Special Needs Children and Common Core. Is Common Core effective for children with special needs such as autism?
Autism and emotional connections
As some of my more regular readers with know I have been running an occasional blog post series called autism and education. You can here the previous posts here.
As the father of an eight year old boy on the autism spectrum I take the whole issue of special needs education very seriously. So I was very interested in the whole area of Common Core State Standards Initiative and how (if at all) it benefits those students, such as my son John, with special needs.
To those not based in the USA (where the Common Core curriculum is used in the vast majority of states) the initiative is defined as “an educational assembly in the United States that details what K-12 students should know in English language arts and mathematics at the end of each grade. The initiative is sponsored by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and seeks to establish consistent educational standards across the states as well as ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to enter credit-bearing courses at two- or four-year college programs or to enter the workforce.”
So, in fact, it does have some similarities with the UK’s national curriculum.
Okay so how does this impact upon those students who have special needs?
Last week I asked our online discussion group AutismTalk if they felt that Common Core was suitable for student with special needs ( and children on the sutism spectrum in particular). I have to say that I found the results quite remarkable.
First of all the sheers numbers who replied suggest the subject is of great interest. Secondly the almost negative view of Common Core from our members.
Angela is pretty typical when she says “My 10 yo aspergers son is highly intelligent, has 136 IQ and he has meltdowns because he doesn’t feel it’s necessary to show three ways to get the answer for one problem. I doesn’t not set well with children with ASD…they want to answer a problem and move on. It boggles my mind why they do this in schools. Our children don’t need common core system…get rid of it!!!”
“I think Common Core for all children is useless. No child can be a “cookie-cutter kid”, especially not a special needs child. Thankfully my son is in a specialized classroom so he isn’t subjected to it. But, my two mainstream daughters are, and there are mainstream kids struggling with this new system because all kids learn differently.” is Nicole’s view.
But, on the other side, Marilee felt “common core hasn’t been here in NY that long and I am all for it. Because I’ve seen how much easier this pain in the $$$ way makes the transition to high school and college math. So while more steps are taken now, the math most kids get to and fail are easily learned because of the extra steps. Of course parents need to utilize common core classes so their able to help with homework and their own comprehension.”
Because of this I do think it is of value to open up the discussion a bit further.
So what do you think of Common Core?
It would be great if you could use this blog to share your thoughts and comment on the views of others. To do so please use the comments section here.
As always we would ask you to be charitable in your dealings with others on this important matter.
Many thanks in advance!
I have an 8 year old snow on the spectrum. The school he currently attends is common core he makes good grades on his work but he gets agitated by the amount of work the teacher gives him. He has been suspended 4 times in the past 2 months because he has anger outbursts when he gets overwhelmed. He has an iep but I feel the school doesn’t see the connection between his outbursts and the overwhelming amount of work. I’m just not sure how I feel personally exactly the common core is good but I don’t think the teachers are able to properly gauge how much each individual can do in an allotted time frame because all the students are treated as if they are learning the same.
My son is now 11, in a private school. No grade below 95. The past years, in public schools with common core, his autism was a huge barrier. He got much lower scores, and a lot of bad flack for his way of thinking. Angela said it best.
I am against it but have not had to personally deal with it here in Mass. I can tell you that a friend of ours in the Chandler Arizona school system says that their district has thrown it out. All learn skills differently – disabled or not – each has to be shown a way that makes the most sense to them. I have another friend with special needs who could add if numbers were stacked then it made sense, if listed across it just confused her. So I instructed her to stack them first then continue … this worked for her. Just takes a few minutes to know if a child is grasping the concept or not. Quicker to take those few minutes and work with the individual than shove the wrong thing into all the kids heads.