Revamping special education

Public Interest, Summer, 2001 by Wade F. Horn, Douglas Tynan

Unrealistic expectations

The end result of special education's focus on process rather than outcome, accommodations rather than prevention and intervention, and exceptions to disciplinary codes rather than uniform enforcement is that many special-education students see their disability as a rationale for a lifetime of entitlements. This expectation brings its own negative consequences. For example, while it is true that many colleges offer accommodations to students with disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the extensive supports of special education required under IDEA generally do not apply to colleges and universities. Thus many students with disabilities, having grown used to special accommodations in primary and secondary schools, are confronted with a harsher reality when they enter college or the workforce.

Take, for example, the case of Bartlett v. New York Board of Law Examiners (1997). In this case, Marilyn Bartlett, a former special-education student who had failed to pass the New York bar exam on five previous occasions, argued that she was entitled to unlimited time to take the bar exam because her reading disorder qualified her for special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The U.S. Second Court of Appeals subsequently ruled that she was not entitled to unlimited time to take the bar exam because, as evidenced by the fact that she had standardized reading test scores in the average range, she had successfully compensated for her reading disability.

What this case illustrates is that special education has largely lost sight of the appropriate "end game." As originally intended, IDEA was designed to integrate children with special needs into the mainstream of American life. Today, in far too many instances, special education serves to separate, not integrate, through the use of exceptional rules and procedures not available to nondisabled students. In effect, special education has ceased to see its mission as teaching compensatory and coping skills so that students can participate fully in the mainstream of American society. Instead, it encourages a sense of lifetime entitlement to special accommodations.

Three levels of disability

The first step toward reform of special education is to recognize that the system currently includes three fundamentally distinct populations: (1) those with significant developmental disabilities and sensory and physical handicaps; (2) those with milder forms of neurological conditions, such as learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder; and (3) those with conduct or behavioral problems. Currently, despite some carefully developed individual programs, over 90 percent of children in special education receive similar services. The interests of all students would be served if special education were redesigned to better address the very different needs of its subgroups.

The first group, for which the original law was passed, consists of children born with birth defects, serious sensory or physical disabilities, and significant cognitive delays. In the vast majority of such cases, these children are identified as disabled during infancy and the preschool years, frequently by health-care professionals or early-childhood education specialists, and begin receiving intervention services before they enter elementary school. For these children, there is no need for an elaborate identification process within the schools. Long before they enter kindergarten, we know who they are and to a large extent understand their medical, rehabilitation, and educational needs.