Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Special Education History and Current Issues



As of 2015, almost all public and specialized schools in the United States provide accommodations for disabled students under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). A child with any of the following categories fall under the care of this act: autism, blindness, deafness, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, intellectually disabled, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, specific learning disabilities, speech/language impairment, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairment (Wrightslaw, 2014). Most schools are currently and rapidly moving toward the inclusion benefits, or moving children from more restrictive settings to less restrictive ones. However, a major problem seen in current education is students who escape, or rather go unnoticed. They should or could be diagnosed as having a learning disability but go through their education without the accommodations that could potentially be provided to help them succeed in learning (“Special Education Law”, 2009). Also, another present issue in special education today is the fact that some students who aren’t intellectually disabled, but are more “socially disabled” or fall under the category of emotionally disturbed,  still undergo the IEP process, and therefore have standards that they are required to meet that may fall inferior to regular academic achieving students. This is alarming because these specific students are intellectually capable of achieving and meeting standards equal to those students who are not learning disabled, yet most IEP’s state that the student can be promoted by completing a certain percentage of the main standards. Therefore, these students are “settling” and not being challenged to their full potential. They are moving on the next grade level, but sometimes without having learned much of what they are capable of. I have seen these two issues from first hand experience, and hope special education proposals and regulations are brought forward to help address these current issues.

References:
Skiba, Russell (2008). “Achieving Equity in Special Education: History, Status, and Current        Challenges.”
                Council for Exceptional Children. Vol. 74, No. 3, p. 264-288.
“Special Education Law: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act – IDEA” (2009).
                Understanding Special Education. Retrieved on 7/6/2015. Retrieved from
                <www. Understanding specialeducation.com/special-education-law.html>
Wrightslaw (2014). “A Short History of Special Education Law.” History of Special Education Law.
                p. 7 – 10.

Below is the link to the special education history timeline

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