Cultural Standards

Photo Credit: Samantha Lima, Dublin’s Special Education Teacher

In a traditional classroom, an eight-year-old boy who treats his body as a canvas during an arts and crafts activity, might be labeled or described as disrespectful, disruptive, distracted, or maybe even a deliberate troublemaker.

In a special education classroom, the same eight-year-old boy might be labeled or described as crafty, craving sensory, and maybe even creative.

Labels and descriptions are so incredibly dependent on the cultural standards we set. The way we label and describe impacts our (and surrounding students’) treatment of and behavior toward students who craft, crave, and create outside the norm.