Social Studies

 History 

           The history of special education began in the U.S. after WWII, when a group of parents started an advocacy group to help bring disabilities to the public eye. During the 1960's an increased level of school access was established for children with disabilities. In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provided funding for primary education, as is seen by advocacy groups as expanding access to public education for children with disabilities. Despite these important events only some special needs kids actually went to a public school. This relates to our project because we have spent a day working to see how special needs kids have been adapting with public schools and what they do and are now even working important jobs inside the school like picking up the recycling. Getting an education is what has helped with special needs kids and being able to communicate better with traditional education kids. This is a change from the past in the 1900's.

          Political Science

A law that was made to help the special needs kids it was passed in 1975 by Congress. The Education for all Handicapped Children Act was in response to discriminatory treatment by public educational agencies against students with disabilities. The EHA was later modified to strengthen and protect the special needs kids. The federal laws require states to provide special education consistent with federal standards as condition of receiving federal funds. There are multiple acts not just EHA but also ADA or the American with Disabilities Act. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. Having these acts are the start of help from the government for special education kids. These laws have made a difference for special education kids. They have allowed special education kids to take part in traditional classes. It also allows traditional education kids to be a part of the awareness as we did Tuesday. We learned that we can do all sorts of fun activates to help them. We also got to see how they would react to different activities.

Economics

The costs of special education programs are rising. Public schools spend an average of two or three times more on each student eligible for special education as they do for students without disabilities. In some states the totals to almost $30,000 a year per student, taking multiple types of disabilities into account. Knowing how much it costs now makes us realize the amount of money it takes to education a special needs child. The downside to this is it costs a lot of money. The positive side is as we did in our project. We worked with the kids so that we can have more experience with them to know what it’s like to switch spots with them. With the money provided we are able to work with them. If we didn't have that money we would not be able to see them during our school day. Sometimes kids don't know of the special education system. They are unaware of the costs it takes to education special needs kids. 

Sociology

Many communities help out with special needs kids, for example fund raisers. This money can go towards making the program better. They would let the special education kids become more involved with the community. Even for what we are doing in our project is helping raise awareness. We are also able to communicate with them and let others know about it! Some kids in different schools would benefit from spending time with the special education kids. As a group we worked together well. We all took a part in teaching and having a good time with the special needs kids. We even learned about the kids and who they are! They are all very different and unique. Our group reached all of our goals of learning more about the special needs kids.

    Psychology

Some benefits of having special needs kids in a public school is that they get an education so they are able to graduate. As mentioned before our group has had a main goal to help out with the special education kids and communicate with them. We learned more about the way they work every day while still having fun. Many students don’t get much time to communicate with the special needs kids because they don’t always have normal classes like some students do. Because of this they don’t always know how to talk to them or help them in a difficult situation. This makes it hard to understand certain situation. Our idea would make students a bit more aware of how much they can help. It would also help them become more aware of how to help their peers. It would help students become more selfless and aware of how much they can impact someone.