Special Needs and Education

Kelcie Evdokimoff

Instructor Barrios

English 102-A

1 October 2013

Integrated Classrooms

        Education is now a serious aspect in America and is only continuing to grow. Whether or not you have acquired a degree or even have a high school diploma will determine the extent of upward mobility you will achieve throughout life. This is why it so important today to receive an education that will be in a high demand by good companies that will want to higher you. The importance to acquire education for special need children is just as important as for the children who do not have special needs. Integrating classrooms with children who have special needs with those who do not, negatively affects the overall education of children with special needs, which in turn will affect their chances to achieve that upward mobility that all Americans dream of.

        The American dream, to most people, is having an education that helps them to obtain a successful career that allows them to live the type of life style without financial stress. Being able to, on a resume, that you have received a high degree for your education will allow you to get the job you have always dreamed of. Having a good education also means that life will be much easier to manage then it would be if you did not. For example, if you only had a high school diploma then your choice for jobs would most likely only make minimum wage which is below the poverty rate, but if you had a college degree then you job coming out of college, depending on the degree, the pay can range between the five to six figures. This just goes to show the importance of having an education.

        Special needs children are included in this upward mobility that we all strive for. If they do not receive the proper education that they need, it will prevent them from obtaining a job in the future. The only way to make sure children have a good future is to work together to give them a good education for the next generation (Hoch 1). “Children may be about 20 percent of the population, but that are 100 present of the future” (qtd. in Hoch 1). For decades children with learning disabilities have been forgotten about and deprived. In 1965, there was a law that was passed that favored the children without disabilities and completely forgot about those who had learning disabilities. This act was not addressed until one year later, it was amended and a new one was introduced (ESEA1).

        The Disabilities Education Act (DEA) was passed in 1997 has and is only continuing to turned heads of many concerned parents and troubled teachers. DEA moved children with learning disabilities into classrooms with children who do not have learning disabilities (ESEA1). In 2000 about 60percent of disabled students were already in mixed into classroom with students who did not have disabilities (ESEA2). Combining classroom with children who have special needs with those who do not affects the degree of education that is being given to each child in the classroom. According to educators in Mainstreaming the Gifted on page 1“…there is a big push to meet gifted students needs within regular classrooms…” Teachers are feeling shoved into a new style of teaching and obligated to make adjustments for the new special need students in the classrooms. Having teachers that are stressed in the classroom will only affect their ability to teach the students.