Special Education Court Cases

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

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

However, handling and disciplining a special child have no difference in setting up rules and discipline. Considering their culture, and understanding student’s individuality, they are also individual who needs respect and more guidance to make their behaviour acceptable in society. Though they also learn in different ways and in different rate, still it is important to employ various strategies for helping a special child learn how to appropriately behave in the classroom. Such as positioning myself near my student, catching her eye, or gently touching her shoulder is my way of bringing her back to focus and I found out that those are effective strategy, a subtle reminder that I’m aware of her actions. Verbally reminding the student how to act appropriately or inviting him/her to make an appropriate choice is

Osborne, A. G., & Russo, C. J. (2007). Special Education and The Law: A Guide for Practitioners (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

Truscott et al,(2004) were concerned with the decision making that may affect students of Special Education or Special Educators. They were concerned with what the differences between General Education Special Education, and they found out that not much was known of the Special Education and it was not properly represented in the discussions meetings. They suggested assigning a team member to represent Special Education for a specific topic. Through this study, the” Disability Law” became a focus point, Including Special Education in the decision making of the disabled.

Education in the United States has had a reputation of un-uniformity and mistreatment of certain groups especially students with disabilities. However, the recent past has yielded some advancement. Federal legislation has put into place three major laws that have lead to better treatment and higher quality education of students, especially those with disabilities. These laws are the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, and No Child Left Behind. Together these laws have formed the current education standard in the United States providing for better education for all students.

With Disabilities Education Act." Focus On Exceptional Children43.2 (2010): 1-16. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.

This is false, because in special education cases, a trial court acts as an appellate court to determine if the hearing officer had correctly applied the law. Each state has their own jurisdiction, causing Oregon's ruling to be separate from Nebraska's ruling.

Eastampton is a desirable township due to the close proximity to military bases and the tri-state area. Eastampton Township consists of 20 percent residential homes and 80 percent commercial and farm land. Situated in the middle of single family homes is Eastampton Community School. The school is a kindergarten through 8th grade district that currently has a student population of just over 600 students. Ten short years ago, the student population was well over 800 at which the district was two schools: an elementary k-5th school and a 6th-8th middle school. The school is fairly up to date utilizing geothermal power and more technological devices than there are students. ECS also has a Gate Way to Technology or Project Lead the Way program that

Hearing impairments are defined by the federal government as, “an impairment in hearing, wether permanent or fluctuating that adversely affects a child’s performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness” (Friend, 2012). Children who are hearing impaired make up a small percentage of the students in the school system, and it is considered to be “low incidence” impairment. In fact, in 2009, around 1.3 percent of school age children are considered to have some form of hearing impairment (Friend, 2012). Even though this represents a small number of the students in our public schools, it still includes students like Jason, who is a 9 year old fourth

Creating and maintaining effective environments for student learning can be a highly difficult task for classroom teachers in moderate to severe special education classrooms. When you have students of various levels of academics, social skills and behavior needs it is challenging to know where to start and where to begin in creating a behavior management system. During my time at Brandman we focused a lot on how to create a positive classroom culture and how to create effective classroom environments. I had opportunities at Brandman to learn to create individual behavior plans and how to track student behaviors while targeting specific behavior and social skills goals. It is my personal belief that students learn best by having a positive environment where they are able to feel supported, respected and safe. The demographic of my student population also creates a large need for my students to have structure and feel safe as they do not always get that support outside of the classroom. For many our school and classroom is their safe place where they receive the attention that they need and deserve. Through my classes at Brandman I learned that establishing clear behavioral expectations, reinforcing positive behaviors, and creating routines and procedures for structure and safety, you will then establish a classroom environment where students can reach their highest potentials and will thrive in a secure safe environment. I always base our classroom goals from our school motto

Discipline is an issue and has been a subject of concern in schools. To arrest the issue, schools have established Code of Conduct that outlines appropriate behavior that promotes order and decorum of all concerned student while in school. Like regular students, students with disabilities or exceptionalities are expected to behave accordingly.

The special education law on inclusion suggests,” School districts… have the responsibility of ensuring that a reasonable standard of care is met when regular teachers work with students who have disabilities” (Essex, 2008, p. 149). Moreover, schools are required to monitor on a systematic basis that the standards are met. By not following the law, the schools are susceptible to lawsuits. The special educator is responsible for such monitoring. Essex (2008) adds, “The lack of funds should not be used by the school districts as the basis to deny children with a disability a public education” (Essex, 2008, p.

There were also several changes made to the IEP process. One of these was allowing, with written parental and school consent, IEP team members to be excused from IEP meetings. Another was requiring, when practical, services and supplemental aids be based on peer-reviewed research. It also removed the requirement of progress reports in special education with the same frequency as general education.

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.