The Education of Special Needs in
Public, Private, and Charter Schools
Jerissa R. Gregory
Liberty University
Abstract Education is important to all children, but teaching children with special needs entails the educator to examine and assess the social, behavior, intellectual and academic deficits of the student and devise an instructional plan that will support their excellence in these areas. Teaching in a classroom with children who have disabilities pertains to various teaching methods that insist the teacher individualize lessons to achieve academic excellence in students. We will examine to special education requirements in public, private and charter schools. Many inclusion classrooms have the necessary support which include services and accommodations to establish a learning environment conducive to the students learning abilities. Although the education system has become far more advanced than it was and children with disabilities have more access to supports and services, problems still remain like they still lag behind their non disabled peers in educational achievements, are often held to lower expectations, are less likely to take the full academic curriculum in high school and more likely to drop out (Aron, Loprest p. 97). Early detection can help prevent secondary disabilities and detect early disabilities and allow for the proper intervention strategies to be in place. Early detection can redirect some of the
In England, it is a legal requirement under the EYFS for all early years settings to work with parents and other professionals to support children’s care, learning and development. Certain policies and procedures must be in place to protect children and for guidance.
According to the latest figures available from Data Accountability Center, U.S. Department of Education, 2,415,564 students were identified as having a Specific Learning Disability in the Fall of 2010 (“Full Inclusion”). With the severity of the number of individuals with disabilities in the school system, the controversy of the best way to support them arises. One of the solutions of this controversy is the issue of full inclusion. Those opposed to the idea of full inclusion fear that the approach may impede on the children without disabilities and put a strain on the students with disabilities. The major stakeholders against full inclusion also fear that the process will negatively affect the teachers, as well as, the atmosphere of the classrooms. Many of these parties and individuals are not fully against inclusion all together, but do not support the idea of full inclusion.
In what type of school do you teach? (Type an “X” next to the appropriate description; if “other” applies, provide a brief description.)
Some people may think that special education has been established since the beginning of public education. Others may consider a time when special education did not exist and students with disabilities were not able to attend school. The truth is, there was a time when this happened; these students were not allowed to be educated in the general education classroom alongside their peers. People with disabilities were treated differently, and some were forced into institutions because teachers and staff found them to be disturbances to their peers. Luckily, special education has come a long way since public education began. People, especially parents, advocated for their children, and today many laws are in place to ensure that all children
Students with special needs need deserve the same education general education students are presented with. The philosophy of “ Disability Inclusion” concentrates on creating a safe, loving, and effective learning environment for students who suffer from physical, learning, and behavioral disabilities. When a student with disabilities is placed in the same environment as a non-disabled student, the results show wonderful improvement. When we are able to discover the strength of the student we are able to see just how much the student can improve in an inclusion classroom. Disability Inclusion not only sets a new beginning for an equal education of special education students, but it allows for more interaction with the child, and a more hands-on assessment.
The teacher can encourage this inclusion by teaching the students, parents, and other community members about negative stereotypical attitudes about students with disabilities by avoiding negative words, such as “disabled”, or “crippled”, or “handicapped” and to promote positive ideas about disabilities into class work, the student’s play time and other activities. To further ensure that the classroom is promoting equality for the child with the disability, the teacher should incorporate an inclusive curriculum mindset, by adapting the lessons, learning materials and classroom to suit the needs of all the different types of learners including the child with the disability within the classroom.
Within the past decades and a big discussion has occurred regarding the most appropriate setting within which to provide education for students in special education. Although the change in the educational environment is significant for handicapped student the concepts of inclusion also bring up new issues for the regular education classroom teachers.
Orr (2009) conducted interviews with special education teachers and the attitudes they have seen in their schools since inclusion was implemented in their schools. Orr (2009) chose fifteen teachers, which included fourteen female and one male teacher who agreed to participate in the study so it was a purposive criterion sample. Twelve of the fifteen teachers taught in a suburban area, two in a rural area, and one in an urban area; but they varied in the age they taught and school. Seven of the fifteen teachers taught in a self-contained classroom while the remaining eight taught in a resource room, where they only saw a student for less than an hour or two a day. Another pattern that showed was that many teachers found that they did not receive any classes that focused on differentiation or inclusion while completing their undergraduate work (Orr 2009). These results are important when considering the implementation of inclusion because it may mean that there is a need to reteach teachers. It is important to consider professional development classes district-wide before implementing inclusion in the classroom.
