Chapter 1 Introduction to Special Education PDF

Chapter 1 Understanding Special Education N OT DISTR O I B D UT - © P E A RS O...

Chapter 1 Understanding Special Education N OT DISTR O I B D UT - © P E A RS O N E CH. E D U N TE @T FO CH R HE EL T PR C W IVAT E USE OF kali9/gettyimages Learning Outcomes 1.1 Articulate the foundational concepts that define special education. 1.2 Analyze how the history of special education, including key court cases, has shaped its development and current status. N OT DISTR O I B D UT 1.3 List the provisions in federal legislation that establish - © P E A RS O N E current special education and related policies and CH. E D U practices. 1.4 Describe the students who receive special education N TE services. @T FO 1.5 Explain the role of parents and families in the education CH R HE EL T of children withPdisabilities. R C W IVAT E USE OF 1.6 Analyze critical topics currently influencing the field of special education and emphasized throughout this text. Emma Emma is an eight-year-old student whose family considers her a sweet and funny child. She loves to go swimming and has a cat named Whisper who is always nearby. However, at school Emma faces a number of challenges. She has a moderate intellectual disability as well as attention- N O T DISTR deficit/hyperactivity O IB hearing loss, disorder (ADHD), D UT and delayed motor skills. Emma begins each day - © P E A RS O N E with her typical peers in Ms. Spellman’s second- CH. E D U grade classroom, and she also joins them for science, music, and art as well as lunch and N TE recess. However, because of the nature of her @T FO disabillities, she is taught for 2.5 hours each day in CH R HE L T a special education classroom. HerEreading and PR CW IVAT F O by special math instruction, delivered E USEthere educator Ms. Wright, is aligned with the curriculum that all students access, but it emphasizes practical knowledge and functional skills she will need throughout her life. Emma also receives speech-language therapy, and the occupational therapist works with her on skills such as grasping a pencil and using scissors. In addition, a school  district specialist for students who are deaf or hard of hearing consults with Ms. Wright once per week. Recently, Ms. Spellman and Ms. Wright have become concerned that Emma is often isolated when she is in general education settings. Most students ignore her, and she has not yet developed skills to independently join in their conversations and activities. The teachers are OT DIS discussing severalNoptions toTaddress R this O IB challenge, forD example, creating a special “lunch UT - © P E A RS O N bunch” program that would, with teacher E CH. E D U guidance, help classmates better understand Emma and teach Emma how to engage in group interactions. N TE @T FO CH R HE EL T PR C W IVAT Nicholas E USE OF Nicholas (who often says, “My name is Nicholas, not Nick”) is in eighth grade, an academically gifted student who is well-known by many at his school. He usually wears a collared shirt with a crewneck sweater and khaki pants, topped by a trilby hat that he has learned he may wear in the hallway but must remove when in class. Nicholas was diagnosed with autism (also referred to as autism spectrum disorder) when he was three, and he has received intensive special education since then. In the primary grades, he spent much of the school day in a separate special education setting as professionals taught him academic skills but also addressed his OT DIand Nspeech STRlanguage needs, O IB his sometimesDhighly disruptive behavior, and his UT - © P E A RS O N challenges in interacting appropriately with peers E CH. E D U and adults. He gradually transitioned to learning in general education with his peers, and now in middle school his special education services are N TE mostly provided when a special educator co- @T FO CH R teaches in his H classes. Nicholas’s teachers have EL T EP learned that theyRIin C W VAlarge part determine TE USE OF his success. They know he processes language more slowly than most students, and so they give directions to the entire class in brief sentences and with visual cues. They alert him before transitions and if there will be a disruption in the normal schedule (e.g., a fire drill or an assembly). They know that some of his behaviors are signs of stress (e.g., he often rocks when beginning a  writing assignment, but this stops as he focuses on his work). They also have learned that his sometimes blunt honesty (e.g., telling a teacher that the wrinkles on her face means she is old) is not a sign of disrespect but rather a reflection of how he processes the people and activities around him. Nicholas is looking forward to high school because he wants to study carnivorous DISTR NOTclass. houseplants in biology IB DO UT - © P E A RS O N E CH. E D U Daniel N TE @T FO CH R HE Daniel is a sophomore in high school, L and he still T PR E IVAT whyOheC W E USE F has so much struggles to understand difficulty learning and how his learning disability affects who he is and how others respond to him. As he thinks about his first nine years of school, he cannot remember a time when school was fun. Even in kindergarten, he had difficulty learning his letters and numbers, and he quickly fell behind academically. Though he began receiving special education services in third grade, Daniel’s reading comprehension is at about the fifth-grade level, and his math skills are at the seventh-grade level. Teachers generally have been supportive, but sometimes even when they mean well, their actions can be hurtful. Daniel remembers one teacher who usually reduced by half the amount of work he had to do—it made him feel as though he was too stupid to N learn. DISthe OT For TRpast two years, O IB D audiobooks downloaded to his Daniel has used UT - © P E A RS O N phone; this has been helpful, as has been going to E CH. E D U the special education classroom when he takes tests so that he can have oral directions and extended time as mandated in his individualized N TE education program (IEP). But he’d rather listen to @T FO CH R music instead H of boring social studies material, EL T EP RIV tests like FhisW ATE USE O C friends do—in and he’d rather take the same classroom and without everyone knowing he needs a special arrangement. As Daniel looks to the future, he is concerned. He cannot earn a regular diploma unless he passes high-stakes achievement tests in five courses. He’d like to go to the community college to become an airplane mechanic, but that would require having a diploma, and so the looming tests  make him unsure whether he can pursue this goal. He considers himself fortunate to have many good friends who help him with schoolwork, but sometimes he is discouraged by the challenges he faces. What brings you to the study of children and adults with N OT DISTR IB people are DO disabilities and other exceptionalities? Some UT - interested because they have a child or family member with a © P E A RS O N E disability, and their personal experiences attract them to the CH. E D U field. Others are drawn because of volunteer work sponsored by a high school club or a fraternity or sorority. Yet others, such N TE as general education teacher candidates, plan careers in which @T FO knowledge of individuals with disabilities and special education