How would you say "special education students" in spanish?
I was wondering what phrase they use in Spanish for "Special Education Students," meaning students who need extra help in their classes, etc.
Thanks!-
5 Answers
Spanish isn´t plagued with "political correctness" as English is. It´s simply "Estudiantes deshabilitados" in most cases.
This is an interesting thing to do sometimes: When you have a question like this, try inventing a simple equivalent in Spanish, such as "educación especial" and type it into the google search box. If your idea is anywhere near the correct expression, you will see it pop up in lots and lots of websites. I tried it with your question and got very useful hits, so go ahead and you'll see what I mean!
It seems that Spanish speakers in the US do use "educación especial". Here is an example of a school web page in Spanish.
The observations about the lack of special education services for children in Mexico are right on. I live in a town with over 600 public schools, and 33 of them offer some type of services. According to law, for each "estudiante especial" in the classroom, the teacher's class size must be reduced by 5 students. (This is in the state of Jalisco.) The secretary for education for the state of Jalisco has been severely criticized for not enforcing the law, or for allowing class sizes of 50 and 55 students, which would mean that an instructor could have a class of 40 students, with 2 or 3 of them being "estudiantes especiales".
In the publications out of Guadalajara, plus some local publications from other municipalities in the state of Jalisco, the students are referred to as "estudiantes discapacitados" (a mental disability is a "discapacidad intelectual").
I believe that doing a websearch with "educación especial" or "educación para estudiantes discapacitados" is a good place to start.
If you are a special ed teacher with a high interest in helping children in Mexico, please consider coming down here and offering a hand! The private sector is taking up some of the slack, but the needs are significant and the funding is scarce.
One positive thing is that individuals with various types of disabilities seem to be more accepted than they were 40 years ago. We regularly see families out with a relative with either a physical or mental disability, and the bulk of the passers-by do not seem to stare or to be frightened or judgmental.
Speaking as parents of a very happy adult son with a significant mental disability, this is wonderful progress. In fact, last month about 150 local families and their significantly disabled children staged a peaceful "walk" to raise awareness of the issue of mental disabilities. My husband and I took a seat along the route, and smiled and applauded each family as they went by. It is a wonderful thing to see these families being able to turn to the community for acceptance and support.
An excellent organization that helps totally indigent families with a child with a severe disability is Pasitos de Luz. My husband and I have checked out this organization thoroughly, and they are excellent. A web search will show you what sorts of things can be done to help those who truly need help!
In the U.S "special ed" covers a lot of territory as I suspect you are aware. In México the individual states have a very small budget for these special cases and participate with private social organizations to provide these services.I know we have several teachers here that may be able to advise us better for a translation for these services.
