argumentative essay on special education

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120+ Special Education Research Topics: That You Need to Know

Special education research topics study issues related to the quality of education people with disabilities get. Studying this field helps to improve the learning atmosphere for students with disabilities and address any challenges that they face. For instance, action research topics in special education help improve teachers’ classroom practices and how students adapt to the real world.

Social Issues Special Education Research Topics

Social media research topic in special education, best disability topics for research papers for your special education research, argumentative research topics for special education, easy special education thesis topics, current topics in special education for stem students.

• Conclusion 

You can use several interesting special education research topics in your essay. However, if you need help with educational research topics, read on to find a list of 120+ topics we have compiled.

Social issues research topics play a critical role in identifying problems and solutions that people deal with in a community. That makes it a vital element for people studying special ed research topics. We have compiled qualitative research topics in special education you can use.

• Ways that peer support can help children with disability socialize in the classroom
• What are the social challenges faced by special needs children in mainstream schools?
• A review of how to address the needs of a gifted child that has special needs
• Best ways to address the needs of students with emotional disorders in special education
• Special education feeds vs. school funding: Are there inequality issues?
• How can the education system offer an easy transition to children with special needs in early education?
• Strategies for creating a culturally responsive classroom
• Do educators who work with children with special needs need counseling?
• A look at how children with special needs transit from school to employment
• What are the best practices for developing social skills in students with autism?
• Is it fair to have alternatives to traditional testing for children with special needs?
• In what ways does special education help to promote social justice and Equality in Education
• How to identify students with hidden needs in special education
• What is the role of cultural competence in special education?
• Can poverty influence special needs outcomes?
• Assertive technology in special education: The review
• Are teachers for students with special education with low supply?
• Should those who teach special education get better pay?
• Can education improve the life of a student with special needs?
• Ways that technology can make it easy for educators to train kids with special needs

If you are looking for trending and interesting topics that will impress your professor, then consider choosing anatomy research paper topics or social media research paper topics . Note that the best special edu topic will help take your essay to the next level.

• How do social media help people with special needs in the community?
• A look at how social media has advocated for special education
• What role has social media played in cultural competency in special education?
• Ways that social media has created a voice for people with special needs and the importance of them receiving education
• A look at how social media has influenced adaptive physical education for people with special needs
• Assistive technology in connection with social media for individuals with special needs
• What is the impact of social media on people with hearing impairment?
• Do people with special needs use social media to network and find work?
• In what ways does social media impact the transition to adulthood for people with special needs
• Can social media affect how students with special needs perceive the world?
• Is there any role of social media for kids who need special education
• What is the role of social media in special education
• How to use technology and social media to improve the special education program
• How can social media help students with special needs get more confident
• What resources are available in social media that educators can use in their special needs classes?
• Do social media affect the image that people have of people with autism?
• How can teachers use social media to help kids with autism?
• How does social media bullying affect children on social media?
• Social media can be used to who special education and its importance
• Why it is time for special education to be showcased on social media platforms

One of the topics that students doing special education research have to study is disability because the topics are related. With this subtopic, you have various options ranging from economics research paper topics , to controversial topics in special education. Here is a list of options to choose from.

• Should suspending a student with a disability be an issue
• What can be done to improve the education of people with disabilities?
• Should children with severe disabilities be in a normal class setting?
• In what ways has technology made it easy for people with disabilities to get educated?
• A review of how a teacher’s academic background can affect students with disability
• How should teachers make children with disabilities feel part of the classroom?
• What are the benefits of post-education for adults with disability
• A look at inclusivity policies in public schools when it comes to children with disability
• Parents’ role in educating children with disability
• Mainstream classrooms vs. special classes for students with learning abilities
• How effective are peer support programs for students with disabilities in special education
• Strategies that can help promote social skills development in children with spectrum disorder
• What is the impact of language and communication barriers on the education of people with hearing impairment
• How does early intervention help to support kids with a disability?
• The importance of having community-based programs that help to support people with disability
• Why do teachers teaching special education need to be appreciated
• Can people with special education needs be taught online?
• How can the community help those who need special education to get it?
• Why do parents with special needs students need to work closely with teachers to give the child the best education?
• How should teachers handle the different learning paces of students with special needs in their class?

If well-researched and presented, argumentative essay topics for your special education essay might be best.  With the right topic and information research topics on special education, you can be assured of getting the best grades. You may also be interested in these ideas for biochemistry topics .

