Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

The focus of this discussion is federal social policy; a conceptual overview of social policy is provided and serves as the framework for a discussion of social policy decision making as it affects young handicapped children. This policy base is examined in light of factors and strategies that affect its development. The article concludes with a discussion of the need to include policy making and policy issues in the education of all those who work with young handicapped children.

Federal legislation related to young handicapped children enacted during the past twenty years is reviewed in terms of the history and current status of several of the most effective and enduring of the early childhood programs. Starting with amendments to the Social Security Act such as the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment program (EPSDT) the discussion continues with a brief sketch of other pieces of legislation: the laws that sponsored and expanded the interdisciplinary University Affiliated Facilities (UAFs), the Handicapped Children's Early Assistance Act (the First Chance Network), the Head Start mandate to serve the severely handicapped, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and P.L. 94–142 with its preschool incentive. These important pieces of legislation seem to be more or less firmly entrenched in the federal statutes but optimism must be tempered with caution and vigilance on the part of advocates for early-childhood special education.

Early-childhood special educators have witnessed dramatic changes during the past two decades. The general view of early experience in child development has changed greatly along with many specific aspects of service delivery including assessment, parent training, and the education of handicapped and nonhandicapped children. In this paper, an overview of educational services for young handicapped children is presented. Current trends in early childhood special education are described as well as the many issues that have evolved. Recommendations are made concerning directions for future policy.

If all special-needs infants, young children, and their families are to receive appropriate early-intervention services, the federal role in supplying such services will have to be expanded. Handicapped infants and young children are not receiving the services that they need to reach their intellectual, physical, and emotional potential. The benefits of early intervention and the state of the art nationwide for services to special-needs children from birth to age six are described. An expanded federal role is recommended to encourage state programs including a phased-in mandate for services. Specific provisions of a federal mandate are recommended and discussed, including extension of P.L. 94–142 to birth, state education agency responsibility, expansion of the definition of “handicapped children” to encompass high-risk and at-risk children from birth to six years, and innovative fiscal and administrative arrangements for services.

Policy analysis has emerged as a new set of skills used to analyze proposed policies or review existing policies. The Education for All Handicapped Children (P.L. 94–142) is used to illustrate how such policy implementation analyses might be done. Significant barriers to policy implementation for this law include the power relationships between parents and schools, classroom teachers' feelings of uncertainty resulting from changed role expectations, and economic problems because of the federal government's inability to meet fiscal promises. Despite the issues raised in this analysis, the policy will probably continue with minor modifications because of strong constituent support.

The literature on the contribution of low birthweight, perinatal problems, congenital disorders, and mental retardation to child abuse is reviewed. While existing transactional and ecological theories suggest such child factors should contribute to abuse, a careful analysis of studies indicates handicapping conditions are not major causal factors. Results of prospective, longitudinal research suggest that minor deviations in child behavior rather than major handicaps are related to the occurrence of abuse. Efforts to help families adjust to having a handicapped child, while helpful in alleviating the stresses in such families, will not have a major impact on the incidence of abuse.

Among the many recent health-care issues attracting public attention, few have been as emotionally charged and have generated as much concern as that of treatment decisions in which care has been withheld from seriously ill and handicapped infants. This attention has resulted in a movement to establish more direct federal and state regulation of these care decisions. The complexity of these decisions, each unique with varying degrees of uncertainty, limits the effectiveness of a regulatory scheme based on generalizations. The decision-making process must focus on the best interests of the individual infant and maintain the responsibility for pursuing that interest within the parent-physician relationship. This goal is best served by mandating the development, within the individual institution, of policies for the process of decision making and for review of these decisions. Existing law should be used as a positive force to encourage parents and physicians to exercise these responsibilities in a just manner.

Social policies that affect handicapped infants and preschoolers should assure that families have the necessary resources to meet the needs of these special children and should not usurp the authority or responsibilities of parents to their children. Aspects that affect the formulation of policy include economics factors, tax policies, geographic factors, prevention efforts, and current progress in early-childhood special education. The cost-effectiveness of programs must be a criteria in outlining how to best serve the handicapped child. The emotional strain a family must cope with in caring for a handicapped child should also be addressed by educating the parent as well as the child. Public policy that deals with handicapped citizens should explore preventative measures as well as remediation. Education should stress prevention of birth defects and the effects of substance abuse on the fetus. Federal funding for programs serving handicapped persons has consistently registered moderate increases even in times of decreased revenues that have produced cuts in nearly all other federal education programs. There is a bipartisan commitment to at least keep funding levels for these special programs in line with inflation whatever the impact of tax and economic policies in general.

Federal statistical programs are important for monitoring both the need for and the impact of public programs, including those for handicapped children. The information provided by surveys and other data-collection efforts by the federal government is particularly needed in this time of rapidly changing public policies. However, the federal statistical system has suffered from overall budgetary cutbacks, and from several decisions to eliminate statistical programs. In response to public, professional, and congressional criticisms, some reductions have recently been restored, but continued advocacy is needed to preserve the quality and scope of federal statistics.

Numerous nationally organized interest groups attempt to influence federal special-education policy. This article focuses on the predominant federal policy, the program authorized by P.L. 94–142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, and on the primary organized coalition lobbying federally on this issue, the Consortium for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities (CCDD). Common data bases for interest-group comparison are used, and the topic is approached from the political-interest-group theory first articulated by Arthur F. Bentley in 1908, in The Process of Government.