NO, Special Ed students are NOT entitled to be taught in their own native language forever. This is a myth. Title One the federal act that regulates special education does not supersede state regulations that permit bilingual education to be restricted to two school years. If there are less than 15 students in a school needing a particular language, a class in that language need not be instituted, but the student can receive services x hours per week from an ELL (English Language Lerner) teacher.
It is possible to mainstream non-English speaking SPED students into an English speaking SPED class, by hiring a paraprofessional to assist in the class who can translate, this is no different that hearing impaired students who are provided with signers who assist in learning.
As a family law attorney and child advocate, as well as a local government elected official, I have had to deal with many requests to stretch the limited school budget for special interest groups. Government does not equate multi-generational US citizen families who choose to speak a language other than English in the home in the same way as new immigrants who have not yet learned English.
Today, with the state of electronics and computers, new arrival non-English Speakers, both ‘normal’ and Special Ed are often placed in regular classrooms. They do much of their work on Chromebooks with programs in multiple languages and are pulled from the class for specific help by specialists about 5 hours per week. School districts no longer have to bankrupt themselves or cut services to the vast majority of students to meet the needs of the few.
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