Placement in special Education
In special education, placement refers to the amount of time that a student is required to spend in a general classroom or a resource each day. When deciding the best placement for a child with special needs, it is essential to ensure that the child spends as much of their school day with children with no disabilities. This includes engaging in after school, academic, and non-academic activities. Studies indicate that some programs in special and general education have significant positive impacts on children with disabilities.
Placement of children with disabilities in general schools should be in line with the Individuals with Disabilities Act that seeks to protect special needs children’s rights. This includes ensuring that that placement and removal from general education only occur when the severity of the nature of their handicap is such that the regular education and supplemental services and aids cannot be achieved satisfactorily in the regular education (Banerjee et al., 2017). However, placement should be tailored to meet the needs of the child. Several factors also influence the placement of children with special needs.
Some of the factors that need to be considered during placement include the proximity of the classes to the child’s home. The setting should be easily accessible to both the child and the parents to ensure effectiveness. This also fosters the continuum of placement to reinforce the importance of individualized inquiry. Besides, it is also essential to consider the child’s IEP (Hornby, 2015). This would help to set individualized annual goals to meet the needs of the child. It is also prudent to ensure that the school is one that the child may attend if they were not disabled. Other factors include parental expectations, educational risk factors, and previous early childhood special education services.