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Improvement on Special Education

Whitney Jenista

Department of English, Missouri Baptist University

ENGL 123: Composition II

Ms. Stephanie Kramme

April 22, 2022

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Abstract

Special education is for students with disabilities who can not succeed in school without certain

accommodations. It gives the chance for disabled students to participate in normal school

activities, while having the lessons being modified, and having a higher chance to succeed. This

modified program includes special therapies and lessons to help them. Each student has

personalized lessons and ways that they are taught for them to understand the topic. Throughout

this essay, there are multiple scholarly and non-scholarly articles that will explain what special

education is, how it is effective, and how it can be improved within time. It is very important that

special education can be improved so the students with disabilities can get the most they can in

school. While schools do the most they can for special education, there can be a lot more

improvement in the outcomes of the students, proper teaching, and more support from others.

Keywords: Special Education, IDEA, ESSA

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Improvement on Special Education

Chapter One

Introduction

Special education is for students with disabilities that can not succeed in school without

certain accommodations. It gives the chance for disabled students to participate in normal school

activities, while having the lessons being modified, and having a higher chance to succeed. This

modified program includes special therapies and lessons to help them. Each student has

personalized lessons and ways that they are taught for them to understand the topic. While

schools do the most they can for special education, there can be a lot more improvement in the

outcomes of the students, proper teaching, and more support from others. Chapter one consists of

the need for study, the statement of problem, the purpose of study, the definition of terms, the

limitations of study, and the summary of chapter one.

Need for Study

There have been multiple cases where disabled students do not get the proper education

they need. It also needs to be studied because it will help the kids with disabilities be more

successful.

Statement of Problem

There have been many factors that helped influence the topic. School systems do not

follow the proper teaching and proper systems that students with disabilities need.There have

also been many stereotypes and negative attitudes when it comes to helping those with

disabilities to get the proper education that they need and deserve.
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Purpose of Study

This capstone will prove that while the schools are doing positive programs for those

with disabilities, there are needs to make the students more successful.

Definition of Terms

1. IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; guarantees free and appropriate

education for those with disabilities (Riser-Kositsky, 2021)

2. Functional Curriculum - designed to help students learn daily living skills (Morelli, n.d.)

3. ESSA - Every Student Succeeds Act; provides categorical funding to support student

achievement in low-income areas (Riser-Kositsky, 2021)

4. SLD - Specific Learning Disabilities (Guest Author, 23 Aug. 2015)

5. ASD - Autism Spectrum Disorder (Guest Author, 23 Aug. 2015)

6. IEP - Individual Education Plans; legal contracts between schools and parents that set

goals for the child and outline the special education services provided (Nelson, 2020)

Limitations of Study

There were zero limitations while researching and writing this capstone.

Summary of Chapter One

Chapter one contained the need for the study, the statement of problem, the purpose of

study, the definition of terms, the limitations of study, and the summary of chapter one. Chapter

two consists of the introduction, the scope of the study, the opposition of the topic, the support of

the topic, the solution to the topic, and a summary of chapter two.
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Chapter Two

Introduction

Chapter two consists of the introduction, the scope of study, the opposition to topic, the

support for topic, the solution to topic, and a summary of chapter two.

Scope of Study

Special education is for students that have disabilities. With this, “The basic goal of

special education is to provide exceptional children with disabilities which prevent them from

traditional educational approaches with specialized instruction and intervention sufficient to

enable them to benefit from their education,” (Morelli, n.d., para. 1). There are many ways that

special education differs from regular education. For example, there are different methods of

teaching and there are additional people, such as therapists, to help the students be more

successful. While schools do the most they can for special education, there can be a lot more

improvement in the outcomes of the students, proper teaching, and more support from others.

Opposition to Improving Special Education

Funding. The government helps fund special education with two programs, the IDEA

and the ESSA.

ESSA. The ESSA “provides categorical funding to support student achievement in

low-income areas,” (American Speech, 2022, para. 2). This act was signed on December 10,

2015 by former President Obama. This act gives protection for the education of those with

special needs. This act also gives the ability to schools with low-income, low graduation rates,

and where students do not tend to progress in their work, to have a positive outcome for the

students and the school.

