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Education of children with disabilities
Background history of special education
Education of children with disabilities
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Mainstreaming is a very controversial subject in world of education, yet it is such a milestone event for all special needs children. After researching the history of handicapped and special needs children, I have a stronger outlook on the subject matter. As a teacher in training I feel that all children must feel comfortable, safe, and free in order to grow and to discover. Mainstreaming can achieve such a goal for most special needs children today. Yet, as always, there are some exceptions. First of all, I must explain the history of mainstreaming, and the leaps and bounds our nation has over come to arrive to a place of understanding our future citizen’s needs. In the early twentieth century our national, state, and local governments’ funded the outburst of intuitions and hospitals for the mentally ill, and for the physically disabled. The increasing admissions had resulted in major overcrowding. Funding was often cut, especially during periods of economic decline, and during wartime. It became notorious for poor living conditions, lack of hygiene, overcrowding, ill-treatment, and abused patients. [1] Most family members were so shamed to have son, daughter, brother, or sister to have such an illness, and shunned the “imbecile” away. Out of sight, and out of society. Most patients were left to decay, and forget. Subsequent to War World II, many individual and parent-organized advocacy groups formed such as, American Association on Mental Deficiency, United Cerebral Palsy Association, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and John F. Kennedy’s Panel on Mental Retardation. Americans were forming a voice as the civil rights movement helped pave the way. This movement called for the monumental event, the Public Law 94... ... middle of paper ... ...ping a disabled child, and the impact that would have on each student. As adults, most of us strive on each others help and guidance as we look for appreciation and respect. I believe there is a need for classrooms that involve mainstreaming and inclusion. I also recognize the exceptions of severe disabled cases which may be impossible to achieve any growth in a mainstreamed class. All humans have limitations and strong points so let’s gain knowledge and respect together. Works Cited 1. Fakhourya W, Priebea S (August 2007). "Deinstitutionalization and reinstitutionalization: major changes in the provision of mental healthcare". Psychiatry 6: 313–316. doi:10.1016/j.mppsy.2007.05.008. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1476179307001085. 2. Ryan, Cooper ( 2009). Those Who Can, Teach 11th Edition Chapter 3 66 Houghten-Mifflen, Chicago,
Pollack, Harold. "What Happened to U.S. Mental Health Care after Deinstitutionalization." Washingtonpost.com. N.p., 12 June 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
As a result of the lack of regulation in state mental institutions, most patients were not just abused and harassed, but also did not experience the treatment they came to these places for. While the maltreatment of patients did end with the downsizing and closing of these institutions in the 1970’s, the mental health care system in America merely shifted from patients being locked up in mental institutions to patients being locked up in actual prisons. The funds that were supposed to be saved from closing these mental institutions was never really pumped back into treating the mentally ill community. As a result, many mentally ill people were rushed out of mental institutions and exposed back into the real world with no help where they ended up either homeless, dead, or in trouble with the law. Judges even today are still forced to sentence those in the latter category to prison since there are few better options for mentally ill individuals to receive the treatment they need. The fact that America, even today, has not found a proper answer to treat the mentally ill really speaks about the flaws in our
Done correctly, mainstreaming does not mean simply placing the child into a classroom of regular students and expecting him to succeed on his own. Instead, it takes extra help to integrate autistic children into a mainstreamed environment because the others in the classroom are more socially motivated, whereas the child is more instinctively and structurally motivated (Siegel 226). With the help and constant support of special aids within the classroom, a child with autistic disorders has a better chance of succeeding because they are around children who will encourage proper behavior and social skills.
According to Szasz (2005), “In principle, the mental patient is considered competent (until proven [otherwise]). In practice, the client is regularly treated as if he were incompetent and the psychiatrist who asserts that he needs treatment is treated as if he were the patient’s guardian” (p.78). During the 1940’s patients who were mentally ill were considered “legally incompetent” when committed into a mental health facility. Relatives of the patients could release them by providing care in their homes for the client. Unfortunately, Szasz (2005) claims, that “the treatment of mental diseases is no more successful today than it was in the past” (p.78).
Mental illness has been around as long as people have been. However, the movement really started in the 19th century during industrialization. The Western countries saw an immense increase in the number and size of insane asylums, during what was known as “the great confinement” or the “asylum era” (Torrey, Stieber, Ezekiel, Wolfe, Sharfstein, Noble, Flynn Criminalizing the Seriously Mentally Ill). Laws were starting to be made to pressure authorities to face the people who were deemed insane by family members and hospital administrators. Because of the overpopulation in the institutions, treatment became more impersonal and had a complex mix of mental and social-economic problems. During this time the term “psychiatry” was identified as the medical specialty for the people who had the job as asylum superintendents. These superintendents assumed managerial roles in asylums for people who were considered “alienated” from society; people with less serious conditions wer...
