Special Education System and Laws

EHA

Education for All Hanicap Children Act (1975)

The EHA was the first fedral law to adress the needs of children with special needs in schools. Under the EHA public schools accepting federal funds are required to provide equal educational acess for children with physical /mental disabilities. EHA also mandates evaluations and individualize education plans that closely ressemble the gen ed cirrculum. When signing the bill into law, President Ford questioned whether the federal government could ever deliver on its promised funding (Raj,2022).

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1990)

In 1990 EHA transformed into IDEA with the intent of focusing on the individual learner rather than the condtions they have. Under IDEA :

-Public schools MUST create an Individualized Education Program (IEP)

-Students are required to be placed in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

-Students have access to Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) as well as procedural safeguards to ensure students recieve FAPE.

-Ensures the use of appropriate evaluation processes and encorages collaberation with parent/gardians,teachers, and specialists

(Inclusive School Network, 2022)

How EHA/IDEA relate to second language issues

IDEA makes big promises in the scope of second language issues.

IDEA ensures the use of appropriate evaluation processes that is only given under parent/ gaurdian consent. Ideally appropriate evaluation processes should prove the compentency to distinguish disabilities from second language development. Meaning that ELLs will not be innapropriately placed in special education.

How EHA/IDEA has impacted CDL

In the exceprt, Rights to Nowhere: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)'s Inadequacy in High-poverty Schools by Claire S. Raj (2022), Raj states that in ,"2019, the federal government covered less than 15% of its funding obligations towards the IDEA. Yet, the law both assumes and demands a significant level of resources to be effective. ".

Raj discusses how districts that serve predominantly low-income, Black, and Latinx students are serverly underfunded and lack reasources to provide for students with special needs as, "schools strain to provide adequate educational programming generally" (Raj,2022).

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How EHA/IDEA has impacted CDL

Due to this, different types of integration needs cannot be adquately met, and result in segregated classrooms. Raj states, "high-poverty schools are stuck with special education programming that has no plausible prospect of succeeding in the under-resourced environments in which they operate".

It is clear that IDEA opperates more as an idea, than a law in low-income school districts and has failed to support CDL with special needs. With these schools lacking appropriate reasources it is likely that they lack appropriate assements for discerning a learning disability which can result in more CDL (ELLs) being inapproriately placed in special education.

ATA

Assistive Technology Act was first instated in 1998 and was reauthorized in 2004.

ATA provides students with disabilities assitive technology to help students participate in education. Through ATA funds are given to the states to provide assitive technology programs that offer state financing activities, reutilization programs, loan programs, and demonstration programs for devices.

(Inclusive School Network, 2022)

How Assistive Technology relates to second language issues

Assistive Technology provides a tool set for educators to use when working with ELLs. Technology offers multimodal means that appeal to all four learning types (Visual,Auditory,Reading, and Kinestethic).

Translation technology can help facilitate communication that students have with their peers and teachers. This techonolgy also helps teachers communicate with parents.

As a whole, assistive technology allows students to learn languages at their own pace while simultaneously learning the content in the curriculum. Thus it is very valuable asset to CDL of all language levels.

(Esme,2022)

Assistive Technology Act impact on CDL

The goal of ATA is to help students participate in education. However, after conducting a short interview with a friend who uses speech-to-text AT and attended a low-income elementry school, she reported that no one would know how to help her when there were issues with her device. As a result she would have to wait outside of the general education classroom for the school IT to attempt to fix the issue, or be unable to participate in class and just, "kinda sit there waiting for school to end".

She stated that this experience felt exclusionary, embarssing, and alienating- so much so that had to do homeschooling to recieve adquate education.

While ATA is written in good faith, it is clear that there are short comings in actually ensuring students have access to particpate in education.

HCPA

The Handicapped Children’s Protection Act 1986

HCPA was created to address legal cost relief available for lawsuits filed for violations of IDEA. This supports prevailing parents/gaurdians in providing legal costs

(Inclusive School Network, 2022)

How HCPA relates to second language issues

As previously discussed, IDEA promises appropriate evaluations of students as well as a commiment to have students in the LRE.

HCPA protects ELL students who could be wrongfully diagnosed with a disability, esepecially if the referral for this diagnosis was racial bias with the intent of separating the student from the gen ed classroom.

HCPA provides CD families with a sense of security in knowing that financial relief is available for taking these issues to court.

The Handicapped Children’s Protection Act and CDL

In Raj's excerpt she states that courts often dismiss their cases because students could have sought individual remedies. "Consequently, these courts force plaintiffs to seek individual remedies through administrative agencies that are inherently incapable of ordering broad-based programmatic relief."

In the case of lawsuits that are effective, Raj states that, "class actions must be directed not just at improved access to special education services, but at the quality of those services and by extension, the educational programs in which they operate".

The Handicapped Children’s Protection Act and CDL

Thus for CDL with special need who do file a lawsuit, it is likely that their case will be dismisses or they will gain access to special education services that are of poor quality.

NOV 30, 1975

Education for All Handicapped Children Act, 1975

Signed by President Ford

Handicapped Children’s Protection Act 1986

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 1990

Assistive Technology Act 1998

INTENTION OF THESE LAWS

The intention of these federal laws are good. Each law is dedicated to providing quality education to all students with special needs.

However when put into practice....

The Reality

As a furture educator I intend on:

Ensuring I am well versed in special education laws and can have the compency to properly insure they are being followed.

The reality of these laws is that low-income school do not have proper funding to properly adhere to these laws.

CDL predominately reside in low-income school districts, meaning that these laws do not adaquetly support CDL

Knowing the aids that my student with special needs have and how to work them. Seek out additional training if I am having difficulty.

Advocate for more funding to go into special education programs.