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Before I begin this thread, please don't label me a bigot or a hatemonger. I'm not. I'm simply asking reasonable questions that I have gathered over a long period of time- questions that are legitimate and ones that need to be answered regarding the state of special education today.
The major push in K-12 education today is inclusion, which means including special education students in regular classes. To do this, millions of dollars are being spent to educate regular ed teachers on how to incorporate these students.
Meanwhile, many workshops, seminars, and conferences about for teachers attempting to become more proficient in special education. Conversely, there are an extremely limited number of workshops/conferences for meeting the needs of gifted students.
What gives? It's highly plausible to say that the gifted students will be entrepreneurs, college-bound, and innovative makers of new technology that will drive our economy, not the other way around. Is too much focus being given to the lower-end group?
I don't feel that it's appropriate that the needs of gifted students are the first on the chopping block. Conversely, I wouldn't feel it's appropriate for developmentally disabled students and students with various disorders to be denied opportunities for education in the least restrictive environment possible, either.
While it's true that gifted students (not to mention average students) will be entrepreneurs, college-bound, and innovative makers of new technology, it's also true that they will be tomorrow's social workers, psychologists, therapists, special education teachers, disability rights lawyers and advocates, Special Olympics organizers, human services organization workers, legislators, etc. Many people who advocate for those who may not be able to advocate for themselves received their first experiences with disabled individuals through getting to know them as students, and being involved with special education programs in the schools they attended as children. Mainstreaming as much as is possible given a student's challenges is important not only to the special needs student, but the the non-disabled peers. Isolation when it's not necessary due to matters of safety is rarely a good thing. In the majority of circumstances, much more is learned by as much inclusion as possible, both by disabled and non-disabled students.
Millions of dollars shouldn't have to be spent on educating educators on how to have disabled kids in their classrooms (or how to provide enrichment for advanced students, for that matter). It should be part and parcel of the initial teacher training. In my teacher training, it was a requirement that everyone learn how to modify their curriculum as needed in the case of special needs - that means kids with both delays and highly developed skill sets.
Before I begin this thread, please don't label me a bigot or a hatemonger. I'm not. I'm simply asking reasonable questions that I have gathered over a long period of time- questions that are legitimate and ones that need to be answered regarding the state of special education today.
The major push in K-12 education today is inclusion, which means including special education students in regular classes. To do this, millions of dollars are being spent to educate regular ed teachers on how to incorporate these students.
Meanwhile, many workshops, seminars, and conferences about for teachers attempting to become more proficient in special education. Conversely, there are an extremely limited number of workshops/conferences for meeting the needs of gifted students.
What gives? It's highly plausible to say that the gifted students will be entrepreneurs, college-bound, and innovative makers of new technology that will drive our economy, not the other way around. Is too much focus being given to the lower-end group?
if you're in education , you can seek the means to make programs for gifted students more viable in your district.
A big part of $ being spent for educators in continuing ed also includes training for "gifted" inclusion. Perhaps the offerings for these courses are limited simply because the demand for understanding of educating children with learning disabilities is greater.
There are also highly successful programs for students with disabilities that are not inclusionary. I am all for inclusion when it is for student benefit and provides student benefit. I am very much opposed to it when it is designed or implemented to make adults feel good.
I have to agree. Look at any school budget, see how much money goes toward special education, then look at how many kids that includes and you will be shocked. I think the focus on special education has gone WAY overboard. You find children that will never learn to read, write, or even feed themselves with a one on one teacher all day long until they are 21 years old, along with countless aides to service A child. Then you throw 35 kindergartners in a room with a teacher and an aid because of "budget" cuts. Something is just so off here.
I am NOT say that there should not be special ed but it should be REASONABLE. The problem is you have the parents of the special ed kids pushing the agenda and trying to get EVERYTHING for their child. Look at any special ed board and you will see these parents encouraging others to get everything they can out of the system AT THE EXPENSE OF THE REST OF THE SCHOOL.
It isn't even just the gifted kids, it is the above average and average kids that suffer the most. There is NOTHING for them. Our youngest is a straight A student who has some fine motor control issues. He could not get ANY help through the school because his grades were too high. Now, if he failed a class he would get all the help in the world. Why does this make any sense? We were told we would have to pay for it out of our own pocket to get him help . Why aren't the special ed kids told that?
It isn't even just the gifted kids, it is the above average and average kids that suffer the most. There is NOTHING for them. Our youngest is a straight A student who has some fine motor control issues. He could not get ANY help through the school because his grades were too high. Now, if he failed a class he would get all the help in the world. Why does this make any sense? We were told we would have to pay for it out of our own pocket to get him help . Why aren't the special ed kids told that?
Special Education is mandated under IDEA 97/04, and this gives students legal rights that other students simply don't have. Qualifying for Special Ed means (legally) that a student has a disability and just as you wouldn't tell someone in a wheelchair that they have to pay to construct an access ramp at a public building, you can't tell a disabled student they have to provide their own services.
Also, with NCLB schools are required to show adequate yearly progress (AYP) and they therefore tend to spend their money in programs (SPED/ESOL) which are most likely to help boost their test scores.
Special Education is mandated under IDEA 97/04, and this gives students legal rights that other students simply don't have. Qualifying for Special Ed means (legally) that a student has a disability and just as you wouldn't tell someone in a wheelchair that they have to pay to construct an access ramp at a public building, you can't tell a disabled student they have to provide their own services.
Also, with NCLB schools are required to show adequate yearly progress (AYP) and they therefore tend to spend their money in programs (SPED/ESOL) which are most likely to help boost their test scores.
I understand that, however, it has gone overboard. My issue is that this money, that originally was to come from the federal government now must come out of the school district budget, eating up a significant portion of the budget putting the rest of the students at risk. You can't cut special ed budgets, which isn't right either. I see nothing wrong with expecting a family to pay for physical therapy for a special ed student instead of getting it free from the school when the rest of the kids that age are getting their programs cut because of lack of funds. Doesn't anyone else see the problem with this????
The major push in K-12 education today is inclusion, which means including special education students in regular classes. To do this, millions of dollars are being spent to educate regular ed teachers on how to incorporate these students.
I agree with most of what you say except this--this should be done anyway and should have been done all along--after all, I'm old enough to remember what life was like before sped and those poor kids had to try to catch up the best that they could. My best friend in HS had a friend with moderate retardation, and she graduated at 21 but she had cried and cried so many nights over her school assignments. Now they have new teaching techniques that work with many students which could possibly keep more kids out of sped.
Quote:
golfgal
Also, with NCLB schools are required to show adequate yearly progress (AYP) and they therefore tend to spend their money in programs (SPED/ESOL) which are most likely to help boost their test scores.
I understand that, however, it has gone overboard. My issue is that this money, that originally was to come from the federal government now must come out of the school district budget, eating up a significant portion of the budget putting the rest of the students at risk. You can't cut special ed budgets, which isn't right either. I see nothing wrong with expecting a family to pay for physical therapy for a special ed student instead of getting it free from the school when the rest of the kids that age are getting their programs cut because of lack of funds. Doesn't anyone else see the problem with this????
They're removing quite a few of the kids from the program in St. Louis "because those kids are doing well enough they don't need services any more." The real reason I think is because federal funds are drying up.
I see nothing wrong with expecting a family to pay for physical therapy for a special ed student instead of getting it free from the school when the rest of the kids that age are getting their programs cut because of lack of funds. Doesn't anyone else see the problem with this????
Unfortunately, it's not a matter of what's "right" or "wrong" -- disabled individuals are protected by law in ways that non-disabled people simply aren't.
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. Why aren't the special ed kids told that?
