Special Education: What Everyone Should Know

I remember the first time I sat in a meeting for a student that wasn't learning in my class. I was an emergency hire in a high needs school. I had veteran teachers around me and my administrator. The question was asked, “what is the need of the student?” the need was the student was far behind, couldn't sit still and was not learning in my class and was not producing any work. They then asked me, “What interventions had I done for the student?”  I really didn’t know how to answer the question. I had tried to get the student to sit down and do her work. But she kept getting up, she kept making excuses and she kept coming to school late. What else could I have done? What needed to be done?

As a parent or a teacher you need to understand what special education is, what its purpose is, and how it's meant to help students.   At the time, I did not know what special education was and I did not know what the special education process was. 

What is Special Education?

Special education is Specially Designed Instruction and services provided to students through an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Typically students under and IEP are not performing at grade level academically, socially and/or emotionally due to a disability, diagnosed or un-diagnosed.  To be eligible for special education and its related services a student must be found eligible by a multidisciplinary team which include the student’s parents or guardians (and if parents elect to bring an advocate to speak on their behalf and interest), school personnel such as a general education teacher, a special education teacher, and a school and/or district administrator. Other professionals may attend based upon the needs of the student, usually those who know the strengths and needs of the child and/or are skilled professionals who assess and/or interpret formal assessments and/or service a student such as a school or clinical psychologist, a skilled nurse, a speech language pathologist or an occupational or physical therapist.

The Special Education Process

Below is the special education process, from before a student is designated as a child under the special education label to the IEP and its implementation.

1. Pre-referral
2. Referral
3. Evaluation
4. Eligibility
5. Individualized Education Plan (IEP) development
6. IEP Implementation
7. Annual Reviews
8. Tri-annual Evaluations

1. The pre-referral period. Often the initial concerns start with someone working closely with a child who is struggling to learn at the typical rate and/or in the typical manner other children of their age or grade level are learning. During the pre-referral period, the teacher should observe and document the difficulties in learning and/or behavior of particular student. The teacher should also communicate with the parent and discuss the concerns and educational history of the student. The teacher should find out if other teachers expressed concerns and if so, what worked and what did not work for that student. The teacher should also research the educational history and progress of the student including looking at past standardized test scores, previous work samples, previous report cards and teacher comments.

The pre-referral period is also a time to try differentiating instruction and try interventions to determine if there really is a disability impacting and impeding the student’s learning. Engaging a student in the learning process is a complex, dynamic process. Teaching is part art and part science. What one student or group of students respond too and find engaging, another might not understand or be as engaged. That is why teachers should differentiate and use a variety of instructional approaches to meet the academic and behavioral needs of his/her students. Offering a variety of ways students’ recognize and intake learning experiences and output what they learned gives more opportunities for students success without an IEP.

Teachers should be monitoring and assessing the various interventions and pedagogical methods used to help the student who may be struggling. It is here the teacher is closely monitoring progress. If the student responds favorably and shows measurable progress in learning, the student does not need to go to the next phase. If, after trying a variety of strategies and tools, the student is still not making progress, then a referral may need to be made to the multidisciplinary team or student study team to look at what interventions have been tried and to what degree of success; and then, if the student needs to be evaluated for special education. 

2. The Referral. The referral maybe submitted by any person connected with the child, a teacher, parent, physician, specialist such as a school or family counselor, school or private psychologist, or another adult care taker or service provider.

The person submitting the referral for a child in a K-12 school should raise the concern with the appropriate official at the school level, either a counselor, teacher, school psychologist, or other official who is responsible for initial referrals for special education.

If the child is ages 0-3, the parent should seek help from the child’s pediatrician or in some cases the Department of Health; if the day-care provider or pre-school teacher has concerns, they should inform the parent and the parent should raise concerns with the pediatrician or in some cases, the Department of Health.

3. Evaluation. Once the referral is submitted, a multidisciplinary team meeting is convened. The multidisciplinary team should consist of the classroom or general education teacher, a special education teacher, a district or school personnel who can designate funds, and a person who can administer and interpret assessments such as a school or clinical psychologist. Other specialists whose expertise may be sought such as a speech pathologist, occupational therapist or a physical therapist and a school counselor may be present if there are concerns. The reason for the referral should be brought before the multidisciplinary team and a discussion should be held; the team should consider the concerns and any work samples, test results, and interventions and data collected during the referral period.

During this discussion the team must consider and make a decision on whether or not to evaluate (conduct a series of assessments and observations) to determine if the child needs special education or if the teachers and team members should continue with another series of interventions. Part of the team’s consideration should include if the student is suspected of having a disability that adversely affects or impedes the child’s academic progress.  

If the team decides the child is to be evaluated, the evaluation must be completed and another meeting must be held to discuss the results of the evaluation within 60 days. The evaluation may consist of norm-referenced, standardized tests such as academic and cognitive assessments (also known as IQ tests), interviews, observations, and class work, or something else that may render important and relevant information related to the child’s educational and functional needs.

