Special Education: Are We Truly Meeting Students Needs?

Special Education is another topic that everyone seems to have strong opinions about. How are we identifying students to receive services? Are we over identifying students for Special Education? How doe we combat the stigma of students who receive Special Education services? What is the path forward?

Can we first address how we talk about students that receive Special Education services? These students are not Special Education students, they are General Education students that receive Special Education services. This shift in the way we name or group students is a good start to changing narratives surrounding SPED.

Many parents are hesitant to have their child receive Special Education services because of what they know or remember SPED to be. Most don’t realize the changes that have been made to better serve and de-stigmatize students that need to receive services. We, as educators, are tasked with helping realize how Special Education services can be beneficial for their student.

If you work in education, then you know that students can receive services in different ways. In most cases, students can receive services without being pulled from the General Education class setting. Sometimes students are pulled into a Special Education setting to receive some services. This is very different from the way it used to be, when students would spend the entire day in the Special Education setting. There are still some cases where a student would function best in the Special Education setting and not in General Education.

Identifying students to receive Special Education services can be a sensitive situation. There are several factors that need to be considered. The biggest factor should be, if Special Education is the right option to best serve the students needs.

Recently there have been efforts made to help with the issue of over identifying students to receive Special Education services. The focus on the RTI/MTSS process proves to be beneficial. This process helps to weed out possible issues affecting student performance. A committee discusses the student’s performance and recommendations to help the student to be successful.

Strong tier I instruction, trying ways to support students that are struggling, communicating with the team that works with the student, and also communicating with parents can help with the process. Can the student achieve better when given certain accommodations? Is there an undiagnosed disability?

As educators it is our responsibility to educate all students. We must make sure that our classrooms provide an equitable experience. We also must remember to check our own biases when working with students. Every student deserves the opportunity to receive a first class educational experience.