Rachel's Interview
An interview with Beth Cochran, a former special needs teacher and a volunteer with the Sunshine Class , a special needs group, at Oak Hill United Methodist Church.
Athena's Interview
An interview with Austin High Life Skills
Teachers Mr. Wilson, Mr. Butler, and Mr. Griffin.
Athena Banh: “How does working with kids with special needs impact your life?”
Mr. Arnold Wilson: "Well I think that first of all, for me, it’s a very rewarding job, very rewarding. It’s amazing; it doesn’t take much to make these kids happy. It doesn’t take much at all to make them happy, I mean, whatever level of success they achieve, they’re so happy. Whereas a regular-ed population perhaps would score an 80, and they’re still disappointed. But for me, it’s very rewarding seeing them go from step one to step three. Everyday, a lot of the stuff is the same, very repetitious, over and over again. It can become very boring, but you have to know who you’re doing it for. It’s all about the kids, it’s not about me. It’s about the kids, you want to see those kids achieve. And you know here at Austin High, we can achieve if we believe. So, that’s what I think about the kids, it’s exciting for them.”
AB: “And what inspired you to work with kids with special
needs?”
AW: “What inspired me was my mom was a special education teacher, and I would visit her class sometimes, actually pick her up. And I’d just sit there and kind of say, “Hmm, this is kind of interesting.” And I thought it was very neat that I would see what some of the kids would do and how excited she would be because Timmy has made such a great stride in a short span. And I was like, “You’re excited about that?” So, that was very kind of interesting to me. And the downs [Down/Down's Syndrome] population was very interesting to me, and how those kids were so lovable, they were so lovable, they just wanted somebody to love them and care about them. So that’s what really got me involved in this particular field.”
AB: “How do you think you’ve impacted these kids’ lives?”
AW: “Well, I would like to think that I’ve impacted their lives by just showing them to work everyday, and being here for them. I’m constantly reminding the kids that I’m here for you. The help is here for you, and if you want to learn, we can help you learn, but you have to get here and you have to come in and be respectful, be responsible, and be ready to learn. We’re here for you, that’s what I want to do, I want to help you succeed, I want to help you get to that next level if I can. And as educators, that’s what I want our number one priority to be about, the kids. By any means necessary per se, that’s what it’s really all about: the kids. We have to sacrifice a lot of our time sometimes, but it’s all about the students.”
AB: “And so that connects with this next question, what main goals for you strive for in your job?”
AW: “Well, the main things I want to see these kids—first of all, it’s a struggle a lot of times with our younger kids because when they come into high school, they’re still babies. They’re still really babies, so you have to have a lot of patience because they’re going to mature, and we don’t all mature at the same level. But once they mature, you can see them build, you can see them grow, and everyday they’ll learn this and they’ll just get to the next level, so it’s a growing process. I call it sanctification. That’s what it really is, you grow, we don’t all grow at the same level, but with coming in, repetition, and educators that are willing to go to whatever length it is with these kids, they can achieve. It’s very—it’s a good job, I enjoy it. I love kids. I love the kids. And there are some pitfalls, and by pitfalls, I mean there are sometimes where I feel the kids aren’t progressing at a rate that they should, but again, it goes back, we don’t all learn at the same level, it all goes back to patience.”
AB: “What common challenges do you face while working with these kids?”
AW: “I mean, really no different than just everyday life challenges. These kids are fantastic. I think if it’s a challenge, it’s the challenge of being focused on remembering what you’re working with. The patience, that’s the key. It takes a lot of patience. It’s really not a challenge, I have boatloads of patience. But that’s one area that I would say was somewhat challenging for me.”
AB: “What are the main fundamental skills that are focused on in this program?”
AW: “Here in Life Skills, we focus on independent living skills. These kids, not all of them, are not going to live with their parents for the rest of their life. A lot of kids will embark on a life of their own, whether it is living in a group home, or in a supervised environment, but they’re not always going to live with their parents. So if we can teach these kids how to become independent, get to and from different areas on public transportation, and some of them may not be ready to utilize public transportation, but a lot them will be. So we focus on things like that. We also focus on socialization skills, that’s why we like to partner up with our Link Crew. If we could just introduce them to things and constantly do that on a day to day basis per say, when they leave Austin High School, they will be able to embark upon a life of their own. That’s what the number one goal, and hopefully we can get them a job, things like that, we have other people that handle that for us though.”
