Special Education: Contemporary Perspectives for School Professionals

by Marilyn Friend

is most critical is that you learn to look at all individuals, whether they are children or adults, in the context of their strengths and abilities, their value as individuals, and the contributions that they make to your life and that you make to theirs.

general education.

special educ...

Three key concepts form the foundation for all the special services that students with disabilities are entitled to receive through public schools.

Special Education

special education is the means through which children who have disabilities receive an education specifically designed to help t...

special education is not a place; it is the set of services students receive that may be prov...

Related Se...

and includes the early identification and assessment of disabling conditions

they are needed so that a student can access instruction.

Supplementary Aids and Services

Through Itard’s work with Victor, the notion that even children with significant needs could benefit from instruction and were worthy of attention was introduced

eugenics movement emerged in which many adults, including those with disabilities, were involuntarily sterilized in order to keep them from “diluting” what was considered the superior American race.

schools were designed like the most innovative concept of the time, the assembly line.

The studies tended to find

that students with intellectual disabilities in general education classes achieved more academically than those in special classes

Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

parents won the guarantee that education did not mean only traditional academic instruction and that children with intellectual disabilities could benefit from education tailored to their needs.

Mills v. Board of E...

the court ordered the district to educate all students, including tho...

Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

provided funding to states to assist them in creating and improving programs and services for these students

Education for All Handicapped Ch...

increased federal special education funding and charged states with the task of creating full educational opportunitie...

Education ...

Handic...

A...

is

considered the basis for all subsequent special edu...

1990,

renamed

Individuals with Disabilities Educatio...

This legislation also clarified the need for supports for students as they transitioned from high school to postschool e...

Health services necessary to assist the student to benefit from special education, when they can be performed by a nonphysician, are considered a related service.

Students cannot be excluded unilaterally for misbehavior related to their disability.

1975,

special education, related services, and supplementary aids and services,

the delivery of those three services is based on ...

include zero reject, free appropriate public education (FAPE), least restrictive environment (LRE), nondiscriminatory evaluation, parent and fa...

zero r...

entitles all students with disabilities to a public education regardless of the nature or seve...

child find s...

a set of procedures for alerting the public that services are available for students with disabilities and for distributing print and electronic materials, conducting screening, and completing othe...

free appropriate public educat...

parents and family members cannot be asked to pay for special ...

FAPE clarifies that the student’s education must incorporate special education through specially designed instruction, related services,...

individualized education prog...

students must be educated in the setting most like that of typical peers in which they can succeed when provided with ...

least restrictive environm...

IDEA outlines the rights of students and their parents to ensure that any assessment completed as part of a special education d...