Special Education: Supporting Inclusivity for All - Research Paper

Introduction

Special education is always for the physically or mentally disabled individuals who require special attention. In most scenarios, pediatric health care providers always have a role in supporting the well-being and health of growing adolescents and young children in all settings, including school environments, preschool, and early intervention. However, the individuals who require special attention are, at times neglected and discriminated due to their condition. Additionally, anyone involved with the disabled individuals always depicts that the state's system of funding the special education for the students is inequitable, inefficient, and insufficient (Rousso, 2015). The paper, therefore, is premised on a discussion regarding appropriate materials needed for special education without funding.

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Approximately 15% of American children are disabled, and they are supposed to be entitled to free appropriate public education as depicted by the Disabilities Education Act to bolster their learning and development (Rothstein & Johnson, 2009). The government should be responsible for the special education funding to pay the special education teachers who have the knowledge, skills, and experience to take care of disabled children. However, in some cases, the government delays or fails to keep its promises to the disabled individuals leaving them to suffer, be discriminated, and illiterate which in turn, lowers their self-esteem (Bateman, Lloyd, & Tankersley, 2015).

According to section 504 of the 1973 Act of Rehabilitation, the rights of the people with disabilities should always be protected in activities and programs which receive the federal financial assistance such as federal funds. The section states that "No disabled individual in the United States regardless of their disability, shall solely be excluded from participation in, be subjected to discrimination, or be denied the advantages of any activity or program receiving federal assistance" (Rothstein & Johnson, 2009). Recipients of the funds include local and state education agencies, higher education institutions, and public-school districts where the individuals with disabilities should be specially treated when being educated. The action is to make them be on the same level educationally with the non-disabled individuals as well as knowing their disability rights. With the public funds, different special education institutions are required to use varying approaches in providing services of special education to students (Bateman et al., 2015).

For instance, they are supposed to use inclusion where students with special needs spend most of the time with the non-disabled students without being discriminated. However, because inclusion in some cases requires substantial modification of the general curriculum, most learning institutions always use it only for students with mild to moderate special attention (Rousso, 2015). The action, thus, denies them the chance of interacting with the normal students, which makes them feel unwanted in society. There is also mainstreaming as another approach which gets construed as the practice of educating children with special needs together with the non-disabled students during specific periods in their curriculum based on their abilities. However, disabled students are always segregated in different classes for the entire school day (Rousso, 2015).

On the other hand, in as much as part B of IDEA requires all states that are participating in special education to ascertain that free appropriate public education is eligible to the students with disabilities, most of the states always ignore or neglect the responsibility after receiving funds. For a child to be eligible, they must be analyzed and evaluated to be having one or more of the IDEA listed disabilities and outlined to need special services. Some of the states conduct the services and promise the disabled students of specialized attention and education but fail to keep their promises, leaving the people with disabilities stranded and hopeless (Rothstein & Johnson, 2009).

Conclusion

In conclusion, pediatric health care providers always have a role in supporting the well-being and health of growing adolescents and young children in all settings, including school environments, preschool, and early intervention. Anyone involved with the disabled individuals always depicts that the state's system of funding the special education for the students is inequitable, inefficient, and insufficient. Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act protects the rights of people with disabilities where they are supposed to be treated equally and given equal services as the non-disabled students. However, when the government disburses funds to be used in special education institutions, the responsible administrators pretend to be using the funds appropriately and effectively yet little is done to help the students with disabilities.

References

Bateman, B., Lloyd, J. W., & Tankersley, M. (Eds.). (2015). Enduring issues in special education: Personal perspectives. Routledge. ISBN: 978-0-415-53917-3

Rothstein, L., & Johnson, S. F. (2009). Special education law. Sage. ISBN: 978-1-4129-6771-6

Rousso, H. (2015). Education for All: a gender and disability perspective. Retrieved from www.repositoriocdpd.net:8080/bitstream/handle/123456789/992/Inf_RoussoH_EducationGenderDisability_2003.pdf?sequence=1