AB: “So as you mentioned earlier that misconceptions have died down over time, do you believe that there are still misconceptions being made?”
AW: “Oh yes, I’m sure, but it all depends on what area. You have some less fortunate areas where they’re more prevalent than say in a rich environment. And a lot of it stems from lack of knowledge. It’s really just lack of knowledge because people don’t really understand, so they just start talking and they sort of just assume. And assumptions kind of get us all in trouble sometimes.”
AB: “What could these students learn and how might they be impacted by being exposed to different environments?”
AW: “Well like I said earlier, what you want to do with these kids is expose them to things. They might not grasp it right away, but if you expose it to them, hopefully it’ll come back to their remembrance at some point, that’s what it’s all about. Like I said, a lot of things that we do is repetitive, over and over and over, and that’s the thing about it, you have to do it over and over with them, and eventually, it’s kind of like a song, if we do it enough, hopefully it’ll start making sense to them.”
AB: “By exposing these kids to the rest of the school and by encouraging interaction, do you think the misconceptions and assumptions could potentially come to an end?”
AW: “Well, ignorance is a dangerous thing, and you can’t grow in anything if you don’t go to learn things. And what we try to do is expose them to different things, and to answer your question, yeah, you hope that misconception is answered and would dissipate, but unfortunately for some people, it’s never going to happen simply because they don’t know enough about it. But overall, here at Austin High, it’s a lot better. Most of the students here know about the special needs population because they all get involved with them at some phase or another. Over time, I think it will all evaporate.”
Mr. Butler: “I think too though that we all have our strengths and weaknesses. We all have our abilities and disabilities. And there are differences, we’re all different. I don’t necessarily like the world “tolerance” and “tolerate” because that means that you put up with something. I think we should learn to celebrate those differences, and we need to recognize those differences and celebrate those differences, and appreciate one another for those differences.”
AW: “Having you recognize those differences again, it goes back to ignorance. People are not willing to get up and learn more about it, and continue to be ignorant.”
Mr. Butler: “But schools are better now compared to when we were kids. When I was in high school, we didn’t have special needs kids in the school, they were in a whole different school.”
AW: “Yeah, it was kind of tucked away, and no one really talked bout it, and forgot about including them. The only inclusion they got was when they went back to the community or something, but not at school.”
AB: “So, what do you think my project group and I could do to aid in this issue?”
AW: “Well, I mean you are on the right track with trying to find out ways that you could break down that stereotyping. So I think you’re on the right track, but try and help educate students and people about the special needs population. Like Mr. Butler was saying, instead of tolerating, we should celebrate because even all of us are different, and that’s just the way we’re made up. We don’t all think alike, we don’t all do things the exact same. So, same with the special needs population, they don’t all grow at the same pace, but whatever they do and whatever they accomplish, let’s celebrate it. Don’t hate on it, let’s celebrate. Together we can stand, divided we can fall. If we all come together and realize
that, I think we’ll have a much better environment.”
Mr. Griffin: “And also too, you can volunteer sometime. I have a son that plays professional football, and he volunteers at a school with black skinned kids and kids with special needs. And he said, “Dad, I noticed that the kids here [Austin High School] are allowed to do more, you guys let them do this and that.” He also said that at Bowie High School, it used to be that they all used to eat together in the corner, they don’t anymore though but they used to, where with our guys, we just let them go. There are some kids we have to watch, but we still give them some freedom to get out, and the kids around here have been very good. We have some kids that sometimes get in trouble, but they understand. But like I said, if you volunteer and do some things, you could make a difference. And here’s another thing, everybody sees
it, I could be wrong but, there are disabilities in everybody’s family. So if you volunteer, my son’s at a school, he plays for the Tennessee Titans, and he goes and he volunteers for like an hour a week and the other kids come. Like I said, if you want to do something, contact me, and I’ll be down here so we can work something out.”
