Special education is an instruction medium, especially designed for the students with special needs. There are number of deficiencies existing in the special people like the learning differences, mental health problems, specific disabilities (physical or developmental). In order to look at the term "special education" in the context of the North American society, then it is referred to the students with learning disabilities or other mental problems.

There are number of abbreviations being in practice for the display of special education. In North America special education is commonly abbreviated as Special Ed, SpecEd, SPED, SpEd, in a professional context. In England and Wales the initialism SEN is most commonly used when discussing special education needs.

The field of Special Education does not offer a chance for the large empirical studies, to be carried out and even the implementation of the strategies is quite difficult. Even in the detailed analysis, the researchers have not found out any of the correct relation between the education being provided to a special student and the outcome of it. The introduction of the special education in the public schools has been criticized on the basis of the qualification criteria for services are extremely variable from one education agency to another. It is a common complaint by the critics of the system that the other student get into the risk state due to the inclusion of the special students in the class. Critics are of the opinion that placing at-risk students in the same classes as disabled students may decrease the educational progress of people with disability. Special education programs continue to be criticized by disability activists because they are still often differentiated from regular education programs.

The current practice being prevailed in the institutions has been greatly criticized by the advocates of the special education and some parents of children with disabilities. The criticism is on the basis of the assumption that some of these students require very different educational methods that may differ at a larger level from typical classroom methods. The critics of such method have a logic that it is not possible to deliver effectively two or more very different methods of instructions in the same classroom. This may result in the educational progress of students with disability and requiring different method of education at a level, far behind the normal classroom status.. Even the parents of the normal children sometime worry about the aspect that their children might e ignored in comparison with the students, who require additional attention as a special person.

Even some parents, advocates, and students have concerns about the eligibility criteria in the educational institutions and the method of applying the procedure. In some cases, parents and students protest the students' placement into special education programs. If any a student is placed into the special education programs due to a mental health condition such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks or ADHD, while the student and his parents believe that the condition is manageable through medication and outside therapy. There are very different cases, where the parents believe that their children need additional support of special education services and it creates a non-balance in the admission criteria set by the authorities.

By looking at the purpose of the "side-by-side" education method, it is in fact being introduced to assist educators, parents, and other stakeholders to better understand the federal regulations