SPECIAL EDUCATION

'Special education' is instruction that is modified or particularized for those students with special needs, such as learning differences, mental health problems, specific disabilities (physical or developmental) ^[1]
, and giftedness ^[2].

Contents

History

How is Special Education provided?

Abbreviations

Criticism

Insults

Academic resources

See also

References

Citations and notes

General information

External links

History

Children with special needs have always been part of society. In the past, some “special” education was provided to individual children on a one-on-one basis, such as Jean Marc Gaspard Itard’s work with Victor, the “wild child of Aveyron”. As formal education became established, welfare or religious groups for the care of children with special needs often became involved in their education. Government provision of special education services generally followed the work of voluntary groups.
Progress in Special Education saw a major reversal as the eugenics movement took hold in the mid-1960s. Under eugenics theory, it was irresponsible to care for and educate people with special needs as it would “weaken society”. Eventually, scientific approaches to studying disability, such as behaviourism, led to a new understanding of special education and the vision that all children could learn, no matter what diagnosis they were given.
Initially, special education was provided to children of school age – about six or seven. In the early 1970s, research into Early Childhood Intervention, which involved providing special education from birth or first diagnosis, showed that the earlier special education was provided, the better the outcome for the child and the entire family.
In the United States, this led to the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), which required all public schools in the United States to provide adequate services to any child who had a diagnosed learning disability. The EHA was renewed in 1986 as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Special Education changed with Wolf Wolfensberger's theory of Normalisation - that all people with special needs have the right to lead "normal" lives, including being part of a family, attending a local school, and holding a job in the community. Inspired by this theory, the inclusive education movement fought for social improvement, centering on the improvement of schools. The movement desires to have schools which no longer provide "regular education" and "special education". Instead, schools would provide an inclusive education, and as a result, students would be able to learn together.
Special Education services in the United States now extend past school-age into adulthood with the Post Secondary Transition For High School Students with Disabilities program, as a better understanding of life-long learning has been gained. It includes school-based activities as well as family and community activities, and has become a major testing ground for better teaching for all children, not simply children with special needs.
Special Education has a different quality in different countries. The political, economic and social pressures in each country has led to a different form of Special Education, with different sets of policies and practices.

How is Special Education provided?

The provision of Special Education differs from country to country, and state to state. The ability of a child to access a particular setting may be dependent on their specific needs, location, family choice, or government policy. In the main, special education will be provided in one, or a combination, of the following ways.

★ Self-contained classes, located in mainstream schools but separate from regular education classrooms, are designed specifically for children who have severe special needs and may be termed support classes, SEN bases or units (in the UK), or a variety of jurisdiction-specific terms.

★ Regular education classes combined with special education services is a flexible model often referred to as ''inclusion.'' In this model, children with special needs are educated with their typically developing peers for at least half of the day. Special education services may be provided in other settings at specific times during the day on a pull-out basis, such as resource rooms, occupational, physical and speech therapy, sensory rooms, rooms with special physical equipment, adaptive physical education, etc. Alternatively, specialized services may be provided in the regular classroom by sending the service provider in to work with one or more children in their regular classroom setting.

★ Special schools are specifically designed, resourced and staffed to meet the varied needs of children who need additional support (i.e. physical, cognitive, medical, and psychological].

★ Outreach or related services such as Speech and Language Therapy, Autism Outreach, Occupational Therapy, etc. may be provided to pupils on a visiting basis in their own setting; mainstream school, special school, independent school, home-teaching, etc.

★ Residential centres are live-in schools where complex needs can be met with appropriate medical care and provision of a variety of therapies.
Modifications can consist of changes in curriculum, supplementary aides or equipment, and the provision of specialized facilities that allow students to participate in the educational environment to the fullest extent possible. ^[3] Students may need this help to access subject matter, to physically gain access to the school, or to meet their emotional needs.
Support is targeted to the needs of the individual student and can be short or long term. In the United States, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that special needs students be included in regular education activities as much as possible. In Scotland the Additional Support Needs Act places an obligation on education authorities to meet the needs of all children in consultation with other agencies and parents.

