Special education: overview and key concepts

Special Education

Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 addresses nondiscrimination under federal grants and programs. This means that no person who is disabled, but otherwise qualified may for this reason be excluded from programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance, or from the activities of Executive agencies or the United States Postal Service. Agencies are required to amend their regulations to adhere to the requirement of inclusive activities, and any altered regulations need to be submitted and approved by the appropriate authorities.

The Section explicates the terms "program" and "activity" as pertaining to the operations of the following entities:

State departments, agencies, special purpose districts, or other governmental institutions;

State or local government entities that distribute or receive Federal assistance;

Colleges, Universities, or other higher education institutions;

All pre-tertiary educational and school systems;

All corporations and partnerships that receive assistance in their capacity as a sole proprietorship or as a whole, and uses this towards providing education, health care, housing, social services, or parks and recreation to the public.

The Section does not require small providers to make significant changes to improve the accessibility of their facilities if they can provide alternative means of service availability.

This Section of the Act therefore provides that disabled persons should have access to all services and activities for which Federal funding is provided. If access to facilities are impossible for disabled persons, this should be improved by structural modifications, and official regulations should also be in place to accommodate and support persons with disabilities. As such, all persons within the country should have access to the services they qualify for.

2) Differentiated instruction was established on the basis of the finding that not all children respond to all learning situations, materials, and teaching methods in the same way. What is therefore effective for a particular child or group of children, might not be effective for others at the same level and in the same classroom. Differentiated instruction then means that, while the curriculum goals remain uniform for the entire grade level, specific methodologies within the classroom are varied to address the specific needs of each individual child. Ideally, such instruction creates different pathways for students to choose from, in order to reach the same ultimate goal.

In creating these pathways, a teacher can vary the content, processes and product for different group divisions in the class. With more experience, teacher can use differentiation at all three levels to address the needs of the more proficient students. The essential classroom goal is to provide all students with challenges that are appropriate to their level of learning, without frustrating students who are at a higher level of learning and understanding.

Students with specific needs/weaknesses should be presented with learning activities that offer opportunities for developing needed skills as well as opportunities to display individual strengths. More advanced students may work on activities with inherently higher level thinking requirements and greater complexity.

On the level of content or topic, for example, instruction can be differentiated by providing higher-level students with the opportunity to apply concepts to solve problems without first receiving instruction, while less able students receive instruction first. On the level of process, graphic organizers, maps, diagrams or charts can be varied in difficulty level to give students the opportunity for manipulating the concepts learned in order to demonstrate their comprehension. This process involves students in their learning on an empowering level.

3) the decision-making process in terms of Special Education is an ongoing process that occurs in three steps. In the first step, the institution needs to investigate the background and legal context of these services. This means that existing policies and definitions should be identified. Collaboration opportunities with parents, the community, and professional institutions should be investigated. Students themselves need to be approached to determine their needs in terms of participation in education programs and the specific support that they need. The context of these needs can then be identified in terms of the existing options in Special Education. The second step is to determine the specific services needed, along with how these services will be made available. The final step is to implement and evaluate the impact of the services provided. Data collected can be used to assess how effective the program is, as well as whether adjustments are needed to improve the provision of services in the future.

The decision-making process for Special Education in New York public schools is implemented by District 75, which targets the special education needs of public schools in New York City. All three stages of the process are incorporated in the mission and vision statements of the District. Students are for example assessed in order to make decisions regarding the specific help they need. As such, the estimated 23,000 students with anything from moderate to severe challenges are provided with services that target their specific needs.

Furthermore, the District also works with students and families on a collaborative basis in order to maximize the students' maximum potential. Furthermore, the District also collaborates with learning institutions and colleges in order to investigate and identify the best learning instruction practices to help learners with special needs achieve their goals. In this, the District focuses on areas such as Literacy, Mathematics, Autism, and Positive Behavior Support. These are specifically targeted towards challenges that many of these students face.

4) "Due Process" refers to the steps followed in order to resolves concerns or disputes within the Special Education system. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides the procedures to follow in order to resolve any disputes relating to this field. Family involvement in due process is encouraged.

When disagreements arise, the process of resolution follows three stages of increasing formality: dispute resolution, mediation, and due process hearings. Dispute resolution occurs on an informal basis, with the parents and representatives of the Department of Special Education, the child's school, and the school system in attendance. When the dispute is still not resolved, mediation is the next step. This step involves the services of an Administrative Law Judge, who acts as a mediator between the disputing parties.

A due process hearing is the final and most formal stage of dispute resolution. In Special Education matters. An Administrative Law Judge hears the case, and each party is represented by attorneys. After the proceedings, the Judge delivers a formal decision, after which each party has the right to appeal to federal or state court. After receiving the Due Process notice, all parties involved are obliged to meet within 15 days to discuss the issues, during which the school is given the opportunity to resolve the problem via Dispute Resolution. The hearing is then held within 20 days of the receipt of notice.

