Music and Students with Disabilities

Teaching students with disabilities is always a scary prospect; what if we mess up, what if we say the wrong thing, what if we make someone feel less than, what if “insert blank here”? What a phenomenal education system we would have if every teacher asked these questions about every student they taught, and stopped thinking of those select students with disabilities in a special light. Students with disabilities deserve a quality music education and a quality relationship, just the same as any other student. Striving to become the best educator we can be should always be our goal. In pursuing this, we should pursue becoming the best educator we can be for each student on an individualized level, and that means taking time to learn what every student needs. In understanding this, I have tried to take an individualized approach to my teaching. I try to familiarize myself with IEPs and 504 Plans when available, and I try to figure out what works best for students when these things are not available. I think, much like issues previously discussed with LGBTQIA+ singers, educating oneself is the key to becoming the best possible teacher for any student, but especially those with disabilities. Having a one-size-fits-all mindset in teaching is, I think, one of the most profound problems we encounter in modern education, and I think it is slowly creating a static teaching dynamic where frustration breeds in both students and teachers. When stepping into the world of education with the understanding that we will mess up and with the expectation to learn from our mistakes, we can continue to learn after leaving school and completing degrees, and become lifelong artisans in our craft.

There are so many topics to discuss when discussing disabilities in the classroom. My fears in teaching disabilities are that I will not be able to educate myself quickly or efficiently enough to be able to address the issues that may arise from a student's disability. Knowing that I will inevitably mess up at some point, I am afraid of hurting a student through ignorance or through my own shortcomings, and in doing so, turn a student from a one who may enjoy music and thrive in an environment to one who has difficulties in the classroom and dreads coming to class every day. In knowing this, I also anticipate a great many successes in the same field. I have a unique background centered in mental health, interpersonal relationships, and document analysis, and in this, I have developed a unique skillset that lets me process and understand, to the best extent I can, what kinds of things I can use to my and to my students’ benefit. I enjoy reading IEPs and 504 plans, and I enjoy comparing what I read to the DSM-V to learn the most I can about how students function and process. The human brain has always fascinated me, to the point that I considered studying counseling instead of music. Having this fascination and background, I understand what kind of things I need to know to adapt my own teaching, and I understand how to obtain the knowledge on the numerous subjects I do not know about. 

Many of the articles contained below contain fantastic information and can be used as a resource when researching students with disabilities. The MENC article contains information about student-first language, medical vs. social models of disabilities, modifying instruments, and encourages auditing of the current curriculum. Judith A. Jellison provides insight into physical characteristics and habits of students with disabilities and encourages the same principle: “Getting to know individual children reveals the personal characteristics that make them who they are, and children who are more understandable as individuals are more teachable as learners.” Another MENC article provides that “during class discussions, many participants expressed concerns that, as educators, they had been excluded from planning sessions for students placed in their classes and had not received information about the students’ capabilities or disabilities.” All of these point to the same thing: fear drives us to be uncomfortable with new challenges in the classroom, despite there being plenty of resources to move forward in a way that benefits all. This fear holds us back, not only from being a better teacher for those with disabilities that are documented, but also for those with disabilities who are undocumented, or those who exhibit similar symptoms without a full diagnosis. When we remove the fear and replace it with a drive to learn for ourselves and become better educators, we become lifelong learners of our craft, and in doing so, become the best teachers that we can be for all of our students.

Students with Disabilities Resources.pdf

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