My Initial Thoughts on Special Education Systems

When I was in high school, I did a week-long service learning experience where I volunteered at a special education school in Downtown Los Angeles. This school is unique, in that it only serves students with disabilities and it splits up classes based on the type of intervention the student might need based on their impairment. You can find a link to the services this school provides here (https://salvinsec-lausd-ca.schoolloop.com/classroom_list ) if you’d like to learn more. This is definitely not the traditional special education set up, but nonetheless the experience was very informative for me in learning what the role of special education systems are. In those five days, I got to interact with students and teachers alike, providing extra aid to help manage the classroom and put on their daily activities. In those five days, I saw that a special education classroom functions differently from a general education classroom set up -- which can have both positive and negative implications. There is a greater student-to-teacher ratio, a very flexible classroom setup to accommodate students with assistive devices and behavioral needs, and the pace of the classroom moves at different speeds for individual students. I have a vivid memory of the teacher pulling aside each student individually to give them their morning lesson. Some students practiced articulating their names and pronouncing each letter correctly, while others practiced telling time on a clock or reciting the days of the week.

This is an example of an important tenant in special education: each student receives individualized instruction tailored to their specific needs and learning goals, referred to as an Individualized Education Program (IEP). As the Masters in Special Education website outlines, "the Individualized Education Program is the cornerstone of special education. Each student with a diagnosis that qualifies them for special accommodations has an individually tailored IEP. This legal document details a student’s specific needs regarding special education services and accommodations based on yearly goals" (“What is Special Education?”, n.d.). Individualized Education Programs are beneficial to students with disabilities because they provide the legal framework for them to receive public and free accommodations. Schools are required to provide these accommodations under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) passed in 1975 and amended in 2004. IEPs are typically developed with school administrators, teachers, and counselors in addition to parents/guardians of the student in an attempt to consolidate what the student needs resources for, both academically and personally in their day to day lives. A large component of the special education system is teaching life skills in addition to academics, leading IEPs to incorporate a variety of services that meet these goals (“What is Special Education?”, n.d.). On paper, the special education system is outlined in all the right ways to benefit students and ensure that students with disabilities are not excluded from receiving an equal education; however, experiences from teachers and families in the system speak of their experiences with special education differently.

In a piece for the Washington Post Beth Hawkins, who is a mother of a student on the autism spectrum in a special education program, reveals her issues with how the special education system actually discourages their students who wish to be just as high achieving as their counterparts in general education classrooms. She writes, “The system is simply not set up for kids who have both an intellectual disability and a sharp intellect. The system works hard to limit their dreams -- which is a message they hear loud and clear” (Strauss, 2019). Hawkins points out that IEPs often set goals for students to be successful within their specific special education classroom setting, but not necessarily for any type of higher education or goal beyond that. This alludes to the point that many disability rights activists make in saying that special education systems can sometimes be more harmful than helpful in their intent to provide accommodations for students with disabilities (Bader, 2019). The act of removing students from the general classroom further stigmatizes disability and makes it more difficult for the students to achieve an equal education, which works directly against the point of IDEA and the establishment of special education in the first place. Moreover, special education programs are often not given adequate resources to implement successful IEPs, and instructors are given a restricted curriculum that teaches well below the standards set for their students’ counterparts in the general education classroom (Bader, 2019). For lack of a better analogy, being labelled a “special education student” puts kids in a sealed box that is very difficult to get out of, despite the emphasis placed on individual learning goals. The special education classroom can be an isolating environment that limits students’ development both academically and socially as they are pushed to the outskirts of schools. They are automatically treated as “low achievers,” as their disability or impairment often overshadows their true intellect and potential when teachers and administrators are making evaluations. IEPs and administrators have a tendency to dwell on what the student cannot do instead of what the student could achieve if they were given the right tools and support to do so (Strauss, 2019). These have long lasting effects, too, that go beyond the classroom setting and have greater implications on how people with disabilities live their lives in their adult years. With students being exposed to this kind of stigma at such young ages, they often grow to suffer from internalized oppression, believing that they have no potential for success, or that they are outsiders in society because that’s what they’ve been conditioned to believe.

I want to make it clear that special education programs and teachers are not all bad, and they do still have some profoundly positive effects on their students. I have a great amount of respect for special education teachers who devote their time, creativity, and energy to providing disabled students with the education they deserve, and I hope to join their ranks at some point in my career to get more hands-on experience in this area of education. However, I think there are some significant issues with how the system is set up and implemented in schools that could be improved upon to make it a truly equitable education for its students, one that capitalizes on their abilities instead of dwelling on their disabilities. I hope that our blogs shed light on some of the issues that special education programs across the country are facing, including the unique issues that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought upon the systems this past year. I hope we provide a forum for learning, discussion, and innovation that gives insight on how the special education system functions in society and how it can be improved to better serve its students and their families.

---

References

Bader, E. (2019, February 23). Does "Special Ed" Serve Students? Disability Activists Say No. Retrieved December 14, 2020, from https://truthout.org/articles/does-special-ed-serve-students-disability-activists-say-no/

Strauss, V. (2019, April 18). Mom: A 'harsh truth' I've learned about special education. Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/06/01/mom-a-harsh-truth-ive-learned-about-special-education

What is Special Education? . (n.d.). Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.masters-in-special-education.com/what-is-special-education-2/