Secondly, IDEA guaranteed a “free, appropriate public education” to children with disabilities and placed these children with their non-disabled peers in the “least restrictive environment.” In other words, children with disabilities are to be included in as many non-disabled classes as their individual disability will allow.

Third, with one sweeping motion more than one million children were added to the public school system. In 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Education, more than six million of the nation’s school children, almost 13 percent, are enrolled in Special Education programs. Currently, the Bartlesville Public School District has 727 of its 5900 students identified as qualifying for Special Education.  The services provided to Bartlesville students vary from curriculum modifications and speech therapy to physical and occupational therapy and help with self-care skills (dressing, eating, etc.), all services depend on the student’s disability and the Individual Education Plan (IEP) for each child.

Many times when we think of children in Special Education, we think of only those with the most severe impairments.  However, there are far more students with milder forms of learning or attention disorders. Of the 727 students enrolled in Special Education services in the Bartlesville Public Schools District, one percent are considered severe and profoundly disabled, the majority have learning problems which may not be apparent when first meeting these students. 

The federal law, IDEA, defines a learning disability as:

A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

The law also lists thirteen different disability categories under which a child may be eligible for services. These categories require curriculum modifications for educators at every level of education. Students with a learning disability are required to be taught differently than non-disabled peers. For example, a student may take tests in a separate room from the classroom to help aid concentration, have a test read out loud to them, study shorter vocabulary and spelling lists, or write shorter essays than their non-disabled peers.

Unfortunately, special education services are costly to the public school districts. In the next article in this special education series, we will show how the funding is used, how the federal government has yet to live up to the money promised over thirty years ago, and how the Bartlesville Public School District is keeping their budget balanced.

Bartlesville Public Schools, Christina Hoskin, Community Relations Supervisor