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Major Assignment #2: Issue Paper Angelica Paton Department of Education, Rowan University SPED 08555: Education and Psychology of Students with Disabilities Professor Jiyeon Lee June 17, 2024

2 Human Exceptionality in Education In the field of education, human exceptionalities refer to individuals who possess unique characteristics that may require special attention or support in learning environments such as; disabilities, giftedness, or behavioral challenges. The world of special education has undergone significant transformations in recent years, with a greater focus on inclusivity, diversity, and personalized learning experiences for students with exceptionalities. In previous years, we have seen maltreatment among those who are exceptional, but have since put into place necessary accommodations to keep all students safe. Of course, these accommodations and laws are not always fail-safe. Though we have come a long way, we still have a ways to go, such as when considering accommodations, writing IEPs, and implementing them, as well as squashing mistreatment of exceptional students. Individualized Educational Plans Individualized Educational Plans (IEP) were created to ensure that every child, no matter their abilities, would receive the proper education. Before IEPs, it was hard for those with exceptionalities to receive the proper accommodations or education. According to Snyder (2016, as cited in Bray & Russell, 2018), 13% of all public school students in the United States are classified and have IEPs. This is a large population and these students deserve the proper care, accommodations, and education. Bray and Russell (2018) mention that historically, students with exceptional needs were in self-contained classrooms where teachers were expected to cater to all needs of the students. These types of classrooms would contain multiple age groups and abilities. Luckily, we have come a long way since then and are able to group students based on age, ability, and sometimes are able to mainstream students while maintaining their IEP accommodations. However, sometimes we still see students who are not classified correctly, and

3 sometimes not screened at all, leading to an improper learning environment. Bray and Russell (2018) delve into how IEPs were written based on institutional pressures, what IEPs indicated about activities based on student needs, and what activity systems were implemented in schools. We find that information written in the IEPs reflected the pressures put on institutions but provided limited guidance on how to actually attend to the needs of these students (Bray & Russell, 2018, p. 253). Rather than writing IEPs to appease the board of education, or the standards, they should be written to ensure real accommodations, include plausible learning plans, and contain obtainable goals. Recently, my students asked me to read through their IEPs with them. When looking through them, we found very vague accommodations that seemed like generic inputs from case managers with no real guidance on what to do for students in the classroom. The most helpful comments I noted were those from previous teachers. These IEPs aren’t always inclusive of ideas or suggestions from their teachers, when they in fact should be. If teachers were included in writing IEPs, there might be an easier implementation of accommodations and students might be able to receive even better education than before. Yes, teachers do sit in for the IEP meetings, but we do not get to write the accommodation lists, student necessities, or anything of the such. Teachers know their students’ learning needs better than anyone else. Bray and Russell (2018) discuss a teacher named Miss Keys who worked one on one with students on concepts that they struggled with, along with the goals written on their IEPs. She was able to help these students achieve a better understanding of the material while keeping in mind what goals were necessary for these students to succeed. “Institutional expectations regarding what constitutes a special education have shifted from providing a student with a disability a solely individualized education to requiring both an individualized and standards-based education,” (Bray & Russell, 2018, p. 260). Of course, IEPs

4 and accommodations have come a long way since the beginning of education. However, there are still things that we can do to enhance these implementations to ensure and further the success of students. Including standards-based education in IEPs can always go either way, however it is helpful to have these standards to go off of. IEPs should be refined even further to state specific accommodations to each student that previous teachers have tried and tested. There should be a section explaining which accommodations have not worked for these students, as well, as this could help to greatly improve the learning environment for all involved. Maltreatment with Exceptionalities Another way to improve the learning environment would be to eradicate all mistreatment of anyone with exceptionalities. Sobsey (2002) discusses maltreatment in the realm of special education. “It is now apparent that children with a wide variety of disabilities are several times as likely to have a history of maltreatment as children without disabilities. Almost one third of children with special needs have substantiated histories of maltreatment and it is extremely likely that many others have experienced unreported or unsubstantiated maltreatment,” (Sobsey, 2002, p. 29). It is true throughout educational institutions that not everyone is actually equipped to deal with special education students, but sometimes even with the proper training, people mistreat those with exceptionalities. In my own experience, I witnessed a special education student in a mainstream classroom be denied accommodations because the general education teacher was inept at understanding what an IEP was or why it was in place. This instance went unreported by the student because it had happened to him so many times in the past, he did not realize that he was entitled to his own accommodations. I reported it to my supervisor which in turn led to a professional development for said teacher. This shows the great strides we are making in education to ensure that students who are exceptional receive the proper care and treatment.

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