INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT of SPECIAL NEEDS and INCLUSIVE

EDUCATION

COURSE: Inclusive Education

course code (Incl-4012)

FOR BED STUDENTS

 CHAPTER ONE
Understanding Children with Special Needs and Inclusive Education
Understanding/overviews of Children with Special Needs

These are children who experience difficulty in learning due to permanent or temporary
problem or disorder. Who need extra support and assistance? Including

1. Learners with disability

Students with

 visual impairment

 hearing impairment

 Intellectual disability

 emotional and behavioral disorder

 Learning disability

 Physical and health impairment

 Language and communication difficulty

2. Gifted and talented

3. Deprived background

 Extreme Poor

 Migrant (war, natural disaster)

 Street children

 Child labor

 Drug abused

4. Minorities

5. Children at risk

1.1 Overview of Students with Various Special Needs

• Sensory impairments – include children with visual and hearing impairments.

• Intellectual Abilities – include children with Gifted and talented,(The term describes
individuals with high levels of intelligence, outstanding abilities, and capacity for
high performance).

• Intellectual Disability (Mental retardation)

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 • Communication disorders – are Children with Language and Speech Disorder

• Learning difficulties – Developmental or Academic Learning Disorders.

• Physical and Health related problems - comprise children having Physical/Motor

related problems or with health related difficulties.

• Emotional and Behavior disorders- include children with social maladjustment,

emotional disturbances, childhood psychoses, etc.

• Multiple Disabilities ( Two or more disabilities in the same individual)

• Children at risk or vulnerable ones due to socially or environmentally intruding

barriers.

Definition of Terminologies

Impairment

- It refers to any loss or abnormality of physiological, psychological or anatomical

structure or function.
- It is the absence of particular body part or organ. Some children, for instance, have
impairments such as eyes that do not see well, arms and legs that are deformed, or a
brain not developing in a typical way etc. Impairment is a physical construct.

Disability

- It is any restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in a manner or with in the

range considered normal for human being.
- It limits a person‟s ability to perform certain tasks such as seeing, hearing, walking in
the same manner in which non-disabled people do.
- It is a reduction in function. It usually results from impairment. It is a functional
construct.

Handicap

- It is a disadvantage for a given individual, resulting from an impairment or disability

that limits/ prevents the fulfillment of a role that is considered as normal depending on
age, sex, and social and cultural factors. It is a limitation of opportunities to take part
in life of the community. It describes the encounter between the person with disability
and the environment.
- Handicappeness is a social construct that an individual with disability is not able to
perform what he/she is expected by society due to the impairment experienced. The
term handicap has more negative connotation than the terms impairment and
disability

Special Needs Education is a specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of
children with disability, including instruction conducted in the classroom , in the home, in
hospitals and institutions and in other settings ( Smith and Luckasson 1995) .

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 - It also includes the education of gifted, creative or talented students who need
additional educational service to exploit their rich potentials to their optimum possible
level.

Students with special needs are individuals who require special education and related
special services in order to achieve their fullest potential. They can be categorized into
different groups: children with mental retardation, speech or language impairment, learning
disabilities, behavioral disorders, visual impairments, hearing impairments, physical and
health impairments and giftedness and creativity (Smith and Luckasson 1995).

Mode of educational Approach for children with disabilities

Segregation

• It is an educational placement where children with disabilities are educated in separate

school environment or in a special needs class.

• Today it is discouraged for its social and academic discrimination among children
with disabilities and children without disabilities.

Integration:

• It refers to the placement of children with disability in educational programs that also
serve children without disability. A similar term is mainstreaming but not necessarily
the identical treatment condition for both.

• „Integration‟ in its widest usage entails a process of making whole, of combining

different elements into a unit. As used in special education, it refers, to the education
of pupils with special needs in ordinary schools. Integration provides a „natural‟
environment where these pupils are together with their peers, are free from the
isolation that is characteristics of much special school placement.

Professionals distinguished three main forms of integration in terms of association: location,

social, and functional integration.

Locational integration exists where special units or classes are set up in ordinary schools or
where a special school and ordinary school share the same geographical site.

Social integration is where children attending a special class or unit eat, play and consort
with other children and possibly share organized out-of-classroom activities with them.

Functional integration is the fullest form of integration and is achieved when location and
social integration lead to participation in educational activities. As the whole, integration is
not necessarily the identical treatment of disabled and non-disabled students in a regular
setting.

• Educators have found that in most cases, an integrated educational setting gives
students with disabilities the opportunity to interact with non-disabled individuals and
better prepares them for life in the real world.

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 • It also gives the opportunity for students without disabilities to learn about the
complexity and diversity of human characteristics the special behaviors and extra-
needs of children with disabilities.

Mainstreaming

• It refers to the return of children with disability previously educated exclusively in

segregated settings to regular classroom, for all or part of the school day.

• Treatment of a child with special needs like non-disabled one places the child in the
„least restrictive environment‟ to meet his/her educational and social needs. This has
resulted in increased emphasis on mainstreaming children with disabilities.

Intervention

• It is an attempt to prevent, improve, or eliminate impairments, disabilities or

handicaps. It is a broad term that includes preventive measures taken before the
occurrence of the problem and/or to change the situation after the occurrence of the
problem. Early intervention plays a significant role in diverting the situation of the
child and promoting his/her educational and psychosocial development

Rehabilitation

• It is a goal oriented activity aimed at enabling persons with disabilities to reach

maximum mental, physical, social, and level of functioning. It includes educational,
psychological, medical and vocational services. It often refers to the situation which
comes after the onset of the problem.

Inclusion

Inclusion can be seen as a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of
all children, youth and adults through increasing participation in learning, cultures and
communities, and reducing and eliminating exclusion within and from education.

It involves changes and modifications in content, approaches, structures and strategies, with
a common vision that covers all children of the appropriate age range and a conviction that it
is the responsibility of the regular system to educate all children (UNESCO, 2009).

Inclusion means a shift in services from simply trying to fit the child into 'normal settings'; it
is a supplemental support for their disabilities on special needs and promoting the child's
overall development in an optimal setting.

Inclusion involves:

restructuring cultures, policies and practices to respond to the diversity of students in

their locality

learning and participation of all students vulnerable to exclusionary pressures (i.e. not
just students with disabilities)

improving schools for staff as well as students overcoming barriers to access and
participation
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 the right of students to be educated in their local community

seeing diversity as a rich resource, not as a problem

mutually sustaining relationships between schools and communities

seeing inclusive education as an aspect of an inclusive society.

All of the above definitions emphasize that inclusion is for all, and not just about a
specific group.

Inclusive Education

• It is a practice of assuring that all students with disabilities participate with other
students in all aspects of school (Smith & Luckasson, 1995).

• It is a process of providing education for all children regardless of their background

and ability differences in the same class.

