Service Delivery to Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Students in Rural School Districts

Abstract

Bilingual special education programs have been established in many school districts across the country to address the unique needs of culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional students (CLDE). Rural school districts may have difficulty meeting the specialized needs of CLDE students due to the limited availability of resources, especially individuals trained in bilingual special education. This study examines the availability of programs which could serve CLDE students, the training of personnel in these programs, and whether educational diagnosticians and speech language pathologists (SLPs) apply procedures which take into account language and cultural factors. The authors suggest that rural school districts can provide service delivery if special educators are trained in cultural and language areas while bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) teachers are trained in exceptionalities.