Over the years people who had mental disabilities were not always treated like human beings. The mistreatment of people in psychiatric hospitals stayed relatively the same from the 1900’s until around the 1950s and 60s. The mentally disabled had very different treatment, perception, and rights than what they have now. There have been laws put in place in order to let the mentally disabled have more rights to their treatment and education.
As time goes on, the law has put more emphasis on facility just like Bridgewater State Hospital in which many of the actions of the facility workers can face legal consequences such as facing prison time, fines, lawsuits, and etc. Society has a better understanding of why certain people act the way that they do and being more knowledgeable about psychology and mental diseases allows us to have a different approach when dealing with these topics or these individuals. In today’s era, there are many normal individuals who are willing to stand up for those who do not have a voice of their own. I believe that this change in one’s ability to stand up for another individual or group of individuals is what brought about change to the medical environment of those who are mentally
Until the middle of the last century, public mental health in the United States had been the responsibility, for the most part, of individual states, who chose to deal with their most profoundly mentally-ill by housing them safely and with almost total asylum in large state mental hospitals. Free of the stresses we all face in our lives, the mentally-ill faced much better prospects for peaceful lives and even recovery than they would in their conditions in ordinary society. In the hospitals, doctors were always accessible for help, patients were assured food and care, and they could be monitored to insure they never became a danger to themselves or others. Our nation’s state hospital system was a stable, efficient way to help improve the lives of our mentally disabled.
What do we do with children with disabilities in the public school? Do we include them in the general education class with the “regular” learning population or do we separate them to learn in a special environment more suited to their needs? The problem is many people have argued what is most effective, full inclusion where students with all ranges of disabilities are included in regular education classes for the entire day, or partial inclusion where children spend part of their day in a regular education setting and the rest of the day in a special education or resource class for the opportunity to work in a smaller group setting on specific needs. The need for care for children with identified disabilities both physical and learning continues to grow and the controversy continues.
Deinstitutionalization- a term popularized in the mid fifties to early seventies, was an experiment involving the release of some 830,000 mental patients. By reducing state mental hospitals by 60%, this ideology was found very appealing by Liberals due to mental patients receiving their freedom (Website 1). It was also liked by conservatives because of the large amount of money that would be saved by cutting the mental health budget.
Mainstreaming in education of deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) students has become a way for everyone to benefit. The improvements of the Individual with Disability Education Act (IDEA) have led to a better understanding of D/HH inclusion. The 1970s IDEA’s main focus for D/HH students was to integrate them into classrooms with their hearing peers so that they could “learn” to hear (Rosen). The problem with this notion is obvious though; a person with a hearing loss cannot “learn” to hear. Since the 1970s inclusion has been slow to change. It wasn’t until the late 1990s that Congress realized that schools were not facilitating communication well with D/HH students. This led to IDEA mandating that all Individualized Education Plans (IEP) for D/HH students need to address communication difficulties between the student and his or her hearing peers and teachers (Rosen). Even though communication supports are now mandated, D/HH students who have been placed in mainstream schooling still face many problems, including being ostracized by peers and unaccommodated by teachers. However, when the students, teachers and school system are open to creating a D/HH inclusive classroom, everyone is presented with a new environment from which they can learn.
Individuals diagnosed with a mental illness have been a vulnerable population through history. Historical figures such as Dorothea Dix and John F Kennedy advocated for change and reform within the programs for mental health. There has been significant changes to policies for this population throughout history. One policy, Kendra’s Law, is for court ordered treatment for individuals with a severe and persistent mental illness.
...ons from the 1%: Children with Labels of Severe Disabilities and Their Peers as Architects of Inclusive Education. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 12(5-6), 543-561.
It is required that the student be placed in the setting most like that of typical peers in which they can succeed when provided with needed supports and services (Friend, 2014). In other words, children with disabilities are to be educated with children who are not disabled to the maximum extent appropriate. Removal may only occur when education in regular classes, with the use of supplementary aids and services, cannot be achieved satisfactorily (Yell, 2006).
Inclusion has become increasingly important in education in recent years, with the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act being passed in 2004 to ensure equality in our system. In summary, inclusion is the idea of there being no child...