CH R H L T is essential. My ownE interest P a Ecareer working with in pursuing W RIV ATE USE OF C individuals with disabilities came from several experiences, including volunteering during high school to join individuals with intellectual disabilities in recreational activities such as bowling and dancing; interacting with friends and neighbors whose families included members with disabilities; and meeting a little girl named Ranie, whom I helped in a religious instruction class when it became clear that she could smile but not read or write. In college, as a volunteer in a separate school for children with intellectual disabilities, I thought I could do a much better job than the teacher whose primary goal seemed to be occupying his students’ days with craft activities, and I became convinced that special education would be a fascinating and enriching career in which I could truly make a difference. In 2018–2019, the most recent year for which data are available, approximately 7.13 million children and youth from 3 to 21 years of age received special T DI education services in U.S. S TR N O O IB schools (National Center for Education Statistics, 2020; U.S. D UT - Department of Education, 2020). Although these students have © P E A RS O N E exceptional needs, it is more important to remember from the CH. E D U outset of your study of the infants, toddlers, children, youth, and young adults receiving special education that they are N TE individuals for whom disability is only one small part of their @T FO identity. They are preschoolers with mischief in their eyes and CH R H L T insatiable curiosity; Ethey E PR are elementary students W who enjoy IVAT C E USE OF learning in school and playing soccer and getting a cell phone; they are middle school students grappling with a larger school environment, who sometimes act like children and sometimes act too grown up and who want to fit in with their classmates; and they are high school students who experiment with clothes and hairstyles and tattoos and piercings to establish their own identities, cannot live without Instagram and TikTok, like or dislike certain teachers, and worry about what they will do after graduation. They are Emma and Nicholas and Daniel and other students just like them—or very different from them. Whatever brings you to be reading this text—whether you are a special education teacher or related services provider candidate, a general education preservice teacher, the parent of a child with a disability, or someone who is merely interested in understanding this field—what is most critical is that you learn to look at all individuals,Twhether DI they are children or NS TR O O IB abilities, their value adults, in the context of their strengths and D UT - as individuals, and the contributions that they make to your life © P E A RS O N E and that you make to theirs. Your perspective and how you CH. E D U learn to work with children and adults with disabilities as a professional can make all the difference in the world to the N TE individuals about whom this text is written. @T FO CH R HE EL T PR C W IVAT E USE OF Concepts That Define Special Education Learning Outcome 1.1 Articulate the foundational concepts NO T that define special education. DISTR IB DO UT - © P E A RS O N Students in school receive what is often referred to as general E CH. E D U education. That is, they learn from the standard curriculum as taught by their teachers, without the need for supplementary N TE supports. For a small percentage of students, however, the typical programs and services of general education are not @T FO CH R adequate. These students, H carefully identified L as having T EP E R disabilities and educatedIVin C W ATthe most appropriate E USE OF setting based on their individual needs, receive general education, but they also receive other programs and services referred to as special education. These students (along with other students with exceptionalities) are the focus of this text. When you think about special education, what images come to mind? A teacher working with a small group of students who struggle to read? A young man in a wheelchair in chemistry class? A classroom with two teachers, one general education and one special education? All of these images may be part of special education, but it is much more than that. As you explore this complex and rapidly changing field (e.g., Bateman et al., 2015; Duque et al., 2020; Kauffman et al., 2020b), you quickly will learn that it is characterized by a multitude of technical terms and acronyms, diverse and sometimes debated practices, and professionals from many disciplines. Your OT DISand interest undoubtedly is inNstudents TRlearning to work with O IB them effectively, butDit is equally important to understand the UT - © P E A RS O N technical aspects of special education and what it offers to E CH. E D U students and their families. Three key concepts form the foundation for all the special services that students with disabilities are entitled to receive through public schools. These N TE terms are briefly introduced in the following sections, and you @T FO CH R will learn considerably H more detail about them as you read the EL T EP RIV W ATE USE OF C other chapters in this book. Special Education The first term to consider is the one that has already been introduced: special education. It has a precise definition that comes from the federal law that established it:  The term “special education” means specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including: a. instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings; and b. instruction in physical education. (20 U.S.C. § N OT DISTR 1401) O I B D UT - © P E A RS O N E That is, special education is the means through which children CH. E D U and youth who have disabilities receive an education specifically designed to help them reach their learning potential. N TE We will return later in this chapter to the topic of specially @T FO designed instruction as a key part of special education. Special CH R H EL T education teachers Ehave P the primary responsibility for this RIV C W ATE U OF SEgeneral specially designed instruction, but education teachers, paraeducators, specialists, and other professionals also may contribute to providing special education. Emma, Nicholas, and Daniel, the students you read about at the beginning of the chapter, all receive specially designed instruction tailored to their needs. Perhaps most importantly, note that special education is not a place; it is the set of services students receive that may be provided in any school setting. Related Services The second component of special education services is called related services, and it is defined as follows: The term “related services” means transportation, and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services (including speech-language pathology and N O T DISTR audiology services, O IB interpreting services, psychological D UT services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, - © P E A RS O N E including therapeutic recreation, social work services, CH. E D U school nurse services designed to enable a child with a disability to receive a free appropriate public education N TE as described in the individualized education program of @T FO the child, counseling