What are the most effective ways to allocate resources to support students with special needs?

Identifying and assessing the needs of students with special needs is often easier said than done particularly if one takes an agency-oriented perspectives to hear and listen seriously to the voices of the students themselves. It is imperative that whoever is involved in listening to and capturing the voices of students with special needs must among other prerequisites develop a deeper social relationship with them to be able to get a good sense of what matters most to their social and learning domains.

The difficult part is in the initial assessments needed to qualify for resources. When a district can only hire 1 test coordinator, and contract 1-2 specialist for a dozen students, then their is going to be a lack of testing and resources. Teachers can't be the ones to bear the testing burden once they find a student with needs. Too many students fall behind in elementary because they just are not tested. This loss compounds through academic levels.

One of the ways is to use Adaptive Technology and Learning Tools. Investing in assistive technologies like speech-to-text software, audiobooks, and adaptive hardware that cater to various learning disabilities can be very helpful for kids with special needs. Another way is to collaborate with specialists and experts who can volunteer their time for the special kids.

Identify organizations and support groups that work to promote issues affecting children with disabilities. Involvement of all stakeholders is critical. That is; their families to support them participate, communities to stop the ridicule, schools to create a conducive environment where teachers never call them by their disabilities but by their names, school directors to allow them get admitted to schools, law enforcers to ensure policy implementation, the media to cover disability role models to inspire parents to send their children to school.

At my organization, The Ability Challenge, we use a comprehensive approach to looking at school or districtwide needs and draw from data across sources - aiming to hear from the most marginalized is one of our biggest goals in this process. We also draw information on a wide variety of topics because resource allocation across the school (and not just in the special ed program) impacts students with disabilities. For example, how curriculum choices are made, whole school scheduling, and professional development topics for general educators are highly relevant for diverse learners. To better understand needs, data should be drawn from as wide a scope as possible.

We recommend working collaboratively to set a list of priorities aligned with your school or district's vision (and if there is no vision, then start there:). This is another place where multiple perspectives and voice is important. Don't forget that how you ask for input impacts whether people feel safe and can offer it (e.g., don't ask parents to give feedback only through an online survey...also consider paper versions, translations, direct outreach, etc. to get voices that usually aren't heard).

It often feels like there are not enough resources in schools - especially as financial elements are about to change with the end of COVID relief funds. Putting the most diverse learners at the center of your resource allocation questions can help streamline how decisions are made for all. While it may seem "easier" to address the "average learner" first and then work on programs for students with more unique needs, we offer the idea that if you shift that approach to look first at the most diverse learners, in the end, everyone wins.