Article Reaction: “Minorities Labeled Learning Disabled Because of Social Inequalities”

I came across this article by Alexa Lardieri, “Minorities Labeled Learning Disabled Because of Social Inequalities” and the content really stuck out to me. Due to students socioeconomic status, they were placed in Special Education classrooms which was found to do more harm rather than benefit these students. Portland University did a study and found that racial minorities were more likely to be placed in special education classrooms over other children. This is a subject that that I feel strongly on, because due to these students being in the minority bracket, their education is hindered, instead of getting them the correct help and better education they are placed in special education classrooms which ends up not being beneficial for them. The article states that there is no evidence proving that placing them in special education improves these their educational outcome, but only will limit them when future opportunities present themselves. This has become a rather long issue in our education system, because these students may not have the same accessibility or preparation for general education they are placed in special education classroom where no disability is actually present. The bigger issue that should be looked at is, how do we better prepare these students, how do we get them to where they need to be, how do we get these students performing on the same academic level as their pieces, surely not by placing them in special education classrooms. In the article I like how Shifrer states how learning disabilities are being diagnosed by academic achievement rather than really evaluating these students properly. This a prevalent issue in school systems right now that needs to be addressed! How do we continue to allow these students future to be compromised because they don’t have access to the same opportunities, or materials as their peers! Students should not be placed in special education without being fully evaluated before hand, even if they have a low socioeconomic status does not necessarily mean special education classrooms are the place for them. Maybe extra help, tutoring, or pull out sessions can be integrated while being in the general education classroom. Early intervention or even re evaluating the early childhood programs can potentially make an enormous difference in these students future. Changes need to be implemented in order to get everyone equal opportunities and equal education that they all deserve. As a hopeful future educator, this is a heartbreaking topic knowing that these students education is being compromised, simply due to money.

https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2018-08-21/study-minorities-labeled-learning-disabled-because-of-social-inequalities