• A take on homeschooling for kids taking special education
• Does the size of the classroom affect the ability of the teacher to deal with students who need special education?
• Should special education students be sent to the next class even if they have not passed the current one?
• Should physical education be a compulsory lesson?
• Should the teacher’s proficiency in handling students with special needs to regularly tested?
• Should students with special education needs sit for the same exam as those who do not?
• In what ways can teachers avoid stereotyping?
• How can teachers understand a student’s uniqueness so that they can offer them the right training
• Why should children with special needs not pay extra?
• Why should teachers train on special education outcome
• Why should there be different learning strategies for students with a disability?
• Why are charter schools better for students with a disability?
• Funding for the special education
• What role do paraeducators play in special education classes?
• Do teachers teach students with special needs to require social skills training?
• What is the challenge of transitional planning for students with special needs?
• A review of Collaged admission for students with special needs
• What role does self-advocacy play in students with special education?
• How does remote learning for special education work?
• What are the effects of AHDH medication in schools for people with AHDH?

Are you looking for research topics for special education that are easy? We have compiled great thesis topic ideas for special education; read on and choose one that you can easily handle, and take to review our thesis statement about social media .

• How is co-teaching in an all-inclusive classroom effective?
• In what ways does self-determination impact children with disability
• Play therapy and why it is essential for children with special needs
• The effect of peer tutoring in special education
• What is the role of social skill training in special education
• Is it possible for any qualified teacher to teach children with special needs
• Parents and teachers have a role to play in special education
• Applied behavior analysis and Special education
• Picture Exchange Communication System and Special education
• Why should students with a disability be included in the standard classroom?
• Is mindfulness technique in special education effective
• How does music therapy in the classroom help kids with special needs?
• Analysis of Individualized Education Program in special education
• Visual support while teaching learners with special needs
• Why school psychology is necessary for special education
• Literacy Intervention in special education
• Why do students with disability need transitional planning?
• Speech-language pathologist in special education
• Why school inspection is important in schools dealing with students with special education
• Special education students and learning sciences

You can always go right when you choose current topics as your research in special education topics. If you are searching for a research topic for stem students , here are great topic ideas you can use.

• Comparing social interactions for special kids in stem schools
• Importance of an inclusive teaching approach for stem students with special needs
• What is the role of speech-language therapy in an inclusive environment?
• What performance challenges do special children face due to certain lacks?
• What is the effectiveness of sensory diets in special education
• Physical therapy in kids with disability
• What is positive reinforcement, and why is it important in special education
• What is the role of service learning in children with special education?
• Should special education schools approach stem subjects differently?
• In what ways can special school educators help kids avoid bullying
• How can parents with special needs students ensure better performance?
• Should there be a free education right for children with disability from elementary to college?
• What is the best environment for children with special needs to learn?
• Is it possible for mainstream teachers to teach special education?
• Story-based interventions in special education
• Assistive technology on math skills for students with disabilities
• Orientation and mobility specialist in special education
• What role does a behavior specialist in special education
• Should there be a school nurse in all special education schools?
• Video modeling in special education

Once you have the special education research paper topics you will use, you need to write a great paper or help me write my thesis . Students who need assistance with their research paper – whether with special ed topics or not, can now contact our paper writing service for exceptional work.

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Educating Special Needs Students Essay

Definitions, areas of curriculum necessary for students with severe disabilities, special education policies in sky view elementary school district.

Intellectual disabilities pose a great challenge to students, parents, and teachers alike. The effects of these disabilities vary from individual to individual and usually require intensive management. This partly arises from the wide range of differences in the types of intellectual disabilities, and differences in the range of impairment even among students suffering from the same type of intellectual disability.

This paper explores different types of disabilities and their impacts, to review the efficacy of policy initiatives meant to streamline the management of students with intellectual disabilities in the Sky View Elementary School District.

This paper discusses the main types of intellectual impairments. These disabilities include intellectual disability, autism, severe disabilities, and multiple disabilities.

This section reviews the definitions of each of these conditions. According to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), intellectual disability describes a condition characterized by “significant limitation in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior”.

The condition must be existent before the age of 18 for it to fit in this definition. The main causes of intellectual disability are genetic factors, malnutrition during pregnancy, birth trauma resulting in asphyxiation, and illness or injury leading to brain damage. They can occur before or after birth.

Autism covers a wide range of developmental impairments. Modern literature does not refer to autism as a single condition but as a spectrum. The autism spectrum reflects the varying severity of autism in autistic persons. Autism refers to a developmental disorder that generally inhibits the development of the skills needed in “communication and social interaction”. An autistic person may or may not have learning difficulties.

There is no consensus on the actual cause of autism. However, there is a growing body of evidence linking the occurrence of autism to genetic predisposition. However, the onset of the condition depends on environmental factors during pregnancy, during childbirth, and the initial days after birth.

