Special Education

Based on the current laws and regulations the definition of special education is teaching and educating exceptionally needy children with in the least restrictive environment. Many people are involved in the implementation and determination of special needs. Many public and private schools offer a variety of special education programs.

Several of the different types of special education programs available are learning disabled, hearing impaired, and autism specific programs. Programs for the gifted used be included in with government funding, however, it has been dropped from the federally approved guidelines.

The goal of these target educational programs is to try to help children reach their full potential in the least restrictive environment that is possible. One of the first steps to this process is identifying a need. A parent, teacher, or guidance counselor must place a request with the school for an assessment hearing. At the hearing there will be a social work, educational development specialist, and exceptional needs specialist. The child will be tested and evaluated. If it is further determined that there is a need for services there will be a subsequent meeting in which the purpose will be to set up the IEP.

An IEP is a very import federally required Individualized Education Plan that is required for all special education students. In the IEP goals for the child, disciplinary requirements, curriculum adaptation, and primary goals are included. Often, a parent will have his/her own specialist attend the meeting in order to make sure that your child’s best interests are being provided for. In order to have a specialist you must fill out a form stating so before the IEP hearing.

It is very important that the child be educated in the least restrictive environment. Contained classrooms are used very judiciously. Occasionally, a child will have to leave the main classroom in order to receive services that may not be able to be acquired otherwise.

When the schools, parents, and government work together in special education in the least restrictive is attainable. Parents and schools are always working to increase funding with students with special needs.

Written by an education specialist writing about special education in order to help promote informative assessment and planning for special needs children.

Many of us, who went to school not that long ago, remember that being a special needs student meant riding to school in a separate bus and attending one class with other children of varying disabilities. These classes resembled more of a day care than school, and even the most advanced students had little hope of receiving a high school diploma, let alone attend college. Since that time, the term disability, and special needs student, has expanded to encompass much more than a person with an IQ below a certain arbitrary standard. What I have attempted to do in my first article is to give a little history of the evolution of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

In 1954 the United States Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) which found that segregated schools were a violation of equal protection rights. It would be another twenty years before this concept was applied to children with handicaps, especially learning disabilities, trying to receive an education. In fact, shortly after Brown was decided the Illinois Supreme Court found that compulsory education did not apply to mentally impaired students, and as late as 1969, it was a crime to try to enroll a handicapped child in a public school if that child had ever been excluded.

Due to court challenges in Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia in the early 1970′s things started to change. In 1975 Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. This was the first law that mandated that all handicapped students had a right to an education. Not only did it mandate that all handicapped students had a right to an education, it also mandated that local educational agencies could be held accountable for not doing so. Shortly thereafter, the term handicapped was replaced with “child with a disability”. Although revised in 1990 as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the most comprehensive changes came in 1997. This law required schools to identify children with disabilities to make sure that all children have available a “free appropriate public education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for employment and independent living” 20 U.S.C. § 1401 (d). Unfortunately, the most recent changes in 2004 made the law slightly more difficult to receive the benefits they deserve, which, depending upon the next administration and the make up of Congress may or may not be a trend that will be followed in the future.

Exactly what is a “free appropriate public education”? Under the law, it is defined as “special education and related services that (A) have been provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge: (B) meet the standards of the State educational agency; (C) include an appropriate preschool, elementary or secondary school education in the State involved; and (D) are provided in conformity with the individualized education program required under [the law].” In other words, the school must provide services that meet the needs of a child with a disability that may affect their ability to learn. These “related services” can be services that are provided in the classroom, such as giving the child extra time to finish taking tests. They can also encompass services that can be provided outside of the classroom, such as tutoring, or having the child attend either a day or residential program outside of the school, along with transportation.

For the historical data, I relied on Wrightslaw: Special Education Law by Peter W. D. Wright and Pamela Darr Wright and Special Education Law in Massachusetts by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education.