Educational Placements
This section discusses the placement options for d/Dhh students. In the US, three placement options are inclusive settings, mainstreaming, and residential schools. Similarly, in Turkey, d/Dhh students are placed in either inclusive settings or residential schools. Even though inclusion and mainstreaming have a distinct meaning, these two terms are used interchangeable in Turkey. This section explains educational placement options of the US then Turkey for d/Dhh students.
United States of America
History of Special Education
The early history of foundations for mainstreaming began in the 1960s because educators and parents became frustrated lack of academic and social opportunities for students with disabilities. Almost all of students with disabilities were educated self-contained special education classes. Dunn (1968) wrote an article that played an important role of beginning the mainstreaming movement, and the purpose of that paper was to make education more accessible for exceptional children.
Additionally, because of the American Revolution in Education, general education classrooms became to deal with individual differences, and special education began getting fitted into general education programs. During the 1970s and 1980s mainstreaming rate increased dramatically, and mainstreaming became a norm and built a support for inclusion. Inclusive education structured during the 1980s.
In the history of special education, P.L. 94-142 and Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 started a new era. Section 504 requires federal funds to provide education for each qualified person with disabilities (Huston, 2007). The biggest renovation came with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (I...
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...d be a good role model for them.
• d/Dhh children would be an increase in both social and verbal interaction.
• d/Dhh children’s language, motor, social-emotional, cognitive and personality development are supported positively in academic and social environments.
• d/Dhh children need many skills such as independent living in the community, organized events or games in which they can learn from regular education.
• d/Dhh child 's social acceptance increases.
• By joining a group of friends, and the various activities increase d/Dhh child’s confidence.
Typical students’ benefits:
• d/Dhh children are different from the individuals in society, and hearing children learn how to interact with them.
• Typical children are raising awareness of differences.
• They become more supportive and helpful.
• They learn to give value to the relationship with disabled children.
The Section 504 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was designed to meet the needs of students with disabilities and who do not fall under or qualify for special education services. For example, a student that is perfectly capable of meeting all curricular requirements on assessments and assignments but cannot hear very well will fall under the 504 act. They will not necessarily meet the special education qualifications of the IDEA. Therefore, they will not be classified as special education students and will not receive the same services as special education students, even though they need modifications and accommodations to ensure their overall success. A major curricular impact of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is that all educators are legally required to provide students that meet the requirements to be qualified or classified as a 504 student with the same course of study as general educations students without making changes to their course work. Educators do this by way of allowing additional time on assignments and assessments. They also do this by changing the environment or method of lesson delivery to said students if and when necessary to ensure
Hehir, T. (2009). New directions in special education: Eliminating ableism in policy and practice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Wedl, R. J. (2005). An alternative to traditional eligibility criteria for students with disabilities. In Response to Intervention (pp. 1-19). Education Evolving.
Imagine you are young teenage girl in the high school setting. You look the same as everyone else. Nothing on the outside appears to be abnormal. You want to be included and do everything else the other students are doing. However, you have this learning disability no one knows about except for you, your parents, the exceptional educator, and now your general education teachers. It’s not easy being different wanting to do everything the other students are doing. Well, this is why mainstreaming and inclusion are important for these students. They want to be successful like everyone else. They want to fit in. They want to go to the general education classes with everyone else. Leading up to this is why Individual Education Plans are important for these students to have a chance at normality.
In 1991 the Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was replaced by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law was passed to provide free and appropriate public education to every child with a disability. It requires that each child with a disability “have access to the program best suited to that child’s special needs which is as close as possible to a normal child’s educational program” (Martin, 1978). The Individualized education program (IEP) was developed to help provide a written record of students’ needs and procedures for each child that receives special education services. The IEP will list all the services to be provided, the student's performance level, academic performance, and modifications in place for the student.
Various advocates have made changes towards Special Education over the past hundred years. These changes have made substantial improvements in Special Education, but could also be seen as challenges. As a preschool teacher in an inclusive classroom, I have personally seen the improvements and setbacks these changes have made for my students with disabilities and their families. In this essay, I will be discussing specifically the changes made in Early Childhood Special Education. There are three changes that I will discuss; changes made to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Least Restrictive Environments (LRE) in an early childhood setting, and Early Intervention Programs (EIP).
Prior to 1975, educational options for a child living with a mental or physical disability were limited. The family of the handicapped child was most likely forced down an path that lead to the institutionalization of the child and distancing the child from the benefits of receiving a free and public education. It was after federal legislation passed the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. § 1983) that monumental changes began to develop that allowed a better understanding of the needs and capabilities of people with various handicapping conditions. Soon after this legislation, Public Law 94-142, also known as the Education for all Handicapped Children’s Act of 1975 (EHA) would further increase the public awareness by providing a free appropriate public education (FAPE) for children suffering from disabilities. Following the EHA legislation reformations concerning the education of disabled individuals would soon become numerous and legislative acts were passed enabling accommodations for disabled individuals in the fields of vocations and technology. In 1990, President Gerald Ford signed legislation replacing P.L. 94-142 with the Individual with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (IDEA, 20 USC 1400). By definition, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation (US Department of Education, 2011).
“The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, or gender, but people with disabilities were not included under such protection” (Department of Justice). It was not until 1973 when the Rehabilitation Act came to fruition that people were officially by law protected against discrimination on the basis of either mental or physical disability. The Architectural Barriers Act implemented in 1968 helped people with disabilities have access to buildings and facilities by companies, agencies complying with federal standards for physical accessibility. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). This Act allows people with disabilities into public schools and also requires the school to develop (IEP’s) Individualized Education Programs to be developed and fit individualized needs for the student. Another very important piece of legislation is the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) in which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation and telecommunications services” (A Brief History, p.1).
Inclusion classrooms are rewarding to all children. Numerous school systems today implementing inclusion classrooms, or include students with disabilities into the general education classroom, because of the numerous benefits associated with inclusion. Even though inclusion may not be for all students with disabilities, there are countless benefits of inclusion to consider. In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was passed to guarantee that children with disabilities be given the opportunity to receive a public education ("A Brief History of the Disability Rights Movement", n.d.,). In 1990, 1997, and 2004, reauthorizations of this Act were held, and the law came to be known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA mandates that not only should individuals with disabilities be offered a public education, they also have the right to learn in the least restricted environment. Therefore students with disabilities, both in public and in private schools, are to be educated to the maximum extent possible, and in classrooms together with students with no disabilities. Children with disabilities are most importantly children. Inclusion supplies opportunities for socializing and for friendships to grow. It offers a feeling of belonging and the appropriate encouragement of social, behavioral, and academic skills (Karagiannis, Stainback, and Stainback 28). Including children with disabilities in general education classes generates acceptance of diversity. It teaches children how to connect with others of different capabilities. Inclusion continues to be a debatable idea in education as it pertains to educational and social values, as well as to the sense of individual worth. There are supporters on ...
Students with high-incidence disabilities or HID are the most common in schools. The group of high incidence disabilities include students with emotional, behavioral or mild intellectual disabilities as well as those with autism, speech or language impairments and attention deficit disorder (Gage et al., 2012). Students with HID are usually taught within the general education classroom. There are either co-teachers or a resource teacher that takes the students out of the general education classroom for short periods of time to work in a more individual, structured environment (Personal Improvement Center, n.d.).... ...
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).
The inclusion movement started when the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was passed in 1975. The act guaranteed all children, regardless of disability, the right to a “free and appropriate public education” in the “least restrictive environment,” making inclusion a civil rights issue. In 1990 it was replaced with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). According to NICHCY, “IDEA defines a ‘child with a disability’ as a ‘child... with an intellectual disability, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance..., orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities; AND, who... [because of the condition] needs special education and related services.’” (2011) According to Western Canadian Research Centre on Inclusive Research inclusion is based o...
Those who support an inclusion model for all students take the stand that students with disabilities should be placed in and inclusion setting with the idea that all special education students will benefit from an inclusion setting with their general education peers. An inclusion setting will provide academic growth and social growth. The placement of special education students in a general education classroom would also benefit students to respect and accept those students who are different. Students should be placed in an inclusion setting whenever possible (Noll, 2013).
Inclusion 'mainstreams' physically, mentally, and multiply disabled children into regular classrooms. In the fifties and sixties, disabled children were not allowed in regular classrooms. In 1975 Congress passed the Education of all Handicapped Students Act, now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA mandates that all children, regardless of disability, had the right to free, appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. Different states have different variations of the law. Some allow special needs students to be in a regular education classroom all day and for every subject, and others allow special education students to be in a regular education classroom for some subjects and in a separate classroom for the rest. There are many different views on inclusive education. In this paper I will address some of the positive and negative views on inclusion and ways to prepare educators for inclusive education.
During the late 1980’s and 1990’s the number of children with learning disabilities receiving special education services grew rapidly, but during 1998 and 2007 the number of children classified as having a LD has declined by 7% (Cortiella, 2009). “In 2007, 59% of students with LD spent 80% or more of their in-school time in general education classrooms. In 2000, that figure was just 40%” (Cortiella, 2009). In addition, students with disabilities are spending more time with students in traditional classroom settings. According to the Department of Education, “approximately 6 million children (roughly 10 percent of all school-aged children) receive special education services” (Pardini, 2011).