A Closer Look at Special Education

HNG News is running a series of articles online that focus on special education within the City of Milton.

More than 12 percent of the students in the district have been identified as students with disabilities, the district’s director of student services Susan Probst told the news outlet. More than 50 staff members assist in meeting their needs in special education and general education settings.

The federal law determines which students receive special education services, according to the article, Education for All Handicapped Children Act, Public Law (P.L.) 94-142, enacted by Congress in 1975, together with subsequent amendments reflected in I.D.E.A. ensure services to children with disabilities.

I.D.E.A. basically created the criteria for various disabilities. Federal categories differ slightly from state categories, the article reads. For instance, Wisconsin lists significant developmental delay as a category, while the federal lists deaf-blindness and multiple disabilities. Other categories include intellectual disabilities, emotional behavioral disabilities, hearing impairments, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, speech/language impairments, specific learning disabilities, traumatic brain injury and visual impairments. Autism, previously under emotional behavioral disabilities, now is its own category.

In the School District of Milton, students with learning disabilities and speech/language impairments are the most common, according to the article.

To determine if a student needs special education services, Probst says in the article that there are two main questions to ask:

1) Does a student meet the criteria outlined by law?

2) If yes, does the student need specially designed instruction?

“Since the passage of PL 94-142 and amendments (reflected in I.D.E.A.), the nation has been concerned with expanding educational opportunities in the least restrictive environment,” the article reads. “In the early 1980s, I.D.E.A. supported research institutes and model demonstration projects that developed and validated effective approaches for integrating children with significant disabilities with their nondisabled classmates at school.”

Gradually special education has become mainstream and students with disabilities have been integrated with general education. Read more here.