Special education in the United States
Special education in the United States refers to specialized instruction and support provided to students with various disabilities, including mental, physical, social, and emotional challenges. The goal of special education is to cater to the unique learning needs of these students, often adapting traditional teaching methods and curricular materials to facilitate their educational progress. Legislation, notably the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), ensures that children with disabilities have the right to a free public education tailored to their needs, promoting inclusion in the least restrictive environment possible.
To qualify for special education services, students must undergo evaluations by professionals to assess how their disabilities impact their learning. The range of disabilities covered includes Autism Spectrum Disorder, intellectual disabilities, speech and language impairments, and multiple disabilities, among others. Each student is provided with an Individualized Education Program (IEP), developed collaboratively by educators and parents, which sets specific learning goals and outlines the necessary support services. Special education services are available for students up to age twenty-one and can encompass additional therapies such as speech, occupational, and psychological support.
The importance of special education has gained heightened recognition, especially in light of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw an increase in the number of students identified as having disabilities. As numbers continue to grow, the focus on providing quality education for students with special needs remains a critical concern in the U.S. education system.
Special education in the United States
Special education is the instruction and support provided to students with mental, physical, social, and/or emotional disabilities. Individuals with disabilities, or special needs, typically have developmental delays in cognitive, physical, and/or scholastic skills. Special education is designed to meet the needs of students who require different instruction than their peers.
In the United States, legislation protects the educational rights of children with special needs. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines special education as "specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability."
Overview
Most times the needs of students with disabilities cannot be met in traditional classroom settings. This is why special education programs are vital. These programs adapt traditional lesson plans, teaching methods, and more and tailor them to fit the needs of students with disabilities. Special education programs are generally available for students up to age twenty-one.
For children to qualify for special education classes, they must undergo evaluations by professionals such as physicians, specialists, psychologists, and social workers to determine if their disability hinders educational performance. Students with special needs must be taught in the least restrictive environment for their individual case. This means a student with disabilities can be taught in general education or special education classrooms either full or part time, depending on what is deemed best for the student. In addition, students with disabilities may receive instruction in language, speech, and hearing; physical and occupational therapy; or psychological and counseling services.
Disabilities
A disability can be emotional, mental, physical, or social. Individuals can have more than one disability. IDEA has grouped disabilities into several categories.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): This disorder affects verbal and nonverbal communication skills and social interaction, which are vital to learning. Individuals with ASD may also exhibit other symptoms, such as repeating certain activities and resisting changes in routine or environment.
- Blindness/Visual Impairment: Visual impairment affects an individual’s eyesight, from not being able to see clearly to not being able to see at all. These impairments can limit communication and hinder learning.
- Deaf-Blindness: This disability affects both hearing and eyesight. This impairment can cause severe communication and developmental issues and make learning difficult.
- Deaf/Hearing Impairment: This impairment affects the hearing of an individual, from not being able to hear all sounds to not being able to hear any sounds. Both adversely affect communication and learning.
- Developmental Delay: Children can experience delays in development as early as birth. Delays can be in either one or multiple areas of development, including behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and physical development and communication. This is also called developmental disability.
- Emotional Disturbance: This condition affects an individual’s emotional health. Emotional disturbances can cause feelings of unhappiness or inappropriate types of behavior. They can lead to inabilities to form relationships with others, which affects learning.
- Intellectual Disability: Individuals with intellectual disabilities have limited intellectual functioning, which affects the ability to learn, make decisions, reason, or solve problems. Individuals with intellectual disabilities also have limited adaptive behaviors, which can make day-to-day life skills, such as communicating, difficult. They can also suffer from seizures, vision or hearing problems, mental disorders, and more.
- Orthopedic Impairment: Bone and muscle impairments caused by injury or disease can cause pain and restrictions, which can affect the ability to learn.
- Specific Learning Disability: This group includes several disorders that can impair an individual’s ability to comprehend and use (listen, read, spell, think, write, etc.) spoken or written language. These types of disabilities include dyslexia and brain damage.
- Speech/Language Impairment: This impairment affects an individual’s ability to speak or articulate properly and can include communication disorders, such as stuttering.
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Injuries to the brain can cause functional disabilities and psychosocial impairment. TBI can cause multiple impairments in attention, cognition, language, memory, physical functions, psychosocial behavior, speech, and more.
- Multiple Disabilities: Some individuals have more than one disability, such as blindness and intellectual disability. Combinations of multiple disabilities can cause impairment of learning.
- Other Health Impairments: Health problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), epilepsy, and Tourette syndrome can also affect an individual’s ability to concentrate and learn.
Legislation
In 1975 Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) to ensure that children who had disabilities that negatively affect their ability to learn were provided with free public special education. EHA gave schools federal funding and required them to evaluate students with special needs and develop learning plans that compared to the plans of their peers who did not have disabilities. The act also required the schools to assemble a support system for families of children with disabilities.
Congress amended EHA in 1997 and changed its name to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004. The changes ensured students with disabilities received a high-quality education. IDEA was split into Parts A, B, C, and D. Part A explains the language of the act. Part B explains the educational guidelines for students with special needs between the ages of three and twenty-one. It mandates that they receive instruction comparable to that of their peers and, if feasible, in the same school setting. It also requires schools to conduct evaluations and create an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Together teachers and parents create IEPs to define goals and learning objectives for students with disabilities.
Part C focuses on identifying children with special needs from birth to age two, providing families with services, and preparing families for the education of their children. IDEA provides families of young children with disabilities with an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which sets educational goals for the child and describes the services they will receive. Part D provides further information about programs that IDEA is involved with to improve education for students with disabilities.
Special education remained essential to ensure students with disabilities receive an adequate education on par with that of their peers. Attention on the status of special education countrywide only grew following the schooling disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, and as experts continued to note a dramatic increase in the number of students with disabilities. According to data maintained by the National Center for Education Statistics and reported by the Pew Research Center in 2023, between the 1976–77 and 2021–22 school years, the number of students in special education had approximately doubled.
Bibliography
"A History of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act." IDEA, 16 Feb. 2024, sites.ed.gov/idea/IDEA-History. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, US Department of Education, 4 Oct. 2024, www.ed.gov/about/ed-offices/osers. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
Pendharkar, Eesha. "The Number of Students in Special Education Has Doubled in the Past 45 Years." Education Week, 31 July 2023, www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/the-number-of-students-in-special-education-has-doubled-in-the-past-45-years/2023/07. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
"Special Education." US Department of Defense Education Activity, US Department of Defense, www.dodea.edu/education/student-services/special-education. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
"What Is an IEP? Individualized Education Programs, Explained." Education Week, 27 July 2023, www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/what-is-an-iep-individualized-education-programs-explained/2023/07. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.