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IDEA. The IDEA is “an ongoing contribution for special education,” (American Speech,

2022, para. 2). There are four parts to the IDEA act. The first part of this act gives a basic

understanding of the information that is given in the rest. The second part “lays out the

educational guidelines for school children 3-21 years of age,” (American Speech, 2022, para. 3).

This section explains the requirements of giving kids with disabilities the education they need.

This section also shows the six requirements the school must do to get funding for this special

education. The third part of the act is for when the children are first born to the age of two. This

section gives guidelines that will help the family get the appropriate programs and medical care

for their children. The final part of the act is the national activities that help provide grants and

other financial aid to help fund the education. It also includes “resources to support groups,

projects, activities which contribute positive results for children with disabilities,” (American

Psychological, 2022, para. 14). In addition, the IDEA Act covers 13 points of disabilities. This

includes the

SLD, other health impairment, ASD, emotional disturbance, speech and language

impairment, visual impairment (including blindness), deafness, hearing impairment

(hearing loss not covered by the definition of deafness), deaf-blindness (both severe

hearing and vision loss), Orthopedic Impairment, intellectual disability, traumatic brain

injury, and multiple disabilities (more than one condition covered by the IDEA). (Lee,

2021, para. 3-16)

Overall, this act helps give children, from the age of 3-21, the opportunity to have the

appropriate education that they need.

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The Programs Offered.

Specially Designed Instruction. In special education there are “‘specially designed

instruction’ for students who are eligible for special education,” (The Children’s, 2020, May 29,

para. 2). This special instruction makes it where each student has a personalized learning plan.

Therefore, these lessons are designed to help the student with their specific needs.

Relative Services. These are services that help the student benefit from their special

education. This “may include transportation, speech-language services, psychological services,

physical therapy, occupational therapy, therapeutic recreation, assistive technology,” (The

Children’s, 2020, May 29, para. 3). These services give the opportunity for the students to get

help with their disabilities rather than their education.

Transportation. The transportation is the travels between school and extra curricular

activities for those with disabilities. This transportation can also include transportation

throughout the school as well (The Children’s, 2020, May 26).

Support for Improving Special Education

Improving Special Education. When it comes to special education, many people believe

that they get all the benefits and help that they need. However this is not always the case. Most

students who have disabilities that cause them to struggle with school, are not being identified as

be disable. This is because the federal law requires states to watch for overidentifying students

with disabilities. However, many studies have proven that students with disabilities are actually

being unidentified (Riser-Kositsky, 2021). While this is a problem, there is also the issue of how

the government does not do all that they can.

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In 2018, the federal government earmarked $12.3 billion for the education of children

ages 3-12 with disabilities. That’s only about 15 percent of the excess cost of educating

students with disabilities, compared with the cost of educating a general education

student. The federal government under the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education

Act set a goal to pay states up to 40 percent of the excess cost - it never reached that goal.

(Riser-Kositsky, 2021, p 5)

This quote is showing how the government has never achieved the goal of giving the states the

40 percent of extra money to help them get the proper resources.

Specific Examples of How Schools Failed to Help Special Needs Students. For

example, there was a kid named Janae Cantu who has dyslexia. She was completing “activities

like building cars out of cereal boxes and racing them. ‘It wasn’t helping me in reading or

spelling or anything like that,’” (as quoted in Butrymowicz & Mader, 2020, p. 2). This shows

that the school was having her do unnecessary things that did not help her with her disability.

Another example is a kid named Brad, his last name was not given for privacy reasons.

He was put in classes that were too difficult for him. This made him fall behind in class, but

teachers believed that “he didn’t want to do the work, not that he couldn’t do it,” (Butrymowicz

& Mader, 2020, p. 4). This example shows how not all teachers fully understand the difficulties

the students could possibly be having. They assume that because a student does not do their

work, they do not want to, not that there was a chance that the student was struggling to complete

it.

Special Education Statistics. “Between the 2000-01 and 2017-18 school years, all but

15 states experienced growth in their disabled student populations,” (Schaeffer, 2020, para 3).

This growth has had a dramatic impact on the population of those who attend public schools.
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Nearly “14%”, or seven million, of students in public schools have disabilities (Schaeffer, 2020,

para. 3). This is a large number of those who go to public school. Additionally, this number has

only increased.

