Chapter One: Overview of Todays Special Education

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Chapter One Overview of Todays Special
Education
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Chapter OneOverview of Todays Special Education

• In the 1999-2000 school year, approximately 5.75
  million students, ages 6 to 21 received some form
  of special education in US.
• More than two-thirds of all students receiving
  special education are male.
• Students with specific learning disabilities,
  speech or language impairments, mental
  retardation, and emotional disturbance make up
  about 90 of all students with disabilities.

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Labels and Language

• Labels can qualify students for special services
  but they also stigmatize students.
• Educators are trying to replace current
  categories with a system that identifies special
  individual needs 1) only as such needs become
  relevant to providing an appropriate education
  and 2) through the process and terminology that
  have direct relevance to intervention and that
  minimize negative consequences.

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Terms Reflecting Social ChangesArea of
disability
Present terms

• Mental Retardation mild, moderate, severe
• Learning disabilities learning disabilities,
  dyslexia
• Emotional disturbance emotional/ behavioral
  disorders
• Attention Deficit Disorder ADD or AD/HD
• Head injuries traumatic brain injury
• Deafness severely/ profoundly hearing impaired
• Orthopedic Disabilities physical disabilities
• Autism autism

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Esteeming Labels

• Cognitive worthy, competent, strong
• Affect attraction/ affection
• Action nurture/ empower

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Family Income

• The proportion of American children living in
  poverty has increased significantly in the past
  decade.
• The greatest concentration of poverty is found
  among single-parent households.
• Each of these trends is stronger in households
  where a child has a disability than in households
  where a child does not have a disability.

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Ethnic Trends

• Children from diverse backgrounds
  disproportionally are members of families with
  low incomes.
• Low income is associated with higher rates of
  exposure to dangerous toxins, poor nutrition,
  sell stimulating home and child care
  environments, and lower birth rates.
• Given the higher accumulation of risk factors in
  children by race/ethnicity groups, it is not
  surprising that race/ethnicity differences are
  evident in school readiness at the kindergarten
  level.

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Ethnic Trends

• Three major factors are associated with
  underrepresentation of students from African
  American, Latino, and Native American
  backgrounds
• 1) Teachers and parents tend to refer students
  from diverse backgrounds less frequently, and
  students from diverse backgrounds tend to be not
  as proficient in performing well on standardized
  tests as students from other backgrounds

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Ethnic Trends

• 2) Educators place students from poor and
  diverse backgrounds in lower ability grouping and
  have lower expectations and provide fewer
  opportunities for them than for other students.
• 3) They may feel isolated in gifted programs
  when the percentage of other students from
  diverse backgrounds in those programs is low.

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The Law and Special Education

• In the early and middle decades of the 20th
  century schools discriminated against students
  with disabilities by completely excluding them or
  by not providing an effective or appropriate
  education.

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History of Discrimination

• Cases Prior to IDEA that Prohibited
  Discrimination
• Separate is not equal Brown v. Board of
  Education (1954)- This case held that schools
  may not segregate by race or discriminate by
  ability or disability.

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History of Discrimination

• In 1972 the federal courts ordered that
  Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. to 1) provide a
  free appropriate public education to all students
  with disabilities, 2) educate students with
  disabilities in the same schools and 3) put into
  place a way for students to challenge the
  schools. -Pennsylvania Association for
  Retarded Citizens (PARC) v. Commonwealth of
  Pennsylvania (1972) and Mills v. Washington, DC,
  Board of Education (1972)

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IDEA

• In 1975, Congress enacted the IDEA (then called
  the Education of All Handicapped Students Act, or
  Public Law 94-142).
• IDEA defines special education as specially
  designed instruction, at no cost to the childs
  parents, to meet the unique needs of a student
  with a disability.
• There is a categorical and functional component
  to this definition.

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IDEA

• Part A Sets out Congresss intent and national
  policy to provide a free appropriate public
  education to all students, ages birth through 21.
• Part B Benefits students ages 3 through 21 who
  have a disability and because of it need special
  education.
• Part C Benefits any child under age 3 who needs
  early intervention services because of 1)
  developmental delays, or 2) has been diagnosed
  with a physical or mental condition that might
  lead to developmental delays.

