Class dynamics

As a general education teacher I always found class dynamics fascinating. If you're a teacher or work in a school or camp you know that when Johnny is absent the class feels completely different. You know that when Sally moved in the class felt completely different. One child can completely change the way a classroom runs; for better or worse things change.

In SDC, this is also true. Just like in general education, one child can make a big difference. What is different in special education is that it feels much more extreme. When you have students with multiple different disabilities and needs in the same classroom, they can feed off each other in a way that is unique. It is much more intense than two students in a gen. ed setting with ADD getting each other overly excited and distracted.

When it is a good day, it is a great day. When it is a bad day, it is the worst day imaginable. Once one student starts screaming, it triggers another. Then another student start flapping because they are completely over stimulated and everyone else is just watching the adults to see what they will do; because spelling or math just isn't going to happen once the train leaves the station. It's like one child is adding coal to the engine, but they can't get the train going forward at full speed ahead on their own. Everyone is impacted, everyone has a reaction. When that train is moving a second can feel like an hour. Eventually the train slows down and stops. Everyone is calm. Learning continues. Somedays, the good days the train doesn't leave the station or is a local train going across town (usually this means someone is missing, it makes a difference). Other days, it is a bullet train going from Tokyo to Kyoto at top speeds.

Everyday is different. Each child deserves a fresh start each day. Even if it was the most difficult day and you don't know if you can give a child a clean slate, tomorrow is always different.