BD can ruin the efforts of the teacher to educate the other 28 students in that class. A dilemma faces us, but the many laws of our land demand that all children be given free,.
appropriate education. Children with BD get into such a downward, vicious cycle of inappropriate behavior, followed by more of the same, that it's our job as teachers to break that soul destroying cycle. .
The authors of a research study at the University of North Texas, College of Education, regretfully point out that not only do a small percentage of BD students pursue post-secondary education, 50 % do not even graduate high school( Nelson, 1997, p.2). About 20% of BD students are arrested while in high school, and 58% are arrested within five years of leaving school (Sawka, 2002, p. 224 ). These are depressing statistics and only the tip of the BD iceberg. How many more people related to these students "parents, grandparents, future spouses, and children will also be affected in a life-changing ways by these students now and in later years? .
Properly educating BD students is of no little importance. The repercussions of.
failing them are staggering, so in spite of the difficulties of this issue, schools have no choice but to find ways to carry out the PL94-142 mandates.
An ongoing controversy lies around the question of where do we educate BD students? What is the least restrictive setting for them? Principals who have favored.
inclusion of BD students in their classrooms often discover that their teachers experience stress levels when they have more than one BD student in their class, that there are more.
dysfunctional classrooms and playground situations, that students are subjected to acts of aggression and violence, and that there are insufficient and limited levels of resources for their staff to deal with these children (p2 D). Kristin Sawka and her associates corroborate this last point, stating that whole school based programs serve 1-2% of children with BD while there are actually 9-10% of students in need of such services- (Sawka, 2002, p223 ).
