Analysis of Special Education Policy in Turkey and United States: Improving Turkey's Policy for Students with Intellectual Disability

Abstract

The authors compare the special education law of Turkey with comparable law of the United States. The basis of the comparison is the legal framework represented by the six principles of the special education law of the United States, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Within each principle, the special implications for students with intellectual disability are noted. Suggestions for improving Turkey's special education law are made. These relate principally to the principles of zero reject and issues related to discipline; appropriate education, and issues concerning related services and supplementary aids and services; least restrictive environment as related specifically to students with intellectual disability; procedural due process and issues related to notice from schools to parents and dispute resolution; and parent participation. By contrast, there seems to be no reason for Turkey to modify its law with respect to the principles related to nondiscriminatory evaluation. The analysis suggests that Turkey's special education law, being largely comparable with the United States' but still appropriate for Turkey as a homogeneous, single-language, Muslim country, may be appealing to countries that are similar to it and that, like Turkey, aspire for modernism in education.