Severe disabilities and multiple disabilities refer to a special category of impairments. Usually, people with severe disabilities require help in more than one area of their life to live normally. Severe disabilities usually include retarded mental development.

In the case of multiple disabilities, one person usually suffers from more than one disability. For instance, a person may experience mental retardation and a form of physical disability. In these cases, the person requires full-time care to live normally. Severe and multiple disabilities results from various causes. These causes include prenatal conditions, birth defects, accidents, infections, and exposure to toxins.

The impacts of intellectual disability, autism, and severe and multiple disabilities on education are very many. These impacts vary from case to case, and the degree of education possible depends on the severity of the underlying conditions. Some of the impacts of these disabilities on education are as follows. First, the students need full-time care in addition to specialized instructors.

This means that schools must use more resources to take care of special children. Secondly, schools need special equipment to take care of the special needs of these children. For instance, a teacher in a normal school may have the option of using chalkboards and projectors as teaching aids. In a special school, it may be difficult to use these facilities because of low attention spans among students.

The teacher must use an individualized approach to teach each student. Thirdly, special schools compete with normal schools for resources. Public schools have greater political power because of the huge number of students they handle. This makes it difficult for special schools to get additional resources to cater for the special needs of intellectually impaired students.

The areas of curriculum necessary for students with severe disabilities exceed those required for normal students. This arises from the fact that students with severe disabilities usually need more time and practice to master basic life skills.

By the time they attain school-going age, it is still common for them to require help with basic skills such as going to the bathroom. In this regard, their instructors must use a wider curriculum to help them to develop their skills.

The main areas of focus in the training of students with special needs are as follows. First, a student with severe disabilities needs training to master basic life skills. In this regard, basic life skills refer to activities such as eating, using the bathroom, dressing up, and even crossing roads. The severity of the impairment plays an important part in the decision to teach them these skills.

Secondly, the curriculum for students with severe disabilities should include communication skills. The teaching of communication skills must correlate to the ability of the student.

For instance, some autistic students can learn how to speak and can increase their vocabulary. Some cannot speak at all, and may only benefit from the use of sign language. In this case, the development of the teaching plan for each student must take into account the potential of the student.

The third aspect of the curriculum intended for students with severe disabilities must be the development of social skills. The main issue in this regard is that the failure to develop practical social skills can impair their ability to fit in society after school.

In any case, students with severe disabilities also need to know how to interact with their families, friends, and acquaintances as part of their daily lives. The challenge is greater for curriculum developers in cases where the students avoid contact with other people.

The fourth aspect that must form part of the curriculum for the training of students with severe disabilities is safety skills. Walking alongside a road is a completely mindless affair for a normal person, but may be life-threatening for a person with an impairment that hinders their ability to assess the danger posed by traffic.

For instance, if an autistic child notices that the road has continuous lines between lanes, the child may try to walk at the center of that road. Safety education can help to reduce or eliminate the dangers associated with such behavior.

The final area needed in special school curriculums is academic skills. Some students with severe impairment can learn how to read, write, and calculate. In this regard, the curriculums must support the development of intellectual skills up to the highest attainable level.

The Sky View Elementary School District special education program has many positive traits and seems to compare well with the curriculum elements discussed in the previous section. The notable aspects of the special education program at Sky View are as follows.

First, the district has acknowledged the diversity that exists among students with severe disabilities. The district, therefore, offers students instruction based on the abilities of different students. For instance, the district has self-contained classrooms meant for a student with severe disabilities.

Students spend most of their time in school in these classrooms to improve their skills. This measure makes it possible to segregate students according to their skill level to concentrate on the range of skills they can learn.

Secondly, the district offers resource instruction to students in special schools. Resource instruction refers to the exposure of students to higher-level materials suited to specific learning capabilities. In this case, a student who has greater potential in certain areas receive instruction to develop their potential.

The third aspect of the instructional model used in the Sky View is that it gives parents and guardians a wide range of options regarding the choice of facilities for their children. The district has programs that allow for continual instruction for students who lose skills during breaks. Also, the district gives parents the option of full-time residency of their special children in faculties that offer full-time care.

The main problem associated with the management of the curriculum for special needs education in Sky View Elementary School District is the isolation of special children from normal children. There are very few points of contact between students in the special units and children in ordinary classrooms.

This can lead to maladjustment to society when students with severe disabilities leave the institution. At the same time, the students do not benefit from the opportunity to learn how to communicate and to socialize with unimpaired persons. This is one of the most important skills needed by severely impaired persons.