• Inclusive education is a process of strengthening the capacity of the education system

to reach out to all learners (UNESCO, 2009).

• It is an education system that is open to all learners, regardless of economic status,

gender, ethnic backgrounds, language, learning difficulties and impairments.

• It implies a radical reform of the school in terms of educational policy and curricular
frameworks, which includes educational content, assessment, pedagogy and the
systemic grouping of pupils within institutional and curricular structures.

• It is based on a values system that welcomes and celebrates diversity arising from
gender, nationality, race, language, social background, level of educational
achievement, disability, etc.

• Inclusion also implies that all teachers are responsible for the education of all
learners.

• It is an education system that is open to all learners, regardless of economic status,

gender, ethnic backgrounds, language, learning difficulties and impairments.

Inclusive education means welcoming all children, without discrimination, into regular or
ordinary schools. Indeed, it is a focus on creating environments responsive to the differing
developmental capacities, needs, and potentials of all children.

It is about:

identifying barriers that hinder learning,

reducing or removing these barriers in schools, vocational training, higher education,

teacher education, education management, and work places

adjusting learning environments to meet the needs of all learners.

The following are tenets of a positive inclusive philosophy:

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 • Every student has the right to participate in all aspects of school life;

• Every student will participate in a regular homeroom with supports to individual

needs provided through that classroom – modification of regular curriculum will take
place outside the regular classroom only if specific skills cannot be accommodated
within a regular setting;

• All students will be placed in an age-appropriate setting, within the student‟s

attendance.
Inclusion means

1. Educating all children with disabilities in regular classrooms regardless of the nature
of their disabling condition(s).

2. Providing all students enhanced opportunities to learn from each other‟s contributions.

3. Providing necessary services within the regular schools.

4. Supporting regular teachers and administrators (e.g., by providing time, training,

teamwork, resources, and strategies).

5. Having students with disabilities follow the same schedules as non-disabled students.

6.Involving students with disabilities in age-appropriate academic classes and extracurricular

activities, including art, music, gym, field trips, assemblies, and graduation exercises.

7. Students with disabilities using school cafeteria, library, playground, and other facilities
along with non-disabled students.

8. Encouraging friendships between non-disabled and disabled students.

9. Students with disabilities receiving their education and job training in regular community
environments when appropriate.

10. Teaching all children to understand and accept human differences.

11. Placing children with disabilities in the same schools they would attend if they did not
have disabilities.

12. Taking parents‟ concerns seriously.

13.Providing an appropriate individualized educational program.

INCLUSION DOES NOT MEAN

1. It does not mean “dumping” students with disabilities into regular programs without
preparation or support.

2. It does not mean providing special education services in separate or isolated places.

3. It does not mean ignoring children„s individual needs.

4. It does not mean jeopardizing students‟ safety or well being.

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5. It does not mean placing unreasonable demands on teachers and administrators.

6. It does not mean ignoring parents‟ concerns.

7.It does not mean isolating students with disabilities in regular schools.

8. It does not mean placing students with disabilities in schools or classes that are not age-
appropriate.

9.It does not mean requiring that students be “ready” and “earn” their way into regular
classrooms based on cognitive or social skills.
Elements of Inclusion

Natural Proportions: Students are assigned to classes with consideration to the natural
proportions of the population that live in the school jurisdiction.

A “Zero-Reject” Approach: All students who live in the community, regardless of their
ability or disability, are considered members of the school community and are expected to
attend and participate in all aspects of school life.

Collaborative Leadership: At the district level, the school level, and within instructional
teams, collaborative structures are followed for clarifying issues, brainstorming ideas for
solutions, establishing priorities, assigning responsibilities for actions, and reviewing
progress toward defined goals.

Teams share the roles of meeting facilitation, recording notes, encouraging each other‟s
participation, and being accountable for work to be done outside of the meeting. Nominal
leaders (principals, supervisors, etc.) support the team with shared leadership and using
brainstorming structures to solve problems.

Instructional Collaboration: Collaboration between and among school staff is necessary

for joint curricular planning and individual student planning.

Both special and general educators need to adopt new roles in planning and delivering lessons
in the classroom, evaluating student progress, and designing modifications that are needed for
individual students.

Instructionally Appropriate Programs and Learning Environments: Instructional

environments (classroom and other general education settings) will be designed to address the
grade-appropriate instruction in the school .Learning Outcomes for students with and without
disabilities, and will also address the accommodations, adaptations, and other modifications
to materials, strategies, or equipment so that all students can participate in age-appropriate
general education lessons while working on their individualized goals.

Professional Development: Professional development conducted within schools always

addresses how to apply the knowledge and skills to students who have special academic,
behavioral, and other instructional needs.

Application for students who receive special education services is infused within the teacher
training. Areas for staff development include: differentiation, collaboration, co-teaching,
positive behavior support strategies, and fostering positive and cooperative social

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relationships.
Characteristics of Inclusion(Child Friendly Schools)

1. Reflects and realizes the rights of every child – cooperates with other partners to promote
and monitor the well-being and rights of all children; defends and protects all children from
abuse and harm (as a sanctuary), both inside and outside the school

2. Sees and understands the whole child, in a broad context – is concerned with what happens
to children before they enter the system (e.g., their readiness for school in terms of health and
nutritional status, social and linguistic skills), and once they have left the classroom – back in
their homes, the community, and the workplace

3. Is child-centred – encourages participation, creativity, self-esteem, and psycho-social well-

being; promotes a structured, child-centred curriculum and teaching-learning methods
appropriate to the child‟s developmental level, abilities, and learning style; and considers the
needs of children over the needs of the other actors in the system.

4. Is gender-sensitive and girl-friendly – promotes parity in the enrolment and achievement of

girls and boys; reduces constraints to gender equity and eliminates gender stereotypes;
provides facilities, curricula, and learning processes welcoming to girls

5. Promotes quality learning outcomes – encourages children to think critically, ask

questions, express their opinions – and learn how to learn; helps children master the essential
enabling skills of writing, reading, speaking, listening, and mathematics and the general
knowledge and skills .

6. Provides education based on the reality of children‟s lives – ensures that curricular content
responds to the learning needs of individual children as well as to the general objectives of
the education system and the local context and traditional knowledge of families and the
community.

7. Is flexible and responds to diversity – meets differing circumstances and needs of children
(e.g., as determined by gender, culture, social class, ability level)

8. Acts to ensure inclusion, respect, and equality of opportunity for all children – does not
stereotype, exclude, or discriminate on the basis of difference

9. Promotes mental and physical health – provides emotional support , encourages healthy
behaviors and practices, and guarantees a hygienic, safe, secure, and joyful environment

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10. Provides education that is affordable and accessible – especially to children and families
most at-risk

11. Enhances teacher capacity, morale, commitment, and status – ensures that its teachers
have sufficient pre-service training, in-service support and professional development, status,
and income

12. Is family focused – attempts to work with and strengthen families and helps children,
parents and teachers establish harmonious, collaborative partnerships .

