...CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background to the Study There is growing concern about increasing number of youth and children with special needs in our communities in Ghana today, who like any other children, must have the opportunity to go to school. The term special needs or children with special needs refers to individual learners whose needs arise from physical, emotional, sensory, behavioural and intellectual conditions that have a long-term adverse effect on their ability to access the regular education facilities. This includes individuals with various disabilities such the mentally retarded, the hearing and visually impaired, and the learning disabled individuals. In the olden days, children with special needs had their education mainly in the few segregated special schools spread across the country. However, owing to the fast growing number of individuals with disability, it is now common to find a good number of them in the regular schools in the various communities. The result was that educationists began exploring various educational arrangements including mainstreaming, integration and inclusion that could bring together both disabled and non-disabled individuals in the same classroom to pursue the same school curriculum. Inclusive education is a concept that allows pupils with special needs to be placed in the regular or mainstream classes to be taught by mainstream teachers. Inclusion, which is the most current perspective...
Words: 2161 - Pages: 9
...CATERING FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN THE REGULAR CLASSROOM: CHALLENGES AND THE WAY FORWARD FUANDAI, Cornelius M. PhD, FCAI Faculty of Education Nasarawa State University, P.M.B. 1022 Keffi Nasarawa State e-mail:- corneyfuan@yahoo.com Abstract The National Policy on Education specifically stipulates that there is need for equality of educational opportunities to all Nigerian children irrespective of any real or imagined disabilities (FNG 2004). The policy further states that Education of children with special needs shall be free at all levels and all necessary facilities that would ensure easy access to education shall be provided via inclusive education or integration of special class and units into ordinary/public classes under the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme. These policy statements appear lofty but their attainment under the present situation seems to be a mirage. Already, about seven million Nigerian children of school going age are out of the school system. Besides most of the public schools are overcrowded and over populated with little or no attention paid to the special child. Furthermore, there are not enough qualified personnel and instructional materials in the school system. The implication of this state of affairs in children with special needs is not adequately catered for. Worst still, most of the children with special needs are not identified early enough let alone intervention and remedial programmes arranged for...
Words: 2380 - Pages: 10
...An Essay: An evaluation of how workplace practice is influenced and directed by a specific social policy. Social policy is “the theoretical pursuit of norms about how we think society ‘ought’ to behave” (Alcock et al. 2008) in action it consists of plans and interventions put in place by the government and social services to improve the wellbeing of society. There are five main areas influenced by social policies derived to improve services for the classic welfare state namely, education, housing, social security, health and social work. Social policy is intimately concerned with how to address and ameliorate social problems and with the analysis of the success or failure of policies designed to improve welfare and wellbeing (Alcock et all. 2008:2-3) Historically social policy can be seen as far back as 1388 when “attempts were made to fix wages and to limit the mobility of labour which may cause wages to rise” (Alcock, 2008:9) a more methodical system of poor relief was introduced in Victorian times, the Elizabethan Poor Law Acts of 1598 and 1601 to house and provide work for the poor under the direction of local parishes. Following this the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 set the foundations for social policy and the modern welfare state today by changing the way that poor law was dealt with, it was streamlined into universal laws and principles that towards the end of the 18th century prompted formation of the English government. The...
Words: 3880 - Pages: 16
...I learnt that special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. It takes an extraordinary and dedicated individuals to work in special education. The main goal of special educator is to have a positive impact and to make a difference in the lives of children with disabilities. Successful teachers not only need a high level of knowledge and skill, but most importantly have the desire and determination to persevere in a challenging position. A committed teacher with a common goal for a child will have greatest level of success for a child. Teachers must help children acquire skills they need to succeed academically and socially but also have confidence in their ability to learn. My personal academic goal as a special education teacher is to be the best I can be for myself and my students. I will pursue this by working to further my teaching skills thru academic training and applying teaching strategies that are found to be best practice in both research and in practice. My teaching skills will be honed and refined thru practice over time. Continual assessment of both my students and my teaching practices will further improve my ability to help children. I care about children and have the desire and dedication to help each child reach their full potential. Formal assessment can identify students’ learning style and areas of academic need. Children can make significant...
