Basic Concepts in Special and Inclusive Education PDF

Introduction to Special and Inclusive Education Basic Concepts in Special and Roland E. Sison, M.A. Inclusive Education Instructor, College of Teacher Education Is inclusive education the same as special education? Special Education Special Education (SpEd) is defined as classes or i...

Introduction to Special and Inclusive Education Basic Concepts in Special and Roland E. Sison, M.A. Inclusive Education Instructor, College of Teacher Education Is inclusive education the same as special education? Special Education Special Education (SpEd) is defined as classes or instruction designed for students with disabilities, giftedness, and talents.  Special Education It refers to programs that cater to the educational need of learners with disabilities, giftedness, and talents, apart from SpEd theirplanning, involves same-aged peers. implementing, monitoring, and evaluating a specially designed and coordinated set of services through the Individualized Education Plan/Program (IEP) tailored to identify and address the specific strengths and limitations towards their educational, social, behavioral, and physical development. Special Educatio n Special Education Needs is a term used in some countries to refer to children with impairments that are seen as requiring additional support  Special Education Learners with special needs (LSEN) are also referred to as students with additional needs (SWAN), children with special needs (CSN), students with special education needs (SEN), or children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND), but it is preferable, according to Bustos (2018) to use the term learners with disabilities (LWD), since the rights of person with disabilities (PWDs) are fundamental human Inclusive Educatio n IE is about putting the right to education into action by including all learners, respecting their diverse needs, abilities and characteristics and eliminating all forms of discrimination in the learning Inclusive Educatio n It is the process of strengthening the capacity of the education system to reach out to all learners (UNESCO, 2017). Therefore, inclusion is the process that helps overcome barriers limiting the presence, participation, and achievement of learners (UNESCO, 2017, p.13).  Inclusive Education Inclusive Education is also highlighted in the DepEd Order 21, series of 2019, also known as the Policy guidelines on the K to 12 Basic Education Program. Inclusive education, according to the policy, is the key standard and core principle of the K to 12 curriculum, and as an inclusive curriculum, it is learner-centered, developmentally appropriate, culture-sensitive, relevant, gender-responsive, and contextualized.  Inclusive Education and Special Education Inclusive Education Special Education All learners, regardless of the condition, participate in a The learners with disabilities, giftedness, and talents are mainstream classroom alongside their age peers. accommodated in a special class along with other learners of the same condition. The learners adhere to a prescribed curriculum and A special curriculum is structured on the learners’ condition methodology with some accommodations/adaptations and (e.g. intellectual disability, visual impairments) but is based modifications to meet the needs of learners with disabilities, on the regular curriculum. giftedness, and talents. All students simply require good instruction, but different The learners with disabilities, giftedness, and talents are teaching strategies may be employed to those with low or given specialized and intensive instruction a anchored on very high education needs. their curriculum.  Inclusive Education and Special Education (continuation) Inclusive Education Special Education The general education teacher oversees the The special education teacher oversees the learning of students and in some cases, learning of learners with disabilities, with the help of shadow teacher or a special giftedness and talents with the collaborative education teacher. partnerships of other professionals listed in the IEP. Ideal number of learners: 30-35 For one-on-one: 1 For group: 3-4 For resource group: 5-10 Along SpEd and IE, other related concepts include mainstreaming and integration. Mainstreaming is the practice of educating students with learning challenges in regular classes, in the least restrictive environment, based on their skills. Integration according to Franklin (1996) refers to the creation of spaces such as regular classrooms, special education classrooms, or pull-out services for diverse learners. UNESCO states that inclusion is the process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures, and communities, and reducing exclusion within and from education.  Conceptualization of Inclusion, Mainstreaming, and Integration Inclusion Mainstreaming Integration Placement of learners in the Placement in the regular class is Placement in the regular class in regular class is based on age, based on the admission one or more subjects or activities. regardless of their abilities or requirements. disabilities. There are no pullouts and no Provisions of interaction with Provisions of interaction with shadow teacher. regular children, with the regular regular children, with the SpEd class as the child’s station. class as the child’s station. Individualization within the class May include shadow teaching in May include tutorial and other without pullout. the regular class, provision for learning-assistance programs. pullout and one-on-one.  Inclusive education equates to the idea of equity. Equality is where is everyone given the same support with the assumption that once all children are provided with the same opportunities, every one o them are catered properly. Equity is about fairness in every situation.  In making education inclusive, teachers use both accommodation and modification strategies in teaching. Accommodations change “how” the learners with disabilities, giftedness, and talents learn the same material and meet the same expectations as their age peers. Modification changes “what” a student is taught or expected to learn. More than one billion people, or nearly 15% of people around the world, are said to have a disability. Approximately 100 million people from age 15 and above experience a substantial challenges in their daily functioning.  The term disability is often confused with impairment. The precondition to completely understand its definition is by becoming acquainted with its two major disability models , medical and social model.  The Medical Model: Disability as a disease Beginning the middle of 1800s. The medical/biomedical model of disability began to replace the moral and/or religious model in favor of important advances in medical science. This model views disability as medical concern or problem residing in an individual (Olkin, 1999). Disability according to those who believe in this model, is a defect or failure of the body and, thus, is inherently abnormal and pathological. Hence, intervention must be with the end goal of finding a cure, upgrading the physical condition to the farthest extent possible, and rehabilitation and adjust to the current environment. This model essentially defines disability in a negative way. It regards disability as objectively bad, as a pitiable condition, "a personal tragedy for the individual and her family, something to be prevented and, if possible, cured" (Thomas & Woods, 2003, p. 15; Carlson, 2010, p. 5).  The Social Model: Disability as a socially constructed phenomenon The social model of disability emerged as a response to the limitations of the medical model of disability (D' Alessio, 2011). Regarded sometimes as the minority model, it views the society as one "which disables people with impairments, and therefore any meaningful solution must be directed at societal change rather than individual adjustment and rehabilitation" (Barnes, Mercer, & Shakespeare, 2010, p. 163). One of the most vital documents that contributed to the development of this model was the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregations (UPIAS) manifesto document, Fundamental principles of Disability (1976). Central to the social model of disability is the concept that disability is eventually a socially constructed phenomenon.  As pre-service teachers, it is important to avoid discriminatory behavior and language towards learners with disabilities, to be sensitive enough not to make them feel different from other students in the school, and also avoid name-calling. Another way to model non-discriminatory behavior is by being sensitive to the words used to address people with disabilities. Language use is not difficult, so if you are referring to PWDs in sentence construction use People First Policy, where the word people or person is used followed by their condition or impairment. References: Custidio, Z., Nalipay, J. (2021). Foundations of Special and Inclusive Education. Adriana Publishing Hala, C., Yuzon, M., Padilla, C., Ligon, C. (2021). Foundations of Special and Inclusive Education. REX Publishing  -End of Presentation-