Educating Children with Special Education Needs and

Communication Disorders in Schools

Marlene B. Salas-Provance, Ph.D., CCC-SLPAssociate ProfessorDepartment Head

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders

Special Education Teachers

• 2009 All teachers, including special education– 437,000 (6.5 M children with disabilities)– Critical shortage of teachers in special education– 110,000 special education teachers grades 9-12– 2,020 teachers in New Mexico/includes special

education K-12

Speech-Language Pathologists

– Approximately 166,000 certified SLPs in US– Approximately 2000 certified SLPs around the world

– Prevalence of speech sound

disorders is 8-9% of the population

By first grade 5% of children have a noticeable speech disorder

Speech-Language Disorders

– 6-8 million people in US have a language impairment– 3 million Americans stutter

• 15 million in the world– 7.7 million Americans have a voice disorder

– http://www.asha.org/Research/reports/children/

Students with Disabilities• 2009/2010

– 6.5 Million students– Ages 3-21– 13% of population

• 38% with specific learning disability• 22% with speech or language impairments (SLI)• 11% with health impairments• 6-7% with autism, intellectual disability, emotional

disability, developmental delay

DISABILITY TYPE

REGULAR SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

IDEA• IDEA – Individuals with Disability Act – 1975

mandates provision of ‘free’ and ‘appropriate’ public school education for children ages 3-21 who have disabilities

• Building the Legacy: IDEA 2004

http://idea.ed.gov/

http://nichcy.org/laws/idea

ADA

• ADA 1990 – Americans with Disabilities Act– Guarantee rights of full inclusion into mainstream

– ADA Amendments Act of 2008

– http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/disability/ada.htm

US Special Education School Placements

• Special School Districts• Special Education in Regular Education

School Districts– Regular classrooms/Co-teachers– Special Education Resource Rooms– Self-contained Classrooms– One-to-one speech-language therapy– Group speech-language therapy

Types of Settings(Public or Private)• Early Intervention

– Birth to three– Preschool

• School-Age Elementary– Middle School– High School

• 95% of students with disabilities enrolled in

regular schools• 86% with SLI spent most of day in regular

classroom

Types of Settings• Schools for the Deaf• Schools for the Visually Impaired• Classrooms for children with Physical

Handicaps• Classrooms for children with Behavioral

Disorders

Effective Special Educator Practices

Co-Teaching• Provides specialized services to individual

students in general education class

• Co-Teaching Team– General educator, special educator, speech-

language pathologist

Effective Special Educator PracticesCo-Teaching

• Aspects of Co-Teaching Team–Agree on a goal–Share a common belief system–Demonstrate parity–Share leadership roles–Practice effective communication skills

Effective Special Educator PracticesCo-Teaching

• Popular Teaching Model–Adheres to IDEA principles

• Schools hold high expectations for all students

• Schools ensure students have access to the curriculum of general education to maximum extent

Qualifications• No Child Left Behind (NCLB) 2001

http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml • All children must receive instruction from

“Highly Qualified” educators– Speech-language pathologist: Masters Degree with

American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) and state licensure

– Special Education Teacher: Bachelors degree and state licensure, possible Masters degree, First license in general education K-12

Special Education Curriculums and Treatment Plans

• Establish student learning objectives (SLOs)

• Construct objectives that are aligned with general education class

• Provide educational opportunities to ELLs (English Language Learners). Evaluate to determine if are eligible for special services

Special Education Curriculums and Treatment Plans

• General and special educators work collaboratively

Co-INSTRUCTING• One teach, one observe• One teach, one assist• Station Teaching• Parallel Teaching• Alterantive Teaching• Team Teaching

Conderman, G ( March, 2011). Middle school co-teaching: Effective practices and student reflections. Middle School Journal, www.nmsa.org pp 24-31

Special Education Curriculums and Treatment Plans

• Accommodate leaning needs for students with disabilities

• Accommodate levels of performances for students with disabilities

• All students who receive special education and related services must have an IEP/Individualized Educational Plan

Attitudes Towards Disabilityhttp://www.uwlax.edu/urc/JUR-online/PDF/2010/grames&leverentz.pdf

• Objects of fear and pity• Over-indulged, behavior not controlled• Revered, a special gift• Hopeless condition• Incapable of contributing to society• To be cared for at home or in institutions• Uneducable

Conclusion• Education for individuals with disabilities in

the US is advanced; spanning 50 years• More emphasis towards outcomes of teaching

and treatment• More emphasis toward evidence-based

practices• Emphasis toward person-first vocabulary

– Child with autism, not an autistic child

• Emphasis toward general educator/special educator collaboration

References• Flynn, P. (2010, August 31). New service delivery models:

Connecting SLPs with teachers and curriculum. The ASHA Leader. http://www.asha.org/Publications/leader/2010/100831/Service-Delivery-Models.htm

• Friend, M., & Cook, L. (2010). Interactions: Collaboration skills for school professionals (6th ed.)Boston: Pearson Education

• Gately, S., & Gately, F.. (2001). Understanding co-teaching. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 33(4), 40-47

• Turnbull, R., Huerta, N., M., & Stowe, M. (2006). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as amended in 2004. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.