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Spanish-speaking students have been enrolling in our school system in greater numbers in
recent years. Concurrently, the United States has witnessed a surge in the inclusion movement,
restructuring the previously distinct general education and special education curricula in public
schools. Although we have included several bilingual models into general education classes, it
appears that bilingual kids with special needs have been left out of the inclusion movement,
which seeks to teach all students in the least restrictive setting feasible.
The fact that special education and bilingual education programs are offered separately in
public schools is repressive and requires attention on many fronts. First, special education and
bilingual education programs are still often offered separately in teacher education programs.
This implies that after graduation, educators will have to decide which demographic to serve.
The two populations, however, are not mutually exclusive, therefore knowledge from both
subjects is needed in the same classroom. The present, dynamic legislation governing emerging
bilingual student scheduling is another factor keeping bilingual children out of special education
programs. Which need language ability or cognitive and/or academic aptitude should take
precedence in the case of an emerging bilingual youngster who also has special learning needs?
Who decides? What effects would either result have? Is there a way to let the student give both
priority?
The writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all show Jesus standing up for those who
would otherwise be ostracized, demonstrating the abundance of inclusive themes in the New
Testament. As spiritual leaders in education, our goal is to do the best possible job for our pupils
within the limits of our abilities. Without the legislation being updated addressing what schools
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must give to bilingual kids with special needs, I am worried they will continue to be educated on
the edges of what should be the most suitable education for them. Ignoring these pupils' needs
and basing their educational placement only on language proficiency is a disservice to them.
Every emerging bilingual kid with special needs is entitled to the same free, suitable public
education as is provided to all other special needs students in the United States.
My suspicion that emergent children who were bilingual with special needs were not
receiving appropriate access to special education services was confirmed when I read an article
on recent inclusive education methods in the current literature. Maria Cioe-Pena recently
addressed a problem I have seen in our educational system throughout the nine years that I’ve
worked in the educational system. In an essay that was published in the International Journal of
Inclusive Education. Bilingual students with impairments are categorized under what she terms
an "intersectional gap" in the educational system, she argues, "because separate policies exist to
address their linguistic and academic needs" (Cioe-Pena, 2017). She provides context for how
this dynamic came to be and suggests potential fixes for the issue. According to Cioe-Pena, there
has been a push for inclusive practices in our educational system among both students with
special needs and those enrolled in general education classes. She lists the advantages, including
"social-emotional and academic growth" (2017). As she walks us through the literature, she
makes clear that while there has been emphasis on integrating students with varying abilities into
the general education curriculum, these two systems have remained distinct, "a system divided,"
as she puts it, because of the separate legal requirements and placement procedures for bilingual
and special education students, respectively (2017). The points presented were crystal clear and
aligned with what I had personally observed about bilingual special education.
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All students with disabilities who qualify for special education and related services are
entitled to a "free appropriate public education," as per the Education for All Handicapped
Children Act of 1975, which has since been revised and renamed the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act of 1997 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement
Act of 2004 (Conroy, et. al., 2010). The main problem with this is that it allows subjectivity to
exist when determining who qualifies for special education and related services. A kid could
never get special education services if they are never given the chance to be eligible for them. All
the children in my transitional bilingual classroom are proficient in both Spanish and English,
with varying levels of proficiency. I have had the pleasure of helping with hosting students from
a variety of Spanish-speaking nations, including the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Chile, El
Salvador, and Honduras. They are transferred to my general education transitional bilingual
classroom as soon as their parents respond "yes" to a survey asking if they speak a language
other than English at home when they arrive at our school as fifth graders, depending on their
birthday. As per the National Center for Learning impairments, the percentage of students in US
public schools with learning impairments was 5.0% in 2011, and the number was increasing. The
Center for Education Reform estimates that 50,094,000 students were enrolled in public schools
nationwide in 2015. This implies that 2,505,000 kids benefit from special education programs in
schools because they have learning difficulties. Based just on these figures, how many kids with
learning disabilities would I expect to have in my bilingual classroom? The likelihood is 1.25 out
of every 25, or that at least one kid in my class is having difficulty succeeding because they are
not receiving the support they require to succeed in school. This is consistent with what I have
seen when children struggle and are not evaluated for special education assistance due to their
limited English proficiency. Ironically, there are situations where a learning or cognitive
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impairment prevents pupils from demonstrating competency on the language exam. These
crucial services are withheld from international students enrolled in bilingual programs in public
schools because they must first demonstrate their fluency in English.