It is generally discouraged to use formal due process hearings in Special Education, as it is often a costly and time-consuming process. Time and money are commodities that tend to be in short supply for parents with Special Education children. Hence it is normally recommended that Due Process hearings be used only after all other resources have been exhausted to the satisfaction of all parties.

5) Multiculturalism and bilingualism are issues that face all educational institutions to some degree. The challenge related to these is that each student must be given an equal opportunity for optimal learning. The problem is that many cultures and languages within a single classroom can prove inherently problematic and cause conflict among students and between teachers and students. With the extra challenges related to Special Education, these issues particularly need attention.

One of the unfortunate ramifications of American history is that countless numbers of people have been discriminated against because of their cultural background, language, or inability to speak English properly. In the school system, this often still manifests itself in children from other language groups being placed in special education. This is not necessarily deliberate, but rather the result of historically cultivated misunderstandings between cultures, and the language barriers often experienced by these cultures. In addition, those children from ethnic minorities who do have learning disabilities are impacted both by their minority status and their disability.

Teachers with multicultural and bilingual students need to be particularly and sensitively aware of the issues facing these students. By targeting these students with effective teaching methods, instructors can help multicultural children without learning disabilities rejoin the mainstream education classroom, while helping those who do have disabilities to integrate themselves with the rest of the learners.

Awareness is the most important issue to address in multicultural Special Education classrooms. Such awareness will help to eradicate racially-based placements, help multicultural learners develop healthy relationships both with themselves, their fellow learners, and the society within which they live.

6) Collaboration among students, their families, educators and the general community is vital in any educational paradigm. This is particularly so for Special Education. Parents especially can help educators to understand their children's special education needs. Furthermore, special education teachers should also collaborate with other staff at their schools in order to provide students with an integrated learning process.

In the past, students with disabilities tended to be isolated from their peers by Special Education paradigms that obliged them to receive learning in a physically isolated setting. Far from helping these children to achieve their full potential, such setups tended to stigmatize them, making, making it even more difficult to look beyond their ability for their own identity and how this could be applied for the benefit of society both during their school careers and thereafter.

A collaborative environment, on the other hand, can lead to a greater understanding of the challenges these children face, as well as to provide them with the potential to make the most of their abilities rather than their disabilities. When parents collaborate with educators, for example, the latter can draw up strategies that specifically target the need of the students in question. Educators can then collaborate with students in the classroom to help with the integration process in order to discourage discrimination and isolation. The final aim can then be full integration in the mainstream classroom. In this way, Special Education students are presented with goals rather than a perpetual sense of marginalization.

Rather than therefore physically isolating such students in a single Special Education class, they would find greater benefit in an integrated classroom, where they can collaborate with other learners. Educators collaborate with Special Educators in order to implement specific strategies to help these students reach their full potential.

In this way teachers, students, parents, and the school system as a whole can collaborate for ultimate success.

7) a learning disability refers to problems experienced with education on a specific level. Dyslexia is an example of a learning disability. Learning disabilities vary in severity, but at all times interfere with the educational process and learning development, particularly in children. Particularly, this problem affects one or more of the following skills and their acquisition:

Oral language

Reading

Written language

Mathematics.

Response to Intervention (RTI) identifies and addresses student academic difficulties via a comprehensive assessment and intervention process. A problem-solving framework is used to identify and find strategies for mitigating potential problems that the student could face in his or her learning. Specifically, the process involves an increasingly intensive and individualized set of interventions applied to students who show signs of learning difficulties. When students do not show a response (or improvement) to the intervention, are considered disabled and referred for Special Education services.

In some cases, the RTI model would also involve individual comprehensive assessments for non-responsive students to ensure eligibility for special education. These assessments are useful in further identifying specific strengths and weaknesses, and also to ensure that there are no other possible causes for the non-responsive results.

Other RTI models do not involve these extensive assessments. Because it is a fairly recent approach in student assessment, there are no standardized models of RTI that are used throughout the education system. It is however a starting point for more effective assessments of learning disorders.

8) Attention Deficit Disorder - Hyperactivity is generally associated with two types of disorders: short attention span and hyperactivity to the degree that it interferes with normal development and learning. Indeed, at least six of the symptoms listed for the disorder has to persist for at least six months in a degree severe enough to be maladaptive in order for a person to be diagnosed with the disorder. Some of the symptoms for inattention include:

Failing to pay attention to details and making careless mistakes

Difficulty in sustaining attention in tasks

For hyperactivity, sufferers often display symptoms such as fidgeting, and leaving the classroom situation when it is required that they remain.

For treating the disorder, medication forms one component of three approaches. In concomitance, this integrated approach is often referred to as "biopsychosocial," with "bio" being medication, "psycho" psychotherapy, and "social" referring to self-management techniques and social skills.