AAIDD. (2013). Definition of Intellectual Disability.

Dodd, S. (2005). Understanding Autism. New South Wales: Elsevier.

Downing, J. E., & MacFarland, S. (2008). Severe Disabilities (Education and Individuals with Severe Disabilities: Promising Practices). International Encyclopeadia of rehabilitation , 114-118.

Glenn, R. (2007). Bringing User Experience to Healthcare Improvement: The Concepts, Methods and Practices of Experience-based Design. Oxon: Radcliffe Publishing.

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Tips for Teaching Persuasive Writing for Special Ed Students

• Categories : Inclusion strategies for mainstreamed classrooms
• Tags : Special ed information for teachers & parents

Modifying the Persuasive Essay

In modifying the persuasive essay for students with learning disabilities, start with having students use their reflective journals to create free-flowing ideas on possible topic areas. Teachers can narrow down topic areas to “Solving Conflicts Over the I-Pod” or “Whether to Buy the Teva Shoes or Not.” Once students have decided on a topic area, then you can teach them how to develop a thesis and scaffold the persuasive essay into doable chunks of learning that include the following:

• Title that supports the topic idea
• Supporting paragraphs that include chunks of information with cited facts and examples that transition from introduction to conclusion. There could be from 1-4 supporting paragraphs that develop the topic idea.
• Conclusion summarizes the topic idea and brings the essay full circle.

Modification the chunks of the essay components can include having students follow the sections below in creating an informative persuasive essay.

Topic Idea and Title

Introduce and explain what a persuasive is so that students have an understanding that the intent of a persuasion is to convince the reader of a point of view. Have students think about topic ideas that interest them and start with one persuasive thought such as, “ I persuaded him that ice cream is better than frozen yogurt because ice cream creates a more positive state of being after eating than frozen yogurt .” There is a certain fun factor in the thought and students with learning disabilities can have fun creating a persuasive argument with a defined topic idea and support that topic idea with a title that stands out. Modify this chunk by having students start with one topic idea and build from that point if indicated by skill level and ability.

The title for the above topic idea could be “ Ice Cream vs. Frozen Yogurt-You be the Judge ” or “ Ice Cream - The Better Dessert Alternative .” Have students brainstorm titles in their journals individually and then have them work in groups of 3-4 to compare title ideas and support each other’s topic idea and titles. Students with learning disabilities can create one or two title ideas as compared to five-seven for their peers. The idea is to keep students focused and invested on generating the first chunk of information needed for the bigger goal of writing a persuasive essay.

Supporting Paragraphs and Conclusion

The body of the essay includes supporting paragraphs that include facts and research citations that provide relevant connection to the topic idea. In modifying this chunk of learning, the teacher can can have students write 1-2 smaller paragraphs with 1-2 facts and research citations. By keeping the paragraphs doable, students will engage in creating smaller chunks of writing and learn about the process of constructing a persuasive essay.

For example, a modified supporting paragraph for the above topic idea on ice cream could look like the following:

Ice cream is better than frozen yogurt because it fills you up quicker. It does this because the cream is heavier and sits in your stomach longer. Ice cream is also sweet and makes you happy except when it’s gone and then you’re sad.

Students are able to write in their own style and on their skill level. Incorporating technology by having students use the computer and a word.doc software program with spellcheck and a “save as” mode will allow students to come back and edit their essay draft and add the conclusion before editing the final essay.

The conclusion restates the topic idea and brings all components of the persuasive essay full circle. Students with learning disabilities can create a two sentence conclusion and be proud of a finished product that contains all components of a persuasive essay that effectively persuades.

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Special Education — Reflection on Special Needs

Reflection on Special Needs

• Categories: Special Education Youth Culture

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Published: Mar 16, 2024

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Sample essay on mainstreaming students with disabilities.

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This sample MLA paper explores the complex and socially charged issue of whether or not students with special needs should be educated separate from or along with mainstream students. This sample essay was created for the Ultius blog as an example of an undergraduate paper.

Mainstreaming Students with Disabilities

Students with learning disabilities are faced with several obstacles during their educational careers. Therefore, it is extremely important to develop educational approaches that optimize their learning experience. It is commonly debated whether or not students with disabilities should be mainstreamed. Mainstreaming is when students with disabilities, which can vary from blindness to Down syndrome, are included in classrooms with children without disabilities. It has been called into question, though whether mainstreaming is successful or harmful. There are several advantages to mainstreaming special needs students into the general population, but each one is met with a disadvantage to match.