Currently, I am observing for the After School Action Program (ASAP) at Benold Middle School located in Georgetown, Texas. This program is designed to activate the critical and analytical thinking in students while developing leadership skills. In this program, there are approximately 12 students, which 4 students have learning disabilities. Research has been conducted by my observation of various techniques implemented for the inclusion of these students. During my observation, several approaches have been used with success in retaining students understanding of the material being presented. First, as a student whose major is ECL-6 Special Education, I want to study different approaches to which teachers implement on students with disabilities. Secondly, as I continue to observe, I have become more familiar with these students and their temperament. Because of this, I am understanding more of the teaching approaches being used to achieve the desired outcome. Ultimately, this observation will help me better prepare for my future endeavors as a special education teacher.
Special education is an ethically and politically complex area of professional education (Paul, French, & Cranston-Gingras, 2001). Critics have claimed that special education does not benefit student with disabilities and should be renounced for ethical reasons (Gartner & Lipsky, 1989). Others assert that special education is unethical because it stigmatizes and segregates minority students and violates the rights of children (Grossman, 1998; Granger & Granger, 1986). On the other hand, proponents of special education point to the effectiveness of intensive interventions in the area of reading (Wanzek & Vaughn, 2007), as well as literature reviews which have found special education services contribute more to the academic achievement of students with learning disabilities and emotional disorders than general education classrooms (citations from Fuchs). Although the overrepresentation (and underrepresentation) of certain minority populations is an ongoing concern for the field of special education, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have long supported special education initiatives as long as the identification and labeling of students is “based on need, not race” (Dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, 2005). The debates over the effectiveness and identification of students with disabilities highlight a couple of the ways in ethical issues underlie special education. Yet, this is only the tip of the ethical iceberg. Issues of ethics
Many children have had learning disabilities for many years. Each year more and more of these children are being helped. Schools are working to improve their special education programs and to have all kinds of students work together in the same classroom. The practice of inclusion was started because educators felt that special needs students would achieve more in traditional classrooms with non-learning disabled students than they would in special education classes. However, research findings suggest that there really is no difference in academic achievement levels for special needs students when they are placed in regular classrooms.
The child with the more severe disability was more often placed in the segregated classroom setting, and the more functional child tended to be placed in the inclusive setting. As for language development and social skills, in the inclusive settings, the children with severe disabilities had higher posttest scores in language development and social skills than the children in the segregated setting. However, the problem behaviors were lover in the segregated classroom. For the children with less severe disabilities in each of the two settings, the posttest scores were comparable. Along with this study, six other studies also compared the developmental progress of children with special needs in integrated and segregated settings. All of these studies found that inclusion was either comparable or more beneficial than the segregated settings (Raffetty, Piscitelli, and Boettcher, 2003).
For years children with special needs were ushered off to separate classes and schools. Children with special needs have the right to attend classes with their same aged peers in the same classroom with support. Students with special needs deserve the same opportunities they would have if circumstances were different. Inclusion gives those students with special needs the chance to be part of the community; able to form relationships outside of the family unit. All students benefit from inclusion; students with disabilities develop social skills and develop friendships while non-disabled students learn tolerance and acceptance.
The key to any successful school district is the administration. Teachers essentially provide structure, organization, and the background of a child’s future. To educate students with learning disabilities, it is essential that the staff has the training and resources needed for the appropriate people, place, and time (Lazarus) (What is Inclusion, 2001, n.p). It is unrealistic to expect that regular education teachers will always be aware of the latest research or be able to readily adapt the school's
Over the past twenty years, there has been a strong movement within schools around the United States to integrate students with disabilities in to general education classrooms. Schools have been making more efforts to increase educational opportunities for students with disabilities, and while there are many benefits to inclusion, there are also many challenges. Inclusion of special education students in a regular education classroom continues to be the center of debate amongst administrators and teachers. Everyone has their own ideas and attitudes towards inclusion, and research studies have revealed that there are many things that contribute to those positive or negative attitudes.