From school year 2009-10 through 2019-20, the number of students ages 3-21 who

received special education services under IDEA increased from 6.5 million, or 13 percent

of total public school enrollment, to 7.3 million, or 14 percent of total public school

enrollment. (NCES, 2021, para. 1)

This is almost one million more students who have disabilities. With this number increasing,

“each state determines its maximum age to receive special education services. At the time these

data were collected, the maximum age across the states generally ranged from 20 to 22 years

old,” (NCES, 2021, para. 19). States do this so they can help those who need help, while being

able to control the age range to help them graduate and get the knowledge they need.

According to the data taken in 2019, “64.8%” of students with disabilities tend to spend

most of their time in regular education classes. This number has doubled since 1989, when only

“31.7%” of students with disabilities spent most of their time in regular education classes

(Riser-Kositsky, 2021, para. 17). This statistic is explaining how some students are not getting

the proper amount of help that they need since they are not in the proper classes. While it is

important for those with disabilities to participate in the regular classes, they still need to be able

to have the extra help they need. There are a variety of disabilities that people suffer with. For

example, “33% of students with disabilities have/had specific learning disabilities,”

(Riser-Kositsky, 2021, para. 19). These specific learning disabilities can include anything caused

by a brain injury, dyslexia, perceptual disabilities, minimal brain dysfunction, and developmental

aphasia.
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Another example is that “11% of students with disabilities have autism,” (Riser-Kositsky, 2021,

para. 22). Autism affects the way that person acts. Normally someone with autism can not hold

still, they have trouble staying focused on one thing for too long, and they struggle with

controlling their anger. This causes them to struggle to do the things they need to do.

Additionally, the average students with disabilities to teacher ratio is “17.1,” (Riser-Kositsky,

2021, p 4). While the average student to teacher ratio is “16.2,” (Riser-Kositsky, 2021, p 4).

These ratios explain how there are more teachers for the average student rather than those with

disabilities. In reality, there should be more teachers for those with disabilities considering they

need more help.

Special Education Statistics by Ethnicity.

● “White Students - 14.7% served under IDEA,” (Riser-Kositsky, 2021, p 2).

● “Black students - 16.6%,” (Riser-Kositsky, 2021, p 2).

● “Hispanic Students - 13.8%,” (Riser-Kositsky, 2021, p 2).

● “Asian Students - 7.1%,” (Riser-Kositsky, 2021, p 2).

● “Pacific Islander students - 11.2%,” (Riser-Kositsky, 2021, p 2).

● “American Indian/Alaska Native students - 18.3%,” (Riser-Kositsky, 2021, p 2).

● “Two or more race students - 15.4%,” (Riser-Kositsky, 2021, p 2).

These statistics are important because it shows the ethnicity of those with disabilities. In

addition, it has been shown that students tend to do better in classes when they have a teacher of

the same race (Riser-Kositsky, 2021). With this information being shown, if schools could group

disabiled students with a teacher of the same ethnicity, it would help them succeed even more

than they already are.

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How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Those with Disabilities. The pandemic has

affected everyone in the world. This pandemic has affected how the world worked. It especially

affected schools. When COVID-19 had spread so bad that schools had to go online, this made it

difficult for those with disabilities. The special help these students get are not the same over a

screen. It was harder for these students to get the proper help they needed.

Before COVID-19 students in special education received an IEP. This plan helped the

school and parents to be on the same page and have the same goals for their students. The IEP is

rewritten and requires the children to get reevaluated every three years. However, when

COVID-19 hit and schools had to go online, “the federal government declared that there would

be no special education waivers,” (Nelson, 2020, para. 8). This meant that everything under the

IDEA would remain in force but be difficult to use. Additionally, during COVID there was very

little testing done with the student, if any.

For example, if an IEP stipulates that a child see a speech and language pathologist three

times a week for 30 minutes, but the school did not schedule the appointments, then the

family should receive compensatory services from the school districts. (Nelson, 2020,

para. 11).

This made it more complicated for schools to figure out how they are going to make up this time

and help the students. Schools decided they could provide a modified form to IEP. Except this

form did not require any sign-off from the parents (Nelson, 2020).

School also decided that they did not need to provide everything they did before since

they were no longer in person. They instead only provided very little to the families and had the

parents do it all. The parents struggled to figure out what they needed to do because kids like this

need a structured routine. With the school shutting down, they lost that. Therefore, it was a trial
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and error process for them. Having to do all of these different ‘jobs’ was difficult for the parents

and also stressful.