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IDEA Categories for Children 6 thru 21

• Specific learning disabilities
• Emotional disturbance
• Mental retardation
• Autism
• Other health impairments
• Orthopedic impairments
• Traumatic brain injury
• Speech or language impairments
• Hearing impairments, including deafness
• Visual impairments, including blindness
• Multiple disabilities

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Individuals with Disabilities Education ActIDEA

• Six Principles of IDEA (PL 105-17)
• Least restrictive environment A rule requiring
  schools to educate students with disabilities
  with students without disabilities to the maximum
  extent appropriate for the students with
  disabilities.
• Procedural due process A rule providing
  safeguards for students against schools actions,
  including a right to sue in court.
• Appropriate education A rule requiring schools
  to provide individually tailored education for
  each student based on the evaluation and
  augmented by related services and supplementary
  aids and services.

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Individually Appropriate Education

• IEP- individualized education program that
  provides the foundation for the students
  appropriate education and assures that the
  student will benefit from special education
  through full participation
• reviewed at least once a year
• must promote movement from school to adult
  outcomes

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IEP Contents

• Present levels of educational performance
• measurable annual goals, including benchmarks
• special education and related services and
  supplementary aids and services
• extent to which the student will not participate
  with students who do not have disabilities in
  general education classes
• individual modifications in the administration of
  assessments

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IEP Contents

• projected dates for beginning the services and
  program modifications ( frequency, location, and
  duration)
• transition plans
• how progress toward annual goals will be measured
  and how parents will be informed

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IFSP Contents

• Present levels of development
• familys resources, priorities, and concerns
• major outcomes (criteria, procedures, and
  timelines)
• early intervention services (frequency,
  intensity, and method of delivery)
• natural environments in which services will be
  provided
• dates for starting services and how long they
  will last
• Familys service coordinator
• transition plan

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Individuals with Disabilities Education ActIDEA

• Parent and student participation A rule
  requiring schools to collaborate with parents and
  adolescent students in designing and carrying out
  special education programs.
• Zero reject A rule against excluding any
  student. This has been controversial in
  disciplining students. Congress decided that a
  student cannot be completely excluded if the
  behavior that got the student in trouble is a
  manifestation of his disability. This is the
  no-cessation rule.
• Nondiscriminatory evaluation A rule requiring
  the schools to evaluate students fairly to
  determine if they have a disability and, if so,
  what kind and how extensive.

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Nondiscriminatory Evaluation

• Evaluation Team- group that performs the full
  nondiscriminatory evaluation
• Two Purposes of Evaluation
• 1. Determine whether a student has a disability
• 2. Decide the nature of the special education
  and related services
• Four-Step Process
• 1. Screening
• 2. Prereferral
• 3. Referral
• 4. Nondiscriminatory evaluation procedures

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Nondiscriminatory Evaluation A Funneling Process
All Students Some students Students in need
of special education and related services

• SCREENING
• Prereferral
• Referral
• Nondiscriminatory
• evaluation process

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Other Federal Laws

• Entitlements and Services
• Rehabilitation Act- 1973 Provides for work
  training, especially supported employment.
• Technology-Related Act (Tech Act)- 1988 Makes
  assistive technology available statewide in each
  state.

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Other Federal Laws

• Prohibition of discrimination solely on the basis
  of disability in a wide range of services, both
  in and outside of school.
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act- 1975
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)- 1990

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Outcome Goals

• Equality of opportunity People with
  disabilities have the same chances and
  opportunities in life as people without
  disabilities.
• Full participation People with disabilities
  will have opportunities to be included in all
  aspects of their community and will be protected
  from any attempts by people to segregate them
  solely on the basis of their disability.

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Outcome Goals

• Independent living People with disabilities
  will have the opportunity to fully participate in
  decision making and to experience autonomy in
  making choices about how to live their lives.
• Economic self-sufficiency People with
  disabilities will be provided with opportunities
  to engage fully in income-producing work or
  unpaid work that contributes to a household or
  community.

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Results for Students with Disabilities

• In the 1996-1997 school year, approximately on
  fourth of all students with disabilities age 17
  and older graduated from high school with a
  diploma.
• The dropout rate for special education students
  is double that of general education students.
• In 1990, 31.2 of special education students
  were enrolled in postsecondary academic program
  or postsecondary vocational program.