SPECIAL EDUCATION

• Education


  The action or process of teaching someone
• The real goal of Education


  Becoming a good person
• Special education


  • Historically regarded as an attempt to increase fairness in universal public education
• Normal curve


  A model that displays distribution of intelligence
• Inclusive education


  An educational practice that places students with disabilities in the regular classroom
• Guidelines for inclusion by UNESCO (2005)


  • Inclusion is a process - an endless search to find better ways to respond to diversity
  • Inclusion involves a preventive dimension in identifying and removing potential barriers through collecting, collating and evaluating information
  • Inclusion is about presence, participation and achievement
  • Inclusion puts particular emphasis on learners who may be at risk of marginalization and exclusion
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)


  Road maps or blueprints developed by the United Nations to ensure better outcomes, consisting of 17 global goals
• Booth and Ainscow came up with an Index for Inclusion


  2002
• Three dimensions of the Index for Inclusion

  • Creating inclusive cultures
  • Evolving inclusive practices
  • Producing inclusive policies
• The three dimensions of the Index for Inclusion are interconnected and chosen to direct thinking about school change
• Inclusive culture


  Creates a secure, accepting, collaborating and stimulating community where everyone is valued as the foundation for the highest achievement of all
• Inclusive policies


  Ensure that inclusion permeates all school plans and policies
• Inclusive practices


  Develop school practices that reflect the inclusive cultures and policies of the school
• Inclusion is the responsibility of society as it is the responsibility of schools
• Steps stakeholders can take to create inclusive cultures


  • Set parameters for inclusion
  • Build the key people
  • Identify and eradicate barriers
• Common barriers to inclusion

  • Attitudes, values, system and misconceptions, and societal norms
  • Physical barriers - lack of buildings and facilities
  • Rigid, one-size-fits-all curriculum
  • Lack of teacher training and low teacher efficacy
  • Poor language and communication, language barriers
  • Lack of funding
  • Lack of policies
  • Organization of educational systems
  • Too much focus on performance-based standards
• Mainstreaming shares more similarities with inclusion than with special education
• Steps educators can take to facilitate societal shift towards inclusion

  • Involve other sectors of society
  • Collaborate
  • Recognize the shift in roles of teachers
  • Include transitions in planning
• Aspects of the school that need to be examined

  • Student admissions
  • Accessibility to utilities and facilities
  • Supports available to students, parents and school personnel
  • Learner accommodations
  • Exclusionary and discriminatory incidents
  • Number of bullying cases
  • Faculty and staff promotions
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL)


  An evidence-based inclusive practice that can be used in the classroom
• Differentiated Instruction


  An evidence-based inclusive practice that can be used in the classroom
• Three elements of UDL

  • Multiple means of representation
  • Multiple means of action and expression
  • Multiple means of engagement
• Nine UDL principles adopted from Salend

  • Equitable use
  • Flexible use
  • Simple and intuitive use
  • Perceptible information
  • Tolerance for error
  • Low physical effort
  • Size and space for approach and use
  • Community of learners
  • Inclusive environment
• Differentiated Instruction


  A teacher's response to students' varying needs
• Elements of the curriculum that can be differentiated

  • Content
  • Process
  • Product
  • Learning environment
• Differentiating instruction ensures learners are focused on their respective tasks and reflect their strengths
• Roles learners should have the opportunity to assume

  • Facilitator
  • Recorder
  • Summarizer/timekeeper
  • Presenter
  • Errand monitor
• Routines to implement for collaborative work


  • Establish working groups
  • Have a plan for quick finishers
  • Have a plan for when to ask for help (role of errand monitor)
• Pre-referral process


  A process for a child noted to have significant difficulties related to expected competencies
• Steps in the pre-referral process

  • Initial identification
  • Determination of teaching areas and strategies
  • Implementation of teaching programs
  • Evaluation of teaching program
• ECCD (Early Childhood Care and Development)


  One of the social worker tools in screening
• Assessment


  The process of collecting information about a child's strengths and needs
• Variety of assessment methods teachers can use

  • Interviews
  • Observations
  • Checklists or rating scales
  • Tests
• Types of assessment


  • Norm-referenced tests
  • Criterion-referenced tests
  • Informal or non-standardized assessment (authentic assessment)
• Authentic assessment


  Considered to be formal or informal, using only one method, such as observation
• Essential information to be included in a running record

  • Date and time of observation
  • Names of children involved
  • Location of the incident
  • Verbatim recording of what children said
  • Actual events that occurred
• Anecdotal records


  Contain shorter descriptions of incidents of specific groups or children
• General education classroom


  The least restrictive environment for a child with additional needs, providing access to the same learning experiences and opportunities
• Educational placement options


  • Home or hospital program
  • Residential facility
  • Special education class in a special education setting
  • Special education class in a general education setting
  • General education class with resource center instruction
  • General education class with inclusion or co-teaching with a special education teacher
  • General education class with related services
  • General education class with modifications
• Accommodations


  Supports provided to students to help them gain access to class content and instruction without altering the curriculum standards and competencies expected, and to demonstrate accurately what they know