Abstract
Some background information about special education in different areas of the world is provided and then mediation is presented as a possible approach to resolving or reducing special education disputes. Special education mediation in the United States is discussed and details of a case are given. The chapter concludes with some points to consider by those who want to establish, improve or analyze a special education mediation program.
This chapter is based on “Improving Special Education Mediation” which appeared in the International Review of Sociology (Fritz 2008) and “Special Education Mediation in the United States” (Fritz 2010), which was published in both Ukrainian and English.
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Notes
- 1.
I would like to thank those involved in the special education process – parents, children, school administrators, those running mediation programs, mediators, advocates, attorneys and analysts – who took the time to share their ideas with me.
- 2.
Information about Søholmskolen was obtained during a site visit (including discussions with the resource teacher, classroom teachers, a parent and students) on November 16, 2011. Additional information came from discussions with Anne Marie Østergaard Andersen (2011), the Ringsted municipality’s udviklingskonsulent (development consultant for inclusion in education) and a copy of a presentation made by Torben Lyster (2010), the former director of the Department of Children and Culture in Ringsted Kommune. Lyster noted that “We are putting together a programme of courses, networks, and competency development for childcare workers and teachers under the theme of ‘Towards More Inclusion.’”
- 3.
While the resource persons and teachers don’t like to classify the difficulties faced by a student (e.g., autism), they will do so if the parents think it is useful to have a diagnosis.
- 4.
Admittedly, Søholmskolen is a small school and, in 2011, does not have any students with severe mental and physical needs. There also is a question about whether students who graduate from Søholmskolen will find a culture of acceptance at the next school.
- 5.
According to the World Report on Disability (World Health Organization and World Bank Group 2011, p. 211): “Deaf students and those with intellectual impairments argue that mainstreaming is not always a positive experience. Supporters of special schools – such as schools for the blind, deaf, or deafblind – particularly in low-income countries, often point to the fact that these institutions provide high-quality and specialized learning environments. The World Federation of Deaf argues that often the best environment for academic and social development for a Deaf child is a school where both students and teachers use sign language for all communication. The thinking is that simple placement in a regular school, without meaningful, interaction with classmates and professionals, would exclude the Deaf learner from education and society.”
- 6.
The International Standard Classification of Education, in 1997, replaced the term special education with special needs education. This change was made to distinguish the 1997 approach which focused on intervention in any place from the earlier definition which connected special education with a place – special institutions, schools or classrooms (Florian 2007).
- 7.
The authors indicate that special education in Australia, like other forms of education, is the responsibility of the individual jurisdictions and that each state and territory has its own Education Act.
- 8.
AbleChildAfrica (2011), p. 8 says “based on the latest data there may be 2 m disabled children in Uganda and perhaps only 20 % of them are in school.”
- 9.
UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2011 did not even include disability in its statistical table because “new, comparable data are unavailable for a significant number of countries” (Anthony 2011, p. 86).
- 10.
- 11.
Education is defined as a universal right by Article 26.
- 12.
The Convention opened for signature on March 30, 2007 and entered into force on May 3, 2008. Article 24 is about education (e.g., “without discrimination,” “on the basis of equal opportunity,” “ensure… inclusive education,” “lifelong learning,” “learn life and social development skills,” “qualified teachers,” and “incorporate disability awareness.”
- 13.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (CRA), a very important piece of civil rights legislation, indicates that all persons are entitled to be free of discrimination. Although people with disabilities are not specifically named in the Act, the principles that underlie the CRA also are the principles framing later legislation about the rights of individuals with disabilities and many of the early special education cases cited the Act (Applequist 2006).
- 14.
- 15.
According to Harry (2007), research from many countries indicates that it is the historical status of a minority group within a society (rather than race) that accounts for low educational attainment.
- 16.
The resolution meeting may be waived if both parties agree and sign a written document. The parties can then proceed to a due process hearing or, instead, request mediation.
- 17.
