EXPERIMENTS IN EDUCATION
Vol.XXXV September
2007 No.9
CHANGES
IN THE APPROACHES TO THE EDUCATION OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN
Professor
Mrs.
P. Renuka
Assistant
Professor
Department
of Educati on
Sri Padmavathi Mahila Visvavidyalayam
Tirupati - 517502
Children whose needs
are very different from those of the majority of children in a society are
called exceptional children. The education of exceptional children is a
challenging field. In
An exceptional child
is one who deviates intellectually physically, socially or emotionally so
markedly from what is considered to be normal growth and development that he
cannot receive maximum benefit from a regular school programme and requires a
special class or supplementary instructions or services. The various categories
of exceptionality are: hearing impairment, speech impairment, visual
impairment, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, orthopedic
handicaps, giftedness etc.
Education of
exceptional children is a challenging field. Article-45 of the Indian
Constitution directs that free and compulsory education should be provided to
all children which implicitly covers those who are
handicapped. Education generally enables an exceptional child to overcome
largely his exceptionality and makes him into a useful individual. Social
justice also demands it. The primary task of education in the case of a handicapped
child is to prepare him for adjustment to his socio-cultural environment. The
different types of educational programmes for the handicapped are Special
Education, Integrated Education and Inclusive Education.
Special Education is
not an exclusive programme entirely different from the education of ordinary
children. Rather it includes aspects of education which are specific to
handicapped children in addition to the regular educational programme. In
Elements Required in Special Education
1. Trained
professional manpower including teachers, educationists, physiotherapists and
others.
2. Special curricula
severally suitable for different types of handicap such as blindness, deafness,
mental retardation, orthopedic defects, cerebral palsy, and social and
emotional deviance.
3. Special facilities
such as special provisions and structures in the school building, study
materials, audio visual aids, equipment etc.
Special education
through special schools is very expensive and it also isolates the handicapped
from the normal children. Hence many educationists disfavour the idea of
special schools on the ground that it never equalizes educational opportunities
but rather creates a feeling of differentiation among children. Special classes
create a feeling of inferiority complex among the disabled children.
Educationists favour integrated education to provide equal educational
opportunity to all children.
Integrated Education
The term' integration'
signifies the process of interaction of exceptional children and normal
children in the same educational setting.
Basically integrated
education is the result of the "Mainstreaming Movement" in
Sometimes
'integration' and 'normalization' are used interchangeably. The reason is that
in integrated education handicapped children are taught along with normal
children. Moreover, integrated education is an educational programme in which
handicapped children attend the same classes as normal children on either part
time or full time basis.
Integrated education
is less expensive compared to special education. In integrated education the
handicapped are integrated with normal children academically and socially. It
facilitates normal mental growth in the handicapped.
According to a report
of the National Sample Survey Organisation-2002, the number of handicapped
persons in
Providing for
education of an enormous number of handicapped children is an immense
undertaking. The number of existing special and integrated schools is not
enough. This has led educationists to consider alternative modes to educate the
handicapped children in our population towards fulfilling a long waited
obligation of our Constitution - "equal educational opportunity for all
the children". They think that' Inclusive Education' is the most
appropriate mode for providing educational services to an enormous number of
handicapped children.
be
imparted some competencies for dealing with handicapped children in their
classes. The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has suggested the
addition of some theory and practice areas for all the general teachers in this
direction and additional courses for the special teachers in all the areas of
disabilities.
The terms 'inclusion'
and 'inclusive education' are relatively new in the field of education for the
handicapped. The process of providing education to the handicapped children as
an integral part of the general education was considered' Inclusion'. It is
also defined as the process of bringing handicapped children, of whatever
severity, into the general classroom for education.
'Inclusion' of
handicapped children is most desirable in our country because of the very large
number of children with disabilities on the one hand and a very limited number
of special and integrated schools with adequate tools and equipment, on the
other. Seldom has a handicapped child had a suitable special school in the
vicinity of his residence. Now, the concept of inclusive education provides a
chance to the handicapped children to join the mainstream and to receive
education through regular schools.
The effectiveness of
inclusion depends on the readiness of the general educational system. Intense
research in this area indicates that general teachers are unwilling to accept
handicapped or deviant students in their classrooms. Hence a radical change in
the entire educational system and in teachers' attitude towards inclusion is
urgently required. Before implementing inclusive education programs, our
educational system is to be adopted to meet the needs of all handicapped
children.
The pre-service
teacher training programmes a, all levels (O.Ed. / B.Ed. / M .Ed.) have to undergo
fundamental change in order to equip all general teachers with the skills to
deal with special children. General teachers must
The following are some
of the elements required for offering Inclusive Education in our regular school
system:
1. Removal
of arch itectural barriers in the schools.
2. Preparation
of dual teachers (teachers who have the competency to teach children with
special needs as well as ordinary children).
3. Availability
of supportive services in regular schools.
4. Qualified
special teachers.
5. Sensitization
of general teachers.
6. Readiness
of the general educational system.
7. Readiness
of children with special needs to be enrolled in general schools.
8. Co-operation
of parents of children with special needs.
9. Establishment of Early Childhood Care and
Education (ECCE) Centers for children with special needs.
The intensive needs of children with severe disabilities challenge the
boundaries of practitioners' (teachers') knowledge and organizational supports.
Following of standard curriculum is unattainable for many children with severe
disabilities.
In our country, there
are nearly 30 million children with special needs. Till date we have been able
to reach only 1 to 2% of children with special needs. Parliament has passed the
Persons with Disabilities Act in 1995 with the objective of offering access to
education to every exceptional child in the age range of 5 to 18 years. Till
date no significant steps have been taken to achieve this objective. According
to the Manpower Report of the Rehabilitation Council of India, to meet the
needs of 10% of the disabled population we require 3,62,300
professionals of different categories. At present with the funds available to
the Council they are able to train only about 7 thousand professionals every
year through regular and distance modes. This capacity will have to be greatly
increased, if the goal of reaching every person with disability is to be
achieved within a reasonable period of time integrated and inclusive
educational programmes) have been developed in
Bharat
Singh (2004) Modern Special Education.
Peter Westwood (1997) Commonsense Methods for Children with Special
Needs. Chesham: Ponting
Green Publishing Services. Spencer J. Salend (1994) Effective
To make education more
effective and Mainstreaming - Creating inclusive joyful for
children with special needs, different Classrooms. 2nd
Edition, MacMillan types of educational programmes
(special, Publishing Company,