Vonderschmidt 1 Macy Vonderschmidt Malcolm Campbell English 1102 22 January 2014 Topic Proposal: Benefits of Treating Special Needs

People Equally Introduction/Overview I will be examining the importance o special education and the way it a ects each and e!ery person" #here are approximately 1$0%00 special needs people in the &nited 'tates" (owe!er% their disabilities are !ery di erent and so is their brain unction" #here ore% it is important to examine the ways that special education programs can help urther their li!es and hope ully ma)e it more meaning ul" #here is a certain *stigma+ put on special needs people that says they are incapable o leading a normal li e" ,hile this can be true% it depends on the degree o their needs" #here are many special needs people with conditions li)e autism and down syndrome who are unctioning enough to lead an almost normal li e% yet we do not see this happen !ery o ten" 'pecial needs do not only ha!e to include se!ere conditions" In act% children and adults with -.(. and beha!ioral issues can all into the category o *special education+ meaning they will need some sort o *extra+ help or attention" I want to see the ways that treating these people more li)e people correlates with their ad!ancements and progress" E!ery school has se!eral special needs students and I thin) one o the irst things that can help them is treating them e/ual" 'pecial needs people are people to and I want to loo) into seeing i this theory actually accounts or progress in special needs programs" #his is a website where I did a little bit o initial research0 http011www"international2ournalo specialeducation"com" Initial Inquiry Question s!

Vonderschmidt 2 .oes ma)ing special needs people eel more *e/ual+ to ull unctioning people a ect their progress% learning% and beha!ior3 I thin) this /uestion is a good place to begin" In all my research I do this semester% I am hoping to ind an answer and explanation to this /uestion" I )now that there are se!eral le!els i brain unction with special needs )ids% howe!er4 I want to )now i these methods o putting them in more *real5li e+ situations will bene it them"

"y Interest in t#is Topic I am interested in the ield o special education because I ha!e a true passion or wor)ing with special needs children" I wor)ed with se!eral special needs children in my high school and I watched them ma)e ama6ing progress" I belie!e that they made all this progress because they were in a program called *li e5s)ills"+ In this program% the )ids would do !arious normal acti!ates such as coo)ing% cleaning% and grocery shopping" #hese students ranged rom almost ully unctioning to as low as you can get and I belie!e they all bene ited rom the interactions with mysel and other normal high school students" Many people stare at people with special needs and although they may not reali6e they are doing it% they ma)e them eel as i they are not normal" -lso% many people ma)e un o special needs" 7egardless o i they can actually understand you% they ha!e incredible talents and can eel people8s eyes on them" I ha!e many unanswered /uestions with this topic% which is why I decided to choose it" Ne$t Steps My next steps would be inding credible in ormation on e!erything regarding special needs and ways to urther their progress" I ha!e already ound some good academic and scholarly articles using 9oogle% howe!er4 my next place o research will be the libraries database to ind di!erse opinions to see what certain experts thin) and eel about this sub2ect" I am also planning on contacting people in this ield o occupation to better understand the ways that this theory can

Vonderschmidt : or cannot help special needs children" I am thin)ing about creating a website instead o ma)ing a traditional paper because I eel I can get many more things across without con using the readers with a website that directs you where you need to go"