1. Chapter 6:
Exceptionality

2. Exceptional Students
Exceptional Students are those students
with disabilities, and those who are gifted
and talented, who may require special
education services in school to reach their
full educational potential.
Special education is “the educational
programming designed to meet the unique
learning and developmental needs of a
student who is exceptional.”

3. Individuals with Disabilities
 Individuals with disabilities often lose
freedom of choice when participating in
special programs. Their own ideas
become a part of the plan dictated by
service providers.
 Federal laws provide for the basic civil
rights for individuals with disabilities,
but even the laws do not prevent
ignorance or insensitivity.

4. Brown v. Board of Education
 The 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in
Brown v. Board of Education addressed
segregation of African American students.
 Brown became the basis for almost all special
education right-to-education litigation.

5. Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children
(PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 Using the Brown decision, attorneys argued that
having undertaken a free public education for
the children of Pennsylvania, the state could not
deny children with mental retardation the same.
 The earlier students with mental retardation are
provided education, the greater the amount of
learning that can be predicted.

6. Mills v. Board of Education
 This case was a class action suit for 18,000 out-of-
school children with disabilities in the District of
Columbia. The children’s disabilities included
behavior problems, hyperactivity, epilepsy, mental
retardation, and physical impairments.
 The court mandated that the school district provide
all children with disabilities a public-supported
education.

7. Additional Legislation
 Most federal and state right-to-education
laws are based on prior litigation (PARC,
Mills, and others) giving educational rights
to individuals with disabilities.
 The two earlier and most prominent pieces
of legislation include Section 504 of P.L.
93-112 and P.L. 94-142 (the Education for
All Handicapped Children Act).

8. Section 504
“No otherwise qualified handicapped
individual in the United States . . . shall,
solely by reason of his (or her) handicap, be
excluded from the participation in, be denied
the benefits of, or be subjected to
discrimination under any program or activity
receiving federal financial assistance.”

9. P.L. 94-142
 In 1975 Congress passed Public Law 94-142,
naming it the Education for All Handicapped
Children Act (EHA, or EHCA).
 This law permanently changed the face of
education in the United States.

10. IDEA, Since 1990
 Students must have a Transition Plan in
place, in their IEP, by age 16.
 Autism and Traumatic Brain Injury were
added as separate categories of disability.
 Mediation allows parents a stronger voice
and role should disagreements about a
child’s IEP take place.
 Students with disabilities are ensured
access to the general education
curriculum.
 Key provisions are aligned with No Child
Left Behind.

11. Public Law 101-336:
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
 Congress passed the ADA in 1990 because
Section 504 was not sufficient and did not
end discrimination for adults with disabilities.
 The ADA guarantees access to all aspects of
life—not just those that are federally funded
(as with Section 504)—to individuals with
disabilities.

12. Society’s View of Disability
 Society’s view of people with disabilities
parallels the media portrayal of these
individuals.
 The media portrayal is often limited to:
 (1) children or childlike, with severe mental
retardation or obvious physical stigmata or
(2) persons with crippling conditions in
wheelchairs or on crutches.

13. Society’s Perception of
Individuals with Disabilities
 Disability dominates our perception of the
individual’s social value.
 Although the terms are now politically
incorrect, we still hear “blind man,” “deaf
woman,” and “retarded kid”—terms that
emphasize the disability before the person.
 Stereotypes of individuals with disabilities
deny them a place in society, limiting their
social and economic equality.

14. Exceptional Cultural Groups
 They often find comfort and security with
each other in exceptional cultural groups.
 Individuals with visual and hearing
impairments are the most likely to form
their own cultural groups.

15. Disproportionate Placements
 Disproportionate placement of students of color
in classes for students with disabilities is among
the biggest problem areas in special education.
 The disproportion is greatest among African
American males who are placed in classes for
students with mental retardation and severe
emotional disturbances.
 American Indian students are overrepresented in
some disability categories, as are Hispanics in
some states and Native Hawaiians in Hawaii.

16. Contributing Variables
 Incongruent values and backgrounds between
students and teacher result in over-referrals.
 Students referred to special education are
primarily African American males from lower
socioeconomic status backgrounds.
 Teachers making referrals are primarily white,
female, and middle class.

17. Educating Students with Exceptionalities
 They are more like, than unlike, other
students.
 They should be assisted to become
proficient at whatever they are capable
of doing.
 They have the same basic needs as other
children: communication, acceptance,
and freedom to grow.

18. Normalization and Inclusion
 Normalization: Making regular experiences and
ways of life available to people with disabilities.
 Least-restrictive environment (LRE) is a key
component of IDEA, with placement in a setting
closest to a regular or general education as is
feasible for each student with a disability.
 Inclusion: Allowing students with disabilities to
be educated in general education classrooms.
Based on the general education classroom being
the least restrictive environment for most, if not
all, students. Inclusion is not federally mandated.
LRE, however, is.

19. Full Inclusion
 Current trends within special education
are toward inclusive placements in
general education classes.
 There are also increasing numbers of
full-inclusion placements, with full-day
placement within all general education
classes regardless of the type of
disability or degree of disability.

20. Supporters of Full Inclusion
 For many or most supporters, full
inclusion is more a moral and ethical
issue of desegregation than academic
efficacy.
 They view segregation of children with
disabilities as immoral and unethical
as segregation of students because of
race.

21. Concerns With Inclusion
 Some supporters question the
appropriateness of full inclusion for all
children with disabilities regardless of the
type or degree of disability.
 Concerns are raised over some students
with such severe disabilities that nothing is
gained academically and little socially.
 Some argue that inclusion of students with
disabilities is a disrupting influence to other
students.

22. Is it Possible?
 Serving students with disabilities in general
education environments would be possible for most
students with disabilities if:
 schools and teachers have adequate resources.
 all teachers and specialists received adequate
training.
 federal and state funding was at appropriate
levels (federal funding is currently at 18% of
what was/is promised in the legislation).
 Courts will not support inadequate funding as a
reason not to provide students with inclusive
education.

23. Reflect
 http://youtu.be/jQnKu6sUSGc
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