Special Education - Report Example

Special Education Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 29, July Special Education Hypothesis /Introduction Education is a right, not a privilege. The research focuses on effect of the law on special education on children with learning disabilities. The research centers on the children with learning disabilities’ need for special classroom atmosphere because they are too slow when compared to students with normal learning capacity. The hypothesis dictates education of children with disabilities would definitely not be better today if Congress had stated in 1975 that Child with Disabilities not be provided special education, but that all children be educated appropriately in the regular classroom. Investigation Congress passed Public Law 94 -142 also known as Education of Handicapped Children Act. The act has been codified as the Individuals and Disabilities Education Act or IDEA. The law requires United States schools to offer free appropriate public education to all children with disabilities. Complying with the requirements will precipitate to the United States government’s release of federal funds to the requesting state. In addition, Title 20 of the United States Code Section 1400 states education for children with special disabilities is compulsory. The law clearly shows that the state that does not comply with the Public Law 94 -142 also known as Education of Handicapped Children Act will be meted repercussions like disapproval of fund requests. The law was created because congress found a need to formally institutionalize special learning education as the most appropriate learning venue for student who are too slow to absorb the lessons taught in class. On the side of the students with normal learning ability, slowing down the day’s lessons in order to cater to the learning capacity of the students with learning disabilities would create boredom. The students with high intelligence quotient would surely be bored if the teacher slows the teaching process to cater to the students with learning disabilities. Data/Research analysis Deborah Speece (1) emphasized the federal legal requirement of "least restrictive environment" for the education of children with disabilities is weathering a wave of reinterpretations including mainstreaming, the regular education initiative. Although each interpretation has its proponents and critics, limited theory and few data are available to guide these important policy decisions. Yet, these decisions will have long-lasting impact on children with learning disabilities, and it is from this perspective that we seek better understanding of the contexts in which children receive their formal education. Studying in a normal classroom learning environment may be psychologically disadvantageous to the children with special learning disabilities. Some of the students with normal learning abilities may criticize or discriminate the classmates with special learning needs. There is a possibility that the intelligent classmates may even complain that the teacher is too slow in teaching the day’s lessons for the sake of the classmates with special learning needs. There is a slight probability that the students with normal learning ability may even ridicule the students with special learning needs. Pijl and Pijl (5) emphasized the analysis of 31 related researches conducted using the meta –analysis technique showed that there are vivid differences in the learning ability of students with normal learning abilities and students with special learning abilities. The test focused on general intelligence and neuropsychological tests. This means that the students with special learning needs generated lower general intelligence scores compared to students with normal learning capacities. In the same manner, the students with special learning needs generated lower general neuropsychological test scores compared to students with normal learning capacities. The findings indicate that students in regular education classrooms show clear variance when compared to students with learning disabilities in terms of achievement and general intelligence. For example, students classified as mentally retarded perform lower than students with normal classroom learning abilities. In addition, Marco Hessels (182) stated that research had been conducted on a special education class for students with ages 12 years old and 13 years old. The research focused on regular school activities that had been enriched with metacognitive intervention with unrelated curriculum –based classroom activities during the morning class schedule and the curriculum related tasks in the afternoon. The students were working in dyads with a corresponding discussion of the children’s activities in class. The application of special teaching strategies to the students with learning disabilities showed slower progress compared to students with normal learning abilities. The application of teaching strategies and the children’s metacognitive knowledge had been scrutinized using the questionnaire survey form research methodology. The findings indicated that the children had progressed in both cognitive as well as metacognitive strategy basing on the special students’ classroom test results. In addition, Jan Fritz (469) indicated in another research that mediation is a very effective method of settling arguments in the realm of special education learning. In addition, mediation can be successful depending on the inputs from politics, system, or monetary considerations. In terms of teaching, Stephanie Otaiba (591) reiterated “Preparing special educators who are knowledgeable about evidence-based interventions for teaching reading to students with reading difficulties and who are capable of using curriculum-based assessments to monitor student progress and differentiate interventions is vital to the success of current school reform efforts. