Defining Special Education

It was apparent that before , children with special needs were not served the right education that is suitable for them . Consequently , the US government did some actions to help the children with disabilities with regard to the matter of proper education

By 1975 , Congress had determined that millions of American children with disabilities were still not receiving an appropriate education finding that more than half of the handicapped children in the United States do not receive appropriate educational services which would enable them to have full equality of opportunity (History of Special

br Education , 2003

Moreover , there are different laws that were enacted to help the development of the situation of the people , especially the children with special needs which are the following : Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA , Section 504 , and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA . Among the three , the IDEA is the legislation that is federally funded (A Comparison of ADA , IDEA , and Section 504

IDEA is an education act to provide federal financial assistance to State and local education agencies to guarantee special education and related services to eligible children with disabilities . The Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a civil rights law to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities public and private , that receive federal financial assistance . ADA is a civil rights law to prohibit discrimination solely on the basis of disability in employment , public services , and accommodations (A Comparison of ADA , IDEA , and Section 504

The continuum of the placement model according to the least restrictive to the most restrictive is as follows : ADA , Section 504 , and IDEA

The ADA does not specify placement procedures : it does specify provision of reasonable accommodations for eligible activities and settings . The placement procedures under Section 504 require that information be obtained from a variety of sources of the area of concern that all data are documented and considered and that decisions are made by a group of persons knowledgeable about the student , and placement options . For placement decisions , IDEA requires that more than one single procedure or information source be used that information from all sources be documented and carefully considered that the eligibility decision be made by a group of persons who know about the student and placement options (A Comparison of ADA , IDEA , and Section 504

It is evident that the most common disability among students with special needs is learning disability

At least ten percent of the population has one or more learning disabilities . If you were to look in special education classrooms almost 40 percent of the students have a learning disability . Many more are probably affected throughout the world but have not been diagnosed yet (Most Common Learning Disabilities

The three basic types of special education interventions are Early Intervention , Transition , and Integration . Among the three , the Early Intervention is the most common

In Early Intervention , specialists work in the domestic environment of the child . Partly , they work with small groups of children . Pupils with more severe disabilities : Integration is still quite rare . There are models usually linked to a special school . The pupil remains administratively in the special school . Pupils with less severe disabilities : Integration is an alternative to special classes . Pupils with special educational needs attending higher schools are mostly affected by physical impairments . They are normally integrated in mainstream schools (Special Needs Education within the Education System

Resources

History of Special Education (2003 . What is the history of the special education movement in

America . Updated July 2003 , from http /www .hoagiesgifted .org /eric /faq /spedhist .html

A Comparison of ADA , IDEA , and Section 504 . Type and purpose , Funding to implement

services , Evaluation and placement procedures , from

http /www .dredf .org /advocacy /comparison .html

Most Common Learning Disabilities

http .com .ph /sys /index .php ?rate 20 109914

Special Needs Education within the Education System http /www .european-

agency .org /nat_ovs /switzerland /4 .html ...