Contemporary Problems

Essay by axlianoCollege, UndergraduateA+, September 2009

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Axia College of University of PhoenixMany years ago children with disabilities were considered "dangerous" and were segregated and served through special classes (Lerner, 1998). Today most people have a different view and most children with disabilities are placed with typical children of the same age. Even though most children with disabilities are part of most regular activities at school, like being in a classroom with typical kids, some other issues are still present.

Besides parents not accepting their children's disabilities in the early years, been segregated, and/or rejected for some people, children with disabilities current problems is the placement for children between the ages of three to five years old (Lerner, 1998). Lerner (1998) mentions that schools do not have any program available to place these children between three to five years old, even though schools have kindergarten; these are not ready to integrate children with disabilities with typical children.

In addition, Lerner (1998) informed that other issue that children with disabilities confront today is the evaluation practices.

Today more professional are practicing the informal assessment than the traditional standardized test to evaluate those children with disabilities (Lerner, 1998). The formal standardized tests consisted of "direct and ongoing observation of the child, evaluation in the natural environment and some selection of a variety of evaluations measures for different purpose" (Lerner, 1998). The issue of these practices is whether the informal evaluations are as reliable as the formal standardize test.

The Ogle County Educational Cooperative (OCEC) (2006) and Lerner (1998) agree that most of the needs of children with disabilities are met, but one of the biggest obstacles is the language. Lerner (1998) informed that "In today's society many families and children come to our programs from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. An increasing number of children come from homes in...