Anyone wondering why the special education population is growing so fast in Texas and across the U.S.? Many people have figured out that being labeled as “sped” is actually very beneficial.
A student reaches 4th grade and still cannot read fluently. The school has two choices:
- Admit the student has fallen through academic cracks due to poor instruction, or
- Classify the student with a Specific Learning Disability in Reading and move forward with an IEP.
Guess which route is taken almost every time?
The “SLD in reading comprehension” label becomes a justification as to why the student can’t read at grade level. I’m not dismissing legitimate learning disabilities. Those do exist. However, I have personally witnessed these disabilities vanish when gaps in learning are filled in.
Academic gaps have grown so rapidly since COVID that Texas was forced to remove its 8.5% cap on SPED enrollment. Why? Because it’s easier to label them as “special education” students than to admit we have an instructional problem.