Educational Psychology

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his or her time in regular classes throughout the student’s school career; in this case, adjustment of the curriculum
would not be an issue.

For you, the policy favoring the least restrictive environment means that if you continue teaching long enough,
you will very likely encounter a student with a disability in one or more of your classes, or at least have one in a
school-related activity for which you are responsible. It also means that the special educational needs of these
students will most often be the “mildest”. Statistically, the most frequent forms of special needs are learning
disabilities, which are impairments in specific aspects of learning, and especially of reading. Learning disabilities
account for about half of all special educational needs—as much as all other types put together. Somewhat less
common are speech and language disorders, cognitive disabilities, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders
(or ADHD). Because of their frequency and of the likelihood that you will meet students for whom these labels have
been considered, I describe them more fully later in this chapter, along with other disability conditions that you will
encounter much less frequently.

Individual educational plan

The third way that IDEA legislation and current educational approaches affect teachers is by requiring teachers
and other professional staff to develop an annual individual educational plan (or IEP) for each student with a
disability. The plan is created by a team of individuals who know the student’s strengths and needs; at a minimum
it includes one or more classroom teachers, a “resource” or special education teacher, and the student’s parents or
guardians. Sometimes, too, the team includes a school administrator (like a vice-principal) or other professionals
from outside the school (like a psychologist or physician), depending on the nature of the child’s disability. An IEP
can take many forms, but it always describes a student’s current social and academic strengths as well as the
student’s social or academic needs. It also specifies educational goals or objectives for the coming year, lists special
services to be provided, and describes how progress toward the goals will be assessed at the end of the year. Exhibit
6 shows a simple, imaginary IEP. (But keep in mind that the actual visual formats of IEP plans vary widely among
states, provinces, and school jurisdictions.) This particular plan is for a student named Sean, a boy having
difficulties with reading. IEPs, like the one in the figure, originally served mainly students in the younger grades,
but more recently they have been extended and modified to serve transition planning for adolescents with
disabilities who are approaching the end of their public schooling (West, et al., 1999). For these students, the goals
of the plan often include activities (like finding employment) to extend beyond schooling. See below.

Educational Psychology 89 A Global Text