Special Needs Children and Common Core. Is Common Core effective for children with special needs such as autism?

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!