Education for Adolescents with Disabilities

Abstract

The seminal works by Dunn (1968) and Deno (1970) have had a significant effect on the field of special education. Although the emphasis of these two papers was by no means limited to issues concerning placement, nevertheless, much of their influence has been in regard to the issue of where students with disabilities should be educated. The literature in the field for the quarter century since publication of these two articles has been replete with papers advocating for various placement options. This emphasis on placement has often resulted in somewhat diminished attention to important questions concerning the content of educational programs. In particular, curricular concerns warrant paramount attention for adolescents who have disabilities. This concern is reinforced by the literature on adult outcomes, which paints a rather pessimistic picture of adult adjustment for students exiting from special education programs. Therefore, we contend that issues of educational service delivery should be secondary to an emphasis on outcomes and the nature of the curriculum. In particular, the curriculum for all students in the secondary schools should provide multiple pathways that emphasize the development of skills and opportunities to become productive citizens with a reasonable opportunity to enjoy a positive quality of life. The paper also discusses current and emerging curricular models for students with mild disabilities, which are related to our concern for successful adult adjustment.

The Challenge of Inclusion

“…In our concern for placing children with disabilities in least restrictive environments, meeting federal mandates, and doing what was right, we seemed to have let the "setting" or placement override other critical variables. As Edgar and Polloway (1994) write, One unfortunate consequence of the continuing deliberate focus on placement has been the resultant effect of only intermittent attention to the importance of curriculum. As a result, debates have more often focused on where students with disabilities should be taught and somewhat less often on what they should learn, (p. 440)…”

ClassWide Peer Tutoring and the Prevention of School Failure

“…The status of those students with disabilities who drop out of school early was even worse-35% to 59% of those children failed to ever graduate (Edgar & Polloway, 1994). Only 12% of special education graduates who enrolled in some form of postsecondary education actually completed it (Wagner et al, 1992).…”

“…Only 12% of special education graduates who enrolled in some form of postsecondary education actually completed it (Wagner et al, 1992). Outcomes like these were even worse for students who attended urban schools (Gottlieb et al, 1994), who lived in poverty (Edgar & Polloway, 1994), and who were culturally diverse andor limited English proficient (Garcia, 1992). Thus, we know that certain populations of children (the poor, the racially and ethnically diverse, and those with disabilities) are at elevated risk for early school failure, overrepresentation in special education, and lifelong illiteracy.…”

Mental Retardation and Learning Disabilities: Conceptual and Applied Issues

“…As students advance through the high school years, an emphasis on adult outcomes must occur so that the acquisition of relevant life skills can become a major thrust of the curriculum. An exciting alternative is reflected in the recent increased call for apprenticeship programs as a functional alternative to traditional secondary-school programs for students who are not going on to 2-and 4-year colleges (e.g., Edgar, 1988;Edgar & Polloway, 1994).…”