Hello! Welcome to your first week of Exceptional Child for Teachers.
I relate to you a story of my brother, Gary Joe and how he was eventually excluded from the general education classroom because of his learning disability. This was possible because his time was before laws were enacted that now have evolved to be known as the IDEA or Individuals with Disability Education Act (2004) that states 'all children with disabilities receive an appropriate education through special services. No child with disabilities can be excluded from education but are allowed by law to receive a 'free and appropriate public education.' (Vaughn, et. al, 2011). Public schools now are legally bound to pay attention to this provision whereas before if they decided with no consultation that a student was not fit for a particular public school setting, the schools could reject that student.
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While this course is not a special education course, it does provide familiarization with the laws that govern the education of students who receive services from special education. As the number of students placed in general education increases, collaboration between general education teachers and special education teachers is essential, in spite of the ongoing debate at opposite ends of the spectrum between those who believe all students should be taught in a regular education classroom versus those who believe exceptional students should be contained or taught separately.
Begin this lesson by reading one of my favorite online biographies of Chris Burke Also, read the interview with Elizabeth Diller on page three in the textbook.. Personally reflect for several minutes on what are some of your feelings and attitudes about the possibility of having students with disabilities in your classroom when you are teaching?
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Become very familiar with the history of the federal laws for the education of exceptional learners as shared below:
IDEA and the Vocational Rehabilitation Act The expansion of these laws now referred to as IDEA has provided for the assurance that all children with disabilities receive an appropriate education through special services. No child with disabilities can be excluded from education but are allowed by law to receive a 'free and appropriate public education.' (Vaughn, et. al, 2011).
Free and appropriate public education -Of course, the interpretation of a 'free and appropriate public education' has been and continues to be an issue in education. How does the school (district) decide what is free and appropriate for such students? If the school decides in err of the student, in some cases, the school (district) is sued. For example, several students and families sued the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in a case that a proposed settlement was offered due to the district not offering a free and appropriate public education to such students according to the plaintiffs ( Lydia Gaskins, et al. vs. the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ).
Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) - One of the main components of the IDEA law is the concept of Least Restrict Environment(LRE) along with a Continuum of Services. LRE "is the setting most like that of nondisabled students that also meets each child's educational needs. Inherent within the LRE is the notion of continuum of services. Continuum of Services means that a full range of service options for students with disabilities will be provided by the school system." (Vaughn, et. al, 2011).
Individualized Education Plan (IEP) (see a sample IEP on pages 13-16). Another main component of the IDEA law is the Individualized Education Plan (IEP). An IEP must be developed for each student identified as a special needs students or student with a disability, according to IDEA (Vaughn, et. al, 2004). The purpose of the IEP is to provide an outline of specific educational services needed by the student as agreed upon by a Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) of educators, parents and specialists. This outline provides documentation of the student's abilities, disabilities, when the special services will begin/end, how the student will be measured in terms of progress, what services will be provided, measurable annual goals that will be set for the student to accomplish and how parents will be informed of this progress. If you have not experienced the mountain of paperwork that seems to follow the exceptional student, the IEP is at the top of that heap. While the IEP is not a legal contract, it is a plan that has been thoughtfully put together by all involved in the education of the exceptional child and should be used as such in the classroom. Actually, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have an IEP for every student in your classroom as the IEP provides individualized personal data that is specific to that particular student's educational needs. Once a plan is in place for each student, it could be used as documentation for what each student is expected to do and for the teacher to provide adapted, differentiated instruction to fit each student's true educational needs in that classroom.
Just what are the responsibilities of classroom teachers to the education of exceptional students?
Responsibilities of Classroom Teachers (as adapted from Vaughn et al) Who is responsible for the IEP? The special services or special education teacher and the Multidisciplinary Team are responsible for the IEP. The classroom teacher is responsible for insuring that objectives on the IEP pertaining to his or her classroom are carried out as feasibly as possible. Can I be held responsible if a student in my class does not accomplish all of the objectives in the IEP? Teachers can not be held responsible for lack of accomplish of all of the objectives on the IEP unless "it can be proven that teachers have not made efforts to fulfill their responsibilities." What if I was unable to attend the meeting at which the child's IEP was developed? Then you should get a copy of the IEP from the special services teacher and find out what objectives on the IEP are expected to be accomplished in your classroom. What should I do if I feel a student is not making adequate progress on his or her IEP? You should maintain communication with the special services teacher or MDT concerning the progress of the student in your classroom. Make use of any available resources to you in the building, especially the special services or special education teacher. Keep documentation of the student's progress (ex. emails to/from key people concerning the student; student work). What does it mean to adapt instruction for students with disabilities? Adaptations can be beneficial for all students regardless of whether they have a disability or not.
So, pragmatically speaking, how does this information in chapter one of the text pan out into the classroom?
Pragmatically Speaking - Here's How to use this information in the classroom:
1. Become very familiar with the basic terminology of special education and services provided to exceptional children. This will be the language of exchange between you, the classroom teacher, other teachers, special education specialists, counselors, psychologists, parents, and others involved in the education of exceptional children.
2. Become very familiar with the process of special education in your school building, district. There is still great latitude between how special education and related services for exceptional children are executed from one school building to the next. Some schools may provide full inclusion for exceptional students with related services interventions in the regular education classroom, whereas others may lean more towards providing partial inclusion with exceptional students spending time in physical education, music and electives type courses with regular education students while attending separate special education or resource rooms for the rest of the school day. Examples: ISBE Special Education guidelines (for Special Education services).
3. Learn more about other schooling configurations for exceptional students in your area such as The Hope School (Springfield, Illinois); The UIS Office of Disability Services (they have a lab as well) ; The Illinois School for the Deaf (more info at this website as well).
4. Ongoing documentation of behaviors, needs, academic progress is of utmost to the success of exceptional students in the general education classroom. Set up a folder on your computer for each student and store/save all electronic information pertaining to the student in it; and/or start a paper folder for each student. This type of teacher-observation documentation is very crucial to the IEP process and consultative special education meetings about the exceptional student.
5. For more information: click on each of the following websites: Education Integration and Including Students with Disabilities in the Regular Education Classroom.
FOR THIS WEEK'S POSTINGS
For this week’s posting comments, read the link files in the paragraphs below and choose a set of questions to respond to in your comment. According to this report, one common complaint of schools not making the AYP (annual yearly progress -- visit http://www.isbe.net/ayp/default.htm for background information on NCLB) is that it is due to the low scores reported on students with disabilities, LEP (limited English Proficiency), various ethnic groups, and low income students. What is the measurement for the students with disabilities subgroup in Illinois? How are they evaluated for progress under NCLB? Should this subgroup not be included in reporting of NCLB scores? Why or why not?
Edward Rust, Jr, chairman and CEO of State Farm has been named as the new chair of a commission organized to make recommendations to NCLB, which is up for reauthorization ...he was chosen by people such as Bill and Melinda Gates. Will these new faces with new money be instrumental in finally getting some money shifted to those schools that are suffering from inadequacies (sorry, this really is a lead-in question, but I don't know how else to word it...feel free to challenge, however...your grade will not suffer for doing so...)
http://wm.nmmstream.net/aspencnclb/webcast040806/archive.asx - This link points to the one of the latest commission hearing on NCLB. Much of the hearing points to NCLB and its poor implementation of achieving successful graduation rates for students. What are we doing? If NCLB is reauthorized, how can high school and graduation rates be raised? Is NCLB useful to improving marginal students' success in schools? Why or why not?
Note: Read all of the articles, links and form your responses from any of the preceding leading questions.
