Special Education Issues
Liam
Breathnach
Check out the Special education
timeline attached…
Special
education is a topic of much debate. Anyone who knows anything about kids knows
that they are all different, and have varying abilities and experiences.
Teaching everyone in the same manner and hoping for a consistent outcome is
doomed to fail. Modern education works is designed mainly for students within a
‘normal range” but compulsory attendance means schools must accommodate students
beyond the norm (Snowman & McCown, 2015). Special education came into being
in the middle of the last century due to pressure from public advocacy groups.
Teachers began to be trained and after some Supreme Court decisions in the
nineteen fifties students with special needs gained the same rights to
education that everyone else had. When IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act was enacted in 1972, schools were required to provide “appropriate”
education for all, including Special Needs students, at public expense (Snowman
& McCown, 2015)(Hancock, 2016). IDEA has been revisited twice since and
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act spells out the rights of Special Needs
Students and their families but the basics of the Law are the same today.
Students may
be placed in a Special class if they have extraordinary social, intellectual, emotional
or physical development. While these broad criteria include gifted students,
the tendency is for people to concentrate on students who are below the normal
level. The range of things which may cause issue for students include sensory or
physical impairments, developmental or emotional disturbance or delay, or intellectual
and specific learning disabilities to name a few (Snowman & McCown, 2015). Before
qualifying for special education services a preplacement evaluation of the
students has to be done. A valid test administered by a multidisciplinary team
of trained individuals, in the student’s native tongue has to be completed.
Students identified with a disabilities requiring special education have an
Individual Education Program, an IEP prepared for them to meet their needs.
As teachers we
may be involved with IDEA by referring, students for testing, aiding
assessment, preparing IEP’s or implementing IEP’s. In my experience it is IEP
implementation which is most common and it should be done in conjunction with
the interdisciplinary team who created the IEP, counsellors and other teachers
where possible (Snowman & McCown, 2015).
Special
Education is extremely complex. Students may have IEP’s for a wide variety of
reasons. Some students cannot handle the pressure of being in a class. Some
students may have suffered as infants and be lacking the basics of language or
commons social protocols. Others still may be suffering due to physical disability
or specific learning disabilities. Each of these situations is broad and subjective,
and requires accommodations to suit the individual. To add to the difficulty,
students with special needs can often have issues with self-esteem, which can
lead to motivational and behavioral issues (Snowman & McCown, 2015).
If you have
a students with an intellectual disability they will often lack a decent level
of organization, and may have issues with processing information and sorting it
for retention. Metacognition, learning about how you learn, is a vital step in
getting students to regulate their own learning and is very important for
teaching students with disabilities. Teachers should break up content and tasks
into small manageable pieces, give regular feedback and make sure the students
are managing their frustrations and self-esteem as best they can (Snowman &
McCown, 2015).
There are
often issues with behavior associated with teaching students with Special
needs. The teacher will need to be prepared by knowing the contents of the IEP
and talking with other teachers where possible. Some disabilities such as ADHD
or Autism come with a particular set of behaviors which likely are not
compatible with the teacher’s wishes but being as prepared and flexible can
help ease situations (Snowman & McCown, 2015). Understanding motivation of
actions is often more telling than the action itself and teachers should use
their own knowledge, training and experience to deal with issues in a fair
manner which does not isolate students or compound the behavior.
Societal
issues can have an influence also. While the data does not explicitly and
clearly say poor students are more likely to require special education it is
unfortunately true that poverty and academic underachievement are related. There
are many reasons for this. Students with low socio-economic status, SES are
more likely to have instability in their home life, have experienced a poorer level
of parenting and have less access to health care. These issues can lead to a life
with less importance put on intellectual development, and can lead to emotional
or behavioral issues. And these are indicators of students who can end up in
special needs classes. Early intervention and correct interpretation of data
and interactions is important in order to correctly place students is the most
beneficial environment (Skiba et al, 2008).
Many aspects
of special education are unfortunate, but I feel the cultural and racial issues
are particularly so. The roots of this can be traced back beyond the civil
rights movement. African American is particular are not serve well by the system
and this is shown by disproportionate number of minorities in our special education
programs. It has long been debated that the IQ test has a cultural bias towards
white students, and when it is used as an indicator of intelligence it shows
white students to be superior. It, and much of the content and curricula in
schools reflects “white interest, belief and orientation” (Skiba et al, 2008)
and does not give sufficient value to other cultures. This is intertwined with
the opportunity to learn. Achievement is directly correlated to opportunity to
learn ad if our system is biased, some students unfairly miss out. There are
not enough teachers of different cultures and backgrounds who can teach
directly to minorities and serve as role models. Also inner cities, which have
a tendency to have high minority populations tend to have schools with poor facilities
and less experienced teachers. This can lead to a higher referral rate to
Special education programs as there is a lack of physical and personnel resources
so there are no other options (Skiba et al, 2008).
Special
education is vital and individual’s access to it is, quite rightly, protected by
law. But it is a maelstrom of issues. The data on it is vast, and needs to be properly
navigated and interpreted. There are complex interactions of social, emotional and
intellectual issues - each one labyrinthine in its own right – which can lead
to students requiring extra help. The idea of racism being present can cause
emotion and cause difficulty when examined. But we must persevere to balance
the scales and meet all students where they are. This will require minority teachers
being recruited, all teachers being better trained for culturally sensitive
teaching and dealing with unwanted behaviors. Increased understanding of the
process will lead to teachers being better equipped to intervene at an earlier
stage. There would be a more measured approach to pre-referal of students and
their assessment. And it would benefit all parties if there was increased collaboration
with families and the community (Skiba et al, 2008).
Thanks
References
Hancock, M. (2016) A Parent Guide to Special Education,
the IEP Process and School Success. Retrieved from
http://www.understandingspecialeducation.com/
Skiba, Russell J.; Simmons, Ada B.; Ritter, Shana; Gibb,
Ashley C.; Rausch, M. Karega; Cuadrado,
Jason; Choong-Geun Chung. (Spring 2008). Achieving
Equity in Special Education: History,
Status, and Current Challenges. Exceptional Children
(Vol. 74 Issue 3, p264-288. 25p.)
McCown, R. & Snowman,
J. (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching (14th ed.). Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning.
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