Long Time No Post

         Hi there!!! I've been busy this past month. I have just taken my comprehensive examinations for my masters (hope I'll pass) and finish the midyear evaluation of schools. I really hope that the results are favorably positive. Next year perhaps I'll be back with my usual posts.
        May I just greet everyone a happy Christmas and a merry new year!!! 

Teacher Quotes

Teacher Quotes

          These days, I have been enthusiastic in making teacher quotes posters which I post on my Facebook account. These are actually my favorite quotes about teaching that make me sentimental at times being a teacher most especially if I miss some of my pupils. How I wish that my pupils, especially my favorite ones, still remember me.

Congratulations New Professional Teachers!!!

        Congratulations to all who passed the LET 2011! Time flies fast and it has been two years since I received the great news you are receiving right now. Remember that passing the LET is just the beginning of a more challenging journey. Now prepare your resumes and start job-hunting. hehehe...Welcome to the world of teaching!!!


The results can be viewed on this site:

LET SEPTEMBER 2011 RESULTS

TOPNOTCHERS: ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

My Another Anime-Inspired Bulletin Board

   Another bulletin board uniquely found in my classroom (bragging aside..hehehe).

a post after quite some time...

     I don't know when was my last post in this blog. I have to apologize since I'm a bit busy being a teacher right now. This is the difference of being a teacher compared to other professions. Other professions once they get home doesn't need to attend to tasks relating to their work. But if you are a teacher, once you get home, you still have to make your SIMS(Support Instructional Materials), check bundles of student work, etc. Well, in spite of these challenges, I still find teaching fulfilling and enjoyable.
    As of the moment, I am reviewing my notes for the comprehensive examination for my master's this December. I hope that you can spend a second or two to pray for my successful result. After this examination, I am a step closer to finishing my graduate schooling. Good luck to me....

Unanswered Messages from My FB Account

          I posted my facebook account so that I can also have personal feedbacks from this blog aside from the usual comments below each of my posts. And I was quite surprised that there were actually a lot of personal messages that were sent to my account that I failed to answer. These messages were varied from queries, thank you's, asking for help etc. and to be honest I wasn't able to read these messages not until this night that I clicked the "Others" in the Messages of my account. I don't know why these messages were not directly sent to my usual inbox perhaps these messages came from people who are not yet my fb friends. Nevertheless, I am sorry for all those questions or help that I failed to answer. I hope that you will still visit and read this blog in spite of my stingy schedule. Please continue giving me feedbacks either through the comment box or to my fb account. These really mean a lot to me. At least I know that there are real people reading this simple blog. From now on, I will surely read any comments or inquiries you sent to me...hehehe...

Specific Learning Disabilities

         
          There are pupils that no matter how hard we taught them really find the lessons very very difficult. Teaching these kinds of pupils poses a great challenge to teachers that it seems all the teacher's effort is useless. This is the reason why teachers resort to "label" these pupils as dull, dumb, numskull, idiot and other derogatory words. However, some teachers actually don't know that there are predisposed conditions that hinder a pupil's ability most especially in learning Math, Reading and in other academic areas. These conditions are termed as Specific Learning Disabilities.

          What is a Specific Learning Disability?

          According to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA in USA, "specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. This "does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage."


        Since these are "learning disabilities", parents can't easily identify that their child has one of these conditions until the child enters school. And sometimes, people ended up labeling the child as having a low intelligence. We have to keep in mind that children with specific learning disabilities has more or less normal intelligence (in fact some of them may have a superior intelligence), it just so happened that their brain's "wiring" towards a specific learning area like Reading or Math is somewhat "tangled" or "disconnected".


          What are the common learning disabilities?

·         Dyslexia – a language-based disability in which a person has trouble understanding written words. It may also be referred to as reading disability or reading disorder.

·         Dyscalculia – a mathematical disability in which a person has a difficult time solving arithmetic problems and grasping math concepts.

·         Dysgraphia – a writing disability in which a person finds it hard to form letters or write within a defined space.

·         Auditory and Visual Processing Disorders – sensory disabilities in which a person has difficulty understanding language despite normal hearing and vision.

·         Nonverbal Learning Disabilities – a neurological disorder which originates in the right hemisphere of the brain, causing problems with visual-spatial, intuitive, organizational, evaluative and holistic processing functions.

       To learn more about Learning Disabilities, you can visit LD Online for various resources about these conditions. As teachers we have to keep in mind how diverse our pupils are, and before judging any pupil, we have to think the possibility that our pupil may have at least one of these conditions. 

