.O. Box 111
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Telephone (213) 481-4542
• Professional Engineering
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We will be interviewing on your campus soon.
Check your Career Planning and Placement Office
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