Discussion Questions Special Education

Special Education: Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions: Special Education

the IEP is a joint learning and productive process. How can theories of learning and cognitive development be used to improve the development and implementation of EIPs within the special education community?

Individual Education Programs (IEPs) are among the core provisions for maximizing learning outcomes for students with disabilities under the IDEA. An IEP basically is a document spelling out an individual child's learning needs, the strategies that the instructor intends to use to address those needs, and details on how the child's progress will be measured. It is an individualized document, and is unique to every child with special needs. How well a child performs will depend, to a large extent, on the effectiveness of the IEP that is used to govern their learning.

Theories of cognitive learning and development provide a crucial basis for developing quality and effective IEPs. We will use two theories to illustrate why this is so. The first is Vygotsky's theory of learning and cognitive development -- this theory suggests that learners do not obtain information solely through the individual effort of their instructors; rather, the learning process is influenced by the social and cultural factors in one's environment (Shaffer & Kip, 2013). This means that in order to effectively align special education placement with the delivery of quality education, the process of developing an IEP must involve all participants in a child's life, and these must be educated on how social and cultural factors in the child's environment contribute to the learning process, and how they themselves contribute to these factors. Participants need to come together and understand the factors that contribute positively to the learning process, and those that do not; and together, they need to develop a framework that they all, in their individual capacities, could play to increase the positive factors and lessen the effect of the negative ones so that the learning process flows smoothly. This way, the developed IEP would have be better placed to deliver what is best, in both the school and the home environment, for the child with special needs.

The second theory is Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. This theory suggests that contrary to popular belief, intelligence is not only represented by one's linguistic and mathematical intelligence; rather, there are a total of nine intelligences, and an individual could have any of the nine (Comer & Gould, 2010). For instance, one child could have mathematical/logical intelligence (displaying an aptitude for problem-solving, numbers and reasoning), and another could have visual intelligence (learns best through visualizing and organizing things spatially). Delivering effective outcomes depends on an instructor's ability to identify each individual child's intelligence (Comer & Gould, 2010). The same framework is used in the development of IEPs. Participants in the IEP meeting need to fully understand the individual child's intelligence, that is whether they learn best through songs and patterns, through games and hands-on tasks, through puzzles and art, and so on so that they are able to devise strategies that tap fully into their potential. These two theories perfectly demonstrate how the precepts of cognitive and learning theories can be used in the development of effective IEPs.

Question 2: Given the number of states on the 'Needs Improvement List' from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), it can be inferred that many school districts struggle with the development and implementation of IEPs. What are the most significant ways by which you can assist school districts in training staff to develop and implement effective IEPs?