Educating One and All Students with Disabilities and Standards-Based Reform (1997) / Chapter Skim
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3 THE DIVERSITY OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
3 THE DIVERSITY OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Pages 68-112
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From page 68... ...
Some have very mild disabilities observed only in school settings; others have multiple severe disabilities that affect many aspects of their lives. Some spend only minutes each week with a specially trained teacher, others the whole day.
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From page 69... ...
This two-part definition means that not all students with disabilities are eligible to receive special education services. For example, students with medical or physical disabilities do not qualify for special education unless they also demonstrate educational need.
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From page 70... ...
designed to improve educational performance and expand opportunities. Evaluation results are used to develop an IEP that specifies the general goals and particular instructional objectives for the child; results are also used to design instruction and related services and to monitor the child's progress toward objectives and goals.
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From page 71... ...
Brief definitions are provided for the following categories of disabilities: autism, deaf-blindness, deafness, hearing impairment, mental retar 2In this study, students classified with speech and language disorders and specific learning disabilities were the most likely to move out of special education.
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From page 75... ...
Severity of Disabilities The degree of an individual' s disability can range from mild to severe within a category. This means that students who may be considered as having a specific disability, such as learning disability or mental retardation, can be very different from one another.
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From page 76... ...
76 EDUCATING ONE AND ALL part-time special education programs that are delivered by special resource teachers or in special classes for part of the school day. During the adult years, the vast majority of these persons will not be officially designated as having a disability and will become self-supporting, independently functioning citizens in the community.
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From page 77... ...
Mental retardation is often a primary disability for people with severe multiple disabilities; for example, approximately 60 percent of people with cerebral palsy have mental retardation (Batshaw and Perret, 1986~. In educational contexts, the focus of defining severe disabilities has moved from describing negative behaviors (e.g., self-mutilation, self-stimulation, loss of contact with reality)
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From page 78... ...
Federal regulations define mental retardation as "significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior" (34 CFR 300.7~. Federal regulations for diagnosing specific learning disabilities require that there be a "severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability" (34 CFR 300.541~; most states have established procedures for determining what constitutes a severe discrepancy.
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From page 79... ...
vocational-occupational skills e.g., exhibiting good work habits and positive attitudes, mastering skills related to employment. The mental retardation diagnosis explicitly requires a determination of adaptive behavior deficits and cannot be made solely on the basis of an IQ score.
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From page 80... ...
Special education and related services are often needed by students with motor disabilities to compensate for their motor limitations and to treat associated problems such as speech production difficulties. Motor skills limitations also can influence participation in activities associated with the general education curriculum and standards-based reform.
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From page 81... ...
The medical model is useful for describing such categories as deafness, deaf-blindness, hearing impairment, multiple disabilities, other health impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment, and the moderate or severe levels of mental retardation. Nearly all of the children and youth with these types of impairments have identifiable biological and observable physiological anomalies that are permanent and that have a direct relationship to impairments in behavior.
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From page 82... ...
Generally, negative labels affect the child's self concept in a negative way, and probably do more harm than good. Some of the assumptions behind the current categorization system were again questioned in a later report issued by a National Research Council panel on selection and placement of students in programs for the mentally retarded (Heller et al., 1982:21~: To what extent must children be classified and labeled according to a generic class of deficiencies in order to receive special education services?
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From page 83... ...
First, the characteristics of students in such categories as SLD and MMR (mild mental retardation) often do overlap (Epps et al., 1984; Gajar, 1979; Kavale, 1980; Neisworth and Greer, 1975; Shinn et al., 1986; Ysseldyke et al., 1982a)
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From page 84... ...
For example, information needed to determine whether a student is eligible to be classified as SLD, MMR, or SED typically does not relate closely to treatment decisions, especially decisions about the student's general educational goals, specific objectives, or educational interventions, nor is it particularly useful in evaluating outcomes. Some evidence now suggests that the educational interventions provided to students in the different disability categories are far more alike than different (Algozzine et al.,1988; Boucher and Deno, 1979; Epps and Tindal, 1987; Haynes and Jenkins, 1986; Jenkins and Heinen, 1989; Jenkins et al., 1988~.
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From page 85... ...