AB: “Thank you all so much, and if you’re interested, my group and I, along with the rest of the AGS sophomores, will be presenting our advocacy projects on April 17.”
Teachers Mr. Wilson, Mr. Butler, and Mr. Griffin.
Athena Banh: “How does working with kids with special needs impact your life?”
Mr. Arnold Wilson: "Well I think that first of all, for me, it’s a very rewarding job, very rewarding. It’s amazing; it doesn’t take much to make these kids happy. It doesn’t take much at all to make them happy, I mean, whatever level of success they achieve, they’re so happy. Whereas a regular-ed population perhaps would score an 80, and they’re still disappointed. But for me, it’s very rewarding seeing them go from step one to step three. Everyday, a lot of the stuff is the same, very repetitious, over and over again. It can become very boring, but you have to know who you’re doing it for. It’s all about the kids, it’s not about me. It’s about the kids, you want to see those kids achieve. And you know here at Austin High, we can achieve if we believe. So, that’s what I think about the kids, it’s exciting for them.”
AB: “And what inspired you to work with kids with special
needs?”
AW: “What inspired me was my mom was a special education teacher, and I would visit her class sometimes, actually pick her up. And I’d just sit there and kind of say, “Hmm, this is kind of interesting.” And I thought it was very neat that I would see what some of the kids would do and how excited she would be because Timmy has made such a great stride in a short span. And I was like, “You’re excited about that?” So, that was very kind of interesting to me. And the downs [Down/Down's Syndrome] population was very interesting to me, and how those kids were so lovable, they were so lovable, they just wanted somebody to love them and care about them. So that’s what really got me involved in this particular field.”
AB: “How do you think you’ve impacted these kids’ lives?”
AW: “Well, I would like to think that I’ve impacted their lives by just showing them to work everyday, and being here for them. I’m constantly reminding the kids that I’m here for you. The help is here for you, and if you want to learn, we can help you learn, but you have to get here and you have to come in and be respectful, be responsible, and be ready to learn. We’re here for you, that’s what I want to do, I want to help you succeed, I want to help you get to that next level if I can. And as educators, that’s what I want our number one priority to be about, the kids. By any means necessary per se, that’s what it’s really all about: the kids. We have to sacrifice a lot of our time sometimes, but it’s all about the students.”
AB: “And so that connects with this next question, what main goals for you strive for in your job?”
AW: “Well, the main things I want to see these kids—first of all, it’s a struggle a lot of times with our younger kids because when they come into high school, they’re still babies. They’re still really babies, so you have to have a lot of patience because they’re going to mature, and we don’t all mature at the same level. But once they mature, you can see them build, you can see them grow, and everyday they’ll learn this and they’ll just get to the next level, so it’s a growing process. I call it sanctification. That’s what it really is, you grow, we don’t all grow at the same level, but with coming in, repetition, and educators that are willing to go to whatever length it is with these kids, they can achieve. It’s very—it’s a good job, I enjoy it. I love kids. I love the kids. And there are some pitfalls, and by pitfalls, I mean there are sometimes where I feel the kids aren’t progressing at a rate that they should, but again, it goes back, we don’t all learn at the same level, it all goes back to patience.”
AB: “What common challenges do you face while working with these kids?”
AW: “I mean, really no different than just everyday life challenges. These kids are fantastic. I think if it’s a challenge, it’s the challenge of being focused on remembering what you’re working with. The patience, that’s the key. It takes a lot of patience. It’s really not a challenge, I have boatloads of patience. But that’s one area that I would say was somewhat challenging for me.”
AB: “What are the main fundamental skills that are focused on in this program?”
