Understanding Special Education: Assessments & IEP
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act
- Meeting goals and outcomes identified in a child’s IEP.
- Access to general education.
IEP Process
- Referral by parent or teacher.
- Pre-referral intervention (RTI).
- Referral to the IEP team.
- Request assessments (e.g., KTEA).
- Share assessments.
- Develop and approve the IEP.
- Implement the IEP.
- Review annually.
- Re-evaluation (every 3 years).
Key Principles of IDEA
- Zero Reject: All students with disabilities are entitled to FAPE.
- Free Appropriate Public Education
Understanding Personality: Traits, Factors, and Perception
Personality is a set of characteristics that define and identify a person, establishing their difference from others. A more scientific definition, according to Gordon Allport, is: “Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment.” In essence, personality is the sum total of the ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others.
Key Personality Traits
Traits can be categorized as
Read MoreUnderstanding Autonomy, Independence, and Adaptive Skills
Autonomy: The ability to perform basic activities of daily living independently.
Unit: Individuals who, due to physical, mental, or intellectual limitations, require assistance and/or aids to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADL). Types include physical dependence, social dependence, economic dependence, and mental dependence.
Independence: A disposition of mood and outlook on life that allows individuals to perform physical acts of daily living as, when, and with whom they choose.
Self-determination:
Read MoreUnderstanding Socialization, Culture, and Freud’s Personality Theory
Socialization
Socialization is the process by which we become fully functional members of society. We are born with almost no instincts, but we possess the capability for learning.
Primary Socialization
From birth, we are cared for and begin to observe and imitate our surroundings. Over time, we adopt behaviors through a system of rewards and punishments. This phase concludes as we mature and our sphere of relationships expands, typically around the time we enter primary school.
Secondary Socialization
We
Read MoreUnderstanding Violence: A Historical and Conceptual Analysis
Violence: A Historical and Conceptual Overview
Violence has been a part of history since the earliest recorded times, as exemplified by the biblical story of Cain and Abel.
Historical Periods of Violence (Guthman, 1991)
- Up to Medieval Times: Violence lacked a negative connotation.
- Medieval Period: Violence was viewed negatively, seen as corrupting purity and harmony with God, a sin against the Church, and a violation of feudal order.
- Renaissance: Violence became instrumental, used as a means of acquiring
Mental Disorders: Psychosis and Neurosis
Mental Health and Mental Disorders
Mental health is defined as full mental and social well-being. Other authors have defined it as the ability to have a job, a family, not having trouble with the law, and enjoying the leisure opportunities of life.
Conversely, a mental disorder is the loss of psychosocial well-being, coupled with a deterioration in the workplace or academic (school, college) environment and changes in usual social activities or life in relationship with others (family, friends).
In
Read More