Diverse Learners Top Hat Organizer

Article One: Article Two:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZbO_X8XQxq8gnGygCXz https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/neurodiversity-the-
yhzhnfJ1OF0V_/view future-of-special-education

Collins, K. & Ferri, B. (2016). Literacy education and
disability studies- Reenvisioning struggling students.
Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 60(1), p. 7-12.
This article is about the DSE approach. DSE stands for
Disability Studies in Education. What that means is a
social model that recasts literacy issues from disability to
academic issues. The article speaks a lot about having
teachers change their mindsets and the way they
perceive the students. The article also talked a lot about
the need to keep students in the general ed classroom.
The more we segregate, refer and take students out of
our classrooms the further and further they fall behind.
DSE is just a different way of viewing the students in your
classes. Teachers need to think about incorporating
disability into the curriculum as well as working to
remove the stigma and barriers disability brings (Collins &
Ferri, 2016).
Armstrong, T. (2017, April 1). Neurodiversity: The
future of special education? ASCD. Retrieved
September 20, 2021, from
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/neurodiversity-
the-future-of-special-education.
This article is all about neurodiversity. Neurodiversity is a
new educational approach to teaching special education
students. It focuses more on student strengths and how
to tackle the challenges they face. A traditional special
education classroom often lives by the motto of “live with
their disability” teaching students how to deal with their
faults instead of overcoming them. The article did talk
about a very big fear that the community has and that is
the portrayal of special education kids. If we start to
portray these students in a positive light, then there is the
risk that legislators might take away their service since
they do not seem like they need the services anymore.
This is where observation comes into play and setting
very clear boundaries with special education students in a
general education classroom. Overall, in the end, special
education needs to change and need to be on the same
track as regular education instead of a path veering off in
the other direction (Armstrong, 2017).

Similarities

Both articles talked about how comparing disabilities to machines is not a good way of thinking. By comparing
someone to a machine you are also bringing the idea that they are broken with it. Students with disabilities do not
need to be fixed and are not broken by any means. In the Nuerodiveristy article, they wanted us to think about these
students differently. They wanted us to think of them as people who were just as valuable with a different skill set. In
the DSE article, they wanted us to think of these students with academic issues instead of disabilities. They were
missing fundamentals, they were not disabled. Both articles spoke of the extreme need for the special education
system to change and adapt to today’s age. Special education has not changed as general education has with the
addition of the growth mindset, brain-based learning, and other innovations. Special education needs to change their
outlooks as well and incorporate strength-based methods, neurodiversity, and more general education classroom
instruction. In the end, both articles were heavily focused on the needs and innovations of special education students.
One was more focused on literacy while the other was more focused on diversity but at the core of both articles was
the needs and rights of the special education population (Armstrong, 2017) (Collins & Ferri, 2016).

My Thoughts

I like the neurodiversity article much more than the DSE article. I felt like the neurodiversity one was a lot more
engaging and felt like it was giving me skills and ideas that I would use more in my content area than I could with the
DSE one. I have also heard about neurodiversity on social media before and it feels good to be about to learn more
about it.