In addition, as Chapter 5 suggests, some kind of taxonomy of functional characteristics related to disability will be needed to design valid assessment accommodations. A taxonomy that is useful or valid for one of these purposes may not necessarily be valid for the others.
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From page 86... ...
Approximately 90 percent of the children classified as having disabilities in school settings are accounted for by just 4 of the 13 categories: SLD, Sp/L, MR, and SED. Specific learning disabilities now account for over half of all students classified as having disabilities.
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From page 87... ...
The percentages are based on a total estimated enrollment of children age 6-17 of 44,643,818. SLD = specific learning disability; Sp/L = speech or language impairment; MR = mental retardation; and SED = serious emotional disturbance.
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From page 88... ...
Finally, OCR collects data for only 5 of the 13 categories recognized in the IDEA. The most emphasis is placed on three "judgmental categories" (mental retardation, specific learning disability, and serious emotional disturbance)
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From page 89... ...
Hispanic children show the lowest rates of identification across all three mild disability categories. Most of the overrepresentation of African American children is due to the larger percentage labeled MMR, although African American children also show slightly higher rates of identification as SED.
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From page 90... ...
Poverty is a plausible explanation for much of the special education overrepresentation of minority children, although additional studies are needed on the relationship of poverty to disability diagnosis and special education placement. Data from the NETS, a longitudinal study of secondary school youth with disabilities, provides data on several socioeconomic and household characteristics.
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From page 91... ...
One analysis of major national education databases (such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the National Education Longitudinal Study) estimated that 40 to 50 percent of all school-age students with disabilities are excluded from these samples.
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From page 92... ...
The remaining 4.4 percent of students receive their education in either a separate day school, a residential facility, a hospital, or a homebound program. Students diagnosed with specific learning disabilities or speech/language impairments were the least likely to be placed outside the regular school building.
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From page 93... ...
of the day) All Disabilities 4.4 22.7 29.4 43.4 6-11- year-olds 2.5 19.3 24.8 53.5 12-17-year-olds 5.6 25.9 35.2 33.3 Specific learning disabilities 0.8 18.8 41.0 39.3 Speech/language 0.4 4.5 7.6 87.5 Mental retardation 8.3 57.0 26.2 8.6 Serious emotional disturbance 18.5 35.3 25.8 20.5 Multiple disabilities 27.1 44.1 19.7 9.0 Hearing impairments 18.7 30.6 20.0 30.6 Orthopedic impairments 8.7 33.3 20.7 37.4 Other health impairments 11.6 21.3 27.0 40.0 Visual impairments 15.3 18.3 21.3 45.2 Autism 27.8 54.5 8.1 9.6 Deaf/blindness 50.1 34.2 7.9 7.8 Traumatic brain injury 23.9 30.2 23.5 22.3 NOTE: Students age 6-21.
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From page 94... ...
are more likely to be served for more time in regular classrooms than are secondary school students (ages 12-17~. Reflecting the national policy trend toward greater integration of students with disabilities into the least restrictive environment, placements in the regular education classrooms increased between 1985-86 and 1989-90 for almost all disabilities, and placements in resource rooms declined.
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From page 95... ...
Slightly less than 30 percent of students with learning disabilities, mental retardation, or health impairments dropped out of high school. Dropout rates were higher for minority students than for whites, and also higher for economically disadvantaged students.
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From page 96... ...
Diploma rates varied by disability, from 92 percent of graduates with a speech impairment, to 47 percent of those with mental retardation, to 33 percent of those with multiple impairments (Wagner et al., 1991:5-5~. The various state practices regarding graduation credentials for students with disabilities reflect legitimate differences of opinion about how best to meet the needs of students with disabilities.
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From page 97... ...
Students had better grades in special education classes than in regular education classes; in addition, failure rates were much higher in regular education classes than in special education classes. Students classified as deaf or orthopedically impaired earned the highest GPAs and failed the fewest courses; those with learning disabilities or emotional disturbances had the highest failure rates and the lowest GPAs (Wagner et al., 1993a:2-8~.
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From page 98... ...
57 compared with 69 percent not so large a gap as for enrollment in postsecondary schooling.l° Youth in some categories of disability learning disability and speech impairment had employment rates at or near that of the overall population. Furthermore, among students with disabilities, high school graduates fared better than dropouts in the competitive job market (65 percent of graduates were employed compared with only 47 percent of dropouts)
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From page 99... ...