Erik Erikson' Psychosocial Theory

                                        ERIK ERIKSON PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY   
A picture is worth a thousand words... And so are videos. So just visit the video link above from youtube to explain about this theory....How I wish God grants me the time to post more...Busy mode again....

Busy Busy Busy

        I'm sorry since these days I wasn't able to update my blog. The worse part is our district evaluation of schools coincided  the week before the LET exams. As much as I wanted to post and help LET takers this September 25, I seem can't find the time. Hay...I still have so many many things to accomplish being a newly-hired teacher. Actually this will be my very first evaluation so I need to comply and accomplish all the requirements that will possibly be checked during the evaluation. I hope that you will understand my situation. Anyway, I still have a number of LET-related post so you can check on those. Perhaps before the exam I can find the time to post  last-minute reminders for all of you guys...Thank you for all your comments. I really really appreciate them...

A Glimpse of My School

          Here are some snapshots of my alma mater now my workplace, the A. Bonifacio Elementary School. This is where I learned my first ABCs and 123s and now I am giving back what I owe to this place.

The statue of the great Andres Bonifacio. One of the great heroes who fought for Philippine freedom.

The way to the covered court. One of the improvements in our school. This was before a pond filled with swamp cabbages during rainy seasons.

Bloom's Taxonomy of Objectives: New and Revised

      Back in college, when we discussed about Bloom's Taxonomy, I was skeptical why is it that "Evaluation" is higher than the "Synthesis" level in the taxonomy. I thought that synthesizing requires a lot of thinking and creativity than just evaluating among the alternatives. I was a bit shy to ask my teacher that time because I was afraid that she can't answer my question and might sound arrogant.(To be honest, one of my weaknesses is that I'm afraid to ask questions like this because of fear that I may sound arrogant or will be mistaken as a student who "tests my teacher's competence". Until now, I have the same weakness in my graduate studies. hehehe. Perhaps this is because when I was in high school, I am very inquisitive to my teachers that I ended up being scolded and be labeled as "pilosopo" or philosophizer.) However, when I was preparing for the Licensure Examinations of Teachers, I was very grateful that one of our review lecturers at University of Iloilo presented a new Bloom's Taxonomy in cognitive domain. And to my mixed surprise and expectation , Evaluation is no longer at the top of the hierarchy.
        As a sort of background, this newly revised taxonomy was published last 2001. Benjamin Bloom was already in the advanced stage of his Alzheimer's disease during the process of revision and died before the new taxonomy was published. However, David Krathwohl, one of the original contributing authors of the taxonomy (specifically on the affective domain which is the reason why the taxonomy of affective domain is commonly referred to as Krathwohl Taxonomy of Affective Domain), was one of the two editors of the new version. By the way, Lorin Anderson, one of students of Bloom, inititiated the changes.
        Here is the new taxonomy of cognitive domains retrieved from this site.(If your the owner of this image, kindly inform me if you want your image to be removed). The most obvious changes that were made are changing the names from nouns to verbs and interchanging the upper two levels in the taxonomy.

For a more comprehensive explanation of the new taxonomy, this pdf file can surely help.

Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy

          Benjamin Bloom's name is never absent in our college textbooks in most of, if not all, professional education subjects. Who doesn't know Bloom? His name with his taxonomy is always there especially if we are talking not only about instructional objectives but as well as in different dimensions of learning like questioning, assessment and many more. As education students we always repeatedly saying his six levels of objectives or just saying KCAASI as an acronym. Just like Piaget, his name is already a "cliche" in the Licensure Examinations for Teachers. But most of all, it cannot be ignored how significantly Bloom and his taxonomy has contributed to the field of teaching and learning.
          The taxonomy tells us that we must teach in an hierarchical order, emphasizing on the HOTS or higher-order thinking skills. However, this doesn't mean that the lower levels are frivolous, rather are important foundations to achieve the upper levels of the taxonomy. We cannot apply, analyse, evaluate or create if we cannot remember or comprehend in the first place.
        One thing that must also be noted is that Bloom's Taxonomy is not only for the cognitive domain of the objectives. There are also for both the psychomotor and affective domains.
       The following tables summarizes the taxonomy on the three domains: cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains. The tables were retrieved from Big Dog and Little Dog's Performance Juxtaposition. (If you are the owner of this site, kindly inform me if you want your image to be removed.)