services, including rehabilitation CH R counseling,Horientation L T E and mobility Eservices, and PR CW IVAT F SE Osuch medical services E Uthat medical services, except shall be for diagnostic and evaluation purposes only) as may be required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, and includes the early identification and assessment of disabling conditions in children. The term does not include a medical device that is surgically implanted, or the replacement of the device. (20 U.S.C. § 1401) You can see that this term encompasses many different types of supports for students with disabilities. These supports are not directly related to a student’s instruction, but they are needed so that a student can access instruction. Related services for any single student could include a bus equipped with a wheelchair lift, individual counseling, and physical therapy. A team of professionals (discussed in Chapter 2) decides which related services are needed by each student N OT DISTR O with a disability. The speech-language IB that Emma, therapy D UT introduced at the beginning of the chapter, receives is an - © P E A RS O N E example of a related service. CH. E D U N TE @T FO Did You Know? CH R HE EL T PR C W IVAT The CEC (https://exceptionalchildren.org/) is the largest E USE OF professional association in the world of teachers, administrators, university faculty members, parents, and other individuals advocating for best practices in the education of students with disabilities and gifts/talents. Your college campus may have a student chapter of this association. Supplementary Aids and Services The third foundational concept essential to special education is supplementary aids and services, and it includes the following items: ONOT Daids The term “supplementary ISTand R services” means IB D aids, services, and other supports that are provided in UT - © P E A RS O N regular education classes or other education-related E CH. E D U settings to enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate in accordance with section 1412 (a) N TE (5). (20 U.S.C. § 1401) @T FO CH R HE EL T P That is, supplementaryRaids W IVATand services OF C are all the items that E U SE can help a student remain in a classroom with typical peers. One example of a supplementary aid or service is access to a computer with software that predicts what the student is likely to type next, thus reducing the amount of typing the student must do. Another example is preferential seating in the classroom (e.g., near the teacher or the media projector screen) for a student who has low vision or hearing loss. Take a moment to review Daniel’s story at the beginning of the chapter. What supplementary aids and services does he receive? N OT DISTR O I B D UT The goal of special education is to provide students with disabilities - © P E A RS O N with the specialized instruction, related services, and supplementary E aids and services that will enable them to reach their learning potential. CH. E D U kali9/E+/Getty Images N TE As you probably have surmised, the three simple terms— @T FO special education that is specially designed instruction, related CH R HE L T services, and supplementary PR E aids and services—are anything C W IVAT E USE OF but simple. In the remainder of this chapter and throughout this text, you will learn much more about them as well as many other terms related to special education. You also will learn more about your role, regardless of the profession for which you are preparing, in educating the students who are entitled to these services. Development of the Special Education Field Learning Outcome 1.2 Analyze how the history of special N education, including key OT D court ISTRhas shaped its cases, IB DO status. development and current UT - © P E A RS O N E In the preceding section, the fundamental concepts of special CH. E D U education were defined as they appear in federal law. However, that law did not suddenly come into existence. Special N TE education evolved over time, as you can see in the timeline in @T FO Figure 1.1, which highlights landmark events across the many CH R HE L T dimensions of the field. E PR Learning criticalCaspects of the story of IVATW E USE OF its development can help you understand why special education is necessary and why it is so carefully regulated. Figure 1.1 Timeline of the Development of Special Education Services This timeline shows some of the most significant events in the history of special education, illustrating how all the various disciplines represented in the field evolved concurrently and how current practices rely on past events. Based on information in Winzer, M. A. (2012). The history of special education: From isolation to integration (2nd ed.). Gallaudet University Press. N OT DISTR O I B Early History D UT - © P E A RS O N E Although much of the earliest information about individuals with CH. E D U disabilities focused on adults, attention to children emerged in the 19th century as pioneering professionals took up their N TE cause (Richards, 2014). For example, in 1800, French @T FO physician Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard was hired to work with a CH R H L T E P Victor, who had been 12-year-old child named E found wandering RIV W ATE USE OF C in the woods and was considered a feral child—that is, a human who was living much like an animal. In fact, he was called the “Wild Boy of Aveyron” (Losure, 2013; Scheerenberger, 1983). Victor was deaf and did not use spoken language, and professionals disagreed about his potential, although he probably had an intellectual disability. Over the next five years, Itard worked with Victor to teach him functional skills (e.g., dressing, personal hygiene), social expectations, and speech, but progress was frustratingly slow. Itard initially considered his efforts with Victor a failure, but he later wrote that Victor could only be compared to himself, and by that measure, he had made great progress. In fact, Victor had learned the letters of the alphabet, the meanings of many words, and self-care. Through Itard’s work with Victor, the notion that even children with significant needs could benefit from instruction and were worthy of attention was introduced (Kanner, 1964). N OT DISTR O I B D UT - © P E A RS O N Another notable development in the field of special education E came from France in the mid-19th-century work of Edouard CH. E D U Seguin and his physiological method (Seguin, 1866). Seguin, a student of Itard’s, deeply believed that children who were blind N TE or had intellectual or emotional disabilities could be trained to @T FO CH become productive members of society. His method included R HE EL T PRIV creating a structured learning W environment with attention to ATE USE OF C developing the senses, learning basic academic skills, and engaging in regular physical activity. Seguin brought several key concepts to the study of educating children with disabilities, including the positive impact of rewards, the potentially negative impact of punishment, and the importance of structure and clear directions. These ideas are still essential to effective special education. In the United States, the idea of providing care and support for children with disabilities emerged slowly during the 19th century. The first public school special class