A
PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN WITH LEARNING PROBLEMS:
SECOND YEAR
ROGER
REGER’
Board
of
Cooperdive
Edvcalioncrl
Senricea
Erie
County,
New
York
This is the second report on
a
program begun in September of 1966. The
first
report (Reger, 1967) covered the first year of the program. Following
will
be an
introductory description
of the setting, an outline of some of the changes that have
occurred during the second year, some subjective evaluations about the progress
of the program, and some projections into the future.
The program discussed
is
for children of school age who have significant learning
problems and who are not classified
as
mentally retarded.
THE
SETTING
A
Board of Cooperative Educational Services (“BOCES”) in New York State
is an organization through which smaller school districts can join together to provide
services they could not feasibly provide individually. School districts can
work
cooperatively through BOCES either because the
quantity
of students (e.g., blind
children) is small, and/or because there is
a
better opportunity to offer
quality
programs for certain students.
There are about 78,000 public-school students in the 18 school districts served
by BOCES and about 25,000 students attending nonpublic schools. The partici-
pating districts are located around Buffalo in the northern half
of
Erie County.
During 1967-68 about 985 students were placed in 95 special classes under the
author’s jurisdiction, and about 50 blind and partially-seeing students attending
regular classes received services from four consultant teachers. The previous
year (1966-67), about 850 students were placed in 64 special classes.
THE
PROGRAM
The
first
year the title “program for children with learning and/or behavioral
problems”
was
used, but during the second year ‘(behavioral problems” was dropped.
The title became “program
for
children with learning problems.’’
The reason
for the change, which may seem trivial, was twofold. First,
it
was
discovered that “behavioral problems” really are reflections of learning problems.
That
is,
inappropriate social
(or
other general manifest) behavior reflects
a
“learning
problem’’ just
as
much
as
inappropriate (i.e., low) reading behavior reflects
a
“learning problem.” Second, while many children are placed in the program because
their behavior is socially abrasive, the vast majority of these children cease to be
considered
as
“behavior problems” in their new setting.
Some critics have observed that every child has
a
“learning problem,” sug-
gesting that another label be used. However,
a
common feature is that every child
in the program has
a
learning
problem,
and when compared with “the average”
has
a
more
signijicunt
or
more profound learning problem.
A
term such as “brain
injury”
or
“emotional disturbance’’ may
or
may not apply to the students in the
lllirector,
Special
Edticationel Services,
99
Aero Drive, Buffalo, New York
14225
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