Solution to Improving Special Education

Overall, schools and the government do not do enough to help those with disabilities. As

indicated from the support above the government does not give the schools enough funding for

the proper and most effective programs. Also, the schools are not doing the most they can. They

are not giving the students the help they need.

Summary of Chapter Two

Chapter two consisted of the introduction, the scope of study, the opposition to topic, the

support for topic, the solution to topic, and a summary of chapter two. Chapter three consists of

the proposal that will improve special education.

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Improvement on Special Education

Chapter Three

Overall, schools and the government do not do enough to help those with disabilities. As

indicated from the support above the government does not give the schools enough funding for

the proper and most effective programs. Also, the schools are not doing the most they can. They

are not giving the students the help they need.

Starting off, people can show more support for the education of these students. This is

very important because it will bring more awareness to the towns and communities. Bringing this

awareness to the communities can fight for more funding, programs, etc..

After schools show more support, people can fight for the government to give the schools

more funding to improve the programs offered. When the government agrees to this, there could

be more programs offered to help specific disabilities. It can also push the schools to hire more

teachers for these students. Both of these results from the extra funding would not only help the

students, but help the schools.

Additionally to helping all schools, there are some solutions that teachers can do to

improve special education in their classroom. Starting off with focusing on the students

outcomes instead of inputs. This is important because the outcomes are the results these students

would be showing, rather than how long it takes them or how much they are struggling with the

topic. Another thing that teachers can do is make sure that these students have an organized

environment and set schedules. All of these proposals, whether they are big or small, can help

improve special education.

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Improvement on Special Education

Chapter Four

Reflection

While writing this capstone, I have been able to learn more about special education and

why it is so important. These students with disabilities are not getting the proper help they need

and it is making it difficult for them in the future to succeed. I have also learned that there are

multiple different programs and government issued acts that help fund special education

programs. On the other hand, the government is not giving as much money as they could be

giving, which is causing a decrease of the effectiveness in special education. I have also found

out that there are a lot more disabilities than I thought there were.

While I was writing this capstone, I learned a lot about my writing and researching skills

as well. I learned that when I kept myself on a timeline and stuck to that timeline, I would be

more productive with my work. On the other hand, when I slacked off and did not do the work

on that timeline, I would struggle to catch up. I also learned that I can find valuable information

from articles when I write about something that I enjoy writing about.

Some final thoughts I have when writing this capstone is that this capstone was not as

hard as I thought it would be. I have realized that this problem is not as well known as I thought

it was. With that being said, I want to make this problem more known and effective.
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References

American Psychological Association. (2022). Individuals with disabilities education act (ACT).

American Psychological Association. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from

https://www.apa.org/advocacy/education/idea

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2022). Overview of funding for Pre-K–12

Education. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Retrieved February 25,

2022, from

https://www.asha.org/advocacy/schoolfundadv/overview-of-funding-for-pre-k-12-educati

on/.

Guest Author. (2022). “Special Education & Disability Acronyms / Abbreviations

.” Header Image,

Parenting Special Needs Magazine, 23 Aug. 2015,

https://www.parentingspecialneeds.org/article/disability-acronyms-abbreviations/.

Butrymowicz, S. & Mader, J.. (2020, March 30). Low academic expectations and poor

support for special education students are 'hurting their future'. The Hechinger Report.

Retrieved February 11, 2022, from

https://hechingerreport.org/low-academic-expectations-poor-support-special-education-st

udents-hurting-future/

Lee, A. M. I. (2021, August 23). The 13 disability categories under idea. Understood. Retrieved

February 28, 2022, from

https://www.understood.org/articles/en/conditions-covered-under-idea
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Morelli, A.O. (n.d.). Special education vs. regular education. GracePoint. Retrieved February 11,

2022, from

https://www.gracepointwellness.org/1262-child-development-parenting-middle-8-11/artic

le/36213-special-education-vs-regular-education

NCES : National Center for Education Statistics. (2021, May). Students with Disabilites. IES .

Retrieved March 10, 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgg

Nelson, A. (2020, September 29). How covid-19 has affected special education students. Tufts

Now. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from

https://now.tufts.edu/articles/how-covid-19-has-affected-special-education-students

Riser-Kositsky, M. (2021, July 21). Special education: Definition, statistics, and Trends.

