What is special about special education?

Answer 1

I hate the way we categorize education as 'regular' and 'special'. I wish we could just give every student what it is they need in order to learn as much as they can, and not make a big deal about extra help they might need! Special education refers to the extra help and small group teaching strategies used to help students who have difficulty learning in a large setting at the same pace as an average student. It covers all sorts of disabilities that may affect how a student learns in certain areas. For instance, lots of kids in early grades need a small group instruction for speech. That's special education for kids that have difficulty making certain sounds when they talk. Left untreated, speech impairments can have a negative effect on learning to read. Some kids have dyslexia-difficulty learning to read, or discalculia- difficulty understanding how to do math. They may well be perfectly able and smart in any other area, but need special instruction to learn in their area of disability. Even the term 'disability' can be controversial. How much below average do you have to be to be 'disabled'? A little? A lot? And where do you set the cut off for kids that need special help and kids that don't? Some kids have more global disabilities that affect them in all areas. They need to have access to their special education for most of the day. Some kids may go to the special education teacher for instruction for only an hour or so a day. Some kids don't leave their regular classroom at all, but only get some modifications for the work they do there, and that's still considered 'special education' as long as they have a document called an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that calls for these modifications. Just to muddy the waters further, some kids get small group instruction that isn't "special education' because it isn't paid for from special education funds. For instance, Title I reading is a federal mandated program for struggling readers that is paid for from the regular education funds. So there really isn't a good answer for your question. I would love to see the day when we don't call it special education, and all kids get any help they need in any area and all the money comes out of one pot that benefits all the kids in the school to the maximum degree possible.

Oh, the short answer to your question is, special education is special because the special education department pays for it......