Cognitive Domain

Category	Example and Key Words (verbs)
Remembering: Recall previous learned information.	Examples: Recite a policy. Quote prices from memory to a customer. Knows the safety rules. Key Words: defines, describes, identifies, knows, labels, lists, matches, names, outlines, recalls, recognizes, reproduces, selects, states.
Understanding: Comprehending the meaning, translation, interpolation, and interpretation of instructions and problems. State a problem in one's own words.	Examples: Rewrites the principles of test writing. Explain in one's own words the steps for performing a complex task. Translates an equation into a computer spreadsheet. Key Words: comprehends, converts, defends, distinguishes, estimates, explains, extends, generalizes, gives an example, infers, interprets, paraphrases, predicts, rewrites, summarizes, translates.
Applying: Use a concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Applies what was learned in the classroom into novel situations in the work place.	Examples: Use a manual to calculate an employee's vacation time. Apply laws of statistics to evaluate the reliability of a written test. Key Words: applies, changes, computes, constructs, demonstrates, discovers, manipulates, modifies, operates, predicts, prepares, produces, relates, shows, solves, uses.
Analyzing: Separates material or concepts into component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. Distinguishes between facts and inferences.	Examples: Troubleshoot a piece of equipment by using logical deduction. Recognize logical fallacies in reasoning. Gathers information from a department and selects the required tasks for training. Key Words: analyzes, breaks down, compares, contrasts, diagrams, deconstructs, differentiates, discriminates, distinguishes, identifies, illustrates, infers, outlines, relates, selects, separates.
Evaluating: Make judgments about the value of ideas or materials.	Examples: Select the most effective solution. Hire the most qualified candidate. Explain and justify a new budget. Key Words: appraises, compares, concludes, contrasts, criticizes, critiques, defends, describes, discriminates, evaluates, explains, interprets, justifies, relates, summarizes, supports.
Creating: Builds a structure or pattern from diverse elements. Put parts together to form a whole, with emphasis on creating a new meaning or structure.	Examples: Write a company operations or process manual. Design a machine to perform a specific task. Integrates training from several sources to solve a problem. Revises and process to improve the outcome. Key Words: categorizes, combines, compiles, composes, creates, devises, designs, explains, generates, modifies, organizes, plans, rearranges, reconstructs, relates, reorganizes, revises, rewrites, summarizes, tells, writes.

Psychomotor Domain

Category	Example and Key Words (verbs)
Perception: The ability to use sensory cues to guide motor activity.  This ranges from sensory stimulation, through cue selection, to translation.	Examples:  Detects non-verbal communication cues. Estimate where a ball will land after it is thrown and then moving to the correct location to catch the ball. Adjusts heat of stove to correct temperature by smell and taste of food. Adjusts the height of the forks on a forklift by comparing where the forks are in relation to the pallet. Key Words: chooses, describes, detects, differentiates, distinguishes, identifies, isolates, relates, selects.
Set: Readiness to act. It includes mental, physical, and emotional sets. These three sets are dispositions that predetermine a person's response to different situations (sometimes called mindsets).	Examples:  Knows and acts upon a sequence of steps in a manufacturing process. Recognize one's abilities and limitations. Shows desire to learn a new process (motivation). NOTE: This subdivision of Psychomotor is closely related with the “Responding to phenomena” subdivision of the Affective domain. Key Words: begins, displays, explains, moves, proceeds, reacts, shows, states, volunteers.
Guided Response: The early stages in learning a complex skill that includes imitation and trial and error. Adequacy of performance is achieved by practicing.	Examples:  Performs a mathematical equation as demonstrated. Follows instructions to build a model. Responds hand-signals of instructor while learning to operate a forklift. Key Words: copies, traces, follows, react, reproduce, responds
Mechanism: This is the intermediate stage in learning a complex skill. Learned responses have become habitual and the movements can be performed with some confidence and proficiency.	Examples:  Use a personal computer. Repair a leaking faucet. Drive a car. Key Words: assembles, calibrates, constructs, dismantles, displays, fastens, fixes, grinds, heats, manipulates, measures, mends, mixes, organizes, sketches.
Complex Overt Response: The skillful performance of motor acts that involve complex movement patterns. Proficiency is indicated by a quick, accurate, and highly coordinated performance, requiring a minimum of energy. This category includes performing without hesitation, and automatic performance. For example, players are often utter sounds of satisfaction or expletives as soon as they hit a tennis ball or throw a football, because they can tell by the feel of the act what the result will produce.	Examples:  Maneuvers a car into a tight parallel parking spot. Operates a computer quickly and accurately. Displays competence while playing the piano. Key Words: assembles, builds, calibrates, constructs, dismantles, displays, fastens, fixes, grinds, heats, manipulates, measures, mends, mixes, organizes, sketches. NOTE: The Key Words are the same as Mechanism, but will have adverbs or adjectives that indicate that the performance is quicker, better, more accurate, etc.
Adaptation: Skills are well developed and the individual can modify movement patterns to fit special requirements.	Examples:  Responds effectively to unexpected experiences.  Modifies instruction to meet the needs of the learners. Perform a task with a machine that it was not originally intended to do (machine is not damaged and there is no danger in performing the new task). Key Words: adapts, alters, changes, rearranges, reorganizes, revises, varies.
Origination: Creating new movement patterns to fit a particular situation or specific problem. Learning outcomes emphasize creativity based upon highly developed skills.	Examples:  Constructs a new theory. Develops a new and comprehensive training programming. Creates a new gymnastic routine. Key Words: arranges, builds, combines, composes, constructs, creates, designs, initiate, makes, originates.