13. Is community-based – strengthens school governance through a decentralized,

community-based approach; encourages parents, local government, community
organizations, and other institutions of civil society to participate in the management as well
as the financing of education; promotes community partnerships and networks focused on the
rights and wellbeing of children.

• Successful inclusion requires a shift in attitudes and beliefs of all school personnel
and parents such that all involved truly believe that students with disabilities can
succeed in the regular education environment.

Inclusive Classroom (ICR)

What is inclusive Classroom(ICR)

 It is an effective classroom in creating learning environment suitable for all learners.

 Creating a welcoming and accessible environment in which all children learn and
develop social relationships as an equal member of the class.

 A classroom responsive to the diversity of students academic, social and personal

learning needs.

Characteristics of ICR

 In inclusive classroom is that students have a variety of ways to access information

and demonstrate what they know

 Teachers of successful inclusive classrooms utilize student strengths, incorporate

creative teaching strategies, and support peer interaction.

 Inclusive classrooms focus on utilizing strengths

 focused on the strengths of the child instead of areas of weakness

 Inclusive classrooms create a sense of belonging

 Equal member of the class

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 Strategies achieving ICR
1. Classroom Situation
2. Differentiated of Curriculum
3. Teaching Strategies
4. Individualized education plan

An individual education programme (IEP)

 Is a tool that school professionals use to provide educational services tailored to the
needs of learners with SEN;

 Assures that the educational needs of a particular learner, rather than those of a group
of learners, are addressed.

 Is a way of designing individual educational goals that would help learners access and
progress in the general curriculum;

Why IEP is needed?

IEP is needed;

 For learners to assure their right to education;

 For teachers and specialists to deliver effective programmes to SWSN;

 To overcome barriers to learning which cannot be overcome by regular classroom

strategies;

 To prevent repetition and dropout;

5. Adapting and Modifying Teaching Materials

6. Behavior management modifications
7. Partnerships
8. Schools with Stakeholders

Rationales/the reason shifting special needs education to Inclusive Education

 Limitation of Special Education
 Benefits of Inclusive Education

Limitation of Special Education

 Deficit- oriented
 Develop the psychosocial problems
 Breed discrimination and negative attitude
 Costs a lot
 Violate human right

Opportunities of Inclusive Education

 Legislations and policy frameworks

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  Associations and civic societies

 School-based awareness and in-services training program

International Legal and Policy Issues

 Universal Declaration Of Human Rights (UDHR)

 Convention On The Rights Of The Child

 Convention Against Discrimination In Education

 World Declaration On Education For All (EFA)

 United Nations Standard Rules Of Equalization Of Opportunities For Persons With

Disabilities

 Salamanca Frame Work For Action

Universal Declaration Of Human Rights (UDHR)

This declaration ensures three important rights;

 Right to education (fundamental human rights; rights that are universal, indivisible,
interconnected and interdependent)

 Right to equalization of opportunities

 Right to participate in society

Convention On The Rights Of The Child

 States the rights of all children to basic quality primary education

 Make primary education compulsory and available free to all (UPE).

 It assures the rights of the child to education based on his or her needs, abilities and
pace of effective learning

Convention Against Discrimination In Education

 To combat discriminatory treatment in education

 promote the opportunity of addressing their learning needs,

 children in disadvantaged situations or who experience conditions of risk, disability

have the right to education of the same quality and standard
World Declaration On Education For All (EFA)

This declaration confirms that every human being including children, youth, adults, females,
street children, immigrants, children with disability,… have right to quality and equity in
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education.
U N Standard Rules Of Equalization Of Opportunities For Persons With Disabilities

Every individual has equal opportunity for participation

 Accessibility

 Education

 Employment

 Income maintenance and social security

 Family life and personal integrity (marriage, parenthood, sexual relationship)

 Culture

 Recreation and sports

 Religion

Salamanca Frame Work For Action

 It was declared in an international conference on special needs education held in

Salamanca, Spain in 1994.

 The conference emphasized the following principles:

 The right of children including those with temporary and permanent special
education needs to attend school.

 The right of all children to attend school in their home community

 The right of children to participate in a child-centered education meeting

individual needs

 The right of all children to participate in quality education that is meaningful

for each child.

National Documents
 The Ethiopian Constitution

 The Education and Training Policy

 Higher Education Proclamation

 The Special Needs Education strategy Program (2006)

 ESDP IV-2010-2015

 Growth & Transformation Plan

 Building code (Article) 624/2009:

 Proclamation on the Rights of Disabled Persons to Employment (1994),

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 The Ethiopian Constitution

Article 41(3,5) stipulates the right of citizens to equal access to publicly funded services and
about the allocation of resources to provide rehabilitation and assistance…

Art. 9(4) of the FFDRE constitution states that all international agreements ratified by
Ethiopian are the integral part of the law of the country.

Education and Training Policy /ETP,1994/

Education structure no. 3:2-1 conforms the importance of early childhood education
stating that kindergarten to focus on the all round development of the child in preparation for
formal schooling.

Educational structure no. 3: 2.9 Special education and training will be provided for people
with special needs.

Educational structure no. 2 2.3 confirms that efforts will be made to enable People with
special needs /both with disability and the Gifted/ learn in accordance with their potential
and needs.

Higher Education Proclamation No.650/2009,

Article 40, item1 states that institutions shall make, to the extent possible, their facilities and
programs are easy to use by physically challenged students

The special needs education program strategy (2006)

The key elements of the strategy are:

• Favourable policy environment

• Duties & responsibilities in education system

• Using strengthening national expertise

• Allocation and use of funds

• Cooperation and partners

• School management

 Teacher education

 Design establishment and functioning of support systems.

 Education Sector Development /ESDP IV/

Expected program outcomes

 Enrollment of children with special educational needs increased at all levels of

education and due attention will be given to girls with special needs

 Number of trained teachers in SNE/ inclusive education increased

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  Capacity of schools in addressing the academic and social needs of children with
special educational needs improved

Building code (Article) 624/2009:

Even if the code was declared for the convenient of physical accessibilities in architectural
activities still the problem is not minimized.

 Proclamation on the Rights of Disabled Persons to Employment Proclamation

No. 101/1994 states about the right of PWD to appropriate training, employment
opportunities, salary, selection criteria, grievance procedure…

The common powers and duties of Ministers (proclamation 691/2003 E.C.)

In Article 10(5) “create within its power, conditions whereby persons with disabilities and
HIV/AIDS victims benefit from equal opportunities and full participation”.

Associations and civic societies

 The existence of NGOs and GOs

 Often they raise funds, make donations to individuals and provide services for
children and adults.