Abbreviations

In North America special education is commonly abbreviated as 'Special Ed', 'SpecEd', 'SPED', and 'SpEd' in a professional context.[1][2] It should be noted that the term 'sped' is often interpreted as an insult.
In England and Wales the initialism SEN is most commonly used when discussing special education needs. The term is used to denote the condition of having special educational needs, the services which provide the support and the programmes and staff which implement the education. [3]. In Scotland the term Special Educational Needs (SEN), and its variants are not official terminology although the very recent implementation of the Additional Support for Learning Act means that both SEN and ASN (Additional Support Needs) are used interchangeably in current common practice.[4]

Criticism

★ Special education as implemented in public schools has been criticized because the qualification criteria for services are extremely variable from one education agency to another.

★ At-risk students (those with educational needs that aren't associated with a disability) are often placed in classes with students with disabilities. Critics assert that placing at-risk students in the same classes as disabled students may impede the educational progress of people with disabilities.

★ Special education programs continue to be criticized by disability activists because they are still often segregated from regular education programs.

★ The currently popular practice of inclusion has been criticized by advocates and some parents of children with disabilities because some of these students require instructional methods that differ dramatically from typical classroom methods. Critics assert that it is not possible to deliver effectively two or more very different instructional methods in the same classroom. As a result, the educational progress of students who depend on different instructional methods to learn often fall even further behind their peers without disabilities.

★ Parents of typically developing children often fear that the special needs of a single "fully included" student will take critical levels of attention and energy away from the rest of the class and thereby impair the academic achievements of all students.

★ Some parents, advocates, and students have concerns about the eligibility criteria and its application. In some cases, parents and students protest the students' placement into special education programs. For example, a student may be placed into the special education programs due to a mental health condition such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks or ADHD, while the student and his parents believe that the condition is adequately managed through medication and outside therapy. In other cases, students whose parents believe they require the additional support of special education services are denied participation in the program based on the eligibility criteria.

Insults

★ Sped

★ ADD freak

Academic resources

★ Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, ISSN: 1468-3148 (electronic) ISSN: 1360-2322 (paper), Blackwell Publishing

★ British Journal of Learning Disabilities, ISSN: 1468-3156 (electronic) , ISSN: 1354-4187 (paper)

★ British Journal of Special Education, ISSN: 1467-8578 (electronic) ISSN: 0952-3383 (paper), Blackwell Publishing

★ Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, ISSN: 1461-7021 (electronic) ISSN: 1359-1045 (paper), SAGE Publications

★ Developmental Neurorehabilitation, ISSN: 1751-8431 (electronic) 1751-8423 (paper), Informa Healthcare

★ Disability & Society, ISSN: 1360-0508 (electronic) 0968-7599 (paper), Routledge

★ Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, ISSN: 1365-2788 (electronic) ISSN: 0964-2633 (paper), Blackwell Publishing

★ Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, ISSN: 1741-1130 (electronic) ISSN: 1741-1122 (paper), Blackwell Publishing

See also

★ Adapted Physical Education

★ UK Department for Education and Skills

★ Disability studies

★ Exceptional education

★ Least restrictive environment

★ Mainstreaming in education

★ Post Secondary Transition For High School Students with Disabilities

★ Response to intervention

★ Special Education in the United States

★ SENDIST - Special Education and Disabilities Tribunal

References

Citations and notes

1. http://www.minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?layout=document&documentid=7301&data=l
2. http://www.schoolofchoice.com/academy/specialed.html
3. http://www.weac.org/resource/june96/speced.htm

General information

★ Wilmshurst, L, & Brue, A. W. (2005).

External links

★ Council for Exceptional Children

★ U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

★ [5]

★ Special Education and Medicaid KnowledgeBase

★ Education and Advocacy for Children

★ Special Education Questions Answered

★ National Association of School Psychologists

★ Special Educational Needs (SEN) Teaching Tools and Support Websites

★ Schools for Children, Inc. blog covering special education and research into special ed. need and supports

★ When It's Your Own Child: A Report on Special Education from the Families Who Use It Public Agenda, 2002

★ Inclusive Education in Scotland

★ LD Online

★ SchwabLearning.org A parent and educator's guide to helping kids with learning difficulties through free information, resources, and support.

★ Idea.ed.gov Federal disability categories and definitions for parents and educators

★ Mental Health Advocay Services