Education Week. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/special-education-definition-statistics-and-tren

ds/2019/12

Schaeffer, K. (2020, July 27). As schools shift to online learning amid pandemic, here's what we

know about disabled students in the U.S. Pew Research Center. Retrieved March 10,

2022, from

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/23/as-schools-shift-to-online-learning-a

mid-pandemic-heres-what-we-know-about-disabled-students-in-the-u-s/
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The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. (2020, May 29). What kinds of special education

services are available? Center for Autism Research. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from

https://www.carautismroadmap.org/what-kinds-of-special-education-services-are-availabl

e/.

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. (2020, May 26). Transportation to school and special

education services. Center for Autism Research. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from

https://carautismroadmap.org/transportation-to-school-and-special-education-services/
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Annotated Bibliography

Butrymowicz, S. & Mader, J.. (2020, March 30). Low academic expectations and poor

support for special education students are 'hurting their future'. The Hechinger Report.

Retrieved February 11, 2022, from

https://hechingerreport.org/low-academic-expectations-poor-support-special-education-st

udents-hurting-future/

This article explains two examples of how schools have failed to help students with

disabilities. They give two examples of the effects that the students had when the system

failed them. I plan to use this information in my article to help give some examples of

them.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). ). Students with disabilities. Retrieved February

11, 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgg

This article gives statistics about how many students with disabilities from 2019-2020. I

plan on using this information to help show how many students struggle with disabilities

in school.
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Riser-Kositsky, M. (2021, July 21). Special education: Definition, statistics, and Trends.

Education Week. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/special-education-definition-statistics-and-tren

ds/2019/12

This article gives more statistics with how many students have disabilities in schools on

average. It also explains the federal laws given for students with disabilities to have the

education they need. I plan on using this article to help give more information on the

statistics when it comes to special education and to help explain the laws about it.

Children with special educational needs. (2021, July 1). nidirect. Retrieved February 11, 2022,

from https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/children-special-educational-needs

This article explains what special education is and how they help the students. It also

talks about how parents can get help for their children with the help from the school and

how the school can help with transportation. I am going to use this article to explain what

special education is, what it consists of, and how to get the proper education for the

students.

Missouri Department of Social Services. (n.d.). Children with special needs. Retrieved February

11, 2022, from

https://dss.mo.gov/cd/child-care/help-for-families/does-my-child-have-a-special-need.ht

This article gives information on programs that can help people with disabilities. I am

going to use this article to explain the different types of services that the government and

schools offer to students with disabilities.

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Morelli, A.O. (n.d.). Special education vs. regular education. GracePoint. Retrieved February 11,

2022, from

https://www.gracepointwellness.org/1262-child-development-parenting-middle-8-11/article/3621

3-special-education-vs-regular-education

This article explains the goals of special education. It also gives key terms that help

special education and explains the plans within special education. I plan to use this article

to explain how special education works with the plans they create.

Schaeffer, K. (2020, July 27). As schools shift to online learning amid pandemic, here's what we

know about disabled students in the U.S. Pew Research Center. Retrieved February 11,

2022, from

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/23/as-schools-shift-to-online-learning-a

mid-pandemic-heres-what-we-know-about-disabled-students-in-the-u-s/

This article explains how the system failed to meet the needs of the children with

disabilities when COVID happened and everyone went online. This article also gives

statistics and facts about how online learning affected them. I am going to use this article

to help explain the issues that happened when COVID hit and how it affected the students

with disabilities.

The numbers behind Special Education: Special Education degrees. (2021, December 6). Special

Education Degrees |

Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://www.special-education-degree.net/numbers/

This article gives more information and statistics. I plan on using this article to explain

that special education is increasing. I am also going to include the statistics to help

explain the importance of special education.

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Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. (n.d.). What is special education?

Retrieved February 11, 2022, from

https://www.k12.wa.us/student-success/special-education/family-engagement-and-guidan

ce/what-special-education

This article is about what special education is and how parents help with special

education. I am going to use this article to help explain what special education is.

Organization for Autism Research. (2012, May 2). Comparing general education to special

education: What are the differences? Retrieved February 11,

2022, from

https://researchautism.org/comparing-general-education-to-special-education-what-are-th

e-differences/

This article explains the difference between general education and special education. I am

going to use this to help compare and contrast special education and general education.