was established in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1875 (Steinbach, 1918), but it was disbanded shortly thereafter. Another was recorded in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1896, and others were established by the turn of the 20th century in cities such as Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and New York (Kode, 2017). N OT DISTR O Several forces soon led IB of special classes to more rapid growth D UT and became the basis for special education today. - © P E A RS O N E CH. E D U The Beginnings of Today’s Education System N TE @T FO During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, urbanization, CH R HE EL T P immigration, and industrialization RIV W flourished in the United States ATE USE OF C (Spring, 2020). Large factories were being built in cities, and many people decided to give up the rural life of farming to seek employment in urban areas. Waves of immigrants joined them, and these individuals typically were unfamiliar with American culture and language. It was a stressful time in American society: Many middle-class people were fearful of the changes occurring, the living conditions for the new city dwellers often were squalid, and governments could not keep up with the demands for social services. The impact of these societal tensions on people with disabilities was unfortunate and far-reaching. Prominent researchers began suggesting that individuals with intellectual and other disabilities were a threat to society and should not be allowed to have children. These professionals claimed that many immigrants fell into this group, T that DI is, that they were S TR N O O IB English or American “feebleminded” because they did not know D UT - customs (Smith, 1985). Using this flawed rationale, the © P E A RS O N E eugenics movement emerged in which many adults, including CH. E D U those with disabilities, were involuntarily sterilized in order to keep them from “diluting” what was considered the superior N TE American race. Some 31 states passed laws to make the @T FO practice of sterilization legal when individuals were judged to be CH R H L T EP incompetent, and several E R of these laws were W on the books until IVAT C E USE OF the 1970s (Fleischer & Zames, 2001). For example, in North Carolina, legislation was passed in 2012 to compensate 7,600 individuals (or their families) who were involuntarily sterilized between 1933 and 1977 (Craver, 2018); partial compensation was made in 2014 and 2015, and final payments were distributed in 2018. Although the eugenics movement and involuntary sterilization occurred in the past, historians argue that an emphasis on rejecting individuals for their differences instead of accepting them for who they are originated during this sad period in history and still dominates thinking in today’s society. For schools, the events of this era both altered the face of education and planted the seeds of contemporary special education. N OT DISTR O I B D Compulsory public education began to grow during this same UT - © P E A RS O N E early 20th-century time period, partly as an economic response CH. E D U to the changing society (Osgood, 2008). With few child labor laws in existence at this time, mandatory school attendance N TE functioned to keep children out of the labor force; doing so @T FO ensured that jobs would be available for the rapidly growing CH R HE both immigrants and those pool of adult workers, EL moving from T PR CW IVAT F farms to cities. Not surprisingly, SE O were designed like the E Uschools most innovative concept of the time, the assembly line. Just as cars and other products were created using piece-by-piece assembly in a standard way, so, too, were American citizens to be created by moving all children, the “raw material,” from grade to grade as they received a standardized education. As might be expected, it soon became apparent that student needs defied standardization. Some children who enrolled in school could not keep up academically with peers, were recalcitrant or belligerent, or had physical disabilities (Osgood, 2010). Consistent with the prevailing belief that devalued anyone who failed to meet societal expectations of what is “normal,” educators decided that these students should be removed from the assembly line of education and offered N OT DISTR O instruction better suited IB to their needs (Connecticut Special D UT Education Association, 1936; Winzer, 2007). - © P E A RS O N E CH. E D U With this thinking, separate special classes became increasingly common (Bennett, 1932; Pertsch, 1936). These N TE classes were sometimes called ungraded classes because @T FO pupils across several grade levels were grouped and taught CH R there (Groszmann,HE1922). Further, as intelligence EL testing T PR CW IVAT F O period, educators came became popular during this same E USEtime to trust that they had found a scientific basis for separating learners who would not succeed in typical classrooms (Trent, 2017); that is, professionals believed that an intelligence quotient (IQ) score could be the basis for determining level of ability. Although not required by federal law, special education classes for students with intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, and visual or hearing impairments became increasingly common through the first half of the 20th century. Until the second half of the 20th century, children with disabilities sometimes were sent to live in institutions and thus were denied any access to education. If in school, they were segregated in separate D classrooms or schools. N O T IS TR O IB D UT - © P E A RS O N E To this point, students with significant disabilities have not been CH. E D U considered. That is for two reasons. First, many students with multiple disabilities who today thrive because of advanced N TE medical technology would not have survived during this era. @T FO For those who did, public school was not an option: These CH R HE EL T children were kept at Phome, RI educated by CWprivate agencies, or VATE SE OF U placed in institutions. Discrimination and a Call for Change The expanding practice of educating students with disabilities in separate classes or schools continued unquestioned during the first half of the 20th century. However, shortly after the advent of the modern civil rights movement in education, with the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision clarifying that “separate cannot be equal,” some professionals began questioning whether separate classes provided students with disabilities with an appropriate education. Research and Rethinking of Assumptions T DI S TR NO the mid-1960s, From the mid-1950s through researchers O IB D analyzed traditional special education in a series of studies UT - © P E A RS O N E collectively referred to as the efficacy studies. They compared CH. E D U the achievement and social adjustment of students with intellectual disabilities who were enrolled in special classes to N TE that of students of similar abilities who remained in general @T education settings. The studies tended to find that students with FO CH R H in general education classes intellectual disability L achieved T EP E RIV C W more academically than those ATE U E OF classes (e.g., inSspecial Goldstein et al., 1965), probably because teachers’ expectations