The issue of disabilities and special education in the US
Policy on the issue:
IDEA was created to offer individuals with disabilities an opportunity for a free and appropriate education. There are 4 sections to the legislation, evaluating Special education accommodations and services. Special education law consists of broad requirements that mandate schools provide a free appropriate public education.
Background history:
People with disabilities used to be marginalized, hence they were psychological traumatized and socially stigmatized, with no protective laws in place at the time to help the disabled. They had to endure public ridicule and deal with being different. “Disability was an abnormal shameful condition and should be medically cured nor fixed”.
At the start of the 1960s, a ton of events happened for the disabled people. The start of civil rights movements started the progression towards was fortunate for the disabled people as well. Disabled people benefitted because they received equal treatment also being a minority group. Parents started to advocate against isolation and educational limitations in asylums and institutions and lobbied for change. They wanted the children to have the same education environment as other individuals without disabilities. This called in awareness for special education programs. Also, exploring the emotional effects in traumas of the disabled children and receiving education in asylum and institutions was very disturbing. For disabled children to thrive in unrestrictive educational environment they needed to be made to feel they are not abnormal. Ctation: https://www.adl.org/education/resources/backgrounders/disability-rights-movement https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgg.asp
Special education services were federally mandated in 1975 by the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This was later modified and became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. IDEA requires states to provide children with special education services as a condition of receiving federal funds.
From a sociological perspective special education is a complex topic, as it impacts at both micro and macro levels of the society. Most parents believe that federal and state governments provide funding and some even assume that special education is entirely funded by the federal government. But it is the local school districts who are mainly responsible for a free appropriate education
On a macro level, special education requires additional funds to pay for expensive services and accommodations. Under IDEA, students with learning disabilities represent a large population among other disabilities. 40% of government funding is directed towards special education and every 38 cents of a dollar contribute to special education.
Several factors could be influencing the overall child-count numbers and the shifts in categorization. Research has shown that some children with disabilities are being reclassified; for example, a child who might once have been identified as intellectually disabled or emotionally disturbed might now be classified as autistic. Some children who in previous years would not have crossed the special education threshold may now meet a state’s identification guidelines. Also, policy changes such as the rise of response to intervention, an educational framework designed to provide targeted assistance to academically lagging students, have been tagged as one possible reason why fewer children are identified with specific learning disabilities.
One question to address is how can the government allocate enough funds if more and more students are claiming disabilities.
How was the program growing?
Before the 1950s, no federal law was passed to consider whether students with disabilities should have access to public school education. This was decided by the discretion of school districts. In 1975, the education of All handicapped children Act was passed later renamed as IDEA.
IDEA made it possible for all students with disabilities to receive a free and appropriate education. While this act opened special-education services and accommodations for students in need of special education it also made it more difficult to control the growth of this group population. The growth happened to because more students were able to identify with disability. IDEA expanded their criteria to protect individuals with ADD and ADHD special learning disability. As this opened flow of opportunities for these students, school districts had hard time paying for additional services and transportation fees. For every special education individual, tuition cost twice the amount for regular education. This is because the great need for occupational therapy and speech therapy programs. Schools find it cheaper to send out students for services then to house special programs/services. The low staffing and cut back on budget cuts leaves school districts out of money to supply their students with the proper education. In 1975, around the stir of the civil rights movement, a new IDEA was forced to expand their services to other populations of individuals who protects individuals within 8 areas, including autism, emotional disturbed, visual impaired , deaf- blind, etc.
IDEA has lowered the age limit to open accommodations for students as young as 3 years old. It has also broadened their eligibility criteria to expand their services to a population of students with autism and brain injuries. Department of education proposed a policy clarification for students ADHD and ADD to receive special education under the health impartment category. ADHD and ADD are now considered to be disabled and sent for special education. A similar approach was applied to students with specific disability(SLD). Specific Disability disorder, is more of a category. IDEA population with vary of abilities and skills.
The IDEA act has been successful thus far; however, because the categories of people receiving special education services is growing these programs need more funds. The population of students identified with specific learning disability is the largest population among students receiving special education.
”As might be expected, the consequence of these trends is the skyrocketing cost of special education, often at the expense of regular education. According to the National School Boards Association, the per-pupil cost of special education is 2.1 times the cost of regular education. Since the average perpupil expenditure in the United States is about $6,200, the average cost for students in special education is about $13,000 annually. Hence, the average excess cost of special education is $6,800 per pupil. Since IDEA covers 6.1 million children ages 3 to 21, the total cost of special education for these children is $79.3 billion, which is $41.5 billion more than a regular education would cost for them.” (CITATION article)
In 1990 the educational act was renamed Individuals with disabilities with Education. The was a major benefit for the parents of disabled children it involved the parents in educational process. Parents are allowed to construct an educational plan relevant to the child’s disability. Funding these specific accommodations for different disabilities is a cost issue. Federal government acknowledgement of the cost issues regarding special education services is a major burden. FARE was created to alleviate these concerns. It was established to provide free public education and that it must be appropriate to the specified disability.
Arguments have ensued over children’s funding needs with the school district and parents. According to an underlying issue, there is are special education programs that are too expensive to run and since the Disability Act of 1975, all disabled students are guaranteed the right to free education, the numbers of disabled students are now more populated than ever before. The limited resources that special education programs offer students are private placement, transportation, technology access, and intervention classrooms. However, due to budget cuts and the individualized services that each student needs, raising tuition and program expenses have board administrators putting a stop to private placement and special in-house programs. This is a prime example of sociological cutbacks.
After years of steady decline, the nationwide count of school-age students covered under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has shown an upswing since the 2011-12 school year based on the most recently available federal data, driven by rapid growth in such disability categories as autism.
The need to eliminate in house services reduce the number of staff employees, our children will not receive an adequate professional assessment. School districts struggled, hard time paying for additional services and transportation fees. For every special education individual, tuition cost twice the amount for regular education. This is because the great need occupational therapy and speech therapy programs. Schools find it cheaper to send out students for services then to house special programs and/or services. The low staffing and cut back on budget cuts leaves school districts out of money to supply their students with the proper education.
It is often confused with students who are low achievers and too often school districts place low achievers without a disability in special education to receive funding for the services that are not paid in regular education. Additionally, the schools’ efforts to receive more merits include the school districts to excluding the report of low achievers by placing them in special education. For the same reason (to explain promotions and bonus), the school allocates more money when reports show higher scores on standardized exams. Parents contribute to the population growth of students in special education programs by becoming accepting of their child’s disability and the “sweet” benefits such as receiving brand new computers, paid transportation, free educational expenses, etc.
On a macro level, special education requires additional funds to pay for expensive services and accommodations. Under IDEA, students with learning disabilities (SLD)represent a large population among other disabilities. 40% of government funding is directed towards special education and every 38 cents of a dollar contribute to special education.
Moving forward some possible solutions are that parent should design their child’s individual program since they know their child’s needs more intimately than an assigned case worker. The child is just a simple name in the case load and will not be treated as a parent would with their child. The adults involved in the care of the disabled child need to have certain qualities for their success. Understanding, awareness and extra compassion to ensure needs are met and addressed appropriately. There needs to be a personal interest invested as far as the case worker assigned. It cannot be just a job, there needs to underlying motivation to really want to help the child overcome their disabling challenges that the barriers to their educational goals.