Discrimination, Misunderstanding, Contempt And Pity Are

Daniel RR was a six years old boy with down syndrome. He was enrolled in El Paso Independent School District. In the 1985 to 1986 school year, Daniel had attended a half-day early childhood program for special education students. Going into the next school year, Daniel’s parents asked if he could be placed into a general education pre-kindergarten classroom. Daniel was permitted to have half day in regular classroom and another half of the day in special education classroom. At the beginning, it seemed not to be the best situation for Daniel, teachers and classmates. His ability required him to get many accommodations and individual attention, and the teacher could not modify curriculum to meet Daniel’s needs without changing it completely. The school team decided to place him back to special education only classroom. But he could get lunch at school cafeteria with other students while his mother was there to supervise. He was also permitted to stay with students without disabilities at recess time. Daniel’s parents were unhappy about the school’s decision. They wanted him to spend more time with students in general education classroom. The school states that his attendance in general education

In this scenario, we have Debbie Young who has been a special education teacher and assistant principal in a school district in the south prior to becoming a high school principal. One day Debbie is approached by parents of a tenth-grade student named Jonathan, who has several disabilities that require constant care by a trained nurse. Jonathan is profoundly mentally disabled and suffers from spastic quadriplegia as well as having a seizure disorder. Principal Young turns down the parents’ request because of the expense of having a student with these conditions at the school and the view that the school is not the most appropriate placement for Jonathan.

Throughout the ages, people with disabilities have been hidden away at homes or institutions and were often not educated. This was common practice and as such, when the education system was designed, children with disabilities were not even considered. Then, starting soon after the civil rights movement in the 50’s, a series of lawsuits was brought against school boards and the federal government took notice. Then the Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975 was passed and these children were finally allowed the education they deserved. As time went

I say give parents a choice whether they want to place their special child into a regular classroom. Sean’s mother fought for him to be included in a regular classroom despite his disabilities. It must be emotionally devastating for a mother to have a special child not considered in a regular classroom with the rest of the children, when your only goal is to ensure your child is acclimated and integrated in to society.

As a middle school teacher, I have worked to have a student get the support they need. Working through the tiers is a slow process and there are a too many students who were on track for special education in their early grades, denied and now they are in 7th grade with a percentile of below 10 in both reading and math. This is just unacceptable. Personally, I had a student who went through the process was not accepted in special education, her mom was at the school regularly begging for us to help her daughter, the child was failing 7th grade, unable to complete assignments, pass tests or do the required homework. She is now getting services in 8th grade.

Special education programs and services are available in many school and are fast growing. In a high school, a principal named Debbie Young has been presented with a situation with the parents of a special education student. Mrs. Young has been a special education teacher and assistant principal in a progressive and affluent school district in the South. Mrs. Young was approached by the parents of Jonathan a severely disabled tenth grader whose parents want him to attend one of the schools in the district. He is profoundly mentally disabled, has spastic quadriplegia, and has a seizure disorder. Mrs. Young refuses his parent’s request because of the huge expenses and the school is not an appropriate place for Jonathan.

Preference, segregation, or enmity coordinated against somebody of an alternate race in light of the conviction that one 's own particular race is superior is prevalent. Prejudice is as old as human culture itself. For whatever length of time that individuals have been around, the contention has remained alive; people have constantly despised or dreaded individuals of an alternate country or skin color. It is said that racism or prejudice is simply some portion of human instinct, but we are not born with racism. We learn to discriminate from our societal norms.

I interviewed a beautiful and courageous woman, of African descent. Born and raised in Monrovia, Liberia on May 20, 1969. In addition, she has one biological brother and three step siblings. Currently she resides in Loganville, Georgia, where she lives with her two children. By the same token, she and her husband been married for twenty-one years to her loving high school sweetheart husband. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she lost her husband in the line of duty. Causing her to become a widow, continuing to survive life without her husband. When I conducted this interview, had one topic in mind that I wanted to learn more about her life as an immigrant and how did influence her life.

Evaluation: In early 1970, children with learning disabilities were treated much differently than the peers that were at appropriate grade level. In this student’s case, the school system segregated the special needs students placing them in special classroom and labeled them as “slow learners”. With the teachers and school administration lack of knowledge on helping students with disabilities, students were at a disadvantage in receiving a fair education. Children felt as

According to the video Foundations of Inclusion Birth to Five, we have two people to thank for a lot of our advancements in allowing diversity in the classroom Dr. Ann Turnbull and her husband! They spent many hours in the courtroom fighting endless battles in order to get their son the proper and fair education he deserved. Before the seventies when Ann and her husband had fought against the system it was very common for schools to turn away students with disabilities or not help with their disabilities. According to the U.S. department of education before 1975, only one in five special education students were served in public schools. Some states even went as far as to make it illegal to teach

The question that I pose for the reader is what would you do if you were being unrepresented and you were stuck in a special education course or you were segregated into a separate class that was not exposing you to core academic curriculum and academic skills? What about if your own son or daughter was in this situation? Does putting yourself in another person’s position change your outlook on this

The idea of children with disabilities, whether they be mild or severe has been a very controversial and misunderstood topic. In the past inclusion has brought about huge changes for not only the students, but also the parents and families of these children, and staff at schools. Teachers and education professionals were the first to really feel the wrath and intimidation of this dramatic shift in education. There were several different factors that were coming about that made it very difficult for schools and teachers, the unorganized mandates were strict and didn’t allow much time for change. “President Gerald Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) into law in 1975. Since the original passage of the EAHCA, the law has been amended four times and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)” (Conroy, Yell, Katsiyannis, & Collins, 2010, para.1).

For most of our nation's history, children with special needs or disabilities were shunted aside. In spite of mandated education laws that had been in place since 1918, many students were denied education and

For my interview, I interviewed a woman by the name of Mrs. Miskell. She is a close family friend and also teaches at the elementary school that I used to attend. Mrs. Miskell has been teaching for fifteen years. She has a class of 21 including 2 special education children who are mainstreamed into her class for a few areas of study. She team-teaches one day a week with the remedial math teacher, and one day a week with the remedial reading teacher. Her children switch classes with one other class for social studies and science. In this interview, I covered her views on special education and security in today's schools.

Schooling for the disabled requires a special environment—one that only a few teachers have the gift to care for. Instead of looking out for the child’s