of them were higher and because they were learning in the same curriculum as other students. In special classes, developing manual or job-related skills was emphasized in lieu of a focus on academic instruction, an approach reflecting the beliefs encouraged during the eugenics movement that such students were incapable of learning academic material. By the mid-1960s, with the civil rights movement in the headlines, influential researcher Lloyd Dunn (1968) wrote a watershed essay entitled “Special Education for the Mildly Retarded: Is Much of It Justifiable?” Dunn questioned whether separate classes could provide an adequate education for students with disabilities, andThe Dchallenged I educators to use S TR N O O IB emerging technology and research on effective teaching to D UT - educate students with disabilities along with their peers. © P E A RS O N E CH. E D U During the same time period, other professionals were looking beyond academic instruction to broader issues related to N TE disabilities, especially the stigmatizing effect of labels (e.g., @T FO Goffman, 1963; Hobbs, 1975). For example, Mercer (1973) CH R H EL to make the T E P six-hour retarded child” coined the phrase “the RIV W ATE USE OF C point that some students, often those from nondominant races or cultures or those who spoke a language other than English, were considered intellectually disabled while they were in school—but not in their neighborhoods. What became clear was that special education was not just a means of assisting children with disabilities; it also had become a means of discriminating against students who were perceived by educators—justifiably or not—as more challenging to teach (Voulgarides, 2018). Did You Know? Concern about individuals with disabilities is a worldwide NOTonDthe matter. The U.N. Convention IST O Rights R of Persons with IB D in 2006 and ratified by nearly 200 Disabilities, first passed UT - © P E A RS O N countries, spans life activities from birth to death and stresses E CH. E D U access (e.g., to healthcare, physical spaces, education) and equality of treatment (e.g., marriage, parenthood). You can read more about this landmark document at N TE https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention- @T FO CH R on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html H EL T EP RIV W ATE USE OF C Litigation for the Rights of Students with Disabilities During the same time that researchers were debating the quality and impact of special education on students, parent groups advocating for the rights of children with disabilities were becoming increasingly vocal (Winzer, 2012). Parents of children with significant disabilities rightly wanted to know why their sons and daughters could not be educated in the public school system—that is, why they were told to keep their children at home, put them in institutions, or send them to private agencies for their education. Other parents objected to the quality of their sons’ and daughters’ education. These NO T D parents began to win landmark ISTcases court O R on their children’s IB behalf. For example,Din Pennsylvania Association for UT - © P E A RS O N Retarded Children v. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania E CH. E D U (PARC) (1972), parents won the guarantee that education did not mean only traditional academic instruction and that children with intellectual disability could benefit from education tailored N TE to their needs. Further, children could not be denied access to @T FO CH R public schools, and H they were entitled to a free public EL T EP W RIV of Education ATE USE OF C (Mills) (1972), a education. In Mills v. Board class action lawsuit on behalf of the 18,000 children in the Washington, D.C., schools whose pupils included those with an entire range of disabilities, the court ordered the district to educate all students, including those with disabilities. It also clarified that specific procedures had to be followed to determine whether a student should receive special services and to resolve disagreements between parents and school personnel. Other cases highlighted biases against certain students. In Diana v. State Board of Education of California (Diana) (1970), a Spanish-speaking child was placed in a class for students with mild intellectual disability after she scored low on an IQ test because it was administered in English. The public school system was ordered to test Spanish-speaking children in their native language. Finally, Larry P. v. Riles (Larry P.) (1972) concerned an African American student and discrimination in N OT DISTR O assessment. The court IBhad to ensure that ruled that schools D UT tests administered to students did not discriminate based on - © P E A RS O N E race. The PARC, Mills, Diana, and Larry P. cases together put a CH. E D U spotlight on the shortcomings and abuses of special education at that time and formed the framework for the legislation that N TE today guides the field (Yell, 2006). @T FO CH R HE EL A Federal Response: T PR C W IVAT E USE OF Protecting Students with Disabilities Litigation and legislation for children with disabilities intertwined during the 1960s and early 1970s. As federal court cases such as those just discussed were clarifying the rights of children with disabilities and their families, legislation was enacted to ensure that these rights were upheld. Early Laws for Students with Disabilities The first federal law to directly address the education of students with disabilities was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (P.L. 89–750). This law provided funding to states to assist them in creating and improving programs and N OT DISTR O services for these students (Yell, 2012). IIn B 1974, Congress D UT further focused its efforts by enacting the Education for All - © P E A RS O N E Handicapped Children Act, which increased federal special CH. E D U education funding and charged states with the task of creating full educational opportunities for students with disabilities. That N TE law was amended for the first time in 1975, and that set of @T FO amendments, P.L. 94–142, the Education of the Handicapped CH R Act, is consideredHthe EL special T E basis for all subsequent PR IVAT F CW education practice. This law E USE O many of the issues that captured were being addressed in the courts, funded efforts to find children with disabilities who were not in school, and mandated that states follow the law in order to receive federal funding (Yell et al., 2007). The principles of this law are still in force today, and they are so essential to special education that they will be discussed in detail later in this chapter. Refinements to the Law Since 1975, federal special education law has been reauthorized several times (Office of Special Education Programs, 2020b). One significant set of changes occurred in 1986, when special education was expanded to include services to infants and young children. In 1990, the reauthorization renamed the law the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act T DISTthe NO(IDEA), R name by which it is O IB D legislation also clarified the need for currently known. This UT - © P E A RS O N supports for students as they transitioned from high school to E CH. E D U postschool educational or vocational options. In 1997, several significant