4. Eligibility. Once the evaluation is complete, an eligibility meeting is held. At this eligibility meeting, the evaluations are shared along with any other current information such as progress in class or lack there of and other information that may be relevant to the teams decision.

5. Individualized Education Plan. If the team finds that the student does qualify for special education and related services, then an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is created. The IEP consists of the student’s current levels of academic and behavior performance, both strengths and needs. The needs of the student will lead the team to develop yearly measurable goals and within the goals are measurable objectives that when met, will determine progress toward the specific goal the objectives fall under. For example, a student may need to learn to increase the fluency in reading (need in the PLEP). The goal for this need may be: over the course of a year the student will increase their fluency from 100 wpm to 130 wpm. The objectives may be: 1) the student will increase site word recognition from the 300 list to 800 list with 90% accuracy 4 of 5 probes; 2) the student will read with an individual tutor (peer or adult) 600 words aloud per day 4 days a week for 7 of 9 weeks out of the quarter; 3) the student will read a list of 100 nonsense, decodable words with 90% accuracy 4 of 5 probes.

The objectives are building blocks to meeting the goal of increased fluency. The sight word practice will help because a student needs to be able to recognize and recall sight words since they are not decodable. The student also needs to increase the speed of his/her abilty to read nonsense, decodable words, therefore, practicing on nonsense words will reinforce the fundamentals of decoding. and the student needs to read and practice reading words in real situations and then be corrected if they make mistakes. The goals and/or objectives, meet the needs of the student to help them close the learning gap or give them access to the general grade level curriculum.

Special Education focuses on strengths and needs, not diagnosis. A diagnosis may label a child and give you information as far as the type of disability the student poses, but simply because a student has a diagnosed disability such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) does not necessarily mean the student needs special education or related services. Special education focuses on what are the needs of the student as they relate to education. If a child has a gap in learning, or needs assistance access the general education due to specific weakness that are cause by a disability, the IEP should address the weakness that are causing the gap. The child needs to have the need for specially designed instruction.

Progress reports are given over the course of the year reporting the progress toward the goals and objectives. Data collected should be monitored weekly and progress reports should be sent home to the parents at least once a quarter, usually at the same time as the student’s report card. For a student in an inclusion class, the progress report should be a combined effort between the general education teacher and the special education teacher.

Progress may be reported as no progress, emerging, adequate progress, and mastered. Goals and objectives that are mastered should be taken out of the IEP. The teacher should work to maintain the achieved goal or objective; but a new goal or objective should be established. The final year end progress report should be a key document at the annual review discussed below.   

6. Annual Reviews and Triennial Evaluations. At a minimum, the IEP has to be reviewed at least once a year, but may be reviewed as many times as the team decides to meet and review in order to ensure the student is able to receive educational benefit through implementation of the IEP. The multidisciplinary team should get together and review the progress made toward the previous year’s goals and objectives. The Present Levels of Performance (PLEP) should be revised to accurately reflect the student’s current needs and strengths;  the goals and/or objectives should be adjusted, removed, or continued based upon the students progress and the needs in the PLEP.

The multidisciplinary team should meet every three (3) years to discuss if a an evaluation needs to be conducted; if the team feels the need to collect data through formal assessments and observations to determine progress, make sure adequate services are being provided, if there are other academic or behavior concerns or factors that have surfaced since the previous evaluation or for other various reasons the team may decide. 

What Role Does the General Education Teacher Play in this Process?

The regular or general education teacher should be involved in every step of this process. The prereferral process is the time the general education monitors and gets to know the student by observing and trying to determine the needs of the students as well as the strengths. This is also the time to determine what the student responds to, the students learning style and the child’s nuances and behaviors. A relationship should be established a teacher should make sure it not due to external factors such as problems at home or a conflict between the student and the teacher. Research shows, that students end up in special education due to irritating actions of the student that the teacher does not like.

The prereferral process is the time to collect as much as objective data as possible. Data such as reading fluency, reading comprehension; sight word vocabulary; math fluency; math problem solving, number sense; writing fluency, writing quality such as ability to write a complete sentence, paragraph, narrative, and expository piece.

When and if the time comes where the multidisciplinary team needs to meet and discuss whether or not to evaluate the general education teacher should bring the objective data for the team to analyze and use to help make decisions on: how is the child progressing compared to the rest of the students, where does the child’s education progress fall (High achieving, middle, low, very low, etc)?; is there something explainable that might be getting in the way of the child’s learning (Home environment; recent illness; social problems; adolescence; needs glasses; etc)?; and/or What interventions have you done with the student (more will be discussed later in this book regarding interventions)?

At the eligibility meeting, you may answer whether, in your opinion, the instruction needs to be changed enough beyond what you or any other general education teacher would do for the average student to learn. In other words, beyond regular instruction and beyond differentiation, does this student need, specially designed instruction in order to learn and make academic progress. 

