children out of school in america - University of Tennessee Digital ...

Children with special needs is a catch-all phrase
for a wide variety of conditions. Generally, anyone
who does not fit into the normal classroom pattern
and who needs different or supplemental attention
in order to benefit from public instruction is considered
a special needs child.
Traditionally these children have been labeled
handicapped. The handicap can be as severe as extreme
mental retardation or as commonplace as a
speech defect. It can be physically disabling or inhibit
psychological and emotional interaction. It
can be long-term, such as deafness, or a temporary
condition, such as pregnancy.2 It can require medical
attention, or psychological counseling, or a special
curriculum. The diversity of needs which children
exhibit is staggering. More staggering is the scarcity
of knowledge, programs, funds, and commitment to
helping these children and their families.
As we went from door to door, we found children
with a disturbing array of special needs who were
out of school. We found others in school whose
needs were not being adequately met. Despite the
great variations in the reasons for their exclusion
several common threads tied them together.
First: Parental ignorance of and exclusion from
special needs decisions affecting their children. More
than other children, children with special needs require
the continuity of care and program that extends
beyond the six hours of a school day. In no area is
parental education and involvement more needed. In
no area is it less forthcoming. Many of the parents
we interviewed did not know whether their child was
receiving any special attention or whether it was
adequate or appropriate. They did not understand
the labels, the testing procedures, the rationales behind
treatment methods, the goals of instruction,
their role in their child's education, or what they had
a right to demand of the public school system. Communication
between teacher and parent was poor.
Placement techniques used in school were rarely explained.
Rarely was the parent asked permission before
testing or placement decisions were made.
Often there is little definitive information a pro-
2 We were very surprised to see the number of districts that
included pregnant girls witbitt special education divisions'
responsibility for "handicapped" children. We have, however,
included them more appropriately in our previous
chapter on barriers to attendance.
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fessional can give a parent. For example, little is
known about the origins of hyperactivity, or how
best to teach a dyslexic child, or what method will
best train an emotionally disturbed child. In the
face of insufficient knowledge about the cause of or
remedy for children's disabilities, decisions about
their educational future are more a matter of informed
judgment than hard fact. This means that
the child's history, day to day activity, and the parents'
observations are particularly important. It is
thus striking that parents are almost uniformly left
out of the special education process - having no
power in the decision and no information upon
which it is based.
Second: Public school denial of responsibility for
educating children with special needs. Schools all
too frequently have denied responsibility for meeting
the special needs of children. Some officials have
convinced parents that there are no suitable programs
for their children that could be, or ought to
be, provided at public expense in the public schools.
School officials deny responsibility to care for and
educate these children on the grounds that these
children are different, might hurt others, would not
benefit from regular school and would tax the already
stretched resources and patience of teachers
and administrators. In short, they argue, it is not
the school's responsibility to do anything about special
needs children. This attitude is conveyed in the
statutory exemptions passed by 48 states and the
District of Columbia for children who are physically,
mentally, or emotionally handicapped or who "cannot
profit from an education."3 It is also conveyed
by the interaction between family and school. An
official may not say so directly, but lack of services,
outreach, flexibility and attention get the message
across: children with special needs should not come
to school.
Third: Parents feel overwhelmingly alone. 4 Most
have no alternatives. If they cannot afford to buy
the attention of high priced professional care, few
public agencies will respond to their problems. They
often have two choices: they can send their child to
3 See Appendix I for states with such exemptions.
4 A healthy occurrence is the growing group advocacy of
parents of some special needs children - particularly the
mentally retarded - who have banded together to demand
services for their youngsters.