Advantages of mainstreaming

There are several advantages to mainstreaming. One of the major benefits of mainstreaming students with disabilities into regular classrooms is that it helps students with special needs cope and adapt to the real world (Reynolds, Zupanick, and Dombeck). When students with disabilities are mainstreamed, they are able to develop social skills along with academics, a lack of which would exclude them from their peers. Research shows that students with special needs often suffer from additional challenges in developing their social skills, affecting their personal development and growth (Bernstein). Often, children with disabilities find themselves ostracized from the general student population. This isolation only furthers their delays in social development, but mainstreaming provides support for the development of social skills and an inclusive learning community.

A second advantage to mainstreaming students with disabilities is that it provides them with an academic advantage that they would not otherwise have the opportunity to experience. Disabled students are able to be taught the same curricula as students without disabilities. When students with special needs are mainstreamed, they do receive accommodations and assistance; but, they are still able to learn what everyone else in their grade level is learning (Foust). This enables them to learn things that they may not have been exposed to in a classroom that caters to students with disabilities.

An additional benefit to mainstreaming students with special needs is that it can have positive effects on their self-esteem. Unfortunately, there is definitely a stigma associated with being different in any way, a stigma that creates a barrier to building acceptance. These students know that they are in the same classes as everyone else in their age group which helps them to feel like they are less different from their peers. In addition, when non-disabled students are in a position in which they are able to assist in the education of another student, they experience an increase in self-esteem themselves (Foust). Mainstreaming students with disabilities can have positive effects on the self-esteem of all students, not just those with disabilities.

Another benefit to mainstreaming students with disabilities is that it is beneficial to the general student population. Non-disabled students can benefit from mainstreaming because it prepares them for the real world by providing an opportunity to learn about diversity and helping develop empathy (Lawrence). Students from the general population are able to form meaningful relationships with students who have disabilities; something they might not have otherwise had the opportunity to do. Non-disabled students also benefit from peer-tutoring models in which they can help students with special needs practice certain skills. This can further their own understanding of the subject, as well. In addition, students without special needs can benefit from mainstreaming because it teaches them how to work with people who learn and communicate differently from themselves (Foust). They learn acceptance, compassion, collaboration, and patience, all of which will better prepare them for the future.

Disadvantages of mainstreaming

Despite the list of benefits, there are still several disadvantages to mainstreaming students with disabilities. Many non-special-needs teachers and classrooms lack the resources required to provide an adequate learning experience for children with disabilities. Some studies have reported that this lack of resources has been linked to poorer academic performance (Bernstein). Sometimes students with disabilities have needs that just cannot be met in a regular classroom environment.

Roberta Thomas, the Executive Director of the American Society for Deaf Children, who is also the parent of a deaf teenager, stated that the majority of deaf children live in households in which no one uses sign language to communicate (National Council on Disability). Because of this, deaf children have no language skills at all before they reach school, resulting in them living in isolation from their family and peers. “Everywhere in this country are deaf children with neither speech nor sign, placed in regular classrooms with almost no support services. No communication, no language, no socialization, no education, no opportunity to acquire even the most basic life skills. These children often become emotionally disturbed. Their desperately depraved condition is consistently blamed on their deafness and not the program.” (National Council on Disability). Ms. Thomas asserts that even her own son, who is totally fluent in both American Sign Language and English, is not adequately served in a mainstreamed environment. “I know that mainstreaming is intended to normalize deaf children, but the opposite can more easily happen. Mainstreaming does not usually support deaf children’s identity, and puts them at such a disadvantage socially and educationally that they often cannot reach their potential. Their poor performance reinforces the stigma of deafness in the world’s view that deafness is something wrong with the people that have it.” (National Council on Disability).

Deaf students have also testified that when they are in mainstreamed classes, they have to follow an interpreter and that this can be extremely difficult (National Council on Disability). This is because these interpreters are often poorly qualified and ill-trained, making it difficult for the deaf students to focus and truly grasp the information being taught. Ms. Thomas also feels that it is essential to their development and self-esteem for deaf children to have regular access to deaf culture. She states that, “…Deaf language and culture provide deaf human beings with a powerful, positive identity, and a self-image as adequate people rather than as imperfect hearing people and this self-image makes it possible for them eventually to function better in the hearing world. The unconscious, but terribly destructive message that a deaf person often receives in the mainstream is that his adequacy and success depends upon resembling hearing people.” (National Council on Disability).