Affective Domain

Category	Example and Key Words (verbs)
Receiving Phenomena: Awareness, willingness to hear, selected attention.	Examples: Listen to others with respect. Listen for and remember the name of newly introduced people. Key Words: asks, chooses, describes, follows, gives, holds, identifies, locates, names, points to, selects, sits, erects, replies, uses.
Responding to Phenomena: Active participation on the part of the learners. Attends and reacts to a particular phenomenon. Learning outcomes may emphasize compliance in responding, willingness to respond, or satisfaction in responding (motivation).	Examples:  Participates in class discussions.  Gives a presentation. Questions new ideals, concepts, models, etc. in order to fully understand them. Know the safety rules and practices them. Key Words: answers, assists, aids, complies, conforms, discusses, greets, helps, labels, performs, practices, presents, reads, recites, reports, selects, tells, writes.
Valuing: The worth or value a person attaches to a particular object, phenomenon, or behavior. This ranges from simple acceptance to the more complex state of commitment. Valuing is based on the internalization of a set of specified values, while clues to these values are expressed in the learner's overt behavior and are often identifiable.	Examples:  Demonstrates belief in the democratic process. Is sensitive towards individual and cultural differences (value diversity). Shows the ability to solve problems. Proposes a plan to social improvement and follows through with commitment. Informs management on matters that one feels strongly about. Key Words: completes, demonstrates, differentiates, explains, follows, forms, initiates, invites, joins, justifies, proposes, reads, reports, selects, shares, studies, works.
Organization: Organizes values into priorities by contrasting different values, resolving conflicts between them, and creating an unique value system.  The emphasis is on comparing, relating, and synthesizing values.	Examples:  Recognizes the need for balance between freedom and responsible behavior. Accepts responsibility for one's behavior. Explains the role of systematic planning in solving problems. Accepts professional ethical standards. Creates a life plan in harmony with abilities, interests, and beliefs. Prioritizes time effectively to meet the needs of the organization, family, and self. Key Words: adheres, alters, arranges, combines, compares, completes, defends, explains, formulates, generalizes, identifies, integrates, modifies, orders, organizes, prepares, relates, synthesizes.
Internalizing values (characterization): Has a value system that controls their behavior. The behavior is pervasive, consistent, predictable, and most importantly, characteristic of the learner. Instructional objectives are concerned with the student's general patterns of adjustment (personal, social, emotional).	Examples:  Shows self-reliance when working independently. Cooperates in group activities (displays teamwork). Uses an objective approach in problem solving.  Displays a professional commitment to ethical  practice on a daily basis. Revises judgments and changes behavior in light of new evidence. Values people for what they are, not how they look. Key Words: acts, discriminates, displays, influences, listens, modifies, performs, practices, proposes, qualifies, questions, revises, serves, solves, verifies.

    I hope these summarize everything. On my next post, I will discuss the new Bloom's Taxonomy of Objectives. The bottom line is, as teachers we need to emphasize more on the HOTS of the taxonomy. This way we will produce learners who are critical and creative.

