Chapter Eleven: MI and Special Education

Chapter eleven of Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom explained how over the history of special education in the U.S., educators have had the tendency to work from a deficit paradigm. This has proven to be an ineffective method of teaching because it focuses on the students' inabilities and weaknesses. The MI theory provides a growth paradigm as an alternative because it allows educators to regard special-need students as healthy individuals with strengths and talents. The chapter also suggests that there are learning disabilities that occur in all eight intelligences. Although the deficits can occur within any of the intelligences, they operate independently from the learner's strengths and learning profiles. This means that teachers can reroute a child's learning to exploit the more highly developed intelligences. I was amazed by the examples given of how a child can learn differently with another developed intelligence. For example, I had no idea that "reading-disabled" children used Chinese characters as sight words. The examples of the alternative symbol system, instructional strategies, and alternative technology will provide excellent resources that I will certainly use in my classrooms. This chapter was definitely beneficial to me as a teacher because I know that I will always have a special needs child in my class. The child's IEP should always focus on the child's strengths and I always need to be able to adapt and transform my planning to ensure that every child is succeeding in my classroom. By shedding light on my students' strengths, I am able to incorporate every intelligence into the classroom. I also loved the idea of special education teachers functioning more as a special MI consultant in my classroom. I never want to pull a student out of my classroom because the child cannot conform to one specific style of learning. I want the MI consultant who can give me ideas on MI curriculum, help me with identifying strongest intelligences, etc. The cooperation between regular education classes and special education classes definitely will help improve the classroom's strengths, self-esteem, and understanding.