How Autism is Reshaping Special Education

The Unbundling of IDEA

By (author) Mark K. Claypool, John M. McLaughlin

Publication date:

08 February 2017

Length of book:

154 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781475834963

Special education in the United State is based on the concept of access—public schools are open to all children. But access is no longer a sufficient foundation. Approaches and accommodations that lead to academic success are increasingly demanded for those with learning disabilities. Functional, independent-living, and employable skills are requisite, but rare, for those with serious handicapping conditions. Since the last reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Act, four events have transpired that will have a dramatic impact on the next iteration of the federal law: the increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism, the rise of applied behavior analysis, the birth of social media, and the reality of unbundling. In How Autism Is Reshaping Special Education: The Unbundling of IDEA, Claypool and McLaughlin explore the effect of these events on a special education process burdened by regulation, where advances in the behavioral sciences and neurosciences blur the lines between education and medicine, and where social media fosters aggressive advocacy for specific disabilities.

2018 International Book Awards: Finalist Education/Academic

2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Finalist Education/Academic (Non-Fiction)

2017 Best Book Awards: Finalist Education/Academic

Epigraph
Foreword
Preface
Acronyms
Chapter 1: Unbundling, Mass Customization, and Public Policy
Chapter 2: Market Forces, Special Education, and Lost Intensity
Chapter 3: Public Schools and Autism, It Gets Very Personal
Chapter 4: Autism, the Catalyst for Change
Chapter 5: Reality Passes Regulation
Chapter 6: Is There a BCBA in the House?
Chapter 7: Pervasive Inertia
Chapter 8: Disconnected Services, Disconnected Funding
Chapter 9: Suggestions for Reauthorization: Unbundling IDEA
Contributor Index
About the Authors

The general premise of this text is that special education in the US has outlived its current structure, is outdated in its conceptualization of categories of exceptionalities, and needs to be “unbundled.” That is, special education is not a “one size fits all” system: It should be tailored to fit the needs of each individual child, whether or not the child has a disability. The true focus of the book, however, is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the growth of the behavioral analysis profession, and how behavioral analysts relate to children with autism. The authors trace the history of advocacy for children who are on the autism spectrum and the rise of Autism Speaks, a preeminent organization that fights for legislation benefiting children and adults with autism and their families. New laws in a number of states now call for insurance companies to pay for applied behavioral analysis services, and the authors stress that the need for board-certified behavioral analysts will continue to grow and that states need to be proactive in ensuring quality training programs for these in-demand practitioners.

Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and practitioners.