Monday, February 5, 2018

Why I Changed My Major | Special Education

Happy Monday y'all! I am so excited to finally get a post up sharing some big news and life changes!
A few weeks ago you saw on my Instagram stories that I had changed my major to Exceptional Student Education (also known as Special Education) and I was so excited. I have been meaning to write an entire post about it, but have been struggling with how to put it into words.

To a lot of people this change seemed out of the blue. Friends of mine were rather shocked and surprised at how quick I changed my whole life around, but it was something that was stirring in my heart for a long time. 

I will admit that about a year ago, I (sadly) didn't give much thought at all to kids or individuals with special needs. It simply wasn't a part of my daily life and didn't concern me at the moment. As selfish as that seems, I had a lot going on and it simply wasn't my passion at the time. However, the summer after I graduated high school, I read the book "The Lucky Few" by Heather Avis after my mom recommended it to me. It was a quick read about her families Down Syndrome adoptions. Her dedication to shouting the worth of her kids struck a chord and I found myself watching videos of her sweet kids on Instagram in my spare time. I believe this was when God started softening my heart towards kids with special needs.

I started following other families who adopted kids with special needs and I became so passionate about standing up for them. Suddenly, these kids were all I could think about. I work with a few individuals at my part time job who have special needs and I realized how much they really brighten my day (even if they do comment on the fact that I need to wash my hair.. LOL).

One day I was at work when a customer came in with his daughter who had autism, I looked her in the eye and asked her how she was, like I would every customer. She grabbed me by the hand and smiled and in that moment, I knew God was working on my heart and big changes were coming, whether I liked them or not.

I started really enjoying my psychology class and units in my education courses on students with exceptionalities. My professor even spoke to me individually about being a special education teacher and suggested I do some of my intern hours in a special ed class.

I set up about three different dates with three different special ed teachers and was planning on visiting all three before making any big changes. I was at the time an Elementary Education major and although I definitely had developed a soft spot for kids with special needs, it still slightly terrified me. Some of them are loud or have medical issues and I honestly didn't know if I was capable to handle it. Frankly, I was annoyed that God had placed this on my heart, because I was perfectly content with my major and life plan prior. Ah, isn't it funny how we plan our lives and think we are in control?

Well, y'all, it was about 10 minutes into interning in that first special education class that I knew I needed to change my major. The day was chaotic, loud, funny, and so full of love. These kids worked double as hard as any other kid I had seen and were so full of joy. They had their bad moments too, but their personalities were all so different and they came by everything honestly.

I left that classroom that day and went straight to my college to change my major to Exceptional Student Education. I still sometimes wonder what I have gotten myself into, but let me just say this. When God has called you to something, you will not be happy doing anything else. Change is flippin scary y'all, but it can also be kind of amazing.

I now have full faith that God has equipped me to handle the situations that will be thrown at me in the future with his help and I am so stinkin' excited. I mean what other career do you get to stop in the middle of your day and have a full on dance party to GoNoodle videos? I think this is the only one! :)

I pray each of you find what God has called you to do and have passion towards it. Thanks for your support!

xoxo

2 comments :

  1. Congratulations on such a big decision! It sounds like you have a lot of clarity and that you are really passionate about this. I think you will find a lot of fulfillment in that kind of career!

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