Words: 358 - Pages: 2
...Inclusion in the Classroom: The Teaching Methods Melady A. Sherrill ENG 102 07/10/2011 Heidi Ashbaugh Inclusion in the Classroom: The Teaching Methods Inclusion is the best way to meet the needs of all the children involved in a classroom setting. A teacher’s role and teaching methods need to change in an inclusion classroom. Inclusion provides the diversity of processing special education children in with the mainstream children to enrich the learning environment. Inclusion means the act or practice of including students with disabilities in regular school classes (Merriam Webster, 2011). Although research on the long term effects of inclusion may be sketchy, there is some evidence of the positive effects of inclusive education on the students who are not disabled. When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandated that children with disabilities be educated with the children who did not have a disability, education in the United States changed (ED.gov). Before this act, few classrooms included students with disabilities. As late as the middle 1970s, an estimated one million children with disabilities did not even attend school (Inclusion Confusion, 1999). Special education changed with the passage of the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and its 1997 amendments. This legislation moved children with special needs from their separate rooms into regular classrooms. To meet the demands of the IDEA, schools must provide students...
Words: 2035 - Pages: 9
...Erin Hepler Grand Canyon University: EDU-313 N Educational Psychology May 5, 2013 Prospective Groups As teachers we will be faced with the challenge of working with children who have many different learning abilities, characteristics, and differences among them. These differences can be identified by culture, learning style, and special ability. Let us take a look at a group of students who have different learning abilities. Those three groups are students with ADHD, Down Syndrome, and Autism. We will take a look at some of the common characteristics these three groups of students have, some challenges that an educator My have to overcome when it comes to teaching that particular group of students, what special learning opportunities can be offered to the whole class, and some specific strategies to help each group of students to be able to successfully succeed. First, let us take a look at some of the characteristics of children with ADHD. Some of those characteristics are doesn’t pay attention to details, has trouble staying focused, has trouble following directions, constantly fidgets and squirms, acts out without thinking, and often leaves his or her sit where sitting quietly is expected. Some characteristics of children with Down syndrome are short attention span, language impairment, refusing to comply with requests, and delayed social development. A person with autism can display the following characteristics; some of those characteristics are may not imitate...
Words: 1811 - Pages: 8
...Different Schools Model Natalie Jones EDU650: Teaching, Learning and Leading in the 21st Century Instructor: Angela Stevens March 16, 2015 Different Schools Model All Learning institutions have different beliefs and styles when it comes to how teachers implement their lessons and strategies. Although, educators have different method, their share the same objective and that is to design and apply material to the appropriate age in such a way that students are able to learn and excel in their learning style. The two schools that I want to discuss are both public school, but they have a different classroom and learning dynamic. School A: Capistrano Elementary/Los Angeles Public School-Support Staff School B: Pulaski Road Elementary/East Northport, NY Public School-Teacher’s aide What type of teaching and learning is takes place at your school? School A: The staff member works in special education and they focus on differentiated instruction and teaching to the student’s ability. School B: The Aide works with several special education that attend, it is mostly general education. What is the classroom demographic? School A: The primary classroom has one first grader and ten second graders. Two of the students are African American, two Caucasians and seven Hispanics. Seven of these students are EL Learners (English Learners) and they have difficulties reading, writing and speaking English. There are also a multiple array of disabilities ranging from disorders to autism, to processing...
