ITL 604- Students with Speech Disabilities/ Language barriers

Jessica Kuiper

ITL 604
Week 4 Journal Entry

            

Humans are creatures of habit; no matter how small a difference may be, humans will react to change. This is prominent in school systems, kids who differ slightly from the social norm are often viewed as outsiders. In this instance, I’ll discuss students with speech/language disorders. I remember when I was in middle school and high school, there were a significant amount of students who were pulled from class to see their speech teacher. It was bizarre. I remember being caught off guard when I would find out students were in speech. I would think to myself, “wow, John Smith is in speech?!” as if it was this great abnormality, or as it was a negative thing to be in the speech class. When I was in grade school, I could not comprehend that students actually had to see a speech teacher for their speech disorder.

I think one of the main reasons students with speech disorders could be seen as “stupid” by their peers, is that we feel unable to ask questions about a person’s disability. Society has taught us not to ask questions, or stare to long at someone who’s different than us. Instead of trying to find out what disability a person has, we automatically assume the worst: they are stupid, they can’t talk, and I don’t want to offend them by asking them a question. At some point in society, language and intelligence have been linked together. If you don’t know how to speak a language proficiently, then you must have low intelligence. However, there are so many other ways that a person can exhibit their intelligence, it don’t just revolve around how well you can speak the language. 

For example, a person might have difficulty speaking English, but can write and type in English beyond college level. We, as a society, are so quick to judge a person the moment we meet them, that we haven’t given them a chance to express themselves in the way they are most comfortable. What if later you come to find out that the student comes from an immigrant family, both mom and dad only speak Spanish at home. The student is only immersed to English when he is at school, but when he gets home, he spends multiple hours writing in his journal, in English. However, his fellow students, and even his teacher think he’s of lower intelligence, because they can’t have a conversation with him at school. This is an example which I’m sure proves to be true in more than one case around the U.S. That student could be practicing English more than any of this other classmates, he could even be one of the smartest students in the class, but because he does not speak perfect English, all other scholars belittle and tease him.
            In response to the journal prompt, I believe students with speech disabilities and language barrier issues are deemed “stupid” for the simple fact that humans fear what they do not know. Instead of trying other forms of communication, or even imploring what type of “barrier” the student has, everyone is just too quick to judge the student, and the student is already put at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the scholars. 

This is an ideology which I hope changes in the future, and I hope more students and teachers will try more than one way to communicate with students who face language barriers and speech disabilities.