AW: “Here in Life Skills, we focus on independent living skills. These kids, not all of them, are not going to live with their parents for the rest of their life. A lot of kids will embark on a life of their own, whether it is living in a group home, or in a supervised environment, but they’re not always going to live with their parents. So if we can teach these kids how to become independent, get to and from different areas on public transportation, and some of them may not be ready to utilize public transportation, but a lot them will be. So we focus on things like that. We also focus on socialization skills, that’s why we like to partner up with our Link Crew. If we could just introduce them to things and constantly do that on a day to day basis per say, when they leave Austin High School, they will be able to embark upon a life of their own. That’s what the number one goal, and hopefully we can get them a job, things like that, we have other people that handle that for us though.”
AB: “So as you mentioned earlier that misconceptions have died down over time, do you believe that there are still misconceptions being made?”
AW: “Oh yes, I’m sure, but it all depends on what area. You have some less fortunate areas where they’re more prevalent than say in a rich environment. And a lot of it stems from lack of knowledge. It’s really just lack of knowledge because people don’t really understand, so they just start talking and they sort of just assume. And assumptions kind of get us all in trouble sometimes.”
AB: “What could these students learn and how might they be impacted by being exposed to different environments?”
AW: “Well like I said earlier, what you want to do with these kids is expose them to things. They might not grasp it right away, but if you expose it to them, hopefully it’ll come back to their remembrance at some point, that’s what it’s all about. Like I said, a lot of things that we do is repetitive, over and over and over, and that’s the thing about it, you have to do it over and over with them, and eventually, it’s kind of like a song, if we do it enough, hopefully it’ll start making sense to them.”
AB: “By exposing these kids to the rest of the school and by encouraging interaction, do you think the misconceptions and assumptions could potentially come to an end?”
AW: “Well, ignorance is a dangerous thing, and you can’t grow in anything if you don’t go to learn things. And what we try to do is expose them to different things, and to answer your question, yeah, you hope that misconception is answered and would dissipate, but unfortunately for some people, it’s never going to happen simply because they don’t know enough about it. But overall, here at Austin High, it’s a lot better. Most of the students here know about the special needs population because they all get involved with them at some phase or another. Over time, I think it will all evaporate.”
Mr. Butler: “I think too though that we all have our strengths and weaknesses. We all have our abilities and disabilities. And there are differences, we’re all different. I don’t necessarily like the world “tolerance” and “tolerate” because that means that you put up with something. I think we should learn to celebrate those differences, and we need to recognize those differences and celebrate those differences, and appreciate one another for those differences.”
AW: “Having you recognize those differences again, it goes back to ignorance. People are not willing to get up and learn more about it, and continue to be ignorant.”
Mr. Butler: “But schools are better now compared to when we were kids. When I was in high school, we didn’t have special needs kids in the school, they were in a whole different school.”
AW: “Yeah, it was kind of tucked away, and no one really talked bout it, and forgot about including them. The only inclusion they got was when they went back to the community or something, but not at school.”
AB: “So, what do you think my project group and I could do to aid in this issue?”
AW: “Well, I mean you are on the right track with trying to find out ways that you could break down that stereotyping. So I think you’re on the right track, but try and help educate students and people about the special needs population. Like Mr. Butler was saying, instead of tolerating, we should celebrate because even all of us are different, and that’s just the way we’re made up. We don’t all think alike, we don’t all do things the exact same. So, same with the special needs population, they don’t all grow at the same pace, but whatever they do and whatever they accomplish, let’s celebrate it. Don’t hate on it, let’s celebrate. Together we can stand, divided we can fall. If we all come together and realize
that, I think we’ll have a much better environment.”
Mr. Griffin: “And also too, you can volunteer sometime. I have a son that plays professional football, and he volunteers at a school with black skinned kids and kids with special needs. And he said, “Dad, I noticed that the kids here [Austin High School] are allowed to do more, you guys let them do this and that.” He also said that at Bowie High School, it used to be that they all used to eat together in the corner, they don’t anymore though but they used to, where with our guys, we just let them go. There are some kids we have to watch, but we still give them some freedom to get out, and the kids around here have been very good. We have some kids that sometimes get in trouble, but they understand. But like I said, if you volunteer and do some things, you could make a difference. And here’s another thing, everybody sees
it, I could be wrong but, there are disabilities in everybody’s family. So if you volunteer, my son’s at a school, he plays for the Tennessee Titans, and he goes and he volunteers for like an hour a week and the other kids come. Like I said, if you want to do something, contact me, and I’ll be down here so we can work something out.”
