Special education
This involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials, and accessible settings.
These interventions are designed to help individuals with special needs achieve a higher level of personal self-sufficiency and success in school and in their community, which may not be available if the student were only given access to a typical classroom education.
Although the discrepancy model has dominated the school system for many years, there has been substantial criticism of this approach (e.g., Aaron, 1995, Flanagan and Mascolo, 2005) among researchers.
Sternberg (1999) has argued that early remediation can greatly reduce the number of children meeting diagnostic criteria for learning disabilities.
He has also suggested that the focus on learning disabilities and the provision of accommodations in school fails to acknowledge that people have a range of strengths and weaknesses and places undue emphasis on academics by insisting that students should be supported in this area and not in music or sports.
Special educators provide a continuum of services, in which students with various disabilities receive multiple degrees of support based on their individual needs.
Accommodations and modifications to the regular program may include changes in the curriculum, supplementary aids or equipment, and the provision of specialized physical adaptations that allow students to participate in the educational environment as much as possible.
However, this practice is often frowned upon by school districts in the US in the light of the least restrictive environment as mandated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Seclusion is the practice of involuntarily locking a student in an isolated room, utility closet or office alone without the ability to leave until school staff allows.
In the 19th century, people with disabilities and the inhumane conditions where they were supposedly housed and educated were addressed in the literature of Charles Dickens.
[34] Such attention to the downtrodden conditions of people with disabilities brought resulted in reforms in Europe including the re-evaluation of special schools.
As an example, students who have poor impulse control, behavioral challenges, or are autistic may learn self-management techniques, be kept closely on a comfortingly predictable schedule, or given extra cues to signal activities.
[citation needed] For students with autism, there are apps called "visual scene displays" that are most helpful for children who are having difficulty with verbal skills, according to Jules Csillag, a speech–language pathologist who focuses on special ed tech.
Apps such as SceneSpeak and Speech with Milo help autistic children develop storytelling skills with text-to-speech voice and interactive storybooks.
For example, studies show it boosts self confidence and improves the participant's skills in relationship building and working as part of a team.
[61] A 2021 study that examined the impact of a sharp reduction in the provision of special education services in Texas found that this policy change substantially reduced the high school completion rates and college enrollment rates of the students who were denied access to special education.
According to the World Health Survey, in 14 of 15 low and middle income countries, disabled people of working age were about one-third less likely to have completed primary school.
[68] One large issue are limited resources enabling individuals with special needs to receive an education in the developing world.
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.
This implies that the status has changed to a national policy on special education in 2015 (an expanded version), thereby widening its scope and activities.
[39] Some local areas such as Koto Ward in Tokyo are expanding these tsukyu (or, as of 2019[update], tsubasa classrooms) to cover all junior high schools within the next few years.
Tsukyu are resource rooms that students with milder difficulties use part-time for specialized instruction individually in small groups.
[39] They have a right to extra time, a choice of formats for the tests (e.g., oral rather than written), and any equipment that they normally use during the school day.
In 2012 and 2013, the media criticized how students with disabilities that are considered more mild, such as dyslexia, have been placed in special schools, saying that this may seriously hamper their chances on the labour market.
As with most countries in the world, students who are poor, ethnic minorities, or do not speak the dominant language fluently are disproportionately identified as needing special education services.
[citation needed] Awareness and recognition of this group's educational rights led to an increase in advocacy for accessibility for disabled children.
[103] As with most countries in the world, students who are poor, ethnic minorities, or do not speak the dominant language fluently are disproportionately identified as needing special education services.
"[105] During the 1960s, in some part due to the civil rights movement, some researchers began to study the disparity of education amongst people with disabilities.
[106] The landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, which declared unconstitutional the "separate but equal" arrangements in public schools for students of different races, paved the way for PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Mills vs. Board of Education of District of Columbia, which challenged the segregation of students with special needs.
In the United States, three out of five students with academic learning challenges spend the overwhelming majority of their time in the regular classroom.
