                         EDUCATING EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 
                                       by
                        Amy Klauke & Margare Hadderman
        
             Abstract: The digest briefly summarizes the characteristics
        and current trends in special education programing for
        exceptional children.  Exceptional children are described as
        having physical, mental, or behavioral handicaps and ranging in
        age from birth to 21.  Requirements of basic federal legislation
        (The Education for All Handicapped Children Act) and recent
        amendments are briefly described.  Incidence information as well
        as a listing of program options are provided for gifted students,
        children with physical handicaps, children with mental handicaps,
        children with behavior disorders, children with speech and
        language disabilities, children with learning disabilities, and
        children with  specialized health care needs. Two trends in
        special education are also identified.  First, children with
        disabilities are receiving special education services earlier and
        second, a change in the public's attitude toward employment of
        people with handicaps has led to more instruction in vocational
        skills and assistance in the transition from school to community
        life and work.  
        
        WHO ARE THE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN?  
        
             They are the more than 4.5 million children and youth in
        this country who have physical, mental, or behavioral handicaps.
        Ranging in age from birth to 21, these children and youth with
        exceptionalities require the assistance of special educators in
        order to benefit from education.  A dynamic concept of
        exceptionality encompasses all children who need a  
        specially tailored education program to achieve in accordance
        with their  
        potential.  
        
        FEDERAL LEGISLATION  
        
             In 1975 the U.S. Congress passed the Education for All
        Handicapped Children Act, which guarantees a free and appropriate
        public education to all children in the United States between the
        ages of 3 and 21.  The law provides funds for special education
        programs to states and local districts that comply with a set of
        regulations. These regulations mandate provision of special
        education services including an individualized educational
        program to be carried out in the least restrictive environment, a
        comprehensive diagnosis of each child's disabilities by a
        qualified professional team, an annual review of each child's
        progress, and the involvement of parents in educational  
        decisions. Amendments to the law, P.L. 98-199 and P.L. 99-457,
        also require that the local school districts actively search for
        and provide services to children between the ages of 3 and 5 who
        have disabilities.  
        
             States are also required to develop systems to provide early
        intervention services for infants from birth to age 3 who are
        developmentally delayed or at risk of becoming developmentally
        delayed.  
        
        PROGRAMS FOR GIFTED STUDENTS  
        
        Although an increasing number of programs is available to meet
        the needs of students with special gifts and talents, the
        education of these students is still largely ignored.
        Approximately half the states now mandate some form of special
        services for these students.  Gifts and talents may be in
        academic, intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership
        abilities.  In addition to the traditional practice of allowing  
        academically talented students to skip grades, the educational
        needs of gifted and talented students may be served by the
        provision of enrichment experiences, instructional grouping by
        intellectual ability rather than by chronological age, and, to a
        lesser extent, counseling to support the development of personal
        and social skills.  
        
        PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN WITH PHYSICAL HANDICAPS  
        
             About 1% of the preschool- and school-aged children in the
        United States have physical handicaps. These handicaps include
        blindness and visual impairments, deafness and hearing
        impairments, and orthopedic disabilities. Depending on the degree
        of the disability and on individual characteristics, these
        children may be educated in residential schools, separate
        classes, or regular classes with support services provided by
        special teachers.  
        
             For children who are blind, instruction in braille and
        mobility is required. Children with visual impairments need
        materials such as large-type books, special typewriters, and
        proper lighting.  Children who are deaf require language
        instruction that often combines signing, lip-reading, intensive
        work in speech production, and amplified aural training. 
        Children with orthopedic handicaps may need the services of a  
        speech pathologist, physical or occupational therapist,
        psychologist, or social worker.  They may also require
        modifications in their surroundings such as wide doorways to
        accommodate wheelchairs, toilets at appropriate heights, and
        ramps or elevators.  
        
        PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN WITH MENTAL HANDICAPS  
        
             Slightly less than 2% of the preschool- and school-aged
        children in the United States are classified as mentally
        handicapped.  Children with severe mental handicaps often have
        multiple disabilities.  A variety of educational options are
        available for these children including residential schools,
        special day schools, separate classes, and regular classes with
        special education support services.  The appropriate option  
        for each child depends on the child's characteristics and
        individual abilities.  
        
        PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN WITH BEHAVIOR DISORDERS  
        
             Children with emotional disorders constitute about 1% of the
        preschool-and school-aged population.  These children may be
        withdrawn or overly aggressive.  Their education is usually
        provided in regular or special classes with support services
        provided by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and
        speech-language pathologists.  
        
        PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN WITH SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DISABILITIES  
        
             Nearly 3% of the preschool- and school-aged population have
        speech or language impairments, including problems in
        articulation, language, fluency, or voice, that affect their
        ability to learn or communicate effectively with others. The
        educational treatment provided to these children depends on the
        severity of the impairment and may include the services of
        special education teachers and speech/language pathologists.  
        
        PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES  
        
             The largest group of exceptional children, slightly less
        than 5% of the population, have learning disabilities. There is a
        discrepancy between their measured ability to learn and their
        actual achievement that is not due to intellectual retardation,
        emotional disorder, or sensory impairment. Intelligence scores
        for children with learning disabilities range from average to
        gifted levels. These children may be educated in self-contained
        classes if their problems are severe, but more often they  
        remain in regular classes with the support of special educators. 
        
        
        SERVICES FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIALIZED HEALTH CARE NEEDS  
        
             Specialized health care needs is a relatively new term
        applied to a group of students who previously were unserved in
        educational settings.  Although these students are often
        considered similar to students with other health impairments,
        their educational needs are complicated by extreme medical needs.
        Other terms sometimes used are medically fragile and
        technologically dependent.  Many of these students have survived 
        catastrophic medical events that require intensive and prolonged
        health care.  Because classification of this group of students
        does not exist in educational databases, estimation of numbers is
        difficult.  However, the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA)
        has estimated that as many as 100,000 infants and children may be
        technologically dependent in some way.  OTA defines this group as
        requiring a medical device to compensate for the loss of a vital
        body function and substantial and ongoing nursing care to avert
        further disability or death.  
        
        TRENDS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION  
        
             Two trends are apparent in special education today. First,
        children with disabilities are receiving special education
        services earlier.  This trend reflects the recognition that a
        child's ability to learn in school depends on skills learned as a
        toddler, such as communicating with others or exploring the
        environment.  Since disabilities can delay the acquisition of
        these skills, early special education is needed to provide  
        a foundation for future learning. To identify these young
        children and treat their disabilities, special educators are
        working closely with hospitals, medical personnel, therapists,
        and social workers.  Family services are being provided to help
        parents understand their child's disability and its treatment,
        and preschool education is being provided in homes and in
        preschool education centers.  For many children, early  
        educational treatment of handicapping conditions can reduce or
        eliminate the need for intensive special services later.  
        
             Young gifted children are also receiving more attention. It
        is not uncommon to find such children experiencing a vast gap
        between their advanced intellectual skills and their less
        advanced physical and emotional competencies. Understanding the
        unique developmental patterns that are often present in gifted
        children can help parents and teachers adjust their expectations
        of academic performance to a more realistic level.  Young gifted
        children who find that their limited physical skills are not
        sufficiently developed to carry out the complex projects they 
        imagined must be helped to develop coping skills to deal with
        their frustrations.  
        
             The second trend is a change in the public's attitude toward
        employment of people with handicaps. Today it is recognized that
        valuable contributions may be made even by people with severe
        handicaps.  Schools are assessing the abilities and talents of
        students with handicaps and matching them with potential
        occupations.  More instruction in vocational skills is being
        provided to students with handicaps, and programs are being
        offered to assist them in the transition from school to community 
        life and work.  
        
             Emphasis on serving the needs of exceptional children is
        likely to continue, and the information derived from current
        research will improve special educational services even more in
        the future.  
        
                                 RESOURCES  
        
        Jordan, J. B. (1988). 1988 special education yearbook. Reston,
             VA: The Council for Exceptional Children.  
        
        Eleventh annual report to Congress on the implementation of the
             Education of the Handicapped Act. (1989). Washington, DC:
             U.S. Department of Education.  Handicapped and at-risk
             children. An Infopacket of 15 ERIC Digests  
             (1982-1989). Reston, VA: The Council for Exceptional
             Children.  
        