 Disability Associations

 It is people with disabilities who run the association. They aim to

 Promote the rights of disabled people rather than fund-raise or provide services.

 offer training and support for their members

 School-based awareness and in-services training program

 The ongoing School Based awareness on the right of children with disability to
Regular schools.

 In-services training for teacher allow them to take special needs education courses.

 Introduction to Special needs education as a professional course for all teachers in

pre-services and In-services program

 Opening of the department of Special needs department in colleges and universities

CHAPTER TWO
Assessment of Students with Special Needs Education

• Assessment is the process of collecting evidence of student learning in order to draw

an inference about an individual‟s (or a group‟s) current level of attainment.

• The fundamental purpose of assessment and reporting is to improve student learning.

This is true at the system, school and classroom level.
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More specifically, assessments of children may be used for determining the level of
functioning of individual children, guiding instruction, or measuring functioning at the
program, community, or state level.

Besides, the First purpose of an assessment should guide assessment decisions.

Secondly, assessment activity should be conducted within a coherent system of medical,

educational, and family support services that promote optimal development for all children.

Students with disabilities can participate in assessments in three ways:

• Participate in assessments in the same way as other students.

• Participate in assessments with accommodations.

• Participate in alternate assessments developed for students who cannot participate in

general assessments even with accommodations.
Screening, Identification and Assessment Processes at School Level

• Screening, Identification and Assessment Process at school is an ongoing process,

which starts with the educator‟s contact with the learner and the information obtained
from this process should provide feedback on the learning process and by identifying
strength and barrier to learning.

• By the end of the first six months it is expected that the educator, in consultation with
relevant stakeholders (e.g. parents, HOD) should have an initial impression on what to
report to parents, colleagues etc.

• the educator must have a deeper understanding of the barrier and the support needed
in other words s/he must perform detailed assessment.

Educators should identify learners who

• Are in need of an enriched (supplementary) programme .

• Are in need of a support programme .

• Need diagnostic help in specific aspects of a Learning Programme .

• Have a learning barrier

• Have problems because there is a mismatch between home language and the language
of teaching, learning and assessment

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 • Have physical disabilities, e.g. vision, speech, etc

• Have health problems, e.g. illnesses, hunger, etc

• Have problems with emotional stability due to harassment, violence, etc.

• Do not attend school regularly

• show signs of abuse or neglect

Types of Assessement

There are two types of assessment Formal and Informal way of assessment in the process of
screening and identification process of individuals with disabilities.

• Formal assessment: A systematic and structured means of collecting information on

student performance that both teachers and students recognize as an assessment event.

• These types of tests are mainly focuses on standardized tests like standardized
aptitude and achievement tests. The standardized tests when used with special-
education students might not be appropriate and could raise unrealistic expectations.

• Informal assessment: A means of collecting information about student performance

in naturally occurring circumstances, which may not produce highly accurate and
systematic results, but can provide useful insights about a child‟s learning.

• In many aspects implementation of classroom based assessment is effective in

screening out of students with special needs.
Assessment principles

1. Assessment should be relevant.

Assessment needs to provide information about students‟ knowledge, skills and

understandings of the learning outcomes. That is, it needs to be directly linked to the
standards.

2. Assessment should be appropriate.

• Assessment needs to provide information about the particular kind of learning in

which we are interested. This means that we need to use a variety of assessment
methods because not all methods are capable of providing information about all kinds
of learning.

3. Assessment should be fair.

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 • Assessment needs to provide opportunities for every student to demonstrate what they
know, understand and can do.

• Assessment must be based on a belief that all learners are on a path of development
and that every learner is capable of making progress.

• Students bring a diversity of cultural knowledge, experience, language proficiency

and background, and ability to the classroom.

• They should not be advantaged or disadvantaged by life experiences, abilities, or

gender differences that are not relevant to the knowledge, skills and understandings
that the assessment is intended to address.

• Students have the right to know what is assessed, how it is assessed and the worth of
the assessment.

• Assessment will be fair or equitable only if it is free from bias or favoritism.

4. Assessment should be accurate.

• Assessment needs to provide evidence that accurately reflects an individual student‟s

knowledge, skills and understandings.

• Assessment also needs to be objective so that if a second person assesses a student‟s

work, they will come to the same conclusion as the first person.

• Assessment will be fair to all students if it is based on reliable, accurate and

defensible measures.

5. Assessment should provide useful information.

• The focus of assessment is to establish where students are in their learning. This
information can be used for both summative purposes (the assessment of learning),
such as the awarding of a grade, or formative purposes to feed directly into the
teaching and learning cycle (assessment for learning). Assessment information that is
useful for formative purposes needs to focus in part on the depth of a student‟s
understanding, not just on the accumulation of knowledge.

• Assessment of this kind identifies strengths and weaknesses, and provides detailed
diagnostic information about how students are thinking. The collection of evidence of
this kind may require opportunities for students to explain in their own words or
pictures their understandings of the material they are learning.
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 CHAPTER THREE

Education of Children with Different Disabilities in Inclusive Classroom

1. Education of children with Hearing Impairment in inclusive classes

Hearing impairment is a generic term indicating a continuum of hearing loss from mild to
profound, which included the sub classifications of the hard of hearing and Deaf.

Hard-of-hearing- a term to describe persons with enough residual hearing, to use hearing
(usually with a hearing aid) as a primary modality for acquisition of language and in
communication with others.

Deaf is used to describe persons whose sense of hearing is nonfunctional for ordinary use in
communication, with or without a hearing aid. This condition can adversely affect the child's
educational performance to some extent.

Their ability to hear is limited, and this disability may affect cognitive, academic, physical,
and communication characteristics. The severity of the hearing loss and the age that the loss
occurred determine how well a person will be able to interact with others, orally.

Identification (Signs/symptoms) of Children with Hearing Impaired in the Classroom

• Inattention, restlessness, distraction of others, more responsiveness in quiet

conditions.
• Complaints of earache, popping ears or a visible discharge from the ear.
• Giving inappropriate answers to questions; watching and following what other
children do.
• Louder or softer voice than is usual.
• Slowness in responding to simple verbal instruction, with frequent requests for
repetition.
• Searching visually to locate a sound source or turning head to give one side an
advantage.
• Needing to sit nearer a sound source that is usual or asking for volume on TV, tape or
record player to be turned up
• Some irritability or typical aggressive outbursts more frequent behavioral upsets in
school.
• Reluctance to participate in oral activity and little interest in following story.
• Failure to turn immediately when called by name unless other visible signals are
given.
• Tiring easily, poor motivation, some stress signs such as nail-biting.
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 • Particularly difficulties in verbally related skills such as reading sound blending and
discrimination and writing with better skills in practical areas.
• Speech limited in vocabulary or structure and use of gesture

Support of Children with Hearing Impaired in the Classroom

- Reduce distance between student and speaker

- Speak slowly and stress clear articulation.
- Reduce back ground noise as much as possible.
- Sit the student near the center of desk arrangements and away from distracting
sounds.
- Use face-to-face contact as much as possible
- Use complete sentences to provide additional context during conversation or
instructional presentations.
- Use visual cues when referring to objects in the classroom and during instructional
presentations.
- Have classmates who take notes during oral presentations for students to transcribe
after the lessons.
- Encouraged independent activities, cooperative learning and social skills.
- Be sure that the hearing aid functions properly.
Communication of children with HI

Basic approaches to communication are Oral, manual and total communications.

