ATTENDANCE OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES(ABSENTEEISM)

ATTENDANCE OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES(ABSENTEEISM)

Compulsory school attendance laws have been enacted in all states. The scope of those laws was narrowed in most states by the introduction of exemption clauses. These clauses excuse children considered unfi t or uneducable because of physical or mental handicaps from school attendance. Legal challenges by handicapped children for extension and protection of the right established under state law of equal access to educational opportunity ensued during the early 1970s. Those cases were followed by federal and state laws that mandate free appropriate public education to handicapped children and ensure their right to attend school regardless of the severity or type of their disability. Under IDEA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a handicapped child must be educated in the least restrictive environment his or her needs allow. Children with serious, often chronic, health impairments who require special ducation and related services may receive instruction in hospitals or in the home. Schools use various approaches, including home visitations, school- to- home telephone communication, and interactive television to connect a homebound or hospitalized student with the classroom. Federal law recognizes that there are instances when, because of the nature or severity of a child’s handicap, the child must be educated in a setting other than the regular classroom. However, the least restrictive environment provisions prohibit placement of a child on homebound instruction or other exclusion from the regular educational environment solely because the child has disabilities. Homebound instruction may not be appropriate for the instructional needs of that child. There have been few studies of program and school attendance as a factor in the achievement of students with disabilities. There is some evidence that handicapped students attending regular schools are no more likely to be absent from school than nonhandicapped students (Sullivan & McDaniel, 1983). High rates of school attendance do not necessarily ensure high rates of program attendance or achievement. Sullivan and McDaniel (1983) concluded that children served in resource rooms may be receiving up to one- quarter less schooling time than is prescribed in their individualized education programs because of competing school activities and absences of either the resource room teacher or the student during a scheduled period. In various studies involving children with and without disabilities (Ivarie, Hogue, & Brulle, 1984; Rosenshine, 1979), investigators in the area of academic learning time as it relates to academic achievement have found a positive correlation between the learning of basic skills and the number of minutes students spend on academically relevant tasks. Researchers are continuing their study of increased active learning time as a powerful intervention technique for all students. Under the IDEA and Section 504, mandatory procedural safeguards exist that allow parents to challenge school disciplinary actions that would interrupt a handicapped child’s education. Expulsions, suspensions, and transfers to settings outside a regular classroom or school are considered placement changes because such measures remove students from their current school program or curtail attendance (Simon, 1984). A series of court decisions on this sensitive area have provided important guidelines for determining when and for what length of time handicapped students may be expelled or suspended under federal law (Reschly & Bersoff, 1999; Simon, 1984).