Thoughts on Exceptionality

In Canada, exceptional students are those pupils who are either gifted of have disabilities. 

Exceptionalities include:

• Behaviour
• Communication (autism, deaf and hard of hearing, language impairment, speech impairment, learning disability)
• Intellectual (gifted, mild intellectual disability, developmental disability)
• Physical (physical disability, health, blind and low vision)
• Multiple (multiple exceptionalities)

I’ve been exposed to the teaching environment for just over a year, and I had jobs in schools all over Toronto in neighbourhoods of varying socioeconomic status. My student teaching placement was in a low-income neighbourhood where the incidence of identified students was higher compared to equivalent classes in high-income neighbourhoods.  During one of my student teaching placements, I’ve taught one particular student in a 3U class who was identified as having a learning disability. His IEP stated that he had difficulty doing mental mathematical computations and required extra time for assignments and other assessments. His subject teacher either accidentally “forgot”, or simply overlooked this “need” throughout the entire semester—there was simply no indication that this student had any difficulties at all. In fact, he was one of the strongest pupils in the class. Either this student had learned to adapt so well that his disability was no longer apparent and perhaps it was time to re-evaluate his IEP, or there could have been a discrepancy in the degree to which this disability was prevalent. Which made me wonder the following...

Does having an IEP pose any limitations towards entrance into any university programs or receiving an OSSD? (I studied in the US and having an IEP meant that some students did not complete high school with a regular diploma that then allowed them to enter into prestigious college programs…although there appears to be some shades of gray in this area).

Also, some provinces acknowledge that students who are at risk due to poverty and other social conditions are more likely to develop special needs. Are there any programs in place for these students in post-secondary programs?