If you are interested in taking a teacher certification then drop me a line at cshears@teach-now.com
The core principle of free appropriate public education (FAPE) which is a required component of IDEA seems like a no brainer to add to any legislation dealing with people with disabilities. FAPE says that school districts need to provide general education and specialized educational services. It also requires that disabled children get support free of charge as is provided to non-disabled students.(0) There are many opinions on the role that government should play in society and it is hotly debated but it my personal opinion that government should assist people who are in vulnerable positions such as families who have a disabled member. I know from my own families experience that there are a lot of expenses associated (figure 1) with caring for a disabled family member’s needs. The cost of health care and other indirect costs can be very overwhelming for any family to manage. A study done showed that over 40% of families in the U.S were experiencing financial difficulties due to having a child with a disability.(1) Add to that the potential costs that might arise when a child is ready to enter into the school system; it is possible that the financial burden would be too great for an average family to handle.
When my brother first contracted cancer, my family found out very quickly that
even in a country like Canada, medical treatment is not free. The costs of
traveling to see specialists, staying in hotels, and airline tickets to name a
few quickly mount up. After the surgeries and the end result leaving my brother
with very restricted movement of his left arm, my family had to prepare for the
extra costs now associated with my brothers disability.My family was not alone
as it is estimated that there are over a half million people 20 and under that
have some form of disability. (2) It
would have been more difficult for my parents if it were not for programs in
Canada that helped my parents with the financial burden of some of costs
related to my brother’s disability. (3)
Developing
a program that can identify families that require assistance and allocate
funding to support parents that have disabled children is a vital step in
providing equal opportunities for children with disabilities. The costs related
to properly educating students with disabilities can be enormous. According to
the NEA, the average cost to schools
for supporting a special education student is between $9369 to $16, 921 per
student. Anyone can understand when one considers the costs of providing
individualized education, teachers, paraprofessional, teacher assistants,
proper learning environments and all the related services, it would be
impossible for parents to pay the fees that would be required to facilitate
these services. In fact, it is difficult for schools and school districts to
support these cost as the US federal government only provides local school
districts with 20% of the funding.(4)
One
of the benefits of living aboard is that you are able to see and experience the
conditions that people live under in their home country. I have had the
privilege while living in Korea to have the ability to travel for long periods
of time to other countries. I have seen the stressful and horrible
circumstances some parents find themselves living in countries do not provide
funding to families that require assistance in order to educate their children.
In fact the WHO, reports that there are one billion people in the world
living with disabilities and 1 in 10 are children. Furthermore, 80%
of disabled people live in developing countries. (5)
I have
witnessed several disabled children living and working the streets with very
few options. Many children end up begging for change or pedalling small wares
to provide some sort of subsistence for themselves and often times for their
families.Thankfully there are organizations like UNICEF and GPE that trying to work local governments
to improve the living conditions, educational opportunities and awareness of
the issues.
I
know the above the situation might seem extreme to most North Americans but
there are many families in America that would be forced to make some very
difficult decisions if they faced with the challenges of paying for the
education of their disabled children. There are many laws and programs that the
government develops that may be considered wasteful or inappropriate but I can
see very little fault to found in providing the necessary funds for parents to
give their special needs children the chance to integrate themselves in the
school system. Although criticisms of IDEA might include excessive bureaucracy
and costs, from what I can read it seems like it benefits families a tremendous
amount.
Info Sources:http://nichcy.org/laws/idea
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15965627
http://www.ncld.org/parents-child-disabilities/ld-rights/what-is-fape-what-can-it-mean-my-child
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1802121/#B8
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/audiences/families/benefits.shtml
http://www.nea.org/home/19029.htm
http://www.globalpartnership.org/focus-areas/children-with-disabilities
http://www.unicef.org/education/
Figures1: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1802121/figure/F1/
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