1. Oral communication. - transmitted orally and received through auditory modalities.

Therefore, hearing impaired children should be given the opportunity to learn to speak
and understand speech and get auditory training.
2. Manual communication. Use of sign language and finger spelling.
3. Total communication- the use of combinations of oral and manual communications.

2. Education of children with visual impairment in inclusive classes

Health professionals divide persons with visual loss into two: Low vision and blindness.

Low vision/partially sighted/ is legally defined as a condition in which one's vision is

seriously impaired, defined usually as having between 20/200 and 20/70 central visual acuity
in the better eye, with correction.

Blind - it is a descriptive term referring to a lack of sufficient vision for the daily activities of
life.

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Educators‟ definitions:

Low vision who needs further modification eg. Enlarged print, special methods of teaching

Blind who uses Braille or hearing to learn other than sight.

Identification (Signs/symptoms) of Children with Visually Impaired in the Classroom

• Frequently experiences red or inflamed eyes

• Experiences difficulty moving around
• Experiences difficulty reading small print.
• Experiences difficulty identifying small details in pictures or illustrations
• Frequently complains of dizziness after reading a passage or completing an
assignment involving vision.
• Tilts head to achieve better focus
• Uses one eye more than the other for reading or completing other assignments.
• Lacks interest in lights and visual stimuli
• Rubs eyes frequently
• Shows unusual clumsiness
• Has poor eye-hand coordination
• Complains of headaches or eye infections frequently
• Losing place during reading
• Poor spacing in writing and difficulty in‟ staying on the line

EDUCATIONAL SUPPORTS FOR STUDENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

• Reduce distance between student and speaker

• Reduce distracting glare and visual distractions

• Reduce clutter on classroom floor and provide unobstructed access to door and key
classroom spaces

• Seat students near chalk board or overhead projections, or give them the freedom to
move close to areas of instructions

• Use auditory cues when referring to objects in the classroom and during instructional
presentations.

• Verbalize written information, described pictures and narrate non-verbal sequences in

videotapes or movies.

• Use complete sentences to provide additional content.

• Reduce unnecessary noise

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• Keep instructional materials in the same place so students can find them easily

Commonly used materials and equipment to children with VI

• Braille writer: slate and stylus

• Cassette tape recorders may be used to take notes, formulate compositions, listen to
record texts, or record assignments.

• Talking calculator, it is an electronic calculator that presents results visually and

auditory.

• Closed- circuit television - it is a system that enlarges printed material on a television

screen and can be adjusted to either black or white or white on black.

Commonly used support and equipment to children with VI

• Orientation and mobility training: to move around independently. Orientation can

be described as the mental map people have about their surroundings. Mobility is the
ability to safely and efficiently travel from one place to another by using cane etc.

• Braille training: students with very severe visual impairments may need to learn to
read and writing using different methods. Braille uses a coded system of dots
embossed on paper so that individuals can feel a page of text.

• Enhanced Image Devices: use of close-circuit television systems with a small

camera, and 200m lens, overhead projectors, micro-computers, telescopic aids
….used to enlarge text so that it is easier for people with low vision to read.

• Audio Aids: audio aids allow persons with visual impairments to hear what others
can read Talking books, talking calculators to make up for their limited sight.

3. Education of Children with Intellectual delay/mental retardation

American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) defines: MR referred to
significantly sub average general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with
deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during developmental period. Sub average
general intellectual functioning is a score on standardized intelligence test lower than that
obtained by 97 to 98% of persons of the same age.

Children with Intellectual delay/mental retardation

- Deficit in adaptive behavior or skill refers to failure to meet standards of

independence and social responsibility expected of the individual's age and cultural
groups.
- Those adaptive skills are: Communication, Self-care, Home living, Social Skills,
Community use, Self-direction, Health and safety, Functional academic, Leisure.

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- Developmental period is consistent with AAMR definition. This definition states that
mental retardation must manifest before the age of 18.
Characteristics of Children with Intellectual Delay/mental retardation

CWMR have a wide range of ability and they need different emotional services.

1. Mildly retarded (educable mentally retarded)-IQ = 50 to 70

2. Moderately retarded (trainable mentally retarded). IQ = 35 to 49
3. Severely retarded (supportable/life-support mentally retarded). IQ =20 to 34
4. Profoundly retarded IQ <20
Educational support for MR

- Students with mental retardation need assistance in learning the content and skills that
many of their peers learn without special educational activities.
- These tactics are important for teaching basic academic skills such as reading, writing
and arithmetic.
- Functional academic skills such as reducing task avoidance b/r, task completion,
writing, math skill and reading can be improved if teachers of mentally retarded
students design instruction and practice activities related to everyday life and given
special instruction and extra practice opportunity for them.
- In teaching mentally retarded children, whether it is functional academic skill, school
adaptive behavior or others it is advantageous to use task analysis method
- Task analysis is breaking down problems and tasks in to smaller, sequenced
components.
- Each step is taught in sequence, and individuals move on to the next step only after
mastering the previous one.
General instructional strategies for MR children
- Provide alternative instructional presentations using varied examples and focus on
functional skills.
- Provide opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding.
- Provide more opportunities for practice than appropriate or necessary for classmates.
- Use concrete examples when teaching new skills.
- Provide supportive and corrective feedback more often than necessary for class-
mates.
- Modify tests and evaluation measures to compensate for learning problems.
- Evaluate student‟s performance and progress more frequently than appropriate or
necessary for class-mates.
- Adapt instruction to the environments where what is being learned will be used.
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- Break lessons in to smaller parts when teaching complex skills.
- Be prepared to repeat teaching more frequently than necessary to peers.
4. Education of Children with Emotionally and Behaviorally Disturbed
They demonstrate many different kinds of behavior disorders in school and community
settings. The magnitude of exhibited behaviors differs from simple deviation to severe
disturbances. Terms associated with behavior disorder include aggressive, aloof,
annoying, anxious, attention seeking, avoidant, compulsive, daydreams, depressed,
delinquent, destructive, disruptive, distractible, disturbing, erratic, frustrated, short
attention span, hostile, hyperactive, immature, impulsive inattentive, / with mental
retaliation.

