What is Special Education? Special education is specially designed instruction that meets the unique and individual needs of a child who has a disability. Special education is governed by federal law, called the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). Special education is definded under IDEA as "Specially designed instruction at no cost to the parent, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability."Special education law has thirteen categories of special education. Each category has its own detailed requirements. Special education pertains to students ages 3-22 who attend a public school.
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How does a child qualify for special education? To qualify, a child must have been identified as having one of the thirteen disabilities, and, it must adversely impact his/her educational performance. A child who is suspected to need special education services can be referred to the school's special education committee by the parents, teachers, or both. Every school district has the legal responsibility to identify and assess children who are suspected of needing special education services. Before the school can begin any formal testing, the parents must sign a consent form.
What are the thirteen categories of special education included in IDEA?
What is an Individual Education Plan (IEP)? After the child qualifies for special education services, an IEP is developed by the child's educational team which includes the parents. The IEP contains goals, objectives, additional supports, accommodations, and modifications that the child needs. The ultimate goal is to help the child reach his/her highest potential.
Going Forward: I will explain special education services in more detail as I update the Education is Special website. There are so many facets to special education. I will also go more in depth in each of the thirteen categories included in the Individuals with Disabilities Act. I believe in special education deeply. My goal is to spread the word on just how special all education is. If you suspect your child needs special education services I would start by contacting your child's school district.
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How does a child qualify for special education? To qualify, a child must have been identified as having one of the thirteen disabilities, and, it must adversely impact his/her educational performance. A child who is suspected to need special education services can be referred to the school's special education committee by the parents, teachers, or both. Every school district has the legal responsibility to identify and assess children who are suspected of needing special education services. Before the school can begin any formal testing, the parents must sign a consent form.
What are the thirteen categories of special education included in IDEA?
- Autism
- Deaf or Blindness
- Developmental Delays
- Emotional Disturbance
- Hearing Impairments
- Intellectually Disabled
- Multiple Disabilities
- Orthopedic Impairments
- Other Health Impairments
- Specific learning Disabilities
- Speech and language Impairments
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Visual Impairments
What is an Individual Education Plan (IEP)? After the child qualifies for special education services, an IEP is developed by the child's educational team which includes the parents. The IEP contains goals, objectives, additional supports, accommodations, and modifications that the child needs. The ultimate goal is to help the child reach his/her highest potential.
Going Forward: I will explain special education services in more detail as I update the Education is Special website. There are so many facets to special education. I will also go more in depth in each of the thirteen categories included in the Individuals with Disabilities Act. I believe in special education deeply. My goal is to spread the word on just how special all education is. If you suspect your child needs special education services I would start by contacting your child's school district.
<a href="http://elearninginfographics.com/special-education-accommodations-infographic/" title="Special Education Accommodations Infographic"><img width="434" height="1024" src="http://elearninginfographics.com/wp-content/uploads/Special-Education-Accommodations-Infographic.jpg" alt="Special-Education-Accommodations-Infographic"/></a><br/><small>Find more <a href="http://elearninginfographics.com/" title="The No.1 Source for the Best Education Infographics">education infographics</a> on e-Learning Infographics</small>
Labeling: A Positive Requirement to be Eligible For Special Education Services
As with all aspects of education, in this case special education, I like to accentuate the positive. Many times, parents fear the idea of having their child labeled. In fact, I am one of those parents, however, like most I have seen why labeling a child in order for them to receive special education services is a move in a positive direction. Labeling the child doesn't harm the child at all, in fact it helps him/her. Labeling a child allows professionals to communicate with each other because each categorical label provides a general idea about that child's learning characteristics. This gives professionals and parents a point at which to convene and organize a suitable program for the child. Through the years, labeling has led to the development and improvement of specialized teaching methods, testing accommodations and modifications, and behavioral plans and interventions that can benefit all children and all teachers whether in special education or not.
Labeling is indeed required to be included in special education. Given the current law, to receive special, education services, a child must have a disability which is the nature of the "label" and in most cases must also, be further classified into one of the state's categories, such as: autism, deaf or blindness, developmental delays, emotional disturbance, hearing impairments, intellectually disabled,m multiple disabilities, orthopedic disabilities, other health impairments (OHI), specific learning disabilities, speech and/or language impairments, traumatic brain injury, or visual impairments. The Individual's with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) allows children ages three to nine to be identified as developmentally delayedand therefore receive special education services without a specific disability label.
Some worry, that using labels to identify children with specific learning needs stigmatize them and may be a harbinger to their denial of participating in activities in the mainstream. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights said that children with disabilities have the right to participate in their school’s extracurricular activities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Also, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights said that students with intellectual, developmental, physical, and any other disability must even be allowed modifications and aids as needed as long as they do created an unfair advantage to sports teams for example, and only serve to even out the playing field for all participants.
In reality, we all use labels every day to simply categorize things for example: those with blue eyes, those with red shirts, toddlers, the clarinet section, foreign cars, american cars, in each instance the "label" helps us to better understand what we are referring too. The same is true in labeling a child for special education services. The label simply helps identify what the child needs in terms of education. The child, like every other child will continue to grow and change. Every child is unique with his/her own individual qualities. In no way should a label for special education classification make that child any less valued or qualified for a high-quality education both during school hours and during extra-curricular activities.
