"All children have special needs." ~ Social Worker Maxine Gray on Judging Amy TV Show, CBS

For one very long and difficult year in my teaching career, I taught in a juvenile detention center. This was a state facility so students came from all over the very big state of VA. They came for different reasons. Some were runaways. Some were being charged with a variety of crimes from shoplifting to murder. Some violated probation. One 12 year-old frequent visitor came because he got his own room, clean clothes, three meals a day, and no one hurt him there.

One day I noticed during the routine morning meeting that one of my students was missing. When my class started, I asked, "Where's Natalie?"

"She got three hours in her cell," one of the students replied.

"For what?" I asked.

The same informant responded, "One of the counselors asked her if she thought she was special or something and she said, 'Yes, Ms. Jones tells us that we're all special.' So she got three hours."

Special. I looked it up in the dictionary.

spe·cial, adj.

1. Surpassing what is common or usual; exceptional: a special occasion; a special treat.

2. a. Distinct among others of a kind: a special type of paint; a special medication for arthritis. b. Primary: His special satisfaction comes from volunteer work.

3. Peculiar to a specific person or thing; particular: my own special chair; the special features of a computer.

4. a. Having a limited or specific function, application, or scope: a special role in the mission. b. Arranged for a particular occasion or purpose: a special visit from her daughter.

5. Regarded with particular affection and admiration: a special friend.

6. Additional; extra: a special holiday flight.

Notice how most of these definitions and examples have a positive connotation. How did "special" develop such a negative connotation in school?

No teenager wants to be "special." No kid wants to be in "special education." No kid wants to ride a "sped" bus. Few high schoolers will even acknowledge their "special ed" teacher in the cafeteria or at a social event for fear that their peers will then know that they are "sped" students. Few teachers want those "sped" kids in their classes. How did "special" become such a shameful thing?

I don't know, but I do know that I don't like the term. If you can't succeed in "regular education," now being called general education by some, then you need special education where you can receive additional, extra help. That should be a good thing. But to most kids, this label is a curse of shame.

We are all special. All students are special. Unique, distinct, exceptional. All teachers are special. Unique, distinct, exceptional. We all have special needs. None of us is the same. If we were, we'd be robots! And even C3PO and R2D2 are different.

I taught my students this. Natalie believed this, and she was punished for it. How sad, because it's only possible to be the best that we can be if we think that we are somebody special.