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Essay on Teaching Literacy in Special Education
In dealing with far-reaching methods and standards initiatives regarding students in special education in the United States, it is easy to become focused on macro contexts of education, and with good reason. Macro contexts associated with education, such as regulatory agencies, help ensures that due process rights of students with disabilities are acknowledged and available to them and their families. Without the legislative, litigious, and broad social mandates as a base for educational equity for students with disabilities, we could not effectively proceed with our efforts toward widespread reform of special education services for students.
However, what sometimes gets lost in discussions of due process rights and systemic educational reform is precisely what leads many of us to continue our work with Latino students with disabilities: the quality of educational services provided to them and their families on a daily basis. Those of us who spend time in classrooms with teachers and students occasionally see reason for hope, but most often we see reason to criticize: students in special education receive instruction that does not take into account their needs, that is linked to minimal academic growth, and that is the epitome of "dead end" classes.
Consequently, we need constantly to remind ourselves that while the admirable and crucial work in the contexts of special education for students in the United States must continue, there are millions of students who show up daily to a teacher and a classroom. Furthermore, it is on that teacher and classroom that families of their students pin their hopes for their children's academic success.
Literature review
Within the last ten years a number of studies looking closely at students in special education classrooms have appeared in the professional literature.
Lopez-Reyna (1996) and her research team began by studying at a special day classroom for students...........
