RUNNING HEAD: SPECIAL ED IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 1

Special Education in Elementary Schools

Krista Milstead

Bridgewater College
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Abstract

The incorporation of special education students is a never ending process. The process

includes cooperation of parents, teachers, the classroom environment, and the student. The

teachers role does not begin and end with the lesson plan for these students, they are actively

involved in all parts of their education, more so than regular education students. Parents should

be actively involved, but not all feel as though they are adequately reaching their childs

educational needs and feel unwelcomed by the school for such. Due to these feelings, educators

should find ways to make parents feel comfortable and keep communication open. All special

education students should be educated in an inclusive environment to the best of their ability.

While inclusion provides an opportunity for exceptional students to develop socially, it also

provides students without any disabilities to become more accepting attitudes. Both exceptional

students as well as regular education students to grow as people as a benefit of inclusive

classrooms.
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Special Education in Elementary Schools

Every school has students who are exceptional. Exceptionalities range anywhere from

mental disorders all the way through gifted and talented. The topic that I have chosen to do my

research essay on is special education in elementary schools. I chose this topic to try and gain

insight that I did not gain while going through school myself. The elementary school I went to,

Clymore Elementary, did not have any special education students, at least that I can remember,

so I wanted to see what all is put into educating exceptional students on the early level,

especially since it is likely in this age when their exceptionalities are discovered. To do this I

looked into teacher requirements, parental aspects, and the education received by the students.

Educators of elementary aged special education students have a large role and are highly

involved with the students lives. One of the many tasks that educators have is to administer

standardized ability and achievement tests to students with special needs in elementary schools.

Going off of the results of these tests, the teachers may need to collaborate with other teachers or

administration to make changes to the special education program in the school. These

professionals must also confer with other staff members, administrators, specialists, social

workers, and parents in order to plan their lessons, form their lesson plans, and resolve any

problems behaviorally or academically they might find in their students(Special education

teachers, kindergarten and elementary school, n.d.). In the upper grades, teachers might find it

to their advantage to look into their students school records to see if there are any types of

situations on file that have occurred in the past that they should be made aware of and possibly

prepare for (Gollnick, 2013). Such behavior could include an issue with another student,

behavior toward the lesson, or other events depending on the exceptionality. This might not be as

possible on the elementary level as these students may have only recently been classified as
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exceptional or only have been in school for a short amount of time and have no record of

misbehaving. A way that elementary school teachers can support special education students with

a similar method is to follow their IEP and discover what does and does not work so that the IEP

can be updated and notes can be added for future teachers. From my field experience

observations, I have taken note that Keister Elementary, who is in collaboration with the 2004

IDEA amendment, already does this while supporting students in meeting challenging

expectations to develop the highest possible learning outcome. Under this, they must include

measurable academic and functional goals in the students IEP. By providing a full education

opportunity the students are benefiting greatly (Milstead, 2015). In short, the teachers are

involved in every detail of the lives of special education students and go through never ending

processes to ensure a beneficial education for all of their students.

In general, parents are typically seen as an important part of their childrens education. A

2014 study revealed that parents of special education students are less involved than parents of

regular education students (Fishman, 2015). The same parents reported that the interactions

between this group and teachers are less family centered than those with regular education

students. Special education professionals are encouraged to try to improve the lives of the entire

family (Fishman, 2015)These families undergo a great deal of stress as the learning process for

disabled students is a life-long process, and not an easy one at that. A 2009 study revealed that

parents of students with ADHD have reported feeling useless in helping with their childrens

academics as they have less time and energy to be involved and in return they receive

involvement requests from teachers and feel unwelcome in the school due to their lack of ability

to help their child the way they require help (Fishman, 2015, p.526). The same study investigated

the interaction between mothers and fathers of both ADHD and non-ADHD students. There
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seemed to be no noticeable difference between the mothers interaction with their children, but

the fathers showed a significant difference in involvement. The fathers of students with the

disorder showed less involvement in their childrens education (Fishman, 2015, p.526-527).

