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ERIC Number: EJ1192344
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0164-775X
EISSN: N/A
Rights without Labels: Thirty Years Later
Lockwood, Adam; Coulter, Alan
Communique, v45 n6 p1, 29-30 Mar-Apr 2017
In 1986, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) position paper, "Rights without Labels," was published. This document was radical because it acknowledged that serious problems existed in the educational classification system and proposed the necessity of serving students with special needs within the general education setting without labeling them. NASP believed that the system for labeling students with disabilities had major flaws including: (1) stigmatization of students receiving labels; (2) classification unreliability; (3) classifications that lacked instructional relevance; (4) exclusion of classified students from general education settings; and (5) difficulties removing labels once they were given. Overall, labeling still exists. Many still use instructionally irrelevant classification, and some (i.e., those who utilize the patterns of strengths and weaknesses model) engage in even more extraneous assessment. Classification, for specific learning disabilities at least, seems to be no more reliable than it was 30 years ago. The average school psychologist still spends considerable time providing labels that may stigmatize students. On the positive side, there has been an increase in inclusive education for students with exceptionalities.
National Association of School Psychologists. 4340 East West Highway Suite 402, Bethesda, MD 20814. Tel: 301-657-0270; Fax: 301-657-0275; e-mail: publications@naspweb.org; Web site: http://www.nasponline.org/publications/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A