What is appropriate education?
According to Edutopia's "Assistive Technology for Young Children in Special Education: It Makes a Difference" article, an appropriate education is provided in an environment that is free of any road blocks or restrictions to the quality of education received and opportunity to engage in that development. The Supreme Court in 1954 found the need for a completely separate school system to focus on the needs of special education students "unconstitutional". I believe that all children should have equal access to an appropriate education within reasonable proximity to their home with the neighbourhood children for practical, social and cognitive reasons.
Under the Education Act's Duty to Accommodate, "To fulfil the procedural component of the duty to accommodate, there needs to be meaningful interaction between the parties that focuses on the student’s needs and consideration of whether the education provider can accommodate those needs."
This is why the AODA, Ontario Human Rights Commission, and the Education Act are created- to create, implement, monitor and re-assess how accommodations and modifications can most effectively make peoples lives with disabilities easier (mobility, hearing, learning, behaviour). This is evidently shown in the Education Act's following quote "a special education program is defined as an educational program that is based on and modified by the results of a continuous assessment and evaluation of the pupil and that includes a plan (now referred to as an Individual Education Plan) containing specific objectives and an outline of the educational services that meets the needs of the exceptional pupil" found on the Ministry of Educations website.
New technologies can facilitate an appropriate/ equal opportunity or students of any abilities to participate in the education or learning process. In Ontario, providing and implementing assistive technology (AT) is a legal obligation. To mainstream these practices as a new standard, there is more of a need for even homeroom elementary school teachers to have a "special education" qualification. To mandate the operation of organizations like AODA and IDEA, providing access, training and implementation of assistive technology to those in need throughout all education systems in all Canadian provinces and territories.
In a recent [2018] survey of parents of students with intellectual disabilities in Ontario, 53.2% of parents surveyed reported that their child was not receiving proper academic accommodations; and 68.2% of parents reported that schools were “meeting half or less than half of their child’s academic needs.” In interviews, parents emphasized “the devastating effects of low expectations and lack of opportunity for engagement.”[141]
Why is this statistic real if various school team personnel (classroom teacher, school admin, school SERT, parents/ guardians, the child, school psychologist, child's physician etc) collaborate to focus on the individual students needs to match modifications of learning goals or expectations, and alter how a lesson is delivered or assessment is taken?
What are the consequences of education systems (schools or school boards) that do not pass the code? What does this "evaluation" look like? What standards would have to be met to carry out the duty to accommodate?
If you have any experiences with this please share them with me in the comments below.
References
Comments