Should My Wordless Kid Go to School with Your Normal Child?
Well, Mr. Hummel, it seems that if Schuyler doesn’t have any cognitive disability, she should be able to be in the so-called “normal” class as long as she has her assistive technology with her, just like a child who can’t walk would always have his or her wheelchair.
I don’t think funding is a big issue, but we should use the funds we have in an appropriate manner so that they are not wasted but used in a way that benefits everyone (disabled child, other students, teachers, school as an institution, etc.). For instance, it would be a waste of money to have my cousin with Down syndrome sit in an advanced grade 11 physics class just so she could be with the “normal” kids: she couldn’t understand anything, and the teacher would use valuable time trying to explain things to her. So funding might be better spent on a class with a lower teacher: student ratio where she learned skills she could actually use. On the other hand, I wouldn’t view the use of funds to help a child in a wheelchair attend the same physics class, because he or she would learn something in there.
Again, the solution depends on the individual child and the individual disability.
