ich is culturally based is a means of separating innate (perhaps unchangeable) behaviors from those that may be changed.
The student from a different culture who is limited English proficient presents the educational system with a tremendous challenge. Consider a ten year-old student from Nicaragua who was placed in a bilingual classroom upon his arrival in the United States just three months ago. He appears to be extremely aggressive and unsocial with his peers. Our hypothetical student's teacher noticed that Ruben frequently became upset with his school work--to the point of crying. He referred Ruben to a special education classroom for children with emotional disturbances. The point to the above scenario is that aggressive behavior may be a secondary reaction to acquisition of a new language.
The erroneous labeling of students as disabled and the consequential misplacement in special education programs is professional malpractice. Unless the special educator understands the cultural background of his or her students, such mislabeling is b
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