Social Institution Analysis

Special Education in U.S.

Editor: Han Qiu

Participants

Introduction

Table of
Contents

How it Changed Over Time

Features

Stable features

Changed features

Perception-Argument based on Special Ed.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Sociological Perspectives

Structural Functional Theory

Conflict Theory

Advice for Improvement

Works Cited
(Picture from www.parentinginmotion.com)

Participants?

Faculty
Directly provide
support to the
children

The major participant

in this social
institution & receive
benefits

Students with
disabilities

Provide funding and

protect the childrens
rights by law

Parents
Provide support to the
children and also receive
benefits from the program

Federal
Government

Introduction about Special Education

1/2

Special Education services provide disabled children with specially designed supports in order to develop their
learning skills. Children who are at least 3 years old, up to 21 years old, may get special education if they are qualified.
Early in 1817, the first special education school in the United States, the American Asylum for the Education and
Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb (now called the American School for the Deaf), was established in Hartford,
Connecticut. In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson approved the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which emphasized
equal access to education and provided funding for primary education.

Photo shows President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) signed into

law the first Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(Picture from www.edreformnow.org)

(Picture from www.nsta.org)

Introduction about Special Education

2/2

By 1970s, only a small number of children with disabilities were able to attend schools. This situation hadnt
changed until 1975, when two federal laws, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act(EHA) and
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act(IDEA), were enacted. The EHA ensured the right to
education for all children regardless of disabilities, while the IDEA regulated schools provide children with
qualifying disabilities with special education.

Stable:

Features

Parents
support and
have
expectations
on their
children

Services are
specially
designed for
students

Special Ed.
initially
established for
immigrant
children who
were not
proficient in
English

Changed:

Participants
are students
and teachers

Public schools
are required to
provide free
special
education
services in
todays society

Special Ed.
aims to
improve
students
learning skills

There were no
law
enforcements
in this field
before 1975

Argument based on Special Ed.

Labeling is mandatory for disabled children to receive special education. Under current law, to
receive related services, a child must be identified as having a disability and must be qualified for
one of that states categories, such as autism and emotional disturbance.

Advantage of Labeling:

Disadvantage of Labeling:

labeling helps professionals find

the best way to assist the
children
labeling allows advocacy groups
to promote specific programs in
order to protect the childrens
rights
labeling makes fundraising
become easier

the children may have low selfesteem

once being labeled, it is difficult

for a child to ever again achieve
the status of simply being just
another kid

others may hold low expectations

for the children and differentially
treat them based on the labels

Against

(Picture from www.123rf.com)

Structural Functionalism,

also
called structural functional theory, sees society as a structure
with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and
social needs of individuals who make up that society.

(Picture from www.glogster.com)

Conflict Theory

sees society as being made

up of individuals who must compete for social, political, and
material resources such as political power, leisure time,
money, housing, and entertainment.

How do functionalism and conflict theory relate to special ed

Functionalism
In terms of special education,
functionalists may regard disability
and disorders as social problems
since functionalists assume that the
society is in a normal state.

In structural-functionalist view,
social structures interact in order to
perform positive roles for the society
as a whole. Therefore, special
education is considered to be a
institution that influences the
society in a positive way. It provides
children who have disabilities with
opportunities to receive education
and extra help, while offers
employment to the society.

Conflict Theory
In conflict theory view, the struggles focus on access to limited economic
resources or power. Marxist emphasis may concentrate on class conflict about
economic resources. Special education services in public school districts are
financially supported by local governments. However, some governments may have
insufficient funding, so that their local schools might not be able to provide the best
facilities or assessments to their students. Marxs conflict theory in terms of special
education is that some of the students with disabilities could access to better
resources, but some could not.

Advice for Improvement

- Teachers need to have sufficient
teaching experience before working
with the children with disabilities
- Schools need to conduct more
trainings for the teachers
- Government needs to pay more
attention to the children and give
more benefits to the teachers
- State government should try to
narrow the special education gap
between rich and poor areas

(Picture from www.kplu.org)

Works
Cited

Farrell, Michael. The Nature of Sociology of Special Education. The Special Education Handbook (2009):
261-64. Print.
Heward, W.L. Labeling and Eligibility for Special Education. Labeling and Eligibility for Special Education.
2006. Web. 20 Feb.2016.
Johnson, Gary, G F. Elrod, Debbie C. Davis, and Jean C. Smith. "The Provision of Special Education Services in a
Rural High Wealth and Low Wealth School District." Rural Special Education Quarterly. 19.1 (2001): 9-16.
Print.
MOCK, DEVERY R.; JAKUBECY, JENNIFER J.; KAUFFMAN, JAMES M.; JAKUBECY, JENNIFER J.;
MOCK, DEVERY R.; KAUFFMAN, JAMES M.; SINDELAR, PAUL T.; BROWNELL, MARY T.;
ACKERMAN, PAUL; JAEGER, ROBERT; SMITH, ANNE, "Special Education." Gale Encyclopedia of
Psychology. 2001, Jennifer Sisk, PHILIP LANE SAFFORD, and "Education, Special." Dictionary of
American History. 2003. "Special Education." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 2002. Web. 20 Feb.
2016.
"The History of Special Education in the United States." The History of Special Education in the United States.
Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
Vaughn, Sharon, and Sylvia Linan-Thompson. "What Is Special About Special Education for Students with
Learning Disabilities?" The Journal of Special Education. 37.3 (2003): 140-147. Print.
Witt, Jon. SOC 2013. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2012. Print.