Bulletin Board Business: My Naruto-Inspired Math Bulletin Board

       

      I said in my previous post that I will give you a tour to my humble classroom. And I would like to present to you my Naruto-inspired Math bulletin board. As much as possible, I would like to present my subject in such a way that my students will be interested with, and at the same time reflecting my own personality. I think it would be very effective if the lesson or the topics will be presented using children's interests like their favorite TV shows. In this bulletin board, I presented the overall topics about Math VI and with Naruto saying "Math is Cool!!!Wohoo!!!". Hopefully, if given the time, I can make my second bulletin board but this time, Dragon Ball-inspired...hehehe

Robert Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

Robert Gagne

         

          After how many months of moratorium of education topics, I am back at my usual postings. And to break the ice, may I present you Robert Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction. These are just simple steps on how to discuss or present a lesson in which I suppose, most teachers are familiar with. Perhaps most of the teachers are not aware that classroom practices that we usually do came from this instructional design. 

          

          Gagne's theory can be considered neobehaviorist-ic, taking into consideration both behaviorist's and cognitivist's perspective. As you read the events of instruction, you will later realize that the conditions can be divided into internal (cognitivism) and external (behaviorism) conditions.

          The nine events of instruction are as follows: (Notice how are these related to the parts of the lesson plan and the actual classroom teaching practices.Take note also that these events can be design variously depending on the subject matter and the learning goals or outcome intended by the instructional process.)

        

1. Gain attention. This is the so called "Preparatory Activities" in the lesson plan. At this stage of instruction, teachers must gain the attention of the students and motivate them as well by the use of  games, pictures, an interesting question or any attention-getting activity. 
2. Describe the goal. Present the goals or the objectives of the lesson. Explain to the students how will these be achieved.
3. Stimulate recall of prior knowledge. These includes review questions and drills related to the previous learning of the students.
4. Present the material to be learned. This can be done in numerous ways depending on the subject matter. Teachers can also use advanced organizers to provide a global perspective of what will be learned.
5. Provide guidance for learning. Teachers guide the students to the whole learning process. Teachers accommodate questions, demonstrate steps and facilitate learning in general. Of course, this can be done through various activities like experiments, groupwork, reading activity etc.
6. Elicit performance "practice". This is the "Exercises" part of the lesson. Teachers give the chance for the pupils to do or apply what they learned by themselves. This can also be a trial-and-error phase wherein students are open to mistakes on the process of developing their newly-acquired learning.
7. Provide informative feedback. Very self-explanatory. Teachers provide feedback that is constructive in nature. Teachers give corrections, alternative solutions, etc.
8. Assess performance test, if the lesson has been learned. Also give sometimes general progress information. This is the "Evaluation" part of the lesson. Teachers can give a short quiz that can be formative or summative in nature. Formative to check what the learners have learned so far and summative to check the overall learning of the learners.
9. Enhance retention and transfer. This can either be the "Applications" part of the lesson wherein learners must apply or "transfer" what they have learned in different situations related to them. Or the "Assignment" part that enhances retention through extended practice or activities to be accomplished by the students.

image source: google search (If you are the owner of the images, kindly inform me if you want your image to be removed.)

Back to usual posts

At last, my sister's laptop is now okay. Please watch out for my new posts about education in the next few weeks.

Just a post for this June

I just want to have this post for this month of June. I actually have lots of things to share since the opening of classes has just started this week. However, I am back at using my mobile phone as of the moment since my sister's laptop that I usually use was infected by a sort of virus (For all you guys out there, be very careful for the sites or ads that you click here in the web. They might be virus-carrying malicious malware). Consequently, I can't post pictures together with my posts. Hopefully soon my sister's laptop would be okay and I'll be back to my usual postings.

New Blog Design

          I think I have spent a couple of days renovating my blog. I need to do this since first, there is an "increase" in awareness about my blog and second because the opening of classes is fast approaching. I'm afraid that I will not have that much time to renovate this if classes start. What do you think of my new layout? I really hope that my blogsite's appearance has improved a bit. hehehehe...If you have any suggestions, the comment box is so open for you.

Special Education: Legislation and Litigation

               Legislation refers to the laws mandated by a legislative body whereas litigation is clarifying of the certain legislation through court hearings and trials. In the field of special education, these legislation and litigation have paved the way to various changes and programs that benefit individuals with special needs. These have also served as the legal bases of the practices, programs and benefits that individuals with special needs can acquire through the help of different sectors of the society. Without these two, special education would have been much different.

Major Legislation in Special Education

IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)

·         the revolutionary law which ensures that all children and youths with disabilities have the right to free, appropriate public education.

