TEACHING LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Chapter One Overview

By: Meredith Simon
CRITICAL LEGISLATION
 Public Law 94-142
 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

 Section 504

 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

 No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

PUBLIC LAW 94-142
 Public Law 94-142 is also known as Education for
all Handicapped Children and was adopted over 30
years ago.
 Has been amended 4 times

 Initially authorized funding to the states to assist the

development, expansion, and improvement of
Special Education programs
 Meant to provide appropriate instruction to those who
hadn’t been given the opportunity
 Ensured the rights of all children with disabilities
 Is now known as IDEA
IDEA
 IDEA is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
which put a major emphasis on access to general
education curriculum for students with disabilities.
 IDEA has 6 main provisions
 FAPE-requires school districts to provide special education
and related services needed to students without cost to
families.
 Appropriate Evaluation- full and individual evaluation must be
provided before a student can receive special education and
related services.
 IEP- a written document summarizing a students’ learning
program.
 LRE- schools must educate children with disabilities as much
as possible within the general education classroom
 Parent/Student participation in decision making
 Procedural Strategies to protect rights of parents and
students
SECTION 504
 Section 504 is also known as the Rehabilitation Act
of 1973.
 States that any student who has a physical or
mental impairment that substantially limits one or
more major life activity can qualify for special
services, even if the student is not categorized
under IDEA.
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT
 Covers broad civil rights coverage to individuals
who are disabled.
 Establishes guidelines for employment, public
accommodations, transportation, state and local
government operations, and telecommunication
systems.
 Protects individuals with disabilities who are
otherwise qualified, from discrimination.
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
 NCLB was passed in 2001 to hold schools more
accountable for students’ learning.
 5 Main Provisions
 Increased Accountability-implemented statewide
accountability system for grades 3-8.
 Parent/Student Choice- allows parents to move child to
different school within district if current school is failing
or obtain supplemental education services from public
or private sector.
 Greater Flexibility to States, School Districts, and
Schools
 Putting Reading First-goal to have all children reading
by the end of 3rd grade
 Highly Qualified Teachers
KEY ELEMENTS IN SCHOOLS TODAY
 Standard-Based Education
 Student Accountability

 Inclusion

 Response to Intervention (RTI)

 Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

 Differentiated Instruction

 Evidence-Based Practices

 Diversity consideration
STANDARD-BASED EDUCATION
 Teaching must be tied to state derived content and
performance standards in core subject areas.
 Key Features
 Performance-levels of achievement that need to be met
to demonstrate proficiency.
 Standards- general statement of what students should
know and be able to do.
 Benchmarks-specific statement of what a student
should be able to do.
 Indicator-statement of knowledge or skills that students
have demonstrated to meet a benchmark.
STUDENT ACCOUNTABILITY
 Occurs through student evaluation by high-stakes
standards-based testing.
 Most students with disabilities are capable and will
take required assessments. Some may need
accommodations.
 Students who do not take standard exams will be
given alternative assessments.
INCLUSION
 Refers to a state of being or a condition. Inclusion
implies a sense of belonging and acceptance, and
deal with how educators respond to individual
differences through the way teaching is planned
and carried out.
RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION
 RTI is three tiered instruction that gives levels of
intervention to help to meet student needs.
 Tier 1- High Quality Core Instruction- occurs in
general classroom by instruction of a challenging
curriculum.
 Tier 2-High Quality Targeted Supplemental
Instruction-targeted and focused intervention to
supplement core instruction-can occur in general
education classroom or pull-out setting
 Tier 3-High Quality Intensive Instruction-specialized
interventions to meet significant disabilities.
UDL AND DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
 Universal Design for  Differentiated
learning is the Instruction’s intention is
development of to maximize each
educational curricula students’ growth and
and materials that individual success by
include potent supports meeting each student
for access and learning where they are and
from the start, making assisting in the learning
them more useful than process.
traditional materials.
EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE AND DIVERSITY
CONSIDERATIONS
 Evidence Based  Diversity
Practice is the idea that Considerations
in order to be used,  Diversity is more than
instructional practices just disability and
should have a research includes a wide range
proven base. of needs.
 Teachers need to
develop a sensitivity to
the needs of a diverse
group of learners and
must acquire
knowledge and skills to
address their students’
needs.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST….

ALL CHILDREN CAN AND WILL LEARN!!!

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http://www3.walton.k12.ga.us/departments/exceped/Pages/Information.
aspx