AB: “Thank you all so much, and if you’re interested, my group and I, along with the rest of the AGS sophomores, will be presenting our advocacy projects on April 17.”
Keilen's Interview
KH: What is your name, and how long have you been in this field?
LS: My name is Linda Swayzer and I have been the special needs secretary of the Houston special needs clinic for twenty five years.
KH: What type of education would a physician need to work with special needs?
LS: They would need to have an MD which is a basic medical degree.
KH: What is it that a physician usually does for special needs children?
LS: They are mainly the PCP which is the primary care consultant which is diagnosing them and treating them for most cases.
KH: What is the average age of kids when they are diagnosed?
LS: They are usually diagnosed at birth or age five when symptoms are recognized at their pediatrician and they send them here for proper care.
KH: How old are most children at your clinic?
LS: We usually see diagnosis up to age thirteen and take kids up to seventeen before we point them towards more adult facilities.
KH: What are some more common diagnosis?
LS: There is a very wide ranged amount of diagnosis like autism and epilepsy many others.
KH: What are some things that help a parent care for their child?
LS: We have a social worker that helps them adapt to certain behaviors and situations and inform them of other programs that may
help.
KH: What school programs help special needs kids?
LS: Most schools should already have a special needs department and they would apply through a counselor.
KH: What are some things that parents should know about these programs?
LS: The students are usually separated and the school will either have, or hire a special trained nurse to help educate the
children.
KH: What are some programs outside of school?
LS: United Autism Association, children with special needs care just to name a few.
KH: Where do most kids end up after graduation?
LS: Many go to college in their local community college like HCC or ACC in Austin, and live with their parents and we also help enroll older teens into programs that help them learn how to work a job.
KH: What happens to special needs children without parents?
LS: Whether they are adopted or with CPS (child protective services) they will still receive the same resources as a responsibility of CPS or the guardians.
KH: What are some definitions of words that have to do with special needs that you hear misused a lot?
LS: I hear the same that most people mention, dumb which means mute, or retarded which means mentally challenged.
LS: My name is Linda Swayzer and I have been the special needs secretary of the Houston special needs clinic for twenty five years.
KH: What type of education would a physician need to work with special needs?
LS: They would need to have an MD which is a basic medical degree.
KH: What is it that a physician usually does for special needs children?
LS: They are mainly the PCP which is the primary care consultant which is diagnosing them and treating them for most cases.
KH: What is the average age of kids when they are diagnosed?
LS: They are usually diagnosed at birth or age five when symptoms are recognized at their pediatrician and they send them here for proper care.
KH: How old are most children at your clinic?
LS: We usually see diagnosis up to age thirteen and take kids up to seventeen before we point them towards more adult facilities.
KH: What are some more common diagnosis?
LS: There is a very wide ranged amount of diagnosis like autism and epilepsy many others.
KH: What are some things that help a parent care for their child?
LS: We have a social worker that helps them adapt to certain behaviors and situations and inform them of other programs that may
help.
KH: What school programs help special needs kids?
LS: Most schools should already have a special needs department and they would apply through a counselor.
KH: What are some things that parents should know about these programs?
LS: The students are usually separated and the school will either have, or hire a special trained nurse to help educate the
children.
KH: What are some programs outside of school?
LS: United Autism Association, children with special needs care just to name a few.
KH: Where do most kids end up after graduation?
LS: Many go to college in their local community college like HCC or ACC in Austin, and live with their parents and we also help enroll older teens into programs that help them learn how to work a job.
KH: What happens to special needs children without parents?
LS: Whether they are adopted or with CPS (child protective services) they will still receive the same resources as a responsibility of CPS or the guardians.
KH: What are some definitions of words that have to do with special needs that you hear misused a lot?
LS: I hear the same that most people mention, dumb which means mute, or retarded which means mentally challenged.