Special Education:

1
Special Education

• Teaching Children with Special Needs

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A bit of history...

• Children with obvious exceptionalities were
  excluded from schools due to the mistaken belief
  that they could not be educated
• Some early Special Educators
• Itard (1775-1838) taught the Wild Boy
• Seguin (1812-1880) developed innovating teaching
  methods for individuals with disabilities
• Howe (1801-1876), did work which was later used
  to educate Helen Keller

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Early Legislation Affecting Special Education

• 1954 Brown v. Board of Education
• determined that separate is inherently unequal
• was used as a basis for the argument that
  segregating children with special needs was
  unequal and unconstitutional

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The BIG law...

• 1974 Education for All Handicapped Children Act
  (PL 94-142)
• provided specifics of how to determine
  eligibility for services, design individual
  education and behavior programs, and ensure
  appropriate implementation
• guaranteed a free, appropriate, public education
  regardless of a students disability

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Legislation and Litigation...

• 1978 Gifted and Talented Childrens Act - to
  state agencies
• 1984 VEA/Carl Perkins Act authorized funding
  for vocational education, particularly for
  students who had been underserved or who have
  greater-than-average need
• required equal access to recruitment, enrollment,
  and placement activities in vocational education

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More legislation

• 1986 PL 94-142 amended to add provisions for
  children from birth - 3
• 1990 Discrimination against people with
  disabilities is banned public buildings,
  transportation, and communications must be
  accessible
• 1990 Early intervention programs authorized
• 1991 Carl Perkins Vocational and Applied
  Technology Education Act amended to focus on need
  for technology

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IDEA (1990)

• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
• Definition of disability broadened to include
  autism and traumatic brain injury
• Identified included related services
  (therapeutic recreation, social work,
  rehabilitation counseling, and assistive
  technology)
• Established preschool programs (B-3)

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IDEA, Cont.

• Required individualized transition program (16)
• Person first, disability second language
• Allows states and school districts to be sued for
  violation of IDEA policies

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Provisions of IDEA

• Zero Reject
• Free Appropriate Public Education
• Child Find
• Ages Served
• Nondiscriminatory Evaluation
• Least Restrictive Environment

• Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs)
• Due Process
• Confidentiality of Records
• Advocacy
• Parent Participation
• Noncompliance

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1997 Changes to IDEA

• Encourages inclusion of students with
  disabilities in general education curriculum
• Requires greater accountability for results
• Allows for students to be suspended for up to 45
  days (with continuation of services)
• IEP describes inclusive situation degree and
  support

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1997 Changes to IDEA

• Allows states/districts to use developmental
  delay eligibility criteria through age 9 to
  avoid early labeling
• Allows IDEA personnel working in regular
  classrooms to work with typical learners also
• Requires states to include students with
  disabilities in assessments with appropriate
  modifications

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Categories of Exceptionality

• Mental retardation
• Hearing impairments
• Vision impairments
• Speech and language impairments
• Learning disabilities
• Emotional Disturbance

• Orthopedic impairments
• Other health impairments
• Autism
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Deafness
• Blindness
• Multiple Disabilities

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NC Categories

• Deaf-Blind
• Hearing Impaired
• Orthopedically Imp.
• Other Health Impaired
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Speech-Language Imp.

• Educable Mentally Disabled
• Trainable Mentally Disabled
• Learning Disabilities
• Autism
• Behaviorally- Emotionally Disabled
• Visual Impairment

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Continuum of Services

• General Education with consultation
• General Education with co-teaching
• Part time placement in resource room
• Full time special education classroom with
  typical school setting
• Special school
• Residential school, treatment center, homebound
  services

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LabelingHelp or Hindrance?

• Stigma versus services
• Exclusion
• Over-representation

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What is Inclusion?

• Attempt to serve special students in the regular
  class to the greatest extent possible
• Several levels of inclusion exist
• students with mild disabilities in regular
  classes
• students with mild/moderate disabilities in
  regular classes
• students with all but the most severe
  disabilities in regular classes
• all students, regardless of disability in regular
  classes

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Benefits of Inclusive Classes

• Separate programs have not proved to do students
  much good
• Self-esteem of special students is impaired
• Regular students and teachers should have
  experience with people different from themselves
• Good teaching methods are successful with all
  students

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Drawbacks to Inclusive Classes

• Special students needs may not be met in the
  regular classroom
• Regular teachers and administrators may not be
  prepared to help special students
• Special students may feel threatened and inferior
• Education of regular students may be hampered
  by the presence of special kids

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Teacher Behaviors Affecting Student Performance

• provide continuous feedback and practice
• give equal response opportunities
• vary difficulty level of questions
• maximize student time on task
• have high expectations
• give assignments students can do
• employ interesting methods and materials

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A few more factors...

• have students participate in discussing their
  learning difficulties, selecting work, and
  evaluating their own performance
• recognize effort and persistence
• brainstorm solutions to problemskeep trying
  until something works!
• establish a supportive, accepting classroom
  environment

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Where are we going from here?

• Trend toward full inclusion
• Collaboration between special education teachers
  and regular education teachers
• Need for increased teacher training in teaching
  exceptional students
• Decisions on a case-by-case basis