Professor Patricia Martinez-Alvarez of Teachers College, Columbia University, argues in
favor of emergent bilingual students with special needs from a rights-based negotiation
perspective in a recently published article titled "Special ways of knowing in science: expansive
learning opportunities with bilingual children with learning disabilities" (Barsky, 2017). She
argues that since they get subpar training in schools, emerging bilingual kids with disabilities are
disproportionately underrepresented in the professional sciences. Martinez-Alvarez was able to
demonstrate via her research that the reason for this deficiency is because instructors do not fully
comprehend the influence that language and cultural elements have on students' learning
(MartinezAlvarez, 2017). Teachers might not have the underlying knowledge that comes with
bilingual language education, even if they could be ready to remediate to work with populations
who have special needs. The tone for her argument is established when she presents the
background of her study and cites recent research: bilingual kids are frequently taught from a
deficit viewpoint, which has a detrimental effect on their educational experiences. To defend the
rights of emergent bilingual students to an appropriate education, we must embrace what Dr.
Martinez-Alvarez refers to as a "cultural historical activity theory perspective," which
acknowledges the special talents and learning capacities that these students possess.
It became clear from examining Dr. Martinez-Alvarez's paper from a prior study that
when it comes to the best ways to educate emergent bilingual kids with special needs, she is an
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advocate for both teachers and students. Dr. Martinez-Alvarez admits that there is conflicting
evidence in the literature now accessible to educators and administrators on emerging bilingual
kids with learning impairments. Certain scheduling and placement problems may result from
this. The same learning opportunities that are provided to students in regular general education
classes are not given to emergent bilingual students and/or students with learning disabilities
because of the common misplacement of these students within special education and the
misconception that they lack certain traditionally valued learning capabilities (Martinez-Alvarez,
2017). Students are frequently assigned to remedial groups, where they get less interesting,
watered-down training that sends them on a downward cycle of learning. The study by Dr.
Martinez-Alvarez is framed by the idea that bilingual kids, when provided with the right
conditions, guidance, and environment, might benefit from certain learning distinctions.
According to studies cited by Martinez-Alvarez (2017), bilingual students exhibit improved
executive processing—which involves organizing, supervising, and carrying out tasks—as well
as mental flexibility, creativity, and metalinguistic awareness. These abilities are demonstrated in
their capacity to trans language, or negotiate between two or more languages, and are frequently
misinterpreted as disabilities. A traditional English-speaking general education teacher might
have missed the emergent bilingual students with disabilities whose responses to questions
showed "expansive learning patterns" (Martinez-Alvarez, 2017). Dr. Martinez-Alvarez goes into
detail about their responses. She says that this has implications for teaching children where they
are, giving them very rigorous instruction that is relevant to their culture and language, and that
these students would have a lot to offer the learning environment in addition to teaching us
educators something. Just as their monolingual peers with learning disabilities who receive
support in an inclusive co-teaching environment, emergent bilingual students with special needs
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would have access to an appropriate education if they were provided with the extra support, they
require within the general education classroom.
In the same way that Jesus purified the temple to oppose the repressive legalistic religion
that excluded those deemed unsuitable (New Revised Standard Bible, Mark 11. 15–19), we too
need to figure out how to expose the truth about the individuals we mistreat in today's
educational system. As we've seen, changes need to be made not only to the legislation but also
to best practices on several different levels. Programs for teacher education still need work. It's
evident that distinguishing between the domains of bilingual education and special education is
unfeasible, particularly when it comes to emergent bilingual students with special needs.
However, it appears that we do when it comes to offering the services that we believe are
necessary to meet their educational needs. Public school administrators need to adjust the way
emergent bilingual kids are scheduled, the assistance they get, and the recruiting of trained staff
members who are representative of the student body. Finally, it's important to share excellent
practices from bilingual and special education classes. The barriers that once separated special
education from general education must also dissolve between bilingual education and special
education.
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Reference
Barsky, A.E. (2017). Conflict resolution for the helping professions (3rd ed.). New York, NY:
Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780199361182
Blackaby, H. & Blackaby, R. (2001). Spiritual Leadership (Rev. ed.). Nashville, TN: Broadman
& Holman Pub. ISBN: 9781433669187.
Cioe-Pena, M. (2017). The intersectional gap: how bilingual students in the United States are
excluded from inclusion. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 21:9
Conroy, T., Yell, M. L., Katsiyannis, A., & Collins, T. S. (2010). The U.S. supreme court and
parental rights under the individuals with disabilities education act. Focus on Exceptional
Children, 43(2), 1-14,16. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=https://search
proquestcom.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/862747584?accountid=12085
Cortiella, C., Horowitz, S. H. (2014). The State of Learning Disabilities: Facts, Trends and
Emerging Issues. (3rd ed.). New York: National Center for Learning Disabilities.
Retrieved from: https://www.ncld.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/11/2014-State-of-LD.pdf
Martinez-Alvarez, P. (2017). Special ways of knowing in science: expansive learning
opportunities with bilingual children with learning disabilities. Cultural Studies of
