DISPROPORTIONATE REPRESENTATION IN SPECIAL EDUCATION-WHAT ARE SOME PROMISING SOLUTION?

 

Growing up in a middle income, bedroom community this was a concept I was completely unaware of in education. I can honestly say in my observations it has been the exact opposite, I believe many children especially ones with behavioral and emotional disorders are pushed through the system of general education.  It is much easier to label a student as disobedient than to deal with the real issues.

I believe there is a fine line and the community expects educators to be the cure all.  I have spent most of my life in special education as a care giver or spectator.  I have seen many children that function socially, physically and in the streets much better than typical children.  This is a product of their environment; they are left to take of themselves, even though they have "a disability".  Therefore, when these children are placed in the special education environment they expose lower functioning children to inappropriate behaviors. As a result of the things that I have observed the continual question in my head is "who should be responsible"?  I can never seem to find the answer but from what I have read, it seems to be the educational system!  How about let’s start with the family, then maybe the extended family and then the community.  My argument is that it can be easy to misrepresent a child.  The system is skewed, the responsibility should not completely fall on the educational system-but it does.

That being said I believe that the best solution is early intervention. The county Head Start and Find a Child programs are two that I am currently aware of.  They have great intentions but economic support is less the adequate for effective results. In major cities where the student to teacher ratio is overwhelming I can easily see how easily a child can be misplaced.  So another solution would be to invest more in our education systems where socioeconomic-status is low. It is easy say and I believe funding is always an issue.  I have never understood why people have children and do not want them to have the "best education" available. I believe when a school levy is up for vote, they should remind the community that these are the children who will be taking care of us when we are old.  There has to be a way to get the community to see how investing in their local education system, will directly influence their livelihood.  The system works both ways best possible education, needs to be a priority which means FUNDING needs to be a priority.  

 

Another issue addressed was racism, which is very hard for me to see in today society.  In my profession I deal with a huge eastern European population, many of the older people speak very little English.  I can easily see how it would be to confuse communication and culture with disability, but again who's responsible?  The United States is still truly a melting pot and in some areas it such as Washington D.C. there is every imaginable ethnicity, I wonder how or if special education suffers with disproportionate representation there? Communication and cultural differences must be a nightmare for educators.  Let us also address the Deaf community, for years they suffered at the hand of discrimination, the result they developed a voice. Again, communication is a huge factor that needed address.  In my family, I have two nephews that where adopted; one from Guatemala and the other from Puerto Rico, my brother has Down's syndrome and my nephew (who lives in Washington D.C.) is autistic.  All of them are educated in the best case scenario.  Racism I cannot see, communication and parent-teacher collaboration would seem to be more of the concern. 

In the end, I believe that first making the parents just as responsible as the teachers is necessary.  Also early intervention, communication/cultural education   (accommodation/incorporation/adaptation) and making our educational system a priority; funding, funding, funding, is the most efficient way to deal with disproportionate representation in special education.