Children with Emotionally and Behaviorally Disturbed fall into two very broad
classifications:

1. Externalizing behavior also called under controlled conduct disorder or acting out.
Aggressive behaviors expressed outwardly toward other persons. This includes
disobedience, disruptiveness, fighting, destructiveness, temper tantrums,
irresponsibility, impertinence/ impoliteness, Jealous, anger, bossiness, profanity/bad
word, attention seeking, ...
2. Internalizing behavior sometimes called over controlled anxiety, withdrawal, or
acting in. These are those expressed in a more socially withdrawal operates. These
includes social withdrawal, anxiety, feeling of inadequacy (or inferiority), guilt,
shyness, depression, hypersensitivity, chewing finger nails, reclusive, infrequent
smiling, chronic sadness.
Characteristics of children with EBD

- Cognitive- have poor memory and short attention spans, and to be preoccupied overly
active, and anxious, among other things.
- Score slightly below average intelligence tests, although the scores of individual
students‟ are over the entire range.
- Academic-do not do as well academically as one would expect from their scores on
intelligence tests.
- Exhibit characteristics, which affect educational performance. They perform poorly
on measures of school achievement. Emotional problems can lead to academic
problems, and academic problems can lead to emotional problems.
- Subjected to disciplinary actions (suspension and expulsion), which intern limits
their time in school and exposure to academics.
- When students so not perform well academically, their perceptions of this own self-
worth suffer.
- Constantly defying the teachers’ instructional and classroom rules and procedures.
- Physically normal. Serious physical problems can develop behavior disorders

Educational Program, Identification and Assessment of learners with EBD

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They are serious with others and they or they are so shy and withdrawn that they seem to be
in their own worlds. Teachers can identify and help children with emotional disorders by the
following behaviors as stated by Kough et al, 1955:

a. Aggressive maladjustment
- Doesn‟t go along gracefully with the decisions of the teachers or the group;
- Is quarrelsome; fights often; gets mad easily;
- Is bullying; picks on others;
- Occasionally is disruptive of property.
b. Withdrawn maladjustment
- Is noticed by other children,
- Is neither actively liked nor disliked just left out;
- Is one or more of the following; shy, timid, fearful, anxious, excessively quiet, tense;
- Is easily upset; feelings are readily hurt; is easily discouraged
C . General maladjustment

- Needs an unusual amount of prodding to get work completed;

- Is inattentive and indifferent, or apparently lazy;
- Exhibit nervous mannerisms such as nail biting, sucking thumb or fingers, suffering,
extreme restlessness, muscle twitching, hair twisting, picking and scratching, deep
and frequent signing;
- Is actively excluded by most of the children whenever they get a chance;
Approaches to educate children with emotional disturbance

1. Biogenetic - this model suggests that deviant behavior is a physical disorder with genetic
or medical cause. It implies that these causes must be aroused to treat the emotional
disturbance. Treatment may be medical or nutritional.

2. Psychodynamics - based on the idea that a disordered personality develops out of the
interaction of experience and internal mental processes that are out of balance, this model
relies on psychotherapy and creative projects for the child and often relies on the parents
rather than academic remediation.

3. Psycho-educational - this model is concerned with unconscious motivations and

underlying conflicts yet stresses the realistic demands of everyday functioning in school and
home. It puts an emphasis on the students‟ emotional development and growth as on
academic growth. Intervention focuses on therapeutic discussions to allow the children to
understand their behavior rationally and plan to change it.

4. Humanistic - this model suggests that the disturbed child is not in touch with his/her own
feelings and cannot find self-fulfillment in traditional educational settings. Treatment takes

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place in an open, personalized setting where the teacher acts as a non-directive, non-
authoritarian „resource and catalyst‟ for the child‟s learning.

5. Ecological - this model stresses on the interaction of the child with the people around
him/her and with social institutions. This approach considers children‟s problem as largely
emanating from social or cultural forces exerting influence on the individual. Treatment
involves teaching the child to function within the family, school, neighborhood, and the large
community.

6. Behavioral - this model assumes that the child has learned disordered behavior and has not
learned appropriate responses. To treat the behavior disorder, a teacher uses applied behavior
analysis techniques to teach the child appropriate responses and eliminate inappropriate ones.

5. Education of Children with Gifted and Talented

The intellectually superior children are the gifted and talented ones whose academic
performance is higher when compared with classmates. Most of these children are
unrecognized and lack attention from teachers and school community for a long in our
country. Giftedness can be defined as the possession of unusually high intellectual potential
or other special talents. Individuals with high levels of intelligence, outstanding, abilities and
capacity for high performance. Creativity also represents giftedness. Creativity, as a form of
intelligence, is characterized by:

- Advanced, divergent thought and thinking that requires variety of ideas or solutions to
a problem when there is no one correct answer;
- production of many original ideas
- Ability to develop flexible and detailed responses and ideas.
Talented children generally refer to a specific dimension of skill (e.g. musical, artistic) that
may not be matched by a child's more general abilities.

- Individuals who show natural aptitude or superior ability in a specific area without
necessarily implying a high or superior degree of intelligence.
Educational supports of the gifted children

Enrichment and Acceleration of differential curriculum

- Enrichment Approach those that add topics or skills to the traditional curriculum or
presenting a particular topic in more depth.
Mechanisms of promoting enrichment:

- A group of students might spend a small portion of time each week working with
instructional materials that enhance creativity or critical thinking skills.

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 - Gifted children could be allowed to pursue and study a particular academic subject, or
a topic in depth on an individual basis.
- Gifted students could be paired with adults who guide them in applying knowledge to
real-life situations.
- Students all exposed to planned activities that seek to develop thinking skills, problem
solving, and creativity can enhance their learning.
Acceleration Approach means moving students through a curriculum or years of schooling
in shorter periods of time than usual. Acceleration Forms:

- Early school admission – the child once shown to be intellectually and socially
mature is allowed to enter kindergarten at a younger-than-normal age.
- Skipping grades – the child is accelerated by completely eliminating one semester or
one grade in school.
- Telescoping grades – the child covers the standard material, but in less time. For
example, a three-year junior high program would be taught over two years.
- Advanced placement – the student takes courses for college credit while still in high
school, shortening of the college program.
- Dual enrollment in high school and college-The student takes college courses while
he/she is still in high school, shortening the college program
The following tips are suggested by Ysseldyke & Algozzine (1995) for teachers to
manage classes of gifted and talented students.
• Provide alternative instructional activities addressing student interest & preference
• Provide guest speakers, field trips, practical demonstrations, and other enrichment
activities
• Model high level thinking skills and creative problem solving approaches
• Develop instructional activities that generate problems requiring different types of
thinking and solutions
• Allow students to move through the curriculum at their own pace
• Identify advanced content and assign independent reading, projects, workshops,
reports, and other enrichment activities
• Provide opportunities and an environment for sharing novel ideas and solutions to
practical problems
• allow students who are gifted to have input in deciding how classroom time is
allocated
• Provide and encourage independent learning opportunities

6. Education of Children with Communication Disorder in Inclusive

Classrooms
Communication disorders;

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 Communication is the transfer of knowledge, ideas, opinions and feelings which is
usually accomplished through the use of language. It is transfer of information through
glance of an eye, a gesture, or of some other nonverbal behavior.