The board meets every three weeks for five or six hours to review cases. The review is of all the written documents that have been submitted and it is rare that people appear before the board or that attorneys are involved. In 2010, “the board closed 630 cases.” Cases are closed for a number of reasons including that they are sent back to the municipality/region or the parties came to an agreement on their own (Klagenævnet for vidtgående specialundervisning 2011).
- 18.
CADRE, the Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution, is a project of Direction Services in Oregon (USA).
- 19.
In one of these instances, a terrible car crash involving five students occurred during a mediation. The superintendent and assistant superintendent of the small rural school district were involved in the mediation and, because they needed to immediately deal with the emergency, the mediation required a second meeting the following week. Another case involved two siblings and so it took more time than one day. The other cases were continued because both sides felt it would be useful to continue the conversation after some additional information was obtained.
- 20.
Parents, a public agency or the child – when he or she reaches the age of majority – can request mediation.
- 21.
This was the first mediation of any kind that I had handled in which the attorneys (including the one in training) outnumbered the other participants.
- 22.
The names and details of two actual cases have been changed and combined to avoid identifying the parties.
- 23.
Other Health Impairment is defined in IDEA 2004 (Section 300.8, http://idea.ed.gov) as “having limited strength, vitality, or alertness with respect to the educational environment, that (i) is due to chronic or acute health problems… and (ii) adversely affects a child’s educational performance.” Specific Learning Disability is defined as “a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written…”
- 24.
Dyslexia, an unexpected difficulty in reading, is “characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and poor spelling and decoding abilities” (Lyon et al. 2003, p. 2). It is the most common learning disability “affecting over 80 % of those identified as learning disabled” (Shaywitz et al. 2008, p. 453).
- 25.
There are times when local and area educational agencies ask for a mediator to act as a facilitator when a parent or advocate files a state complaint. There also have been times when parties “request that the state mediator return to facilitate the revision of the IEP to reflect the written settlement agreement, prior to the parent signing the agreement” (CADRE 2010b, p. 6).
- 26.
Doreen Philpot (n.d.) is an attorney representing children with special needs and their parents in Indiana and Texas. She says the following about the mediation system in one of the states: “Neither parents nor school districts have found the mediation system to be all that beneficial, as evidenced by the fact that schools and parents actually prefer to hire and pay for private mediators, rather than using the no-cost DOE (Department of Education) mediators. This has been going on for several years… and this is the sign of a broken system.”
- 27.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) uses the Special Education Resolution Center (SERC) at Oklahoma State University to manage the state’s special education mediation services (CADRE 2010a). SERC develops policies and procedures with the advice of the advisory council and presents them to OSDE as possible changes. The advisory council has 11–13 members. The council includes not less than 51 % of parents whose children have disabilities, an OSDE representative, school district representatives, a community representative and a special education mediator.
- 28.
In some case, attorneys have a background in the law but have never or infrequently dealt with special education cases.
- 29.
As one attorney (Philpot, n.d.) noted, it “is especially helpful (that all the special education mediators in one particular state are attorneys) because the language and terminology inherent in special education matters can be a stumbling block for someone not familiar with them.” Special education mediators from all backgrounds, not just attorneys, should have training and experience regarding relevant language/terminology.
- 30.
According to Philpot (n.d.), “after the mediator gives the opening ground rules talk, he or she will put the school in one room and us (the parents and their representative) in another and will shuttle back and forth between the two rooms.” The order of when things happen varies in mediations as well as whether there are any or many small meetings.
- 31.
One expert (Anonymous 2011) who has reviewed all the U.S. state websites said that “many states have, well, horrible websites which is to say that virtually ALL states could improve” in areas such as ease of use, parent friendliness, content, availability of all forms and search capacity.
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Fritz, J.M., Fritz, J.M. (2014). Intervening in Special Education Cases. In: Fritz, J. (eds) Moving Toward a Just Peace. Clinical Sociology: Research and Practice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2885-1_7
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