·         formerly known as PL 94-142 or Education for All Handicapped Children Act

·         amended in 1997 with the following provisions:

Identification	Extensive efforts to screen and identify all children and youth with disabilities
Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)	Every student with disability has an appropriate public education at no cost to the parents or guardians
Due Process	The students’ and parents’ rights to information and informed consent before the student is evaluated, labeled, or placed, and the right to an impartial due process hearing if they disagree with the school’s decisions.
Parent/Guardian Surrogate Consultation	The student’s parents or guardians are consulted about the student’s evaluation and placement and the educational plan; if the parents or guardians are unknown or unavailable, a surrogate parent must be found to act for the student.
Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)	The student is educated in the least restrictive environment consistent with his or her educational needs and, insofar as possible, with students without disabilities.
Individualized Education Program (IEP)	A written individualized education program is prepared for each student with a disability, including levels of functioning, long and short-term goals, extent to which the student will not participate in the general classroom and curriculum, services to be provided, plans for initiating and evaluating the services, and needed transitions services (from school to work or continued education)
Nondiscriminatory Evaluation	The student is evaluated in all areas of suspected disability and in a way that is not based by his or her language or cultural characteristics or disabilities. Evaluation must be by a multidisciplinary team, and no single evaluation procedure may be used as the sole criterion for the placement or planning.
Confidentiality	The results of evaluation and placement are kept confidential, though the student’s parents or guardians may have access to the records.
Personnel Development, Inservice	Training for teachers and other professional personnel, including inservice training for regular teachers, in meeting the needs of students with disabilities.

IDEA to IDEIA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act)

·         IDEA was amended to IDEIA as signed by Pres. George W. Bush last December 2004

Some Key Changes:

Specific learning Disability Eligibility- replaced the old model of eligibility, which was Discrepancy Model, to the Response To Intervention Model

Evaluations- IDEIA reiterates the idea that evaluations are not just linked to academic performance rather explicitly recognizes that the child’s developmental needs must be assessed, including academic, social and emotional needs. Evaluators must look at all areas of functioning, not predominately academics.

Parent Refusal- if the parent refuses to consent to the provision of services, the school district may not provide special education services and may not initiate due process to force services

IEP requirements- loosened requirements for mandatory participants; short term objectives no longer required(still in question); IEP can be amended without a meeting as long as the parents and the school agree

ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)

·         prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, and government activities

ADA to ADAAA (Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act of 2008)

·         expands the protection of the original ADA to include more individuals with less severe impairments

·         directs a broad interpretation of the definition of disability as having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; having a record of such an impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment.”

·         clarifies the definition of “major life activities”.

Current trends in Legislation

·         Restraint Bill H. R. 4247 (Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion Act)- assist in the prevention of practices that causes physical and emotional harm to students with and without disabilities. These practices include prone restraint, aversive intervention and seclusion.

·         Amendment on the present IDEIA that IEP should contain a strategy to address the needs of the child

Relationship of Litigation to Legislation

·         Legislation requires or gives permission to provide special education, but it does not necessarily result in what legislators intended. Laws may have little or no effect on the lives of individuals with disabilities unitl courts interpret exactly what the laws require in practice.

·         Litigation is now focused on ensuring that every child receives and education appropriate for his or her individual needs.

·         Litigation may involve legal suits filed for either two reasons: (1) because special education services are not being provided for students whose parents want them, or (2) because students are being assigned to special education when they parents believe they should not be.

Major Litigation

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

·         set a precedent for equality in education which was extended to children with disabilities

Diana v. State Board of Education (1970)

·         ruled that students cannot be placed in special education on the basis of culturally biased tests or tests given in other than the child’s native language. This ruling resulted in requirements  to implement nondiscriminatory assessment methods, including testing students in their native language

Penn Assoc. for Retarded Citizens v. Commonwealth of Penn (1972)

·         ruled that children with mental retardation have the right to a free and appropriate public education and that parents who are dissatisfied with their children’s placement have the right to a due process under the law

Mill v. Board of Education (1972)

·         ruled that students with disabilities have the same right to a education as nondisabled students. Financial problems cannot be allowed to have a greater impact on children with disabilities than on students without disabilities.

Honig v. Doe (1988)

·         ruled that students couldn’t be removed from school if the inappropriate behavior is related to the disability. Schools could suspend a student for up to 10 days, but not more than 10 days without due process

Olmstead v. L.C. (1999)

·         case regarding discrimination of people with disabilities in institutions

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams (2002)

·         interpreted the meaning of the phrase “substantially impairs” as used in Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This case was one of the bases for the amendment of ADA to ADAA.