There are two very simple principles at the heart of instructional institutions:
- Teachers teach, and
- Students learn.
While yes, it is really that simple, it is also very complicated. What to teach? When to teach? How to teach? These are just a few of the questions guided by a mountain of research and endless political pandering. Likewise, what the student should learn, by when, and how we know they learned it are equally compelling discussions sparking endless debates.
State standards were written and adopted with the good intention of ending the debate, clarifying for everyone what should be taught or learned and by when. Standards are a target. Educators, families, and students can measure their progress toward the target and make adjustments to help accelerate or change course as needed. As the student progresses to the next grade, the target is moved, challenging the student and teacher to another year of growth.
The ability to measure a student’s journey toward the grade-level target has led to the realization that some students will simply not make it to the goal before it is moved again. The gap between the student’s current skills and the target is increasing, not decreasing with each year, creating a feeling of inadequacy and hopelessness.
This brings me to the “Case of More.” Students with complex disabilities including a cognitive disability are often described as those learning significantly less than their peers, mastering less, or achieving less. I dispute these statements as false. In fact, I am arguing that the students actually learn more than their classmates with no disabilities.
When a student with a cognitive disability or complex needs makes a step forward in the curriculum, they have effectively integrated and executed multiple new skills and concepts learned. For instance, while learning a simple academic skill, such as how to add two numbers, the student has also had to learn the following:
- communicating their knowledge,
- asking questions,
- learning new vocabulary,
- giving focus and attention to a topic or individual for an extended period,
- leveraging mastered motor skills to maintain posture, safe body placement, and minimize sensory disruption,
- social engagement skills,
- emotional regulation,
- sorting of important and not important stimuli,
- reducing the focus on background noise, and
- so much more.
Yes, it is true these skills are necessary for everyone to learn. But, if we get really honest, for most of us, these are skills we possess so automatically that they occur as naturally as breathing. There may be one or two we are refining, but in general, they are natural. In fact, when we use terms like “significant disability” or “complex needs,” we are actually trying to convey in a few words, that this is a student who will need all of these skills in addition to content.
“In addition”…aha, that means more, and so, again, I will say it but this time in a short, succinct way:
Students with complex needs learn more.
And so, I ask you, would you agree that indeed, students with complex needs learn more? And wouldn’t you also agree, we need to applaud their incredible tenacity, integration of skills, and accomplishments, not in the name of empathy, but in awe.
Students with significant cognitive disabilities or complex needs are a challenge to teach, because they challenge us to learn a lot. And yet, we are typically not learning even half as much as they do each day. It is for this reason that I am in awe of their courage, grace, knowledge, and skills. And, I am constantly humbled by their dedication to continued learning every day.
