The Education of Students With Special Needs

1. The Education of Students With Special Needs Provenzo Chapter 12 If we are indeed a democracy in action and not just in name, it is the obligation of the educational system to help—within reason—each and every student to become all he or she is capable of becoming.

2. Education of Students With Special Needs

3. Special Education • 12 to 15 percent of the population: within a special education category.

4. Blind and limited vision Deaf and hard of hearing speech disabilities physical disabilities emotional disturbances learning disabilities developmentally disabilities Diverse categories:

5. The numbers: • More than 6 million U.S. school-age children (12%) have some type of functional limitation. • 5,237,000 (11%) have a limitation in terms of their ability to learn • 2,743,000 (6%) have a communication limitation • 650,000 children (1%) limited mobility

6. A right to be educated • If we are indeed a democracy in action and not just in name, it is the obligation of the educational system to help—within reason—each and every student to become all he or she is capable of becoming. • Historically children with special educational needs have been denied equal educational opportunities.

7. Looking back • Middle Ages and the Renaissance: people who were mentally retarded or psychologically disturbed often considered either divinely possessed or controlled by demons. • Early 1600’s: first programs to teach the deaf to communicate using sign language. • 1760: National Institute for Deaf founded in Paris • Recognized as the first publicly sponsored school for the disabled.

8. Victor • Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard worked with a feral child brought to him in 1799. • Named the young man “Victor”. • First example of a systematic attempt by an educator to meet the particular needs of a special person and to help him develop as fully and completely as possible. http://www.mncdd.org/parallels/three/4.html

9. Pioneers • 1800’s: French educator Edouard Sequin developed a system for treating mentally retarded people that emphasized clinical observation and the development of sensory and motor skills. • Sequin’s work was influential on such people as Maria Montessori. • Samuel G. Howe (1801-1876) started the first school for the blind in the U.S. • Thomas H. Galludet (1787-1851) organized the first school for the deaf in the U.S. • Louis Braille (1809-1852) developed the system of writing that enables the blind to see by touch.

10. Changes in attitudes • Significant changes in attitudes toward special education began in the early 1960s. • 1961: President John F. Kennedy appointed a special committee on mental retardation. • As a result, laws were passed that allocated funds for training experts in special education. • 1967: Bureau of the Handicapped was established by the United States Office of Education to administer research, education, and training programs in special education.

11. Legislation • The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 • Only half of the children identified as disabled in the early 1970s had access to educational programs appropriate to their needs. • Congress made major provisions to guarantee and protect the rights of disabled people. • “No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the U.S. shall solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” • Public Law 94-142 • Passed and signed into law by President Gerald Ford in November, 1975. • Key point: requirement that every child be provided with a “free appropriate public education.” • Among the most controversial conditions of PL 94-142 is the provision that children with disabilities be educated with nondisabled children whenever possible—a process that came to be known as mainstreaming or currently inclusion. • Reauthorized in 1990 as the Individual with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (IDEA). • Key to interpreting Public Law 94-142 and IDEA has been the policy of placing students with special needs into “the least restrictive environment” possible.

12. Equal Access and the Student with Special Needs • The passage of PL 94-142 has forced local school systems to reevaluate their physical plans in light of the needs of special students. • Until the passage of the law in 1975 most facilities were designed exclusively for the nondisabled.

13. Identifying Individuals with Special Needs • At the beginning of the 20th century, it was widely assumed that measuring an individual’s intelligence was possible. • Alfred Binet thought that human intelligence could be precisely measured. • In 1904 Binet was asked by the French government to produce a measurement system that would identify children who could not work in classrooms at the same level as “normal” children. • Binet produced a version of his test in 1908 that measured the mental age of the child, later called intelligence quota (IQ) • Binet felt that his test should provide a general guide to identifying the special needs of students. • He did not feel that intelligence could be captured with a single number or measurement. • In many instances mental testing has proved highly discriminatory and has been used for purposes that were not always in the best interest of the individual.

14. Discussion Questions • What is an appropriate education for a student with special needs? • What are the arguments for and against inclusion of students with special needs into regular classrooms? • Why has interest in the needs of special students in the United States increased since the 1960’s?