Presumed competence is a term I have never heard of before this class. When I started researching the term, it is something that I see almost daily. It can be a slippery slope when we make assumptions about what people with disabilities can and can not do. This is why relationship building is so important when working with students with Special Needs; it gives insight to what specific strengths and areas of growth are for each individual.
Nicole - Slippery slope is absolutely correct, but I think that presumed competence can be a philosophy that is applied in all our interactions and relation building with all students. This stance is more positivist and generally more "consociationist" - (I think I made that word up - I'm trying to say "creating more consociation among students")
ReplyDeleteIt is true that kids with special needs are usually regarded as having lesser ability. I think this says more about us. Some teachers who may have more of a "mis-guided" social justice stance see the "others" in society who require special circumstances and adaptations as people who need their "pity" and thus this stance comes more from an arrogant position than one of being informed or even enlightened. They think that feeling sorry for someone is helpful and that things should be made easier for them -but in most cases they need to be challenged like everybody else in order to grow. I see this all the time when school planning teams rush to put on a kid on an IPP just to make things easier - school is supposed to be hard - by doing so they are insulting that kid's ability to learn and limiting their potential.
Victor Fraser