What do you think about special education in public schools?

Question

DO YOU THINK IS OK TO HAVE SPECIAL EDUCATION WITH REGULAR SCHOOLS? OR SHOULD THESE TWO BE SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER?

Answer 1

segragate them as childrern-they will be more likely to be segregated as adults-include them as children they will be better able to learn how to function withion society and be a more productive citizen

Answer 2

Some special needs children will never be able to function properly in mainstream schools and will always fail. Other children with special needs do benefit from being in an environment with other children and benefit from being able to socialise and learn with them. There will always be a need for schools that teach pupils with special educational needs and it is a case of assessing each child on their individual needs.

Answer 3

Brown VS the Board of education was the precedent law used when IDEA was developed.   It is not acceptable to have separate but equal schools in any instance.  To mandate that a certain population must be separated out is against their civil rights.

Students with disabilities need to be socially interacting with their non-disabled peers and vice versa.  It doesn't matter what that disability is.  Those students who are not disabled can learn just as much from having disabled students in the classroom as the students with disabilities.

Answer 4

By law children with special needs should be in the "least restricted environment" possible, while making sure that their needs are met. By separating them out, it means that they are deranged or insane. Most kids in special ed are not retarded (such as learning disabled kids, dyslexia, hearing problems); their parents usually wants them to get extra help to make sure that they don't get behind the rest of the kids.

Those with behavioral problems (such as low functioning autism) are usually in "highly restricted environments" because their needs are met in these environments; being in a larger classroom will not help their behaviors to decrease and therefore they may never learn.

Answer 5

Uh, no. That's DISCRIMINATION!

Answer 6

Discrimination is what it is called when children are not allowed to attend a public school because of something they were born with.  Prior to 1974, schools didn't allow handicapped children to attend all of the time, and those children had to stay at home.  There are special schools for children with more severe challenges but for the most part they are the exception, not the rule.  And those children, like all children, have the right to go to school.  A child with a disability will grow up to be an adult with a disability, having to live in the world with non-disabled people.  They need to co-exist in schools and communities and it is never too early to start the process.

Answer 7

IDEA and the other laws like it, guarantee a free and appropriate education in the least resterictive environment.  Children with disabilities will not learn apprpriate behaviors, academics, etc., in an environment where their world is full of disabled people.   Disabled children thrive when they are around regular education children.  I know my son does. He is autistic and has gone to half day in regular ed. and half day in special ed.  He likes going to school.

Answer 8

I think it should be both. The thing is,even if many people call it "segregation" it has it has own benefits. A special needs child in a public school could be discriminated because of his disability, this would just make his situation worst. Also he might have problems keeping up with the curriculum and would have many social challenges, although social challenges may not apply to some).

In a special school children would develop skills and the things they need to be "normal" (Please don't consider any offense in this statement, I am a gifted 13-year old but I do need to further expand my vocab : ( and I could not really say it in any other way). This would result in far better outcomes than if the child went to a special school rather than a normal school.

Then again, in a totally diffrent perspective, parents would not like thier child to be indentifed as a "special needs" child and put in a special school. They might just want thier child to be like everyone else and go to a normal school. Altough sometimes if thier child does really need help, and is in that situation, they should be recommended to be put in a special school. I have known cases where a special needs child was put in a public school and turned out to be just fine later on, so it doesn't mean they cannot be put in public schools.

In conclusion, It would be best for the child to be RECOMMENED to special needs school, but it still is the parent's decison weather to or not.

P.S: Mind my spelling mistakes, not too computer savvy and I made mistakes on spelling/grammar. I couldn't correct them because my computer is too slow and I was in a hurry to post this, Thank You

Answer 9

I think it would work better if the two schools were sperated.. The children in the special ed. schools would thrive more. They wouldn't have to worry about being made fun of. They would have there own support group, being around children like them. And this will help the teachers met the needs to the children..

Answer 10

Many of the students in Special Education do not look different than any other students, they just learn differently due to learning disabilities, cognitive delay or emotional/behavioral difficulties.  Yes, there are some students with more visible physical disabilities but that does not mean they are less of a person.  A young man will graduate with my daughter's class this spring who has coped with severe physical disabilities but has a very good mind and intellect.  When he was introduced at a recent senior night for his contributions as a sports manager he received a standing ovation.  He was a homecoming king candidate last fall.  Should he have been kept away from all this in a separate school?  No way!! Our kids have a richer life because of the special kids they have met along the way.  Our school district has a lot of kids who have learned to accept others for who they are and not focus on the differences.  So keep them in our regular schools!!!

**from some of  the answers I see this question has taken a different direction.  When we talk about keeping special needs students in regular schools, are we talking about expecting them to keep up with the regular curriculum or allowing accomodations and modifications.  When a student has an IEP it allows for many modifications to meet the student's goals.  Under 504, students are also allowed accomodations according to their disability.  I work in special ed at the elementary level.  Many of our students cannot do the work in the regular classroom because of their ability level .  But being in the regular classroom part of the day is important to them.  They have friends and have a chance to grow in their social skills.  Special schools for children with special needs are few and far between where I live.  Are we supposed to ship six and seven year olds off to boarding school so "normal" students don't have to put up with them holding back the class?

Answer 11

Everyone is entitled to a free and appropriate public education, in the least restrictive environment, that means they should be in the same school.