Educational Challenges for Special Needs

Educational Challenges for Special Needs Children and Governmental Support Educational institutions are making moves both in the United States and the United Kingdom to develop a more optimal method of assessing school children and particularly those who are students with disabilities and students who are advanced or gifted. The system for assessing students with disabilities is cited as one that needs to be more accessible and more transparent.

(Topping, 2009) The purpose of the research proposed herein is to determine what the government can do to provide support to special needs children for the educational challenges that these students face in successfully acquiring a meaningful education. Significance of the Study The significance of this study is the knowledge that will be gained to the research proposed herein and the knowledge that will be added to the already existing base of knowledge in this area of study.

Research Questions Questions addressed in the proposed research are those of: (1) What support can the government provide to special needs students? (2) Is the support provided by the government needed most at the state or federal level? (3) What has demonstrated success in the past in providing support to special needs students in education? Proposed Methodology The methodology proposed for use in the study addressed in this document is one that is qualitative in nature and that will be conducted through an extensive review of relevant literature in this area of study and to include literature that is academic or scholarly and peer-reviewed in nature.

Included as well in the literature review in this proposed study are documents that are in the form of professional reports and studies as well as any legal documentation that is relevant to this study. Literature Review The National Research Council, U.S.

Committee on Minority Representation in Special Education work entitled: "Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education" makes recommendations including the recommendation that "...while the United States has a strong tradition of state control of education, the committee recommends that the federal government support widespread adoption of early screening and intervention in the states." (2002) p. 18 Specifically recommended are the following: (1) Technical assistance and information dissemination should be coordinated at the federal level. This might be done through the U.S.

Department of Education, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a cooperative effort of the two, or through some other designated agent; and (2) the federal government can encourage the use of Title 1 funds to implement early screening and intervention in both reading and behavior for schools currently receiving those funds. Funds provided in the Reading Excellence Act might also support this effort under the existing mandate. (National Research Council U.S. Committee on Minority Representation in Special Education, 2002) p.

19 Also recommended is that "a research program oriented toward the development of a broader knowledge base on early identification and intervention of children who exhibit advanced performance in the verbal or quantitative realm, or who exhibit other advanced abilities." (National Research Council U.S. Committee on Minority Representation in Special Education.

2002) it is stated that the research program should be designed for the purpose of making a determination "whether there are reliable and valid indicators of current exceptional performance in language, mathematical or other domains, or indicators of later exceptional performance in language, mathematical, or other domains, or indicators of later exceptional performance." (National Research Council U.S.

Committee on Minority Representation in Special Education, 2002) p.21 The work of Topping (2009) entitled: "Special Needs System Shake-up to Improve Support of Pupils" states that the school secretary, Ed Balls would announced new measures that would make the provision of better support for students with disabilities and special educational needs.

Specifically stated is that the government will look at "taking assessment of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) out of the hands of local authorities, which, according to parents' groups, consider the cost of a child's education when assessing their needs." (Topping, 2008) p.1 the government has, according to the report, acknowledged the desire of parents for "clearer, more transparent assessments." (Topping, 2009) p.1 Due to the rate of children with disabilities who are "eight times as likely to be excluded from school" it is stated that the "proposals will also crack down on schools that exclude high numbers of students with SEN." (Topping, 2009) p.1 Additionally reported is that new forms of "...statutory guidance will push behavior and attendance partnerships (groups of secondary schools in one area that have come together to challenge poor behavior and attendance) with high levels of exclusions of children with SEN to address the problem quickly." (Topping, 2009) p.1 The Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan states that the special education system in the United States is "one of the most heavily regulated and under-funded of all federal education mandates.

According to the National Association of State Boards of Education when IDEA was created in 1975, the legislation included the goal that 40% of the extra costs of the inclusion of special needs children into regular classrooms would be covered by the federal Government, but according to the 2002 budget the government has only provided 18% of the extra costs for special education and it has been up to the states and local governments to foot the rest of the bill." (2009) p.1 the University of Michigan report states that not nearly enough funding is provisioned for children with special needs and these children are those who most need such funding.

Furthermore, the teachers are not receiving the levels of training need to provide them with the skills necessarily to effective instruct children with special needs. (2009, paraphrased) It is reported that Michigan is "one of the few states to take action against the lack of proper funding for special education.' (2009) p.1 Specifically, the case Durant v.

Board of Education was one in which 244 taxpayers that represented 225 school districts files a lawsuit against the State of Michigan for "...underfunding special education programs and services by hundreds of thousands of dollars." (University of Michigan Psychology Department 2009) p.1 in order to ensure that withholding of funds for special education does not occur in other states it is required that the federal government "...step in and take charge of where this money is going.

They need to enforce these laws throughout the entire country and make sure every state is doing what needs to be done so that children everywhere, disability or not, can have a positive, effective school experience." (University of Michigan Psychology Department 2009) p.1 It was reported in the work of the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation report of March 2009 that "Enrollment rates and educational attainment of children with disabilities lag far behind those of their non-disabled peers.

The school enrollment rate for children with disabilities is estimated to be some 2 to 5% in developing countries, a deficit that far exceeds those of other high-risk groups such as girls, children from rural areas, or from low-income families." (Filmer, 2008 as cited in: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, 2009) Reported further is that the issue of education for students with special needs is mainly about inclusion, so that children and young people with disabilities have access to the same schools than children without special needs.

However, the lack of support services, relevant material and support personnel" in addition to government apathy "are major stumbling blocks for implementation of integration in these countries." (Peters, 2003, in: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, 2009) Adoption of Community-Based Rehabilitation programs have been suggested by advocates for special education and these programs are characterized by the primary trainer being the family and the community mobilized as a whole for the provision of support as a type of alternative to formalized schooling.

However, it is reported that "the applicability of this approach to the developing countries' context remains bedeviled by lack of reliable baseline data on enrollment and identification of children with special needs." (Peters, 2003 in: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, 2009) Needed to assess Special Educational Needs Children are "rigorous evaluations with associated data collection for longitudinal studies in this area.

The report goes on to state that the World Health Organization (WHO) states that a Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) is a strategy "within general community development for rehabilitation, equalization of opportunities and social inclusion of all children and adults with disabilities." (International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, 2009) CBR interventions are stated y this report to have demonstrated "...a positive impact.