07/09/98

Do Labels Help or Hinder?..

In response to the Label Jars, Not People

As confusing as educational jargon, acronyms and diagnostic labels can be, without them some students won't receive the help they need. Consider the following reader comments on this important issue:

• - While no one likes labeling, including myself, I believe giving a child a "label" helps him or her in the long run. Many children are confused by what causes their learning disabilities. Once we can give the disability a name (a label), many children become more at ease. Why? Because we demystify the problem and help the child work toward a solution. This reassures the child that the disability is not his or her fault. Labeling can also ensure school support services; without the label there is no mandate for that support. Labels, if applied without stigma by open-minded educators, can actually help us move toward solutions for Learning Disabled (LD) children. If we don't label certain kids, they will fall through the cracks and not get the help they need.
  -- Labels Reassure and Drive Services

• - It's wonderful to read someone else's writing about my true feelings at PPT meetings. I wasn't familiar with all the terminology that was used, but now after reading many books and advocating for my child, I have a much better understanding of the jargon. Professionals fail to understand that even well educated parents have trouble understanding the language being used to describe their child and his needs.
  -- Explain the terms in plain English!

• - I have often had a problem with shortcut versions of speaking. Like you, I also dislike the term "servicing" when referring to people. If you grew up in a farm community like I did, you learned what goes on when the farmer takes his cows to be "serviced." The only exception is that politicians do "service their constituents."
  -- We SERVE people

• - I have written volumes about WISCing, WRATing and PETing kids. (Maine has Pupil Evaluation Team (PET) meeting which are a farce because the school authorities hold 51% of the vote.) And FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) is not a reality. Not every child can afford to play sports, go on field trips or play a musical instrument. There is nothing free about education and the appropriateness is often determined by idiots.
  --- Jargon hides reality

• - For me as a special educator, a diagnosis is a place from which to base the method of instruction. Its extremely helpful, for example, when choosing which method (whole language, linguistic, direct instruction, phonetics or whole word) to use to teach reading. But the diagnosis is not enough. We also need assessment results to help us develop sound instructional interventions.
  --- Use assessment results

• - I get tired of the ever present search to use politically correct terminology. I refer to the people our agency serves as "clients." It is a word everyone relates to and I do not find it demeaning. I am a client of a lawyer and a bank and a doctor. We strive so hard for normality yet we do not allow the people we serve to be normal "clients" like the rest of us.
  --- Avoid demeaning terminology

• - Labels sometimes get more attention than the child does. At Planning and Placement Team (PPT) meetings I've heard comments such as "You know that child is ADD, so we'll have to have monthly PPT's on that one!" What about putting the true focus on educating the individual based on his or her assessed, unique needs?
  --- Focus on individual needs

• - As a special education teacher I don't like all the acronyms we use because they do little to explain what a child needs or what we will do to meet those needs. Since the school in which I teach uses the Inclusion model, I have the opportunity to work with kids who have not been identified with any particular label, yet they are children who need program modifications. We use early intervention techniques to assist them while avoiding, if possible, assignment of categorical special education labels. Education should be about doing the best we can for each and every child, from the very brightest to the neediest! We need to give every child the most appropriate education that we can.
  --- Every child is special

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.