At the IEP meeting you need to provide current information on skills and behavior the student can do compared to a typical student in the grade level and compared to the grade level standards. At the IEP meeting, your help in determining goals for the student and how the to help the student achieve those goals would; and when it comes time to discuss the placement of the child, either in the regular education class or in a special class or special school, etc.

Where Did Special Education Come From?

Special education can trace its roots back to the civil rights movement. Parents of special needs kids and reformers had long sought better situations for special needs students. The civil rights movement was the spark that led to the first laws protecting the rights of special needs students.

Prior to the 1970s, there were no federal laws protecting children with disabilities. Children with disabilities were either placed in regular public schools with no additional supports or they were placed in special schools or public institutions such as schools for the deaf and blind or deaf and dumb. Local school districts were allowed to refuse enrollment to students with disabilities. Many states misplaced children with disabilities; for example, students with average intelligence but physical handicaps were placed in classes for students with mental retardation (MR).  Two important court cases that established the equal protection under the law for students with disabilities are: Pennsylvania Association of Retarded Children (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and Mills v. Board of Education (Martin et al, 1996).

In the 1971 case Pennsylvania Association of Retarded Children (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, PARC contested a state law requiring students to reach the “mental age of 5” before they were allowed to enter public school (Martin et al, 1996). The ruling established that a child had a right to a Free  Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) up to the age of 21 with the right to have an educational program appropriate to their present performance level; It also set the precedence that each student had a right to be place in his/her least restrictive environment (LRE).

In Mills v. Board of Education (1972), the ruling established the right that every child with a disability was protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, which is equal protection under the law. Equal protection means a right to procedural safeguards including prior written notice of a change to their child’s eligibility, educational program, and/or placement. This establishes the parents’ right to due process.

These and additional court cases led to the first national law for students with special needs, Public Law 94-142. Also known as the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act, Public Law 94-142 set the foundation for today’s special education services. Reauthorized in 1997 as the Individuals with Disability Education Act or IDEA and again in 2004 as the Individuals with Disability Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) these laws give each student the right to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) and the right to be receive this education in the least restrictive environment (LRE).

For further reading on the history and establishment of Public Law 94-142 and IDEA and the court cases that help establish it please read:

Manasevit, Plagata-Neubauer & Winters 2007

Martin, Martin, & Terman, 1996

Zimmerman, 2002

What is Special Education and Related Services?

Special education is when a child needs Specially Designed Instruction and related services to access the general curriculum. Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) is when the curriculum or the delivery of the curriculum and/or instruction is changed or delivered in a way that meets the unique needs of a child who has a disability that impedes the child’s access to the general curriculum. For example, if you deliver the same instruction to a group of 20, or 15, or 10 or even 5 students and a child learns, then that is not specially designed instruction. But if you deliver instruction to a group, large or small, and one child fails to learn and you have to change your delivery or curriculum so the child can learn it, then that may be considered specially designed instruction. If the child continually fails to learn when presented with regular pedagogical techniques and curriculum used for  typical children and you have to individually change the instruction enough times for that one child, then the child may need SDI all or most of the time and therefore may need special education. Please see chapter _, for a discussion on the difference between Differentiated Instruction and Specially Designed Instruction.  

Related services are the services that help a child who needs specially designed instruction most of the time or in specific subjects. For example, a related service to a special education student may be occupational therapy (OT). OT would help develop fine motor skills so the student can learn the skills necessary to perform like an average or typical student. Another example is counseling services for a student who may need to learn coping skills when faced with frustrating situations or a student who may need speech therapy to help the student articulate his/her words appropriately.

What Special Education Is NOT

Special education is not a dumping ground for students who need “extra help.” Special education is not for students who have gaps in their education and need to get caught up. Special education is for students who have a legitimate disability and need help accessing the grade level education and/or learning the prerequisite skills required for learning grade level work or future grade level work. For example, if a student has a legitimate reading disability, that student may need to be taught reading or writing differently than the average or typical child. That student may need extra time to read and my need to form letters with his/her fingers or may need an electrical device to read into to check to see if he/she learned what they need to learn.

Many times today, special education maintains a focus on basic skills students continue to fail to learn year after year such as multiplication tables or telling time on an analog clock. Students spend so much time on simple skills like this (year after year) and they never get into higher level critical thinking skills. If a student doesn’t know his/her multiplication tables (unable to memorize due to a disability) then give the student a calculator and teach him how to do algebra, geometry, and physics. If the student is unable to grasp the concept of reading an analog clock, give him/her a digital clock and teach him her a higher level concept. By keeping students with special needs on basic skills, we are handicapping them more than their disability ever would.

Special education should be individualized and it should be specific to that child. If you are mainly differentiating for your students, then that is not special education. See Appendix A for further discussion on the difference between differentiation and specially designed instruction.