The Foundation for Educating Students with Special Needs

Outside influences on Special Education 

Students with disabilities are eligible to receive special education services according to federal and state guidelines. Special education refers to individually modified instruction by school or government to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Over 5.9 million students are served from special education. Students are provided assistance for their special needs including:

·      Specialized instruction

·      Related services

·      Supplementary aids and services

·      Least restrictive environment

·      Mainstreaming

·      Inclusive practices

Key Terms & Legislation in the Classroom:

·      Least Restrictive environment (LRE) is a law. LRE assures a student’s right to be educated in the setting more like that of those peers who do not have special needs.             (i.e. resource room, self-contained class)

·      Mainstreaming refers to placing students with disabilities in a general education classroom only if they meet academic expectations with minimal assistance.

·      Inclusive practices refer to the belief in which students with disabilities are fully integrated into a general education classroom. It is important to concentrate on physical integration, social integration, and also instructional integration.

“Instruction is based on [students’] abilities, not their disabilities.”

·      Section 504: prevents discrimination against individuals with disabilities in programs that receive federal funding. * Through this, students not eligible for services within special education may receive different types of assistance to allow them to succeed in school.

·      Americans with Disabilities Act: Expanding upon 504, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that employers make accommodations for employees with special needs. Further, all things or places open to the public must be accessible to those with disabilities.

·      Public Law : Set federal guidelines for special education and clarifies related services.

·      Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): ensures services be provided to those students with disabilities throughout the nation. Such services include IEPs, free appropriate public education, least restrictive environment, child find, etc.

      The word "handicap" was removed from the law and replaced with "disability".

·      No Child Left Behind (NCLB) holds schools accountable for the furthering education of their students. Schools are required to administer assessment to all students in public schools; there is varying requirements to assessment processes. Each state is expected to make adequate yearly progress in order to receive funding.

Historical Events:

         In the last half century, congress has made dramatic strides in improving special education in the school system. Prior to the 1950s, only a small percentage of students received some sort of special education support; and although special education was available, it was considered far from desirable circumstances and students were most often discriminated against. Students with disabilities were treated as “handicapped” rather than “people with disabilities” and were “considered unable to perform academic tasks.”

The Civil Rights movement helped to shape today’s special education system. In the 1954 case, Brown v. Board of Education, the idea of “separate, but equal” was dramatically overturned. Under the 14^th Amendment of the United States Constitution, the court found that it is illegal to discriminate against any group of people. In the particular court case, equality was intended for African American students; however, the suit brought to light discrimination against those with disabilities, as well. Students and parents rightfully argued that segregation and exclusion from a general education school violated the opportunity to a fair and equal education. The case set a very important precedent and from it, schools cannot segregate not only by race, but also not by ability or disability.

Court cases such as Brown v. Board of Education and others during the 1950s and 1960s set the stage for parents and students to seek protection for disabilities. In 1973, Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act ensured that students with disabilities cannot be discriminated against or “excluded from participation in, denied benefits of, or subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance” (class notes) . Further, P.L 94-142 enacted “The Education for All Handicapped Children Act”, which outlines the whole basis up which current special education practices are based on. In 1990, IDEA was put into action which outlines the principles deemed most appropriate for individuals with special needs including: free appropriate education, least restrictive environment, individualized education, nondiscriminatory evaluation, due process, zero reject-child find, and teacher evaluation and eligibility.

Fortunately, the Civil Rights Movement sparked a movement for public special education practices and those practices have since evolved.  Now, nearly 5.9 million students with disabilities, students who are gifted or talented, students protected by Section 504, and students who are at risk can be best served and educated in the public school systems and beyond.

Other influential court cases:

§  Diana vs. State Bd. of Education California (1970)

§  Pennsylvania Assoc for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth (1972)

§  Mills vs DC Board of Education (1972)

§  Larry P. v. Wilson Riles (1986)

§  Hudson S.D. v. Rowley (1982)

§  Daniel R.R. v. State Bd of Ed (1989)

§  Oberti vs. Clementon (1993)

Categories of Disabilities:

Using disability labels ensures that students’ civil rights will be protected.

Learning disability (LD)	Disorder related to processing information that leads to difficulties in reading, writing, and computing.
Speech or language impairment	Disorder related to accurately producing sounds of language or difficulty in communicating verbally.
Mental retardation	Limitations on intellectual ability.
Emotional disturbance	Problems in the social/emotional area that make in difficult to learn.
Autism	A disorder, which causes difficulty in social responsiveness. Mild to significant.
Hearing impairment	Partial or complete loss of hearing.
Visual impairment	Partial or complete loss of vision.
Deaf-blindness	Signification loss in both vision and hearing.
Orthopedic impairment (OI)	Physical limitation that impairs motor activity.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)	Brain injury (accident of injury) that affects learning, behavior, social skills, and/or language.
Other health impairment (OHI)	Disease or health disorder that hampers learning.
Multiple Disabilities	Two or more disabilities in which not one of the other is considered primary. Example: mental retardation and physical disabilities
Development delay (DD)	A nonspecific disability that states use as an alternative to specific labels to identify students with disabilities.