additions were made when the law was again reauthorized: Procedures for addressing discipline for students N TE with disabilities were included, parent participation was @T FO CH R expanded, and theH roles of general education teachers in EL T EP RIdisabilities educating students with W C clarified. The most VATE SE were U OF recent reauthorization in 2004 continued the pattern of refinement and revision: Provisions were added to ensure that IDEA is consistent with other federal general education laws, and additional strategies were specified to resolve disputes with parents. As you read this textbook, you will learn more about these and other current provisions of IDEA. Special Education as a Continuing Story The passage of federal special education law in 1975 was revolutionary, and it has had many positive effects (e.g., Hurwitz et al., 2020; Turnbull & Turnbull, 2020). Many students who had been completely left out of the public school system now are guaranteed an education, decisions about students regarding special education have to be based on unbiased assessment information, and the rights of parents have been outlined and clear procedures put in place to ensure that any N OT DISTR O disagreements with school IB districts are addressed in an D UT impartial way. - © P E A RS O N E CH. E D U However, the passage of the law has not addressed all the issues of educating students with disabilities, and it has not N TE ended debate about appropriate programs and services (e.g., @T FO Zirkel, 2020a). The result has been additional litigation, usually CH R brought by parentsHEof children with disabilities EL who are T PR CW IVAT F dissatisfied with their children’s SE O education. Several of E Uspecial the court cases that have shaped special education since P.L. 94–142 was passed are listed in Figure 1.2, and a number of the key issues that still characterize the field are presented later in this chapter. Figure 1.2 Supreme Court Cases That Have Shaped Special Education These are examples of significant Supreme Court cases addressing special education issues that have been particularly influential. Court Case Key Issue Ruling Board of Free This decision, for the first time, Education of the Appropriate defined what is meant by Hendrick Public FAPE. It is considered met if Hudson Central Education the Individualized education School District v. (FAPE) program, developed through Rowley (1982) the act’s procedures, is reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive educational benefits. Irving OT DISTR Related N Health services necessary to Independent O services IB the student to benefit assist School District v. D from special education, when UT - Tatro (1984) they can be performed by a © P E A RS O N E nonphysician, are considered a CH. E D U related service. Honig v. Doe Discipline Schools must abide by the (1988) N TE stay-put provision (during administrative or court @T FO proceedings, the students must CH R remain in their present HE EL T PR placement). IVAT F CW E U SE O Students cannot be excluded unilaterally for misbehavior related to their disability. Excluding students from school for over 10 days constitutes a change of placement. Cedar Rapids Related Health services deemed Community services necessary for a qualified child with a disability by the IEP School District v. team must be provided as long Garrett F. (1999) as a nonphysician can perform the services. Schaffer v. Burden of Parents disputing proposed Weast (2005) proof instructional plans for their children are responsible for proving why the plans are not adequate. Winkelman v. Parents of children with Parma City disabilities are entitled to School District pursue their case in federal (2007) N OT DISTR court without being O I B D represented by an attorney UT because they have a personal - © P E A RS O N right under IDEA for their E children to be appropriately CH. E D U educated. If they only held rights on behalf of their children, this would be prohibited. N TE @T FO Forest Grove In some situations, parents are CH R School District v. HE L to be reimbursed for entitled T PR E T. A. (2009) IVAT C W private school tuition, even E U SE OF when the child has never received special education services from a public school. Prior to this case, the interpretation of law was that public school services had to be accessed or tuition claims would not be considered. Endrew F. v. Clarification Students with disabilities are Douglas County of entitled to IEPs that provide more than de mnimus yearly progress. Professionals must  School District educational write and implement IEPs that (2017) benefit enable the student to make substantial progress based on their specific needs. SOURCE: Based on Katsiyannis, A., Yell, M. L., & Bradley, R. (2001). Reflections on the 25th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Remedial and Special Education, 22, 324–334. Copyright © 2001 by Pro-Ed, Inc. Also based on Zirkel, P. A. (2020a). An updated primer of special education law. Teaching Exceptional Children, 52(4), 261–265. N OT DISTR O I B As the information inDthis section has illustrated, special UT - © P E A RS O N education is a highly regulated and precise discipline that has E evolved rapidly and continues to change. As you anticipate your CH. E D U work with students with disabilities, remember that information that was accurate just a few years ago may now be outdated. N TE You will need to keep up with changes about the requirements @T FO CH of special education law and continually examine your R HE EL T P RIensure knowledge and skills to W VATE that they O F C reflect contemporary U SE thinking. Laws Affecting Students with Disabilities Learning Outcome 1.3 List the provisions in federal N legislation that establish OT DIspecial current STR education and IB related policies andDO practices. UT - © P E A RS O N E In the section you just finished reading, the federal law that CH. E D U governs special education was mentioned briefly. In this section, you’ll continue to deepen your understanding of special N TE education by learning more detail about that law as well as @T FO other federal laws that affect students with disabilities. CH R HE EL T PR C W IVAT E USE OF Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 Since the first special education law was passed in 1975, legislation has required the delivery of special education, related services, and supplementary aids and services, the concepts introduced at the beginning of this chapter. However, the delivery of those three services is based on core principles, also captured in the law. These principles are designed to ensure the educational rights of students with disabilities and their parents (Yell, 2012; Zirkel, 2020a). They include zero reject, free appropriate public education (FAPE), least restrictive environment (LRE), nondiscriminatory evaluation, parent and family rights, and procedural safeguards. N OT DISTR Zero Reject D O I B UT - © P E A RS O N E The principle of zero reject entitles all students with disabilities CH. E D U to a public education regardless of the nature or severity of their disabilities. To accomplish zero reject, each state has in N TE place what is called a child find system, a set of procedures @T for alerting the public that services are available for students FO CH R H