The Importance of Education for Children with Disability

Education and Disability
INTRODUCTION
The importance of education for all children, especially for those with disability and with limited social and economic opportunities, is indisputable. Indeed, the special education system allowed children with disability increased access to public education. Apart from that, the special education system has provided for them an effective framework for their education, and for the institutions involved to identify children with disability sooner. In turn, this promotes greater inclusion of children with disability alongside their nondisabled peers. In spite of these advances however, many obstacles remain, including delays in providing services for children with disability, as well as regulatory and financial hindrances that complicate the program for all involved. Enhancing the system necessitates better ways of understanding and measuring both ends of the special education continuum, namely the services special education children need and receive, and the academic outcomes these students achieve.
BACKGROUND
Literatures talk about the dramatic shift from exclusion to inclusion in US legislation governing the education of children with disability. Prior to the ratification of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) in 1975, it was estimated that only one in five Americans with identified disability attended public schools. Unfortunately, of the three million special needs children who attended school, many received little or no effective instruction. After IDEA, the number of such children in public schools grew by 100 percent, a proof that the effort of the government has paid off.
The special education system has not only given students with disability an opportunity to obtain public ...

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...al federal funding or better enforcement of policies will improve education outcomes for students with special needs and their family is very limited in spite of calls for increased funding and reformation. More studies on the effects of special education services on achievement is needed to determine the efficacy of the funds allocated for this purpose. It is important to pinpoint the causes of the gap between special schooling and general education, and the means to reduce this gap. In addition, greater efforts are needed to develop and standardize appropriate assessments of academic achievement for students with disabilities. Finally, given the huge differences in service needs and outcomes across students of different disability types, attention needs to focus on understanding how all these issues affect different subgroups of special education students.