1. Essay on Special Education
The education system in our country was put in place in order to do service to our children.
Despite this, in many cases, children that have disabilities are neglected by their schools. As a
society, we all want to make sure that these children are being taken care of. However, there is a
large spectrum of students with disabilities, and more needs to be done in order to meet every
individual's needs. In some cases, they do not receive enough attention, and others receive so much
that it holds them back from succeeding on their own. Generally speaking, students with special
needs benefit from integration into general education classrooms when it is handled appropriately;
however in many cases, students are still being short–changed....show more content...
Koch says that, "By nearly all accounts, the law has been highly successful at educating students
once turned away at the schoolhouse door as 'untrainable'...". Julie Verdonik too believes that the
program can be successful, and has confidence in the special needs students at Maple Grove. With
all of this success, why is it necessary that the special education system be reevaluated? Despite the
potential for success that IDEA creates, there are many students whose needs are not yet being met.
Some states in our country ignore the act altogether, and do not provide their students with the
resources and materials they need to be successful. In many cases, teachers in general education are
not trained enough to handle students with special needs being a part of their classroom (Gable).
The two of these factors combine to create an environment that slows down the learning process at
no fault of the child. On top of that, many low–income areas do not receive enough funding to afford
to service their students to the best of their ability, further hindering the child. Misdiagnosis is also a
problem commonly found in low–income areas that holds students back from reaching their full
potential (Koch). Students that are simply falling behind due to overcrowded classrooms are
subjected to remedial reading and other needs–based classes when they don't actually suffer from
any disability (Koch). In some states, children with special
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2. Essay about Special Needs Education
One of the most controversial issues facing educators today is the topic of educating students with
disabilities, specifically through the concept of inclusion. Inclusion is defined as having every
student be a part of the classroom all working together no matter if the child has a learning
disability or not (Farmer) (Inclusion: Where We've Been.., 2005, para. 5). The mentally retarded
population has both a low IQ and the inability to perform everyday functions. Activities such as
eating, dressing, walking, and in some cases, talking can be hopeless for a child with mental
retardation. Schooling for the disabled requires a special environment–one that only a few teachers
have the gift to care for. Instead of looking out for the child's...show more content...
The civil rights movement and the inclusion controversies run side by side, however the segregation
factors are contrasting. Color of skin does not affect a human's ability to learn, therefore segregation
was overturned. Mental retardation, however, will affect their education and peers in the classroom.
Special education students have severe behavior or emotional issues that can disturb the classroom
learning environment for themselves and the non–disabled peers. Disabled students often act out
from not feeling accepted, frustration from the difficult material, and their cognitive obstacles.
According to the article Time to leave inclusion out, seventy percent of teachers blamed the
inclusion of children with special needs for increasingly bad behavior in the classroom. The key to
any successful school district is the administration. Teachers essentially provide structure,
organization, and the background of a child's future. To educate students with learning disabilities,
it is essential that the staff has the training and resources needed for the appropriate people, place,
and time (Lazarus) (What is Inclusion, 2001, n.p). It is unrealistic to expect that regular education
teachers will always be aware of the latest research or be able to readily adapt the school's
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3. Special Education Essay
Special Education
In ancient Greece and Rome there are isolated examples of caring for and treating disabled
individuals, although those instances are thought to be family members taking care of their own
family. Typically early societies shunned people who were considered different. During the Middle
Ages the church provided care for physically or mentally impaired people. The development of
techniques associated with special education of today did not emerge until the Renaissance era. In the
mid–1500s Pedro Ponce de Leon succeeded in teaching deaf students in Spain to speak, read, and
write. Even though there was success with teaching the deaf, it was not until the late 18th century
that attempts were made to educate people...show more content...
She was an Italian pediatrician who became an educator and the backbone of a unique method of
training young intellectually challenged and culturally deprived children in Rome in the 1890s. Her
approach emphasized self–education through specially designed "educational materials" for
sensorimotor training. (Smith, 1998). Today this is known as the Sensory Diet. We are getting closer
to have specially designed, replacement curriculum that is scientifically based.
The history of special education in the U.S. began after World War II, when a number of
parent–organized advocacy groups surfaced. One of the first organizations was the American
Association on Mental Deficiency, which held its first convention in 1947. By the early 1950s,
fueled by the Civil Rights Movement, a number of other parent organizations were formed, including
the United Cerebral Palsy Association, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and John F. Kennedy's
Panel on Mental Retardation. According to The International Council for the Education of
Exceptional Children (CEC) website the group was organized by a group of administrators and
supervisors attending the summer session at Teachers College, Columbia University, and their
faculty members on August 10, 1922. The Council began with 12 members. Elizabeth E. Farrell was
the Founder and first President, 1922–26. This is the main organization for special education
administrators, teachers,
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