Teachers of special education students should acknowledge realistic family participation based

on time available, energy, and resources. They can do this by using collaborative decision

making with the parents where they can discuss what can be done at home and what needs to be

done at school (Fishman, 2015, p.525). The parents at Keister Elementary, were I did my field

experience observations are actively involved in the classroom, meetings about the student, and

are informed on changes with their childs IEP (Milstead, 2015). Communication with the

parents is a key to keeping them involved. The teachers and administrators should make the

parents feel welcomed to be involved in their childs education so that the parent can be more

supportive of their child while gaining a better insight of what goes into their schooling.

The education to be received by special education students has been a topic of interest for

decades. PL 94-142 says that all students should be educated in the least restrictive environment.

Even in the early 1990s, the restrictiveness of the classroom was based on the severity of the

disability. Students with the mildest disability could be mainstreamed with regular education

students and teacher consultation. As the disabilities get more severe, the restrictiveness allows

for less and less inclusiveness. These students go to resource rooms, special day schools, and

even residential or hospital programs (Bos, 1991, p.5). Exceptional students should be placed in

inclusive classrooms. Grigorenko (2008) mentions that those who support inclusive education

see if as beneficial for the social functioning of these students. Elementary students should be

making friends and allowing these students to be in the classroom with the regular education

students promotes this. Inclusive environments offer learning disabled children to interact with
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their peers, increase self-initiations in social settings, and the development of more a more

complex language. Students who are taught in the least restrictive environment are being allowed

to be in the classroom with their peers to the best extent possible (Milstead, 2015). Overall, being

in the environment with non-disabled peers allows the exceptional students to grow academically

and as a person. Not only are the exceptional students gaining new skills, but the regular

education students are as well. These students develop a tolerance and understanding of students

with disabilities (Grigorenko, 2008, p.17). Going back to my recollection of my own elementary

school experience, I wish this was the case. If we would have had special education students

included more in our classes I may have more skills in communicating with these people now. In

fact, I do not recall knowing any special education students outside of the small group that

participated and shared a classroom with the preschool students, which was in no way conducive

to their education. I might not remember these students, but according to the Virginia

Department of Education website, in 2005 when I was in the fifth grade, we had more special

needs students than I have ever thought in Augusta County. Out of the 1651 students included

under special needs during this year, 344 of the students had a speech or language impairment,

110 students had an emotional disturbance, 88 were mentally retarded, 269 had another type of

health impairment, 551 students had a specific learning disorder, and 164 were developmentally

delayed. This amazes me that at my elementary school we probably had some of these students

and, at least the more severe students were very rarely included in the regular curriculum. The

education environment is not the only aspect that makes up how exceptional students in

elementary schools. Technology and tools are used in many ways to include these students.

Reading pens are a useful tool for younger elementary students who are learning to read

(Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school, n.d). A student with dyslexia
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could use the reading pen to listen to the word, hear the sounds, and discover how the sounds

come together and what word actually appears. Students with physical handicaps may be able to

use computers via a special computer mouse. Students who do not have the ability to use their

hands may have access to eye controlled or foot operated computer mouse equipment (Special

education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school, n.d.). Unfortunately not all students will

have access to these types of technologies due to school budget. As in regular education, schools

with a higher budget generally benefit much more, so schools with special education programs in

areas of poverty would have to find other ways to accommodate these students.

At the end of this research essay, I believe that I was able to gain useful insight that will

contribute to my future career as an elementary school teacher. Looking at my content area

provided me with information about instruction, parents, and even regular education students.

Now that I have knowledge about how exceptional students are included and treated on the

elementary level I will have some background in two years when I have my own exceptional

students in my classroom.

Word Count: 1541

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References

Bos, C., & Vaughn, S. (1991). Strategies for teaching students with learning and behavior

problems (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Fishman, C., & Nickerson, A. (2015). Motivations for Involvement: A Preliminary Investigation

of Parents of Students with Disabilities. journal of child & family studies, 24(2), 523-535.

doi:10.1007/s10826-013-9865-4

Gollnick, D., & Chinn, P. (2013). Multicultural education in a pluralistic society (9th ed.).

Boston: Pearson.

Grigorenko, E. (2008). Educating individuals with disabilities: IDEIA 2004 and beyond. New

York: Springer Pub.

Milstead, K. (2015). Exceptionalities essay. Unpublished manuscript, Bridgewater College.

Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2015,

from http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-2052.00

Special Education Child Count. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2015, from

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/special_ed/reports_plans_stats/child_count/index.shtml