Educating Special Needs Students Essay

This essay is entitled Educating Special Needs Students, the author will discuss and several important issues, which will be the following; the defining of Mental Retardation a term the author despises, Autism, Severe Disabilities and Multiple Disabilities, also their causes, and the impact of these disabilities have on the education of students with Mental Retardation. In addition to the above mentioned, the essay will identify areas of curriculum, necessary for students with severe disabilities and will explain why. Addressed also will be the following; using the authors’ local school district, Las Vegas Nevada, an investigation into the policies, procedures, and programs for the education, of students with Mental Retardation, Autism, and or Severe Multiple Disabilities. Lastly, an explanation of how these policies, programs, and procedures, either address or ignore the area of curriculum, the author has listed within the content of the essay. According to the Association for Retarded Citizens or (AAMR), Mental Retardation is defined as; a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. Though its causes can be attributed to a variable amount of many things, here are just a few of known caused medical factors; Genetic conditions, which have been the results from abnormalities of genes inherited from one or both parents, errors when genes combine, or from other disorders of the genes caused during pregnancy by infections, overexposure to x-rays and other factors. Problems during pregnancy, some of these problems, in the opinion of the author, are definitely avoidable such as; the use of alcohol or drugs by the pregnant mother which can cause mental retardation. Other problems exist too such as, Malnutrition, rubella, glandular disorders and diabetes, and cytomegalovirus. Many of these types of illnesses can be traced back to the mother and often times in the early trimester of the pregnancy. Another of hese causes is Poverty and cultural deprivation, in which children in poor families may become mentally retarded because of malnutrition, disease-producing conditions, and inadequate medical care. This brings us to one of â€Å"the most† controversial topics of late; â€Å"Autism†. It is defined as; a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by great difficulty in communicating and forming relationships, a mental condition in which fantasy dominates over reality, as a symptom of schizophrenia and other disorde rs. The causes of this disability are still up for debate however, the Autism Society of America (ASA) defines it as the following; â€Å"Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. The causes of this disability are attributed to the following; Depakote, also called Valproate, an anti-seizure medication, taken during pregnancy, Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disorder, Rett syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting only females, Tuberous sclerosis, a rare genetic disorder and Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. Lastly defined are Severe Disabilities and Multiple Disabilities, those who traditionally have been labeled, as having severe to profound cognitive impairments or intellectual disabilities. It is difficult to define this term precisely because, during the authors’ research, there is no one clear definition that; covers all the conditions that special educators and psychologists know about this disability. So, what is the impact of disabilities on the education of students with mental retardation? Well compared to their peers, most students with severe and multiple disabilities learn more slowly, forget more readily, and experience problems generalizing skills from situation to situation. This makes educating students with this particular disability more challenging and often times harder to manage. â€Å"The public education of these students must start early and continue at some level throughout life. Second, all students typically need speech and language intervention, while many others will need physical and occupational therapy. Students with sensory impairments may need interpreters and mobility trainers, while some with medical needs may require nursing services or supervision. Third, because the educational teams of students are often large, close collaboration between members is essential if their expertise is to result in improved student functioning. The benefits of integrating therapy into natural activities are now being widely accepted over the traditional practice of isolated, or pull-out, therapy. † The essay will now turn its focus to the attention of identifying areas of curriculum, necessary for students with severe disabilities and will explain why. To begin, the Handicapped Children’s Act of 1975, federal emphasis shifted from curriculum development to preparing and implementing individualized educational programs for students with disabilities (Meyen, 1996). Why, because in the opinion of the author, every student in every state deserves to have the best available education the Department of Education has out there also, with the use of modern technology there is no obstacle to hard to overcome. The following statement illustrates the authors’ point. Students with complex healthcare issues, significant developmental delays, and severe multiple disabilities require approaches that offer intensive levels of support. Students who are blind, deaf, deaf-blind, and autistic may in some cases require the same degree of support, but they also require more specialized curriculum and teaching approaches (in, for example, technology and literacy). Additionally, such students may require specialized resources from related service providers (such as orientation and mobility instructors or audiologists). the National Center on Accessible Instructional Material. In the conclusion of this essay, using the authors’ local school district, Las Vegas Nevada, an investigation into the policies, procedures, and programs for the education, of students with Mental Retardation, Autism, and or Severe Multiple Disabilities, and an explanation of how these policies, programs, and procedures, either address or ignore the area of curriculum, the author has listed within the content of the essay. According to Charlene Green, a teacher in the Nevada Clark County School district, she’s seen the number of children with autism spectrum disorders in her charge increase from 96 to more than 1,000. Green, the associate superintendent for student support services in the Las Vegas-area district, oversees those children’s education–an expensive, complicated task. Moreover she says, â€Å"The school system was at a nadir in dealing with the needs of its autistic children and their parents. We were being bombarded with due process requests,† she says, by parents who sought legal recourse against a school system they believed wasn’t providing the necessary education for their children, as schools are required to do under the 1990 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). † Educating students with Mental Retardation; While the author has lived in the city of Las Vegas for over eight years now, there is no clear Policy, nor procedure in which the author could find to answer this question, to his surprise the list below was researched and readily available; Las Vegas, Nevada Courses – Regis University-Colorado college †¦ Special needs jobs in Las Vegas, NV | careerjet. com, Special education jobs in Las Vegas, NV | careerjet. com and this list just goes on from here. But under the Department of Education in Nevada it reads as follows; Nevada Department of Education Office of Special Education, Elementary and Secondary Education, and School Improvement Programs; Under federal and state law, each student with a disability is entitled to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Special education programs in Nevada serve students with identified disabilities in one of the twelve categories established in Nevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 388. School districts must provide the services necessary to assure FAPE for all students with disabilities, without regard to the adequacy of state revenues to support the costs. In closing and in the opinion of the author, â€Å"we†, this means everyone who works in the educational industry as a Teacher, Principle, or Administrator, must focus on all available data to, not only include but, to educate every student no matter what the disability.