Special Education, Then

1
Special Education, Then Now

• January 20, 1972 Hubert H. Humphrey introduces a
  Bill mandating education for children with
  disabilities.
• I introducea billto insure equal opportunities
  for the handicapped by prohibiting needless
  discrimination in programs receiving federal
  financial assistance
• These people have a right to live, to work to the
  best of their ability to know the dignity to
  which every human being is entitled.

2
November 29, 1975

• President Gerald Ford, upon signing federal
  legislation (94-142) to mandate education for
  children with disabilities
• this bill promises more than the federal
  government can deliver, and its good intentions
  could be thwarted by the many unwise provisions
  it contains
• Supporters of this legislationare falsely
  raising the expectations of the groups affected
  by claiming authorization levels which are
  excessive and unrealistic

3
A Special Education Controversy

• Who belongs in schools?
• How far do schools need to stretch to meet
  student needs?
• The debate continues into the new millennium
• Welcome to the front lines of the new
  All-American Hundred Years War!

4
A Challenge Think for Yourself

• When was the first time you saw someone with a
  disability?
• What do you remember?
• Compare your recollections with those of someone
  one generation older and one younger.
• The differences will be startling!

5
30 Years Ago

• Your local school could refuse to admit a child
  with a disability.
• There was no place in the local school for a
  child with a disability.
• The child and his/her parents were not welcome.
• The child and the parents belonged someplace
  else, any place but not this place the local
  community school

6
A Parents Choice 30 Years Ago

• Teach your child at home (or just have him spend
  his days there).
• Find a space in a kind school run by dedicated
  religious people.
• Have your child put away in a faceless
  institution for life (terminal care)

7
The Schools of Today

• Children with disabilities are the focus of
  concentrated attention.
• Trained professionals and researchers strive to
  understand disabilities and to address specific
  teaching methods and approaches.
• Teachers actively adapt instruction.
• Program options seem limitless.
• Isolation at home, in institutions or on the
  streets has been significantly reduced.

8
The Schools of Today Part 2

• Students with disabilities are separated into
  sections of the school where no one else ever
  goes.
• No one thinks to include students with
  disabilities in class parties, etc.
• Once formal schooling ends, many young adults
  with disabilities are without jobs because there
  is no guaranteed support

9
Special Education Arguments 02

• Has the promise of special education been met or
  exceeded?
• Has society done too much or not enough?
• How have the dreams of Hubert Humphrey and the
  cautions of Gerald Ford been realized?
• Think about the people with disabilities you
  remember.
• I can never forget The Room nor the smells and
  things I witnessed at Walter E. Fernald School,
  Waltham, Massachusetts

10
Does Inclusion Work?

• Current legislation (IDEA97) supports inclusion
  as the best way to educate students with
  disabilities.
• Critics fear that these students will lose access
  to necessary, specially designed instruction in
  the inclusionary rush to return them to the very
  classrooms in which they experienced failure.
• What do you think?

11
What does Inclusion deliver?

• Disability advocates affirm the positive outcomes
  of inclusion.
• Public school administrators express concern that
  inclusion does not provide appropriate
  preparation for successful life following school.
• What do you think?

12
Least Trained Most Needy

• Untrained teacher assistants spend too much time
  closely attached to individual students, often
  hindering the involvement of certified teachers
  and nondisabled peers.
• Professionally trained classroom teachers are
  often less prepared than some assistants to work
  with children in inclusive settings and are
  unprepared to supervise assistants.
• What do you think?

13
National Council on Disability

• An independent federal agency dedicated to
  promoting policies, programs, practices and
  procedures that guarantee equal opportunity and
  empowerment of all individuals with disabilities
• Reported in January 2000, that all 50 U.S. states
  are out of compliance with special education law
  and that must be remedied by increased federal
  attention.
• What do you think?

14
Is Special Education Too Expensive?

• Critics contend that the number of students
  identified with disabilities in increasing at an
  excessive rate because of funding systems that
  encourage over identification.
• Advocates say that enrollment and costs are
  increasing primarily because of the increased
  numbers of children with more significant
  disabilities.
• What do you think?

15
The Center for Special Education Finance (CSEF)

• Estimates that the cost of educating a child with
  disabilities is 2.28 times that of educating a
  child without disabilities.
• Actual expenditures vary widely based on
  individual need.
• The beginnings of special education shifted
  responsibilities away from institutions,
  hospitals, insurance companies, and social
  agencies to schools but money has not accompanied
  this shift in responsibilities.

16
What caused the big shift?

• Advances in medical technology
• Deinstitutionalization of children with special
  needs
• Privatization of services
• Economic and Social Factors including increases
  in the number of children in poverty and the
  number of families experiencing social and
  economic stress.

17
Medical Technology Advances

• Children who would not have otherwise survived
  due to prematurity or disability are now
  surviving.
• Those whose disabilities would have previously
  placed them in a hospital or institution are able
  to enter public school.
• Special Education services are often recommended
  at infancy and children are placed in early
  intervention programs.

18
Deinstitutionalization and Privatization

• The shift from state institutions toward a
  reliance on local school districts and
  collaborative or private placements is a positive
  one.
• It provides better services within a less
  restrictive environment however,
• The financial resources to fund this shift did
  not come with the children.

19
A Challenging Dilemma

• Children enter schools with greater needs.
• These needs are identified at an earlier age.
• The increased cost seriously compromises regular
  education programs, often leading to things like
  larger class sizes.
• We need a solution that does not blame the
  children or those working with them and does not
  pit regular education against special education.

20
Special Education Is Costly

• PL 94-142 (1975) established a federal commitment
  to pay 40 of the excess cost of its special
  education mandate.
• Currently the federal government contributes
  approximately 12.
• Is this a debate about cost or scarce resources?
• Is this an argument about how to pay or whether
  to pay?

21
The Reality of Costs

• Schools have done a good job containing costs.
• Schools have rigorously applied eligibility
  standards and provided regular education and
  inclusive programming for children as
  alternatives to special education services.
• The root causes of these increases have been
  factors beyond the control of schools.

22
Welcome to Special Education

• Despite nearly 30 years of growth and progress,
  arguments and controversy about special education
  continue.
• The history is short and defined by legislation
  since many elements of our laws are vague and
  undefined.
• Clarity is often achieved through litigation.
• The foundations of special education shift with a
  single court decision.