Words: 1741 - Pages: 7
...INVESTIGATING SPECIAL EDUCATION INTERNET RESOURCES Investigating Special Education Internet Resources Heather Cox Grand Canyon University: SPE-330 January 29, 2012 Investigating Special Education Internet Resources TABLE OF CONTENTS Special Education Associations Page • National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) 4 • National Education Association (NEA) 4 • International Association for Special Education (IASE) 4 Professional Development • Council for Exceptional Children 5 Legal Rights and Resources for Parents • Ed.gov IDEA 5 • Wrights Law 5 • The ARC 6 • National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) 6 • American Academy of Child & Adolescence Psychiatry 6 • Parent Pals.com 7 Educational Resources • ePals 7 • Glogster 7 Individual Disability Resources • Time 4 Learning-ADD/ADHD 8 • Ed.gov- Teaching Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders. 8 • Internet 4 Classrooms-Dyslexia 8 • Autism Speaks 9 • MitoAction 9 Special Education Associations National Association of Special Education Teachers (2007). Retrieved January 29, 2012, from http://www.naset.org/ The NASET is a national organization that was founded for future, current and former special education teachers...
Words: 1327 - Pages: 6
...Ph.D. | Position: | SPED TEACHER I | Position: | Principal IV | Review Period: | June 2014-March 2015 | Date of Review: | | Bureau/Center/Service/Division: | DEPED/ BINALONAN NORTH CENTRAL SCHOOL SPED CENTER/PANGASINAN DIVISION II | | | MFO | KRA and TOTAL WEIGHT | Objectives and Weight | Quantitative Target | Performance indicators | To be filled up during evaluation | | | | | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Actual Result | Rating | Score | Basic Education Services | Pupil Development(Teaching-Learning Process)(25%) | Prepared an up-to-date lesson plan with the appropriate and flexible teaching materials that suit the varying needs of the pupils with special needs. (5%) | | Complete lesson plan for the whole school year. Lesson Plan is taught using different teaching devices and varied teaching strategies. No repetition of lesson for three days. | Complete lesson plan for the whole school year. Lesson Plan is taught using different teaching devices and varied teaching strategies but some lessons were repeated in 10 instances. | Teacher was found to have no lesson plan in three instances. | 10 times w/o lesson plan.The lesson plan is not well planned. | Many times the teacher was found to have no lesson plan and not discharging his work in the classroom. | | | | | | Documented the learners’ academic and behavioral progress by means of an anecdotal record and learners’ portfolio. (5%) | 1 Anecdotal Record Book with Pupil’s Portfolio | 1 Anecdotal Record...
Words: 1367 - Pages: 6
...development for ensuring access, equity and quality of basic education in Zambia. According to Brendan Carmoday, schools started operating in Zambia to respond to the needs of orphans, the poor and girl children who are often disadvantaged in the delivery of basic education services. In this regard, the government, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders are encouraged to support schools so that they serve more disadvantaged groups in the society. It is against this background that this assay will discuss in details the growth of hearing impairment education in Zambia. The term ‘hearing impaired’ has been used for all categories of hearing loss, that is, for all categories of hearing loss, that is, from very mild loss to the profoundly deaf person. Another term that is accepted is ‘hearing disability’ (Moores, 1996). Persons with hearing impairment may be divided into groups: The hard-of hearing person and the profound deaf. A hard of hearing person can hear sound especially when it is amplified by a hearing aid. Davis & Silverman (1998) emphasize that the hard of hearing are pupils whose sense of hearing though defective is functional with or without hearing aids. While it is generally agreed that the hard of hearing can hear speech sounds using hearing aids, it is argued the deaf children find it difficult to fit in the environment especially when...
Words: 1424 - Pages: 6
...Inclusion, or organized placement of children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms (Cook, 2001), has certainly been one of the major topics in education for the last two decades (Avramidis, Bayliss, & Burden, 2000). However, it was not until quite recently that teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion of children with special educational needs (SEN) became the focus of extensive research (Avramidis & Kalyva, in press; Jobe & Rust, 2006). The major reason for this change in research interest could perhaps be traced to more contemporary approaches to education, which claim that in order to gain valuable insight into the practice as well as the dynamics of the inclusive classroom, there is perhaps no better method than to evaluate the attitudes of those who form an important part of that dynamic system; namely, the teachers (Rose, 2001). Indeed, teachers’ attitudes have been found to affect the process and the outcome of inclusion to a great extent (e.g., Avramidis et al., 2000; Richards, 2009). More