Any deviation from using language and speech in the formal system of communication
leads an individual to language or speech disorder which is known as communication
disorder.

Causes of communication disorder; Hearing loss, neurological disorders, brain injury,

mental retardation, drug abuse, physical impairments such as cleft lip or palate,
emotional or psychiatric disorders, developmental disorders and often the cause is
unknown.

Types of communication disorder

Includes speech and language disorders

Speech is the vocal production of language and vocal systems are parts of the respiratory
system used to create voice. Disordered speech is significantly different from the usual
speech of others, and it detracts from the communicative abilities of the speaker.

There are three types of speech disorders:

1. Articulation disorders- Articulation disorders account for the majority of speech

disorders. The child is unable to produce sounds appropriate for his or her age.
Articulation disorders also include substitution or omission of sounds: for instance,
saying “th” for “s,” or leaving out the “l” sound in words like clue (saying “coo”
instead). The term refers to difficulties with the way sounds are formed and strung
together ("wabbit" for "rabbit"), omitting a sound ("han" for "hand"), or distorting a
sound ("sip for ship")
2. Fluency disorders- are interruptions in the flow of speech. These can include
difficulties with the rate, rhythm, or repetition of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases.
Examples of fluency disorders include stuttering and “cluttering,” in which the
forward pace of speech is confused or full of extra sounds. Stuttering is, perhaps, the
most serious dysfluency (fluency disorder). It includes repetitions of speech sounds,
hesitations before and during speaking and, or, prolongations of speech sounds.
(N..n..no…no.).
3. Voice disorders- are impairment of the voice itself, and they affect the quality, pitch,
or intensity of the person‟s speech. For example, students with voice disorders may
sound hoarse all the time or speak too loudly.
2. Language disorders
Language disorder indicates a difficulty in understanding and using speech, the written word,
or another symbol system. A language disorder is the impairment or deviant development of
expression and, or, comprehension of words in context. Types of language disorder: form,
content and, function of language.

Language form includes phonology, morphology and syntax.

Phonology: the sound system of a language and the rules that cover sound combinations: in
English, for instance, an x usually sounds like “ks”; a ph sounds like “f.”

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Morphology: the structural system for words and word construction in a language. For
example, the verb run can become the participle running. One way to remember the meaning
of morphology is to think about how words “morph” used into other words when the meaning
changes.

Syntax: the system in a given language for combining words to form sentences. English
sentences typically put the subject first, then the verb, then the direct object, and so on.

Semantics: the meaning of words and sentences in a language. Skill in semantics includes the
ability to visualize or interpret what someone has said or what you have read and to
understand it.

Pragmatics: the ability to combine form and content to communicate functionally and in
socially acceptable ways for example, knowing when to say what to whom. A student with a
language disorder may be unable to understand spoken language or to produce sentences and
share ideas in an age-appropriate way.

Support of children with communication disorder

- Help individuals with articulation disorders to learn how to say speech sounds
correctly
- Assist individuals with voice disorders to develop proper control of the vocal and
respiratory systems to correct voice production
- Assist individuals who stutter to increase their fluency
- Help children with language disorders to improve language comprehension and
production (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, and conversation, and story-telling skills)
- Assist individuals with severe communication disorders with the use of augmentative
and alternative communication (AAC) systems, including speech-generating devices
(SGDs)
- Help individuals with speech and language disorders and their communication
partners understand the disorders to achieve more effective communication in
educational, social, and vocational settings.
- Modeling - When a child mispronounces a word or is not clear, restate what the child
has said. Help the child by modeling what you think she is trying to say. It is
frustrating for her to repeat herself with no feedback about what you did or did not
understand.
- Making speech clear and easy to understand - Organize your classroom and
student seating so that all students can easily see and hear you. Reduce background
noises as much as possible, and eliminate distractions like an open door into a noisy
hallway.
- Read to your students - At every level, students can increase their language skills by
hearing text read aloud.
7. Education of Children with Learning Difficulties/Disabilities
- LD refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties
in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning and
mathematical abilities.
- These disorders are intrinsic to the individual presumed to be due to the central
nervous system dysfunction and may occur across the life span.
- Learning disabilities may occur concomitantly with other handicapping conditions
(for example, sensory impairment, mental retardation, serious emotional disturbance)

28
 or with extrinsic influences such as cultural differences, insufficient or inappropriate
instruction.
- Individuals with learning disabilities show significant variation between their actual
performance and the level at which professionals and parents think they should
achieve.
Major factors for learning difficulties are:
• Brain dysfunction – mind controls every process in an individual. And, any kind of
problem in this area will undoubtedly disturb the whole system thereby causing a
problem in mental and other learning processes.

• Genetics- research revealed that identical twins showed highest frequency of dyslexia
than fraternal twins.

• Environmental Deprivation and Malnutrition - severe malnutrition at an early age

can affect the central nervous system and hence the learning and development of the
child. What a child experienced in the home, community, school, etc can affect
attention and other psychological processes related to learning.

• Motivational and affective factors - a child who has failed to learn for one reason or
another tends to have low expectation of success, does not persist on tasks and
develops low self-esteem. These attitudes reduce motivation and create negative
feelings about school work.

• Physical conditions - visual and hearing defects, confused laterality and spatial
orientation, poor body image, etc can inhibit individual's ability to learn.

• Psychological Conditions - attention disorders, auditory and visual memory

disorders, perception disorders, cognitive disabilities and language delay, etc can be
contributing factors to academic disabilities.

SPECIFIC LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

Dyscalculia - Children with dyscalculia have difficulties learning the most basic aspect of
arithmetic skills. Have difficulty in understanding simple number concepts, lack an intuitive
grasp of numbers and have problems learning number facts and procedures. This children
may excel in non-mathematical subjects.

Dyslexia-- Children with dyslexia experience difficulties affecting the learning process in
aspects of literacy. A persistent weakness may also be identified in short-term and working
memory, speed of processing, sequencing skills, auditory and/or visual perception, spoken
language and motor skills.

Dysgraphia: Dyscalculia is a specific learning disability that affects a person‟s handwriting

ability and fine motor skills. Problems may include illegible handwriting, inconsistent
spacing, poor spatial planning on paper, poor spelling, and difficulty composing writing as
well as thinking and writing at the same time

Identification of Learning Disability

• Significant discrepancy between potential and academic achievement

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 • Distractibility or inability to pay attention for as long as peers

• Hyperactive behaviors, exhibited through excessive movement

• Inattentiveness during lectures or class discussion

• Impulsiveness

• Poor motor coordination and spatial relation skills.

