Too Many Children in Special Education
Too Many Children in Special Education
The New York State Education Department has been reporting for years that there are too many children in the special education system because the percentage in New York is higher than the national average. Why hasn’t anyone challenged that statement? Aren’t people paying attention? Here are some important facts to consider before the State Education Department starts to decrease the number of children receiving services.
New York State is probably the most diverse state in the nation. There are more minority groups and languages spoken in New York than anywhere else in the United States. How could anyone possibly compare New York to Missouri or Virginia or Oregon? If decisions are being made about children based on similarities between states, then New York is in a class by itself. Decisions concerning the placement of children in special education should be based solely on the unique issues and problems faced by culturally diverse families living in New York, which brings me to the next point.
New York is at a serious disadvantage in this mathematical comparison because averages are notoriously inaccurate. As an example, take ten men, nine who are each earning one thousands dollars and one who is earning one million dollars. If you average their salaries it appears that nine men are earning significantly higher salaries. That’s what is happening with the national average for special education, it is deceiving. It inaccurately makes New York’s percentage of children appear to be higher than “it should be.” Here’s something for all of you to think about, maybe the percentage should be higher because there is a real need in New York.
What does the percentage mean for children who needed these services? Why haven’t all of these factors been discussed in the press and discussed on the news? Is it because no one cares or is it because no one knows? I think that very few people really know what’s going on in special education. I think that the stories appearing in the press are critical of special education programs because the State Education Department is critical.
Special Education has three separate systems with different rules, regulations and procedures that require parents to negotiate their way through complex meetings, evaluations and technical terms. It is to say the least, stressful for parents, particularly for linguistically and culturally diverse parents. Interestingly enough, these are the very families that access the system late, sometimes very late. One significant criticism of the early intervention and preschool systems has been that outreach programs do not identify enough diverse families. Putting notices in public libraries presents a significant barrier for parents who do not go to public libraries because no one speaks their language. Many of these families do not have computers so they are going to miss the governmental websites that describe the programs and services that are offered. Many of these families do not even have primary health care providers. It should not be surprising therefore that minorities are not “getting the message,” and as a result these children show up in larger numbers later on in elementary school. What does it mean? It means that there is a reasonable explanation why New York has a higher percentage of children in special education in elementary school-because they are not being reached soon enough in the early intervention system.
Finally, all of the clinical research emphasizes the link between poverty and disability rates. Did you know that New York State has one of the highest poverty and disability rates in the nation? Since the poverty rate is so much higher, why hasn’t anyone take this factor into consideration? There has been an ongoing effort to reduce the percentage and number of children in special education. The justification has been that New York is above the national average. The story that is not being told is about money. Special education is not the problem. Children are not the problem. We need investigative reporters who can tell the real story.