Another disadvantage to mainstreaming students with disabilities is that they are often ill-prepared to be mainstreamed with the regular student population. The Executive Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind, Fred Schroeder, who is also a former director of the Albuquerque public school program for deaf and blind children, testified to the National Council on Disability that blind children often required very specialized training before they are prepared to perform well in a mainstreamed environment (National Council on Disability). He points out that blind students need intensive instruction in Braille in order for them to be literate, they must learn how to walk through a crowded hallway with a cane, and acquire the skills to type in order to complete assignments. “For a young, blind child to really a develop a self-concept that he or she can compete, that child has to have the tools to compete… If you put a young blind child in a classroom with sighted kids, and the young blind child does not have the skills to compete, then the child will be at a disadvantage and will come away feelings inferior… that ‘I can’t compete because I am blind.’” (National Council on Disability). Some students require a lot of intensive preparation in order to do well in a mainstreamed environment which can make it very difficult and time consuming to do so.

Another disadvantage to mainstreaming students with disabilities is that all students are less likely to receive the attention they need from their teachers in a mainstreamed environment. In a special needs classroom, lesson plans can be tailored to fit the needs of the students in those classes. But when students are mainstreamed, there are a higher number of students per teacher and teachers do not always have all the time and resources to address the needs of every student in the classroom (Baker). In addition, those teachers are often not adequately trained on how to teach special needs students (Bailey). For example, children on the autism spectrum can vary from very high functioning to a severe disability. Some children are non-verbal and are incapable of communicating even the simplest things.

For a teacher to be able to effectively educate a student with such a severe disability, they need to totally understand the condition and adapt their teaching methods to include different teaching styles and sensory activities in order to meet all their students’ needs (Bailey). Special education teachers receive special training and instruction in order to effectively teach students with these disabilities. While a regular teacher might try their best, they simply do not have the benefit of the specialized training and therefore will not have the necessary knowledge to give the special needs students what they need.

One more disadvantage to mainstreaming students with disabilities is that the inclusion of disabled students should be based on the student themselves rather than the diagnosis, but that is not always taken into account. There are many children of varying degrees of disabilities that are perfectly capable of functioning in the general population with little to no preparation. In contrast, though, some students have more severe disabilities and find it very difficult to function in a mainstreamed environment (Bailey). For these children, it would be more appropriate and conducive to their education to be taught in smaller classrooms where they have more access to aides and teachers. In these cases, children in smaller classrooms are able to receive the attention they need and are therefore more successful in their education. Their inclusion into the general student population should definitely be determined on a case-by-case basis.

To reiterate, mainstreaming students is a teaching method that focuses on including students with special needs into the general student population. While many feel like mainstreaming has a positive impact on the educational experience of students with and without disabilities, others feel that the disadvantages far outweigh the benefits. Advantages include that they help special needs students adapt to the real world, they are provided with opportunities to improve both their academic performance as well as their social skills, it can have positive effects on their self-esteem, and it can provide benefits for non-disabled students as well. Disadvantages include how many regular teachers and classrooms are not adequately equipped to provide the optimal environment for disabled students, the amount of preparation required to get some students ready to thrive in the general population, that students are less likely to receive the attention they need, and that many students are mainstreamed based on diagnosis rather than the child. It seems that while there are positives and negatives to mainstreaming, it may be best if it were determined on a case-by-case basis.

Does this look like one of your assignments? Think about using Ultius writing services for your next essay.

Works Cited

Bailey, Eileen. “The Pros and Cons of Mainstream Classrooms for Children with Autism”. Health Central. Remedy Health Media, LLC., 9 Oct. 2014. Web. 13 Jun. 2016. http://www.healthcentral.com/autism/c/1443/172151/mainstream-classrooms-children/

Baker, Celia R. “Teaching students with intellectual disabilities in regular classrooms: good for kids, or good for budgets?”. Deseret News. Desert News, 7 Jan. 2013. Web. 13 Jun. 2016. Web. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865570116/Teaching-students-with-intellectual-disabilities-in-regular-classrooms-good-for-kids-or-good-for.html?pg=all

Bernstein, Angela. “Mainstreaming Pros and Cons”. Panmore Institute. Panmore Institute, 20 Jul. 2015. Web. 13 Jun. 2015. http://panmore.com/pros-cons-mainstreaming

Foust, Kathy. “Examining the Pros and Cons of Mainstreaming.” Bright Hub Education. brighthubeducation.com, 5 Oct. 2012. Web. 13 Jun. 2016. http://www.brighthubeducation.com/special-ed-inclusion-strategies/87058-examining-+-the-pros-and-cons-of-mainstreaming/

Lawrence, Carissa. “Advantages & Disadvantages to Mainstreaming Special Education Children”. Our Everyday Life. Our Everyday Life, 2016. Wheeb. 13 Jun. 2016. http://oureverydaylife.com/advantages-disadvantages-mainstreaming-special-education-children-25659.html

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The Pros and Cons of AI in Special Education

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Special education teachers fill out mountains of paperwork, customize lessons for students with a wide range of learning differences, and attend hours of bureaucratic meetings.

