Inclusive Classrooms | Educational Software Use

Educational Issues for Students With Disabilities

We begin with some general issues related to the education of students with disabilities.

Inclusive Classrooms
Recent revisions to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have changed the focus of special education from providing separate services for students with disabilities to including more students in mainstream classrooms. The IDEA Amendments of 1997 were the first major revision to the Act in more than 23 years. The new legislation encourages schools to place students in inclusive classrooms, when appropriate, in order to provide the social and academic benefits of taking part in the general curriculum.

In the Twenty-First Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (www.ed.gov/offices/ OSERS/OSEP/OSEP99AnlRpt), the U.S. Department of Education noted that: Previous research findings suggest that social interactions between students with and without disabilities are enhanced when students with disabilities are served in regular classes, particularly if teachers use delivery techniques that promote interaction."

Changes in instructional strategies designed to address the needs of students with disabilities were cited as beneficial for many students without disabilities."

Forty-six percent of students with disabilities were educated in regular classrooms in 1996-97. This was an increase from previous years according to data collected since the Act was passed in 1975.

Visually impaired students are placed in inclusive classrooms in public schools at even higher rates than students with other disabilities. Sixty-seven percent of blind and low vision children are in a regular classroom. Seventeen percent of blind and low vision children are in a self-contained classroom within the regular school building. Students with disabilities placed in regular classrooms receive needed support services within the classroom or outside the classroom from an itinerant teacher or from a special teacher assigned to that school.

However, in inclusive classrooms, students with disabilities do not always have access to the same learning tools as their classmates. For example, students with visual impairments rely on alternative format books, such as large print or braille, which are often not ready in time for the beginning of the school year. While other students are receiving their books in print all at once, blind children may get a chapter at a time and must hope that the sections they need will arrive in time for them to keep up with their class. Other visual materials may never be adapted, and students must rely on teachers or classmates to describe them as best they can. Students with physical disabilities may also have trouble using printed textbooks and other classroom materials which require manual dexterity.

Educational Software Use
Educational software has become an important tool in our classrooms. Instructional materials are available as software or on the World Wide Web, and teachers are being trained to use the computers that are in their classrooms. Concern about the "Digital Divide" that is emerging as some students are exposed to technology while others are not has led to government and industry initiatives focused on disadvantaged students. Students with disabilities must be considered as more instructional materials move into digital form. Educational software presents challenges for students with disabilities in a number of ways. While other students are using an interactive simulation to learn a biology lesson, the student with low vision may be sitting to one side listening to classmates as they describe what they are doing. Chances are, the sighted students will leave out some details and the visually impaired child will miss important information. Tools for graphing and solving equations in mathematics allow students today to approach math from an entirely new perspective, learning constructively rather than memorizing algorithms. But if blind students can't use the software that makes such an exploration possible, they will not have the same valuable learning experiences that other students have. A student with a hearing impairment may be unable to hear instructions for a lesson which are given only in audio and therefore have no way to begin the assignment. In some cases, the child with a physical disability may be "excused" from the computer lesson and sent to another area of the room for a different activity. This lack of accessibility stigmatizes children by preventing them from using the same materials as their peers and limits their educational opportunities.