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011397 Betrayed in the Classroom
Children with learning disabilities are many times more likely to be hyperactive, delinquent and end up in prison. Educators can roll out case after Case of otherwise bright, vivacious students who work frantically to keep up and are driven to the verge of suicide by continued and unexplained failure. The most well-known example is Shannon Carter, a learning-disabled student whose parents withdrew her from public School sued the county for private-school tuition and was their case in the United States Supreme Court
Problems like Shannon's would be alarming even if the number of troubled students remained constant. But national statistics show an increase nearly everywhere to New York State, for example, the number jumped by about 55 percent, from 132,000 in 1963 to 201,000 In 1996. Put of the surge results from heightened sensitivity to a Problem that went largely unrecognized until the disability laws of the 1970's. The numbers may also have gone up because funding formulas give additional aid for every student diagnosed as disabled. Two-thirds of the states are considering changes in the way special education Is financed. A revision under consideration In New York would give each school district a fixed sum, based on the statewide average.
The cost ceiling may be necessary. But states need to bear in mind that some of the surge in learning-disabled children is genuine - the result of broad social agenda, among them teaching techniques that make it difficult for disabled children to learn in mainstream classrooms.
Federal law mandates special education for children with a host of physical and psychological disabilities, like dyslexia, speech and hearing Impairment The Government also lists an oddly named category called "specific learning disability." defined as "a disorder of one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding language or in using language."
The broadness of that description allows many districts to cram special education classes with students who are disciplinary problems or slow learners. This trend toward warehousing accelerated as budget cuts stripped away teaching assistants, counselors and special instructors who once kept problem children on track in New York Clty, after 10 percent of students are classified disabled, slightly under the statewide average of 11percent But more than 100 districts statewide exceed 15 percent, with many approaching 20 percent The numbers are alarming because students who enter special education rarely graduate from high school.
Learning disability experts agree that many districts are guilty of over-referral. But many of the same experts argue that the increase in the learning-disabled population also has real antecedents. Middle-class mothers who once spent much of the day reading to and socializing with their children now work outside the home. Teen-age mothers who stay at home often lack the education or interest needed to prepare children for learning.
Disorganized schools, poorly equipped classrooms, unqualified teachers and other conditions that hurt unimpaired children are devastating to children with learning difficulties.
Some educators argue that children who have difficulty learning are "curriculum disabled" by teaching strategies that promote vague goals like self-esteem over traditional skills. One spokeswoman for this view is Phyllis Berlin, director of education at the Windward School In White Plains, N.Y., a private school for the learning disabled. Windward succeeds with students who performed poorly in public schools. It renovates their reading skills and then sends them back.
Ms. Berlin and her colleagues are incensed by the "whole language" system of reading that swept America during the 1950's. The approach, they say, often forsakes phonics, grammar and the drill-and-practice many children need to become competent readers and writers. Whole language still has many disciples, but California renounced it after the state's students finished 39th, tied with Louisiana as the worst readers among the states tested. It stands to reason that many students need a structured approach to reading if they are to succeed.
Budget ceilings will not solve the special-education problem Schools need to strengthen early-intervention programs and classroom instruction for all students, which means paying closer attention to what and how teachers teach.
BRENT STAPLES