Disabilities in the ancient world and especially in Greece and Rome were treated by getting rid of babies that were born deformed or with any form of disability. Their obsession with perfection “allowed” them to commit unspeakable sins.
Luckily, civilization has come a long way and today we know that a disability doesn’t mean we are dealing with a lesser being at all. Some of the master brains of our society are disabled people. Stephen Hawking, the British theoretical physicist, is one of the best examples of a severely disabled person that made massive contributions to the world of science.
The law expects it from schools to accommodate disabled children in schools and rightly so. Unfortunately, while the idea is noble and within the human rights of the individual, the practical application might not always be that easy.
There are many concerns that need to be addressed before the decision can be made to say that mainstream education will benefit the child.
1. The severity of the disability will have an impact. A child that is physically disabled and in a wheel chair or have some difficulty walking would easily adapt in a mainstream school where the school is equipped to accommodate wheel chairs. If the child doesn’t suffer from any other disability or cognitive impairment, he or she would be able to learn as well as any of the other children in the school.
2. Visual or hearing impairment or disability might not be so easy to accommodate. Teachers need special training to assist these learners as they cannot communicate and learn in the same way as other children do. In larger schools where there might be a number of children with these disabilities, a special education teacher can be appointed. In smaller areas with smaller schools the need might not be the same or it might not be possible to get a teacher with these qualifications.
3. Children who are severely physically or mentally disabled will need special care that mainstream schools might not be able to provide. Again the smaller schools might have more of a problem than bigger city schools.
Parents who need to make this choice should consider all options and if the school can genuinely not provide the specific needs of the child, it might be necessary to look for alternative opportunities. Who knows if this child will not grow up to be the next Stephen Hawking?
By: Jared Wright
Posts Tagged ‘Disabled Children’
Disabled Child and Mainstream Education – Getting it Right
January 13th, 2010How to Teach Special Education Students
November 6th, 2009
Today there are many children who are living their life with developmental or learning disabilities, which in turn has deeply affected following day-to-day activities. In fact, many of them are either suffering from high functioning Autism or Autistic tendencies. These problems have restricted them in learning the skills primarily required to survive in everyday life. Teaching everyday life skills to these students are not an easy job or everybody’s cup of tea. It actually requires a lot of patience and determination. It can be very challenging, but at the same time it can be fun and rewarding experience, if you as a special education tutor follow some of useful tips given below. These are few important guidelines that can help you to teach or educate a child that requires special education in a better way:
1) Selection of instructional style can help you a lot in a special education process. You can choose to educate in a very ordered way by prefabricated materials and using textbooks. However, you may even take the way of hands-on activity in a student-centered classroom.
2) Students with reading disabilities can be given oral instructions. You can present tests and reading materials in an oral format that you may access easily.
3) Regularly check the progress rate of learning disabled students and tell them about their frequency of progress. This will help them to know that how far they are from their individual or class goal.
4) Give response to the learning disabled students immediately. This may help you in understanding the relationship between what was taught and what was learned.
5) Try to shorten the class activities set for learning disabled children because lengthy activity projects are seriously annoying for such children.
6) Special children feel difficulty in learning abstract concepts and terms. So, provide them concrete or practical objects and events, for an example items they can touch, hear, smell, etc.
7) Disabled students require constant admiration. So, be sure, you constantly appraise them for their activities that directly help in boosting the confidence level.
Always encourage cooperative learning activities. Tell students of different abilities to work together on a single project. This will create environment where true learners can get the most or learn more out of the activity.
9) Try to engage youngsters more into problem-solving activities that may help them in solving their own conclusions.
10) Give these students opportunities to take initiative for any of the activity in the classroom. Other than that, also provide subjects that interest them for extensive reading activity.
Learning life skills and basic are significant lessons for a special education student. While teaching life skills and literacy, it is also important to remember that such students learn best by practical experience. With lots of practical learning and motivation, these children can learn a lot and faster than an average special child. So, follow these simple yet effective tips and watch them grow and doing well inn their daily work efficiently.
By: Erik R Johnson