for distributing print andLelectronic with disabilities and T EP E RIV C W materials, conducting screening, E OFcompleting other activities ATE USand to ensure that students are identified. This principle of the law is directly related to the PARC and Mills cases discussed earlier in this chapter, in which parents won the right for their children to attend public schools. It also may affect teachers: If they suspect that one of their students could have a disability, they are obligated to act on that student’s behalf by bringing that student to the attention of the professionals responsible for determining eligibility for special education. Today, zero reject also addresses more than finding children with disabilities. It ensures that students with communicable diseases, such as AIDS, cannot be excluded from schools. It also guides school policies related to students with disabilities who commit serious offenses that might otherwise lead to long- term suspension or expulsion. T N O DISTR O IB D UT - Free Appropriate Public Education © P E A RS O N E CH. E D U The education to which all students with disabilities are entitled must be a free appropriate public education (FAPE). That is, N TE parents and family members cannot be asked to pay for special @T education services. In fact, if a decision is made that a student FO CH R needs to be educated H outside the student’s Lown school district, T EP E R W IVA the school district usually bears TE Uthe costC for that placement, SE OF including the expense of transportation. Further, FAPE clarifies that the student’s education must incorporate special education through specially designed instruction, related services, and supplementary aids and services. These elements are captured in the student’s individualized education program (IEP), a document described in detail in Chapter 2 (Katsiyannis et al., 2015; Yell et al., 2020). For teachers, this principle establishes the obligation that they proactively address the education of students with disabilities, ensuring that they access the general curriculum as well as their specialized instruction as outlined in the IEP. Least Restrictive Environment The next principle of IDEA concerns how students receive FAPE. That is, students must be educated in the setting most like that of typical peers N T DI in O S TR which they can succeed when O IB D provided with the needed supports and services, or the least UT - © P E A RS O N E restrictive environment (LRE). It is presumed that the LRE for CH. E D U most students with disabilities is the general education setting, either for the entire school day or for much of it, and educators N TE must diligently work to teach students there, strongly justifying @T any instance in which another setting is assigned. The law FO CH R H spells out those additional settings in which Lstudents may be T EP E RIV C W educated, including general E USE OF with instruction in a ATeducation special education setting for a small part of the day, a separate special education classroom where students spend most of the day, a separate school, and others (Kauffman et al., 2020a). Video Example 1.1  N OT DISTR O I B D UT - © P E A RS O N E CH. E D U Explore what the least restrictive environment (LRE) means for students Nondiscriminatory Evaluation @T N TE IDEA outlines the rights of students and their parents to ensure FO CH R HE completed as part of aLspecial education that any assessment T PR E I C W V F ATunbiased, decision-making process is E USE O referred to as nondiscriminatory evaluation. Based on the Diana and Larry P. court cases already discussed, the law ensures the following: Tests are administered in the child’s native language. Tests are appropriate for the child’s age and characteristics.  More than one test is used to assess the presence of a disability. A knowledgeable professional administers and interprets assessment results. Assessments occur in all areas of suspected disability (Yell & Drasgow, 2007). Parent and Family Rights T DI S to Confidentiality N O TR O IB D Information regarding a student’s disability is highly UT - © P E A RS O N confidential. IDEA clarifies that such information may be shared E CH. E D U only with individuals who are working directly with the student. For example, general education teachers instructing a student N TE with a disability have access to that student’s IEP and other relevant information. Those teachers could appropriately @T FO CH R discuss concerns H about the student with theLspecial educator or T EP E R IVATHowever, speech-language therapist. W C are prohibited from they E USE OF discussing the student with colleagues who are not teaching him or her. In fact, a log must be kept of anyone who accesses student records so that confidentiality can be closely monitored. Finally, parents have the right to request to see and obtain copies of all records kept regarding their child with a disability and to dispute information that they perceive is not accurate. Procedural Safeguards The final principle in IDEA concerns procedural safeguards (Yell, 2019). Any decisions concerning a student with disabilities are made with parent input and in compliance with all aspects of the law. For example, parents must give written consent for their children to be assessed to determine if they have a disability. Similarly, parents must be invited to attend any meetings regarding theirN child, DISthey OT and TR must give permission O IB for the child to beginDreceiving special education. When parents UT - © P E A RS O N and school personnel disagree on any aspect of special E CH. E D U education, specific steps must be followed to attempt to resolve the dispute. The procedural safeguards that parents have will become clearer as you read about the people and procedures N TE in special education in Chapter 2. @T FO CH R HE EL T P These six principles ofRIDEA W IVAT guide educators OF C to ensure that E U SE their students with disabilities receive the education to which they are entitled. Further, they are not just ideas that exist in the law. Instead, they are an integral part of day-to-day special education practices, and they are central to the roles and responsibilities of all the professionals who educate students with disabilities. Did You Know? You can explore the latest federal news related to IDEA and related special education matters by reviewing the monthly newsletter of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) of the U.S. Department of Education, https://sites.ed.gov/idea/newsletters/. You can subscribe to OT DISTR Npublication. automatically receive this IB DO UT - © P E A RS O N E Other Legislation Related CH. E D U N TE to Special Education @T FO CH R HE EL T PR W C educational rights, IVA In addition to IDEA, a law that TE guarantees USE OF special education is affected by laws that guarantee the civil rights of children and adults. These laws are Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 When Congress enacted the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (P.L. 93–112), it created the first civil rights legislation in the United States specifically intended to protect individuals with disabilities. Section 504, the final section of this law, states that No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to N O T DISTR discrimination under O