Special Education: Contemporary Perspectives
for School Professionals
Chapter 1: Understanding Special Education
Concepts that Define Special Education
Special Education: (First Component of Special Ed: SpEd that is
specifically designed instruction)
o Is not a place, it is the set of services students receive that may be
provided in any school setting
o Defined as: Specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to
meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including:
Instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals andinstitutions, and in other settings And instruction in physical education Other programs and services received in addition to the typical
programs and services of general education that are not adequate
o The means through which children who have disabilities receive an education specifically designed to help them reach their
learning potential Related Services: (Second Component of Special Ed) o Transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services (including speech/language pathology and
audiology services, interpreting services, psychological services,
physical & occupational therapy, recreation – including therapeutic
recreation, social work services, school nurse services designed to
enable a child with a disability to receive a free appropriate public
education as described in the IEP of the child, counseling services
including rehab counseling, orientation and mobility services and
medical services, except that such medical services shall be for
diagnostic and evaluation purposes only) o The term does not include a medical device that is surgically implanted or the replacement of the device o These supports are NOT directly related to a student’s instruction, but they are needed so that a student can access instruction o Could include: bus equipped with a wheelchair lift, individual counseling and physical therapy o A team of professionals decides which related services are needed by each student with a disability Supplementary Aids and Services (Third Component of Special Ed) o Aids, services and other supports that are provided in regular education classes or other education-related settings to enable
children with disabilities to be educated with non-disabled children to the maximum extent appropriate in accordance with section 1412 o All the items that can help a student remain in a classroom with typical peers Development of the Special Education Field Early History o Much of the earliest info about individuals with disabilities focused on adults o Attention to children with disabilities emerged in the 19 th century o In 1800, Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard introduced the notion that even children with significant needs could benefit from instruction and
were worthy of attention o In the mid-19 th century, Seguin (Student of Itard) believed that children who were blind, intellectually disabled or emotionally
disabled could be trained to become productive members of society His method included creating a structured learning environment
with attention to developing the senses, learning basic academic
skills and engaging in regular physical activity He brought key concepts to the study of educating children with
special needs including the positive impact of rewards, the
potentially negative impact of punishment and the importance of
structure and clear directions. These ideas are still essential to
effective special ed o The first public school special class in the US was established in Cleveland Ohio in 1875 but was disbanded shortly after In 1986 another class was recorded in Providence RI By the turn of the 20 th century others were established in cities such as Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and New York o The Beginnings of Today’s Education System During the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries urbanization, immigration, and industrialization flourished causing people to seek
employment in urban areas including immigrants. This caused
serious societal tension Prominent researchers began suggesting that individuals with
intellectual and other disabilities were a threat to society and
should not be allowed to have children Using this flawed rationale, the eugenics movement emerged in
which many adults, including those with disabilities, were
involuntarily sterilized in order to keep them from “diluting” what
was considered the superior American race. Some 31 states
passed laws to make the practice of sterilization legal when
individuals were judged to be incompetent (Several of these laws were on the books until the 1970’s) During this same period, compulsory public education began to
grow, partly as an economic response to the changing society Mandatory school attendance functioned to keep children out of the
labor force which ensured that jobs would be available for the
rapidly growing pool of adult workers, both immigrants and those
moving from farms to cities Schools during this time were designed like the assembly line,
American citizens were to be created by moving all children (raw
material) from grade to grade as they received a standardized
education Until the second half of the 20 th century, children with disabilities sometimes were sent to live in institutions and sometimes were
denied any access to education. If in school, they were segregated
in separate classrooms or schools To this point, students with significant disabilities have not been
considered for 2 reasons: First, many students with multiple special needs who today thrive
because of advanced medical technology would not have survived
during this era. For those who did, public school was not an option: Second, these children were kept at home, educated by private
agencies or placed in institutions o Discrimination and a Call for Change The expanding practice of educating students with disabilities in
separate classes or schools continued unquestioned during the first
half of the 20 th century Shortly after the advent of the modern civil rights movement in
education, with the 1954 Brown vs. BOE decision clarifying that
“separate cannot be equal”, some professionals began questioning
whether separate classes provided students with disabilities with an
appropriate education o Research and Rethinking of Assumptions (50’s & 60’s) Researchers analyzed traditional special education in a series of
studies collectively referred to as The Efficacy Studies that
compared the achievement and social adjustment of students with
intellectual disabilities who were enrolled in special classes to that
of students of similar abilities who remained in general education
settings The studies tended to find that students with intellectual
disabilities in general education classes achieved more
academically than those in special classes, probably because teachers’ expectations of them were higher and because they
were learning in the same curriculum as other students In special classes, developing manual or job-related skills was
emphasized (An approach reflecting the beliefs encouraged during
the eugenics movement that such students were incapable of
learning academic material) In the mid 1960’s, influential researcher Lloyd Dunn wrote an essay
entitled “Special Education for the Mildly Retarded: Is Much of It
Justifiable?” The essay questioned whether separate classes could
provide an adequate education for students with disabilities, and he
challenged educators to use emerging technology and research on
effective teaching to educate students with disabilities along with
their peers. During this time, other professionals were looking beyond academic
instruction to broader issues related to disabilities, especially the
stigmatizing effect of labels Mercer coined the phrase “The six-hour retarded child” to make
the point that some students, often those from nondominant races
or cultures or those who spoke a language other than English,
were considered intellectually disabled while they were in school,
but not in their neighborhoods What became clear was that special education was not just a
means of assisting children with disabilities; it also had become a
means of discriminating against students who were perceived by
educators as more challenging to teach o Litigation for the Rights of Students with Disabilities (50’s & 60’s) During this time researchers were debating the quality and impact
of special education on students Also during this time parent groups advocating for the rights of
children with disabilities were becoming increasingly vocal. Parents
of children with significant disabilities rightly wanted to know why
their sons and daughters could not be educated in the public-school
system (why they were told to keep their children at home, put
them in institutions or send them to private agencies for their
education Other parents objected to the quality of their sons’ and daughters’
education. These parents began to win landmark court cases on
their children’s behalf.
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School: Utah Valley University
Department: OTHER
Course: Exceptional Students
Professor: Byron Kennedy
Term: Spring 2019
Tags: Special, Education, and laws
Name: Ch 1 Notes
Description: Notes from Ch. 1 Special Ed Laws
Uploaded: 01/30/2019
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