• Inability to solve problems

• Poor motivation and less involvement in learning tasks

• Over reliance on teachers and peers for class assignments

• Poor language and/or cognitive development

• Immature social skills

• Disorganized approach to learning and substantial delays in academic achievement

Support to children with LD

The teacher should make sure that all the children in the class feel valued and important
including those children who experience barriers to learning, development and participation:

• Encourage and motivate all the children in the class to do the best they can.

• Have high expectations for intellectual stimulation (do not underestimate the children
concerned), but reasonable expectations for written responses and reading skills.

• Explain things many times and in many different ways – sometimes to the whole
class, to a smaller group of children (as many will benefit from this), as well as
individually to the child with dyslexia.

A. Listening- this skill involves attending, processing information and having enough
knowledge of vocabulary and content to put a speaker‟s speech into a meaningful
form. The following techniques help to improve problems in Attention:
- Making tasks interesting
- Decreasing the length of the task
- Using varied instructional materials
- Reducing verbal destructions
- Helping learners to maintain an eye contact with either the teacher or peer or both to
facilitate non-verbal communication.
- Scheduling difficult task when the student is most alert
- Giving short assignments, tests and providing immediate feedback.
B. Speaking - In improving problems in the area of speaking, we use the following
strategies.
- Modeling (saving the correct one) and reinforcing (the correct way or repeating by the
student)

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 - Giving different contexts so that students with learning disability can practice
language.
- Allowing students to summarize orients/passages, etc read by the teacher
C. Reading - The problem in this area revolves around the following basic elements:

I. Decoding- individuals with learning difficulty have a problem in matching sounds with
their respective letters in order to read. To minimize the difficulty, teaching sounds by
combining consonants with vowels till they become automatic can be taken as a solution.

II. Comprehension- To improve students with learning difficulty problems in

comprehension, a number of specific arrangements can be made. To mention
a few:

• Presenting familiar materials/ giving daily experience materials.

• Making them responsible for their own learning by requiring then to summarize, use
self-questioning, clarity, etc about what they are reading

III. Speed- students with learning difficulty are slow readers. To solve this problem,
allowing them to read aloud for some amounts of time per day can be taken as a remedy.

D. Writing - It consist two aspects: technical and narrative aspects. The technical aspect
focuses on punctuation, hand writing, grammar, style of writing, spelling, etc and the
narrative aspect refers to writing to describe something by using technical aspects. Learning
disabled individuals have problems in both dimensions and the difficulty can be overcome by
allowing students to practice on the two aspects.

E. Mathematics - problems in this area include: knowledge of basic skills, conceptual

understanding and speed. Students may have problems in one or more of these. To help
them learn we can use:

• Rehearsal, repetition, over learning, etc.

• Games, concrete and abstract materials and multi-sensory material.

• Flash cards with symbols (+,-,x,()) prominently drawn and requiring students to
identify.

• Simple and less complicated language (grammar, sentence).

8. EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH PHYSICAL AND HEALTH RELATED

PROBLEMS IN INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS

A. PHYSICAL RELATED PROBLEMS

It includes children with neurological defects, orthopedic conditions, birth defects,

developmental disabilities, and conditions that are the result of infection and diseases.

Neurological based disorders – are those entailed with lesion of central nervous system.
They are of varied type among which seizure disorder, cerebral palsy, spinal-bifida and
traumatic brain injury are the most prevalent ones among our community.

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Musculoskeletal related problems – are those difficulties arising in the muscle, joints,
joinery fluids and skeleton. One of the best examples is Hanson‟s syndrome, commonly
known as leprosy. Arthritis and different inflammations around joints are the others common
around rural Ethiopia.

Accident based physical/ motor disabilities – are problems occurring on an individual

anytime in life that hampers development and daily living of an individual at any moment.
Most of these types occur by nature or due to some forms of damage to the body parts. E.g.,
amputation

The causes of physical disabilities and health impairments can be recognized as:

 biological causes,

 infections and toxins,

 injury, socioeconomic and

 environmental factors

Convulsive Disorders - The word "convulsion" refers to a general seizure involving rapid
spasmodic contraction and relaxation of the musculature. And, epilepsy or convulsive
disorder is the most common neurological impairments encountered in the school.

Seizures may be caused by many conditions and circumstances and are divided into two:

Primary epilepsies- They usually appear at a young age; occur in families where there is
some history of epilepsy.

Secondary epilepsies- They may appear at any age and result from accidents or child abuse,
brain injury, meningitis, etc

• Polio- Polio is a muscular disease in which poliomyelitis, viral infection, attacks the nerve
cells in the spinal cord that controls muscle function. The effects of polio infection
range from symptoms resembling those of a cold and fever to mild to severe paralysis.

• Muscular Dystrophy- It is a progressive muscle weakness that comes from problems in the
muscles themselves. The muscle cells degenerate and are replaced by fat and fibrous cells.
The cause of muscular dystrophy is unknown, but it appears to run in families, usually
transmitted by the mother's genes. It mainly affects boys.

B. Health related impairments

• Health related impairments – are those problems which occur on the individual
frequently or progressively and always interfere with the individual‟s development,
education and daily activities. The most common ones are: Asthma, HIV/AIDS, TB,
heart failure, nausea, kidney problem, etc.

Identification of children with health/physical difficulties

Children, in general, show one or more of the following signs or characteristics:

- limited vitality or energy,

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 - many school absences,
- the need for physical accommodation to participate in school activities,
- poor motor coordination,
- frequent falls and speech difficulty to understand, etc
- Children, in general, show one or more of the following signs or characteristics:
- limited vitality or energy,
- many school absences,
- the need for physical accommodation to participate in school activities,
- poor motor coordination,
- frequent falls and speech difficulty to understand, etc
Education of children with motor/physical problem in inclusive classroom

• Students with uncontrollable jerky movements and other conditions may face
difficulties in paper and pencil tests. Thus, sometimes a teacher may use oral tests in
order to obtain accurate reading of the student's skill level.

• Some children with severe cerebral palsy may need the teacher to physically move
them from place to place or position them. The physical therapist can instruct the
teacher on the safest and most appropriate manner to transfer a particular child.

• Teachers must be prepared to work cooperatively with the other professionals, such as
speech language pathologists, physical therapists, counselors, and physicians
participating in the child's education.

• Teachers should spend much time with a child during the working hours

• Provide important information to the child's' physician on the characteristics of a

child's seizure disorder.

• Monitoring the effects and dosage of seizure medication.

• Respond effectively to a child's seizure and to show other students and school
personnel's how to help a child experiencing a seizure.

• For children who cannot write as fast and efficiently as others, the teacher must
anticipate accommodations. Example: The child may need extra time for completing
written assignments.

• Encourage classmates to take notes for students who cannot write and she or he may
arrange other facilities or adjustments.

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