It’s easy to see why it would be tempting to outsource parts of that job to a robot.

While there may never be a special educator version of “Star Wars”’ protocol droid C-3PO, generative artificial tools—including ChatGPT and others developed with the large language models created by its founder, Open AI—can help special education teachers perform parts of their job more efficiently, allowing them to spend more time with their students, experts and educators say.

But those shortcuts come with plenty of cautions, they add.

Teachers need to review artificial intelligence’s suggestions carefully to ensure that they are right for specific students. Student data—including diagnoses of learning differences or cognitive disorders—need to be kept private.

Even special educators who have embraced the technology urge to proceed with care.

“I’m concerned about how AI is being presented right now to educators, that it’s this magical tool,” said Julie Tarasi, who teaches special education at Lakeview Middle School in the Park Hill school district near Kansas City, Mo. She recently completed a course in AI sponsored by the International Society for Technology in Education. “And I don’t think that the AI literacy aspect of it is necessarily being [shared] to the magnitude that it should be with teachers.”

Park Hill is cautiously experimenting with AI’s potential as a paperwork partner for educators and an assistive technology for some students in special education.

The district is on the vanguard. Only about 1 in 6 principals and district leaders—16 percent—said their schools or districts were piloting AI tools or using them in a limited manner with students in special education, according to a nationally representative EdWeek Research Center survey conducted in March and April.

AI tools may work best for teachers who already have a deep understanding of what works for students in special education, and of the tech itself, said Amanda Morin, a member of the advisory board for the learner-variability project at Digital Promise, a nonprofit organization that works on equity and technology issues in schools.

“If you feel really confident in your special education knowledge and experience and you have explored AI [in depth], I think those two can combine in a way that can really accelerate the way you serve students,” Morin said.

But “if you are a novice at either, it’s not going to serve your students well because you don’t know what you don’t know yet,” she added. “You may not even know if the tool is giving you a good answer.”

Here are some of the areas where Park Hill educators and other school and district leaders see AI’s promise for special education—and what caveats to look out for:

Promise: Reducing the paperwork burden.

Some special education teachers spend as many as eight hours a week writing student-behavior plans, progress reports, and other documentation.

“Inevitably, we’re gonna get stuck, we’re gonna struggle to word things,” Tarasi said. AI can be great for busting through writer’s block or finding a clearer, more objective way to describe a student’s behavior, she said.

What’s more, tools such as Magic School—an AI platform created for K-12 education—can help special education teachers craft the student learning goals that must be included in an individualized education program, or IEP.

“I can say ‘I need a reading goal to teach vowels and consonants to a student,’ and it will generate a goal,” said Tara Bachmann, Park Hill’s assistive-technology facilitator. “You can put the criteria you want in, but it makes it measurable, then my teachers can go in and insert the specifics about the student” without involving AI, Bachmann said.

These workarounds can cut the process of writing an IEP by up to 30 minutes, Bachmann said—giving teachers more time with students.

AI can also come to the rescue when a teacher needs to craft a polite, professional email to a parent after a stress-inducing encounter with their child.

Some Park Hill special education teachers use “Goblin,” a free tool aimed at helping neurodivergent people organize tasks, to take the “spice” out of those messages, Tarasi said.

A teacher could write “the most emotionally charged email. Then you hit a button called ‘formalize.’ And it makes it like incredibly professional,” Bachmann said. “Our teachers like it because they have a way to release the emotion but still communicate the message to the families.”

Caveat: Don’t share personally identifiable student information. Don’t blindly embrace AI’s suggestions.

Teachers must be extremely careful about privacy issues when using AI tools to write documents—from IEPs to emails—that contain sensitive student information, Tarasi said.

“If you wouldn’t put it on a billboard outside of the school, you should not be putting it into any sort of AI,” Tarasi said. “There’s no sense of guaranteed privacy.”

Tarasi advises her colleagues to “absolutely not put in names” when using generative AI to craft documents, she said. While including students’ approximate grade level may be OK in certain circumstances, inputting their exact age or mentioning a unique diagnosis is a no-no.

To be sure, if the information teachers put into AI is too vague, educators might not get accurate suggestions for their reports. That requires a balance.

“You need to be specific without being, without being pinpoint,” Tarasi said.