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the effect of tutoring and using assessment to monitor the progress of struggling readers on preservice teachers (PSTs) knowledge and preparedness to teach reading. Also of interest was whether reading scores of tutored students improved. PSTs (n = 18) in an undergraduate reading methods course tutored at-risk second graders using an evidence-based intervention and monitored students progress weekly”. In addition, Jonathan Rix (86) theorized “review process led to a focus upon peer-group interactions, the nature of teacher and pupil interactions and whole-class, subject-based pedagogies. This series of reviews highlights that within the complexities of a diverse mainstream classroom teachers effectiveness is strongly influenced by their recognition of their responsibility for all learners and the centrality of social interaction to learning, as well as having a shared understanding of characteristics, skills and knowledge associated with a subject. It is also strongly influenced by a facility to plan for and to encourage participation in a communal learning experience through flexible groupings and roles, offering diverse opportunities to engage with concepts and practices using activities the learner finds meaningful. Effective practices are not about the teacher alone, but are rooted in the community of learners - including other practitioners - with whom they work.” In addition, Silvestre Cambra (197) mentioned that the “successful implementation of diversity in education requires a special effort to respond to the special educational needs (SEN) of students. Schools generally tend to place priority on acquisition of academic knowledge but rarely make provision for activities designed to foster socio-affective development of special needs students”. The research conducted shows that the degree of social integration of students with special learning disabilities. In addition, the research focuses on the significance of the relationship between social integration as well as the students self concept in comparison with their classmates who are classified as students with normal learning abilities. To do this, a sociogram and a self-concept test covering three dimensions: social, personal and academic self-concept, were administered. The study sample is composed of 97 special needs students fused into a mainstream academic setting. These children respondents had hearing, motor, visual, relational, learning and mental retardation problems. Our results indicate that the special needs students have a positive self concept although it is significantly lower than that of their counterparts, especially in the social and academic dimensions. Connection to Special Education Law separate but equal The law formalizes everyone’s perseverance to improve the classroom learning capacity of the students with learning disabilities. Roseanna Bourke (150) reiterated “The 16-member research team was contracted to provide a three-year, multi-method, longitudinal evaluation incorporating both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This article looks specifically at one aspect of the approach used in the evaluation - the use of teachers as fieldworkers. Teachers across the country were trained as fieldworkers to assist in the collection of data in schools and early childhood centers”. Training was given to all teachers on the research aims, methods, ethics, including cultural sensitivity, and rationale for the evaluation. By participating in large-scale research and acting as `fieldworkers, 68 teachers had the opportunity to develop their skills as researchers, while learning about other schools perceptions and experiences of the special education policy. The experience provided a means for teachers to become apprenticed into a research culture, and to talk with principals and other teachers about common areas of interest. It also ensured that the research had knowledgeable and credible fieldworkers to collect data in schools. Conclusions Based on the above discussion, students with special learning disabilities must be given their right to learn at their own slow pace. The law was conceived to give the students with learning disabilities a better arena to learn the subjects being taught. The law was created to force states to offer special education lessons to children with special learning disabilities. Indeed, education of children with disabilities would definitely not be better today if Congress had stated in 1975 that Child with Disabilities not be provided special education, but that all children be educated appropriately in the regular classroom. Recommendations It is highly recommended that special education should be implemented to cater to the students having less than normal capacity to absorb the day’s lessons. Forcing the students with learning disabilities to learn their lessons at the same speed and difficulty as students with normal learning speed and capacity will creates a strain on the special students’ learning capacity. Such students will be forced to either keep up with the normal students if they are being ushered into a classroom where the teaching strategy is geared towards the students with normal learning abilities. Consequently, the students will feel the frustration of being discriminated because of their learning disability. Consequently, some of the disgruntled students with special learning disabilities will be forced to withdraw from the world of the normal classroom. Works Cited Bourke, R. "Stepping out of the Classroom: Involving Teachers in the Evaluation of National Special Education Policy." Journla of Special Education 31.3 (n.d.): 150 -156. Cambra, S. "Students with Special Educational Needs in the Inclusive Classroom: Social Integration and Self -concept." Journal of Special Needs Education 18.2 (n.d.): 197 -208. Fritz, J. "Improving Special Education Mediation." International Review of Sociology 18.3 (2008): 469 -480. Hessels, M. "Metacognitive Teaching in a Special Education Class." Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology (2009): 182 -201. Otaiba, S. "Preparing Special Educators to Teach Reading and Use Curriculum –based Assessments." Reading and Writing 20.6 (2007): 591-617. Pijl, Y. "Are Pupils in Special Education Too "Special" for Regular Education?" International Review of Education 44.1 (n.d.): 5 -20. Rix, J. "What Pedagocial Approaches Can Effectively include Children with Special Education Needs in Mainstrain Classrooms?" Support for Learning 24.2 (n.d.): 86 -94. Speece, D. Research on Classroom Ecologies: Implications for Inclusion of Children with Learning Disabilities. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1996. No author, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, retrieved July 29, 2011 from Read More