Why do hey have special ed classes in school?

Question

I still dont get why they have special education classes in schools....
Can mentally handicapped people actually get a decent paying job when they're adults?

Answer 1

Well perhaps not, however the individuals you are referring to have special needs that can not be met inside public school. However it isn't like they have nothing to contribute to society.

They are different true however they don't see the world in the same way. they think differently. So their goals are different. So to us what we consider a decent living is different. Many are just happy doing what they can do.

As for the the classes in the public school system, those children, have the potential to be fully function adults. It's just they are in need of some extra help. It is in fact an excellent program.
Did you know in my state we have what is called "No child is left behind" rule, which means no matter what the kid scores, he is still promoted to the next grade even if he isn't ready. A teacher isn't even allowed to suggest to a parent that the child could benefit from repeating the same grade.
Without these classes then that child would continue to slip further & further behind until old enough to drop out.
Then how productive would they be. No they need these classes.

lastly, the children are our link to the future, we must give each and everyone the same opportunities, and confidence to be the best they can be.

Answer 2

Of course people with lower than average IQs can get decent paying jobs as adults.

It is better that we put funding into educating our nation's children than to have to support them financially for 80+ years of life.

Answer 3

It's so that they can receive the same education as everyone else, but at a pace that is more suitable to their condition.

Answer 4

Absolutely, people with disabilities can work.

Special Education (SPED) serves 13 categories of "different" learners, sometimes 14 (if a state includes Gifted education in their SPED laws). Only ONE of those 13 categories, Mental Retardation, officially involves a low IQ. Every other category has people of average or better intelligence. If someone from a different category also has a low IQ, they are considered to be Dual Exceptional or Multi-Disabled (qualifying in more than one category).

Special Education involves specialized programming to help people who learn "differently" than "average." If a student (of any intelligence) is not learning effectively in the general education environment, SPED steps in with research-based instructional approaches targeting that person's best learning styles, additional skills needed like ADHD coping mechanisms, and therapies. Done correctly, the Special Ed specialist teacher also acts as a support and resource for the general education teachers, and for parents.

The most common category is "Specific Learning Disability." These are kids with normal smarts who just have trouble learning how to read or do math using the usual, regular classroom ways.

Some kids have trouble understanding what they hear, and/or making sounds right when they talk. Most of these also have normal smarts. This category is "Speech-Language Impaired."

Some kids stress out too easily, and show it by being mean to other kids, not doing their work, talking back to the teacher, destroying stuff, etc. Most of these also have normal smarts. These kids are Emotionally/Behaviorally Disturbed. Only a very few of these are so severely disturbed that they cannot work. However, with specialized instruction, they CAN learn better behaviors that love (of parents) or a regularly trained teacher could not help them develop, which would help keep them out of prison (hopefully)... and the drain on the taxpayer.... compare 20 years of educational support at about $8,000 or so per year, to a lifetime (50 years) of prison care at $40,000 or so per year. Note that this is designed to REDUCE the population of institutionalized (prison, mental hospital, other hospital long-term care) people... in the end it is up to the individual to use what the specialized instruction has given them, or not.

Some kids take a lot longer to learn stuff, both in school and at home. They need to practice each little step over and over to remember it and use it. In other words... low intelligence. These kids are Mentally Retarded. Only a very few of these are so severely disabled that they cannot work. However, with specialized instruction, they CAN learn skills that love (of parents) or a regularly trained teacher could not help them develop... and EVERY skill they gain is one less thing for a caregiver to have to do, which reduces taxpayer costs for adult care later on.

Some kids have health problems that are bad enough to get in the way of their learning. These kids are Other Health Impaired. Some of these are terminally ill... but would you deny a terminally ill child the chance to live as normal a life as possible up until the end?

Some kids are "blind" to social stuff. They don't understand how people interact with each other. These are Autistic. Only a very few of these are so severely disabled that they cannot work. However, with specialized instruction, they CAN learn skills that love (of parents) or a regularly trained teacher could not help them develop... and EVERY skill they gain is one less thing for a caregiver to have to do, which reduces taxpayer costs for adult care later on.

Other kids may be unable to hear well, or totally deaf. Others may be blind. Some are deaf and blind. Some are in wheelchairs because their bodies don't work well.

Kids that have a mix of things from different categories are called "Multi-Disabled." Only a very few of these are so severely disabled that they cannot work. However, with specialized instruction, they CAN learn skills that love (of parents) or a regularly trained teacher could not help them develop... and EVERY skill they gain is one less thing for a caregiver to have to do, which reduces taxpayer costs for adult care later on.


Why do we have a special educational system?

Until about 50 years ago, no effort was made to bring ALL children to graduation. You can still meet plenty of older people who only have a 3rd, 6th or 8th grade education level. Kids attended school until either their parents needed them to get a job to help support the family, or until they (and their teachers) became frustrated enough to quit.

Then compulsory (all kids have to go) attendance started, along with the child labor laws; the law decided all kids should attend school until the age of 16.

Once compulsory attendance started, if a child wasn't learning, they were moved to separate classrooms or even separate buildings, away from the "normal" kids, until they turned 16 and could be dropped out of the system.

Until the 1970's, kids with any disability severe enough to need special help, were considered "educable retarded." They were moved out of the regular ed classes, usually to a different building, and focus was placed on training them for skilled manual labor, rather than academics (store clerk, factory worker, etc.), IF any training was provided at all. Kids who didn't need to be moved, but still were struggling in regular classes, were considered just plain old "stupid."

You can still meet people, now successful in a variety of careers, often leaders in their field, who were labeled "retarded" as children and warehoused in the special schools or who were "written off" as dumb by the school system and who struggled through regular classes on "D's"...who never really learned to read, write, etc., although some self-taught these skills as adults.

In the early 1970's, parents of kids who learned differently, who loved their kids and didn't like being shut out of the education system, did something about it. They fought the system... political activism, lawsuits, etc. This resulted in the passage of the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, the foundational law that all of our current special education system is built on.


Do these people succeed in life?

Check these links:

Workers with mental retardation:

http://www.thearc.org/faqs/emqa.html

http://www.diversityworld.com/Disability/DN04/DN0404.htm

http://www.mosaicinfo.org/nmra/index.htm

Workers with normal intelligence but learning, emotional, and/or physical disabilities:

http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=980

http://www.ldonline.org/questions/adults

http://ericec.org/faq/ld-adult.html

College life for adult students with disabilities:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/21/seeing_college_in_the_future/

http://chronicle.com/free/2001/01/2001012601t.htm

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/07/29/disabled