Caveat: AI works best for teachers who already understand special education

Another caution: Although AI tools can help teachers craft a report or customize a general education lesson for students in special education, teachers need to already have a deep understanding of their students to know whether to adopt its recommendations.

Relying solely on AI tools for lesson planning or writing reports “takes the individualized out of individualized education,” Morin said. “Because what [the technology] is doing is spitting out things that come up a lot” as opposed to carefully considering what’s best for a specific student, like a good teacher can.

Educators can tweak their prompts—the questions they ask AI—to get better, more specific advice, she added.

“A seasoned special educator would be able to say ‘So I have a student with ADHD, and they’re fidgety’ and get more individualized recommendations,” Morin said.

Promise: Making lessons more accessible.

Ensuring students in special education master the same course content as their peers can require teachers to spend hours simplifying the language of a text to an appropriate reading level.

Generative AI tools can accomplish that same task—often called “leveling a text"—in just minutes, said Josh Clark, the leader of the Landmark School , a private school in Massachusetts serving children with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences.

“If you have a class of 30 kids in 9th grade, and they’re all reading about photosynthesis, then for one particular child, you can customize [the] reading level without calling them out and without anybody else knowing and without you, the teacher, spending hours,” Clark said. “I think that’s a super powerful way of allowing kids to access information they may not be able to otherwise.”

Similarly, in Park Hill, Bachmann has used Canva—a design tool with a version specifically geared toward K-12 schools and therefore age-appropriate for many students—to help a student with cerebral palsy create the same kind of black-and-white art his classmates were making.

Kristen Ponce, the district’s speech and language pathologist, has used Canva to provide visuals for students in special education as they work to be more specific in their communication.

Case-in-point: One of Ponce’s students loves to learn about animals, but he has a very clear idea of what he’s looking for, she said. If the student just says “bear,” Canva will pull up a picture of, for instance, a brown grizzly. But the student may have been thinking of a polar bear.

That gives Ponce the opportunity to tell him, “We need to use more words to explain what you’re trying to say here,” she said. “We were able to move from ‘bear’ to ‘white bear on ice.’”

Caveat: It’s not always appropriate to use AI as an accessibility tool.

Not every AI tool can be used with every student. For instance, there are age restrictions for tools like ChatGPT, which isn’t for children under 13 or those under 18 without parent permission, Bachmann said. (ChatGPT does not independently verify a user’s age.)

“I caution my staff about introducing it to children who are too young and remembering that and that we try to focus on what therapists and teachers can do collectively to make life easier for [students],” she said.

“Accessibility is great,” she said. But when a teacher is thinking about “unleashing a child freely on AI, there is caution to it.”

Promise: Using AI tools to help students in special education communicate.

Park Hill is just beginning to use AI tools to help students in special education express their ideas.

One recent example: A student with a traumatic brain injury that affected her language abilities made thank you cards for several of her teachers using Canva.

“She was able to generate personal messages to people like the school nurses,” Bachmann said. “To her physical therapist who has taken her to all kinds of events outside in the community. She said, ‘You are my favorite therapist.’ She got very personal.”

There may be similar opportunities for AI to help students in special education write more effectively.

Some students with learning and thinking differences have trouble organizing their thoughts or getting their point across.

“When we ask a child to write, we’re actually asking them to do a whole lot of tasks at once,” Clark said. Aspects of writing that might seem relatively simple to a traditional learner—word retrieval, grammar, punctuation, spelling—can be a real roadblock for some students in special education, he said.

“It’s a huge distraction,” Clark said. The student may “have great ideas, but they have difficulty coming through.”

Caveat: Students may miss out on the critical-thinking skills writing builds.

Having students with language-processing differences use AI tools to better express themselves holds potential, but if it is not done carefully, students may miss developing key skills, said Digital Promise’s Morin.

AI “can be a really positive adaptive tool, but I think you have to be really structured about how you’re doing it,” she said.

ChatGPT or a similar tool may be able to help a student with dyslexia or a similar learning difference “create better writing, which I think is different than writing better,” Morin said.

Since it’s likely that students will be able to use those tools in the professional world, it makes sense that they begin using them in school, she said.

But the tools available now may not adequately explain the rationale behind the changes they make to a student’s work or help students express themselves more clearly in the future.

“The process is just as important as the outcome, especially with kids who learn differently, right?” Morin said. “Your process matters.”

Clark agreed on the need for moving cautiously. His own school is trying what he described as “isolated experiments” in using AI to help students with language-processing differences express themselves better.

The school is concentrating, for now, on older students preparing to enter college. Presumably, many will be able to use AI to complete some postsecondary assignments. “How do we make sure it’s an equal playing field?” Clark said.

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