The current status of Special Education.
I believe that the current status of Special Education is one that is put on the back burner too often. In some of my experiences as a daily substitute, long-term substitute, or just an observer, I have seen both good and bad situations with students with disabilities. I think that mostly the issue comes down to funding. In a perfect world, each student that has a disability, whether it is physical, mental, or social, would have an IEP and would have an Individual Assistant (IA) in all of their classes that would help them if needed. However, schools do not have it in their budget to hire IAs for each of their students. I understand that not every student with an IEP will need an IA, but it seems most of the time there is a need for more IAs rather than less. These IAs play an integral role in helping students with IEPs or 504s because their focus is on those few students. Teachers have classes ranging in size and with an already diverse group of students to teach it can stretch any teacher to the limit to also provide the level of close watch students with disabilities need.
In addition to the lack of funds to hire more people, there is also the issue of delegating responsibility, which is linked to the lack of personnel. During my last long-term substitute position at a high school, one of my co-workers who is an IA always seemed to be running around doing something helping a teacher or helping a student. When I asked her why she did so much stretching her limits, she told me that she has to otherwise the quality of education her students with IEPs get. Her workload is simply too much between her case load, responsibilities, and what she can do because there were so few of them in the building. The staff hired who are expected to help students with IEPs and to get a quality education that is parallel to their peers lack the support. Whether it is delegating responsibility to the IAs that could be better suited for someone else, not giving IAs access to all the same resources teachers have, or just giving IAs too much to handle, it is ultimately the students who suffer. Making sure that the people in the school have the responsibilities they should have will make sure the quality of education doesn't suffer.
Although I focused a lot on the negatives of the status of Special Education on a local level, the status of Special Education as a whole in the big picture sense is doing well. There are policies in place to give these students the best education they can get and the stigma has been getting better, in my opinion, of children with disabilities. There is hope for these students to graduate and lead successful lives. However, without proper action, these ideas and hopes just become wishes. To sum up, the status of Special Education in the United States is that it is a work in progress.
Citations:
Archived: 25 Year
History of the IDEA. (2007, July 19). Retrieved July 8, 2015, from
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/leg/idea/history.html
History of Special Education.
(2015). Retrieved July 8, 2015, from http://www.learningrx.com/history-of-special-education.htm
Section 504 - Civil
Rights Law, Protection from Discrimination - Wrightslaw. (2014, August 1).
Retrieved July 8, 2015, from http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/sec504.index.htm
The History of
Special Education. (n.d.). Retrieved July 8, 2015, from
http://teach.com/the-history-of-special-education
The History of
Special Education in the United States. (2009). Retrieved July 8, 2015, from
http://www.specialednews.com/the-history-of-special-education-in-the-united-states.htm
Understanding Section
504: The American with Disabilities Act. (2009). Retrieved July 8, 2015, from
http://www.understandingspecialeducation.com/section-504.html
Understanding Special
Education Law (IDEA). (2009). Retrieved July 8, 2015, from
http://www.understandingspecialeducation.com/special-education-law.html
