So,
what is special education?
by Christine Lowry, MEd
Special education is inclusive education. It is education that
says all children should have full access to the classroom, all children should be able to fully participate in all activities, and all children should receive the support they need to feel successful and thrive. Special inclusive education accepts, respects, and honors each child’s unique gifts, strengths, and, yes, challenges.
Special education begins with an attitude - a value and a
belief that each child belongs in our classroom. It cultivates the open mind-set that we can prepare ourselves to serve and support every child in our classroom. It is making the commitment to learn, expand our skills, and really ‘see’ each of our students.
Regularly, I hear Montessori teachers say, “I can’t work with
children with special needs. I wasn’t trained to do that.” And yes, that is true; most Montessori teacher education programs are not explicitly preparing educators to work with the full range of children we have in our classrooms. The number of children who have been put into label categories is larger than in the past; the number of children who seem to experience the world differently
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than we expect is larger than in the past. It’s also true, though,
self. Ask yourself: Am I teaching to my agenda, to my expecta-
that our society is different than it was in the past, and we are all
tions, to my set of should, would, could, and ought, or am I willing
absorbing those changes. We are all different than we were in the
to reflect and transform myself to guide each and every child?
past. So, might it be time to let go of clinging to the way it used to
be and move on to what can be?
students challenge us in ways that make us uncomfortable, who
Many of Dr. Montessori’s observations of children are now
leave us feeling incompetent, who just confuse us, and “keep the
verified by current research. She deeply understood what all
classroom from being normalized.” And this is where that open
children need to learn to become their own best selves. Are we
mindset that is willing to learn comes in. We can gain knowledge
practicing what she taught (e.g., children learn what interests them
of the characteristics associated with categories of diversity to
and motivates them; and children learn at their own pace and in
better understand an individual child’s learning and behavior
their own way)? She knew the importance of guiding the whole
needs. We can learn some strategies as a starting point to sup-
child: the physical, cognitive, social-emotional, and the cultural
port an individual child’s learning and behavior differences. We
That is special education! Easier said than done, right? Some
©MONTESSORI LEADERSHIP | WWW.MONTESSORI.ORG/IMC | VOLUME 23 ISSUE 1 • 2021