any programIB or activity which D receives or benefits from Federal financial assistance. UT - © P E A RS O N E (Section 504, 29 U.S.C. § 794[a]) CH. E D U This law broadly defines disabilities as impairments that N TE significantly limit one or more major life activities, including @T walking, seeing, hearing, and learning. Further, it protects all FO CH R HE not only children, from people with disabilities, EL discrimination in T PR C W IVATfunding, programs receiving federal F E USE Oincluding all public schools (Guthrie, 2006). Some of the provisions framed in this law that affect children of school age were clarified in IDEA, but this law protects some students who are not eligible for the services outlined in that law (Zirkel, 2020b). An example of a student served through Section 504 might be one who is an average learner but has Type I diabetes. Through Section 504, the school district would ensure that school professionals working with the student understand the student’s needs and that the student has immediate access to snacks and water or other supports related to the medical condition. This student does not need the educational services of IDEA but is entitled to special accommodations that may not be available to other students. N OT DISTR O I B D UT - © P E A RS O N E CH. E D U N TE While the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) applies to children and youth from birth through age 21, the Americans with @T FO Disabilities Act (ADA) protects the rights of people with disabilities CH R H throughout their lives. L T EP E R C W FatCamera/E+/Getty Images IVA TE USE OF Unlike IDEA, no federal funding is allocated to implement Section 504, so any services or supports provided to students through this law must be paid for by the local school district. Section 504 has many provisions, and you will learn more about them in Chapter 6 in the discussion of attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), another exceptionality sometimes addressed using Section 504 provisions. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 By far the most comprehensive legislation protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities, no matter their age, is the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) (Civil Rights Division, 2020). This more recent legislation, which was inO2008 and amended and expandedN T DI SThas R been further clarified O IB D since, applies to both public and private sectors, including UT - © P E A RS O N E libraries, state and local governments, restaurants, hotels, CH. E D U theaters, transportation systems, and stores (Davis, 2015). With the exception of public school applications, ADA largely N TE has replaced Section 504. In addition to the other provisions of @T this law, it directly addresses communication, and so it requires FO CH R H be provided to accommodate that closed captioning L individuals T EP E RIV W who are deaf or hard of hearing. F C ADA that ensures that ATE USItEisOthe buildings have access ramps and most have elevators, buses and trains can accommodate wheelchairs, and employers may not refuse to hire a new employee because that individual has a disability. Mentioning ADA is an opportunity to remind you that many students’ disabilities have a lifelong impact, such that these individuals may access certain supports and services even after they leave school. One difference is worth noting, however. Although professionals in schools are obligated to find students entitled to special education and deliver those services, the same requirement does not exist in ADA. Thus, persons who wish to receive services must actively seek them. Taken together, IDEA, Section 504, and ADA ensure that people who have disabilities have the right to fully access throughout their lives all the programs, services, and activities available to other individuals.TThese DI laws also clearly establish NS TR O O IB individuals with that civil rights protections specifically include D UT - disabilities and that discrimination will not be tolerated. © P E A RS O N E CH. E D U N TE Video Example 1.2 @T FO CH R HE EL T PR C W IVAT E USE OF This IEP team is meeting to review Jack’s individualized education program. How could the team address the parent’s concerns? What questions might you ask the parent? N OT DISTR O I B D UT - © P E A RS O N E CH. E D U N TE @T FO CH R HE EL T PR C W IVAT E USE OF Students Who Receive Special Education Learning Outcome 1.4 Describe the students who receive NO T special education services. DISTR IB DO UT - © P E A RS O N Although the federal civil rights laws for people with disabilities E CH. E D U just outlined use a very broad and functionally based definition of disability, IDEA, the law that directly addresses education, N TE defines 13 specific categories of disability, and only students with these disabilities whose learning is negatively affected by @T FO CH R them are eligible for H special education services: L T EP E RIV W ATE USE OF C Specific learning disability Speech or language impairment Intellectual disability Emotional disturbance  Multiple disabilities (i.e., students who have more than one disability) Hearing impairment Orthopedic (or physical) impairment Other health impairment Visual impairment N OT DISTR Autism O I B D UT - © P E A RS O N E Deaf/blindness (i.e., students who are both deaf and blind) CH. E D U Traumatic brain injury Developmental delay N TE @T FO CH R HE EL T PR C W IVAT E USE OF Video Example 1.3 Meet a special education teacher who works with kindergarten through second grade students with disabilities at Don Benito Elementary School. She is proud of the students and the progress they have made this year. In what ways does this teacher’s collaboration skills help her serve her students? https://youtu.be/an3ngVFbJC0 If you scan the table of contents of this book or preview Chapters 5 through 14, you will see that each of these NO disabilities is discussed in T Dincluding detail, ISTR the definitions as O IB specified by the law,Dthe characteristics of students with these UT - © P E A RS O N disorders, perspectives of students’ parents and families, and E CH. E D U research-based instructional approaches best suited for teaching students with these disabilities. And in Chapter 2 you will learn about the detailed set of IDEA-mandated procedures N TE that are followed to determine whether a youngster has a @T FO CH R disability and is eligible H for special education. EL T EP RIV W ATE USE OF C Prevalence of Students with Disabilities How many students with disabilities are there? The answer to that question at any point in time is referred to as the prevalence of students with disabilities, and information to determine prevalence is gathered each year by the U.S. Department of Education as part of IDEA. As you can see by reviewing Figure 1.3, in 2018–2019, 6.3 million school-age children and youth received special education, or approximately 9.2% of students ages 6 to 21 (Office of Special Education Programs, 2020a). Students with specific learning disabilities comprise the largest group of students, accounting for more than one-third (37.6%) of all those receiving special education. Students with speech or language impairments form the next T DISTRstudents receiving allOschool-age largest group (16.4%) ofN IB special