Communicative disorders and speech pathology

ahpimommy
Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:37:44 +0000

I do not know about the specific majors at Bama that deal with special needs but that is the particular field I currently practice in. My actual job is a Collaborative Trainer for our local school district. Since 1994 when Aspergers became an actual diagnosis our school populations have doubled and in many cases tripled. Just as when ADD became popular, the Apergers diagnosis is now quiet prevalent. Unfortunately, many of these kiddos, especially those with what are considered mild impairments do not receive paras or services from the SPED programs in most districts. Our district has implemented master teachers who visit classrooms with these special kids and help the teacher with lesson plans, behavior strategies, social stories …anything we can do to support the classroom teacher with what is actually NOT an ideal situation.
So…I am sure that there is an uptick in young people wanting to major in such areas as opposed to getting a blanket SPED degree. I applaud Bama is they are making these specialized majors options.
There is much talk that with what some consider to be an “over diagnosis” of Aspergers that there will be a reconsideration of what determines a diagnosis. I fear that then we will come up with a new label for those kids who don’t “fit in the box”.