Let’s begin with some Food for Thought…
Imagine that it is 1967 and you are back in the second grade—the same grade as your child now. Like your child, you are a whiz at Math, but you struggle mightily when reading a story or writing a simple sentence.
Unlike your child, though, you would not have had the benefit of any special education services. In 1967, if you were attending a public school, such services did not exist for children who today would be identified with a learning disability. You would have likely struggled through a difficult education experience, struggling to advance to the next grade.
How has history of special education in our schools changed?
Chronology of Federal Legislation:
1969 Children with Specific Learning Disabilities Act mandates support services for students with learning disabilities
1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act officially recognized “specific learning disability” (SLD) as a category eligible for special education funding and service.
Later renamed, the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), a specific learning disability was define as “…a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.” (Code of Federal Regulations 300.7 (c)(10))
2004 Reauthorization of IDEA which is officially known as the discrepancy model. It measures the discrepancy between a child’s academic performance and his/her intellectual ability. A significant discrepancy typically indicates a LD.
Overview of ADA, IDEA, and Section 504:
American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
Type/Purpose: A civil rights law to prohibit discrimination solely on the basis of disability in employment, public services, and accommodations.
Who is Protected? Any individual with a disability who: (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more life activities; or (2) has a record of such an impairment; or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment.
Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA)
Type/Purpose: An education act to provide federal financial assistance to state and local education agencies to guarantee special education and related services to eligible children with disabilities.
Who is Protected? Children ages 3-21 who are determined by a multidisciplinary team to be eligible within one or more 13 specific categories of disability and who need special education and related services. Categories include autism, deafness, deaf-blindness, hearing impairments, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairments, other health impairments, serious emotional disturbance, specific learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairments.
Responsibility to Provide a Free, Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)? Yes. A FAPE is defined to mean special education and related services. Special education means “specifically designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the needs of the child with a disability…” States are required to ensure the provision of “full educational opportunity” to all children with disabilities.
IDEA requires the development of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) document with specific content, and a required number of specific participants at an IEP meeting.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Type/Purpose: A civil rights law to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities, public and private that receive federal financial assistance.
Who is Protected? Any person who (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (2) has a record of such impairment, or (3) is regarded as having such impairment. Major life activities include walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, learning, working, caring for oneself, and performing manual tasks.
Responsibility to Provide a Free, Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)? Yes. An “appropriate” education means an education comparable to that provided to students without disabilities. This may be defined as regular or special education services.
Section 504 does require development of a plan, although this written document is not mandated. The Individualized Education Program (IEP) of IDEA may be used for the Section 504 written plan.
So, I pose the question:
Is inclusion the only schooling that is socially just?
As part of the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the least restrictive environment is identified as one of the six principles that govern the education of students with disabilities and other special needs. By law, schools are required to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment that is appropriate to the individual student's needs."Least restrictive environment" means that a student who has a disability should have the opportunity to be educated with non-disabled peers, to the greatest extent appropriate. They should have access to the general education curriculum, or any other program that non-disabled peers would be able to access. The student should be provided with supplementary aids and services necessary to achieve educational goals if placed in a setting with non-disabled peers.
Who has influenced the aforementioned changes?
Education and democracy are intimately connected.
Dewey polarizes two extremes of education—traditional and progressive education. The term, “progressive education” has been used to describe ideas and practices that aim to make schools more effective agencies of a democratic society. Although there are numerous differences of style and emphasis among progressive educators, they share the conviction that democracy means active participation by all citizens in social, political and economic decisions that will affect their lives.
The education of engaged citizens involves two essential elements: (1) Respect for diversity, meaning that each individual should be recognized for his or her own abilities, interests, ideas, needs, and cultural identity, (2) the development of critical, socially engaged intelligence, which enables individuals to understand and participate effectively in the affairs of their community in a collaborative effort to achieve a common good.
Key Words: collectivity, reciprocity, plurality
Equipped with the historical context of special education and backed by theory, how are you going to live out Kliewer's argument of inclusion in schooling and in our greater society?
No comments:
Post a Comment