THE DIVERSITY OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES General population of youths Youths with disabilities Youths classified as: Learning disabled Emotionally disturbed Speech impaired Mentally retarded Visually impaired Hard of hearing Deaf Orthopedically impaired Other health impaired Multiply disabled 0 lo 99 Postsecondary school enrollment Competitive employment 22 40 7 1 1 1 7 40 50 20 30 Percentage 68 ~1 69 60 60 60 70 80 FIGURE 3-1 Postsecondary school enrollment and competitive employment of youths out of school three to five years. Adapted from: Wagner et al.
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From page 100... ...
This section discusses the research evidence on parental involvement for students in general and for those with disabilities, as well as research evidence on parent participation in the special education process. Effects of Parental Involvement on Achievement Common sense tells us that higher parental involvement in a child's education should have a positive effect on his or her achievement.
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From page 101... ...
National Longitudinal Transitional Study of Special Education Students Parental involvement was measured in the NETS by teacher ratings of parental involvement in school experiences, such as helping with homework and monitoring school progress. Study results show that students with disabilities whose parents were very involved in their education missed fewer days of school and were significantly less likely to fail a class than their peers with disabilities whose parents were not at all involved (Wagner et al., 1993c:5-9~.
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From page 102... ...
. Parental Involvement in the Special Education Process As discussed in Chapter 2, the IDEA gives parents of students with disabilities important roles and responsibilities in the education of their children.
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From page 103... ...
Barriers to Participation Research has identified several barriers to effective parent participation in the IEP process. These include low parent attendance, time constraints, use of education jargon by school professionals, the undervaluing of parental input by school professionals, and a lack of parent skills and information.
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From page 104... ...
Minority and poor parents may also encounter other obstacles stemming from cultural differences, language barriers, and lower educational attainment. These obstacles warrant attention, since African American and Native American children tend to be identified for special education at somewhat higher rates than other groups, and since parents of children with disabilities tend to be more socioeconomically disadvantaged than parents in general.
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From page 105... ...
For some other students with disabilities, participation in the common standards and the general education curriculum is likely to require some modification
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From page 106... ...
Some students will need instruction in areas not covered by the common standards. A small proportion of students with severe disabilities may require a curriculum that is very different from the curriculum based on the common standards.
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From page 107... ...
Adaptive behavior in the sense of caring for one's self is normal or close to normal, but social skills generally are slightly below average, as is overall emotional adjustment. Increasingly, over the last two decades, many students with these characteristics have been diagnosed as having specific learning disabilities in school settings, although there are many more students with some of these characteristics who are not referred and therefore never considered for special education eligibility.
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From page 108... ...
No matter what is done for Jerry and students like him, there will be little effect on the high-stakes comparisons of performance at the building, district, or state levels; the much larger group of students with mild to moderate cognitive disabilities, who make up 5-8 percent of the overall student population, have the potential to affect these high-stakes comparisons. Case III: Student with Multiple Severe Disabilities In any school district of more than a few hundred students, there are likely
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From page 109... ...
Consider the case of Tom, a child who has multiple and very severe disabilities, including extremely limited mobility, deafness, and profound mental retardation. He is not able to learn even rudimentary skills associated with the standard curriculum, e.g., basic letter-sound relationships, recognition of words by sight, knowledge of basic temporal relationships.
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From page 110... ...
Currently the criteria for identifying many of the categories of disability are not well defined or reliable, even though these criteria affect important decisions about which students are eligible for legal rights and special education services under the IDEA. Disability categories are defined largely by state policies; identification rates vary a great deal from state to state, and very different criteria are used in different places.
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From page 111... ...
Concerns regarding the IEP process are exacerbated for minority or economically disadvantaged parents. Resolving the barriers to parental involvement takes on even greater importance in the era of standards-based reform, particularly in light of the research evidence indicating its effects on improving achievement.
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From page 112... ...
Furthermore, systematic, representative data are needed about the educational progress of students with disabilities relative to the larger group of general education students. Without good data on such factors as special education referral and identification rates or graduation rates and types of diplomas, it will be hard to monitor some of the potential effects of standards-based reforms both intended and unintended for students with disabilities.
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