Critique DeLetoile

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de l’Etoile, S. K. (2005). Teaching music to special learners: Children with disruptive behavior disorders. Music Educators Journal, 91(5). 37.

This article provides an amazing insight into the art of teaching a special needs student. As teachers perform (teach) in front of our class each day, we have to make certain adjustments so that we can be understood by our whole audience. In both our undergraduate and graduate music education there are many different methods classes, but I feel that many teachers are under prepared in the area of teaching special education students.

This article begins with the why and some of the theory behind the reason that we have to modify our instruction. De l’Etoile opens the main body of the article explaining that there are physical and chemical changes that occur in the brain each time a child learns something new. In the brain of students with learning disabilities, this process does not happen in the same manner. The author explains in more detail how these deficits can affect the special needs students both academically and socially. As students realize that they are falling behind the learning curve, their self esteem and their tolerance for frustration often suffers. This can be disastrous for an elementary school child in the beginning of their education. Therefore, there are certain techniques that teachers and music teachers alike should implement to promote education and success among these students.

Some techniques that are discussed by the author include giving special learners an ‘advance organizer’ of some sort. This outline of the class will serve as a tool to help the student organize the information that they are receiving because their brain might not be as efficient as others in this task. Other examples include incorporating mnemonic devices. Another excellent point that the author brought up was the notion that we should tell the students the purpose of learning a particular task. This is something that I include in every one of my lessons. If the students know where something fits into the grand scheme of learning, they will want to learn the simple task more quickly.

The next section of the article deals specifically with students that have disruptive disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and emotional behavior disorders (EBD). The manifestations of these disorders arise because the students’ brain needs to have a certain level of stimulation, much like all students. However, in the ADHD child, the impulses and stimuli from the outside environment might be filtered, leaving the student under-stimulated. According to de l’Etoile, the student then would then ‘act without thinking’ in order to satisfy his need for maintaining the optimal level of stimulation. The author provides several specific techniques that can be used to handle these types of children. She explains the operant-learning component of the cognitive behavior modification (CBM) learning model.

I feel that this article could not have been written straight to me in a more direct way. I am personally going through so many of these exact issues today (and yesterday). I learned many of these techniques in the past few weeks from special education teachers and school psychologists because I realized the need for all of the professionals to work together to support the education of our students. As the author described in the first third of the article, students with learning disabilities are often withdrawn from the environment and have low self esteem. This specific manifestation of one of my students became known to me 24 hours ago in that he only comes to school on ‘Baritone-day’ because he does not like school because it is to hard. In my discussions with the school psychologist and the principal about this matter, the student and I came up with a specific plan with specific dates (as mentioned in the article) that will hopefully help the situation.

I think the section that made this article so powerful is the long introduction about how the special needs students’ brain works differently than ours. This really makes things so much more clear in my head as to why certain students behave and learn in such a different way. In the second half of the article, when the author discusses ADHD and EBD’s, the reason became quite clear as to exactly why students with behavioral disorders act out in class so often. The answer is not to yell at and discipline the child. The child has to learn how to control his impulses, not be screamed at to stop them! Once a behavior management plan for a particular child is put in place, he can begin to learn about what he has to do to help himself. As the teacher, I can provide verbal and visual cues to help the student realize when he is doing particularly well or particularly poorly in his behavior. It is my experience that the students know exactly when they are behaving poorly. It is not easy for teachers to understand, however, that behaving (for these children) is a learned task and should not be taken for granted.

This article also helped me in coming up with specific ways to help control some of these impulses in students with behavior disorders. One such thing that will help is incorporating physical activity into the lesson plan. This will allow the students to heighten their level of physical stimulation in a constructive and educational way. Another specific that the author mentions is running a highly structured class. I feel that this is important in all teaching because it shows a high level of planning and mastery in the profession. Once the students learn your routine, they will learn what to expect in class each day and can moderate their behavior accordingly.

This article provided me with an invaluable insight into the education of special needs learners. The theory’s discussed and the behavior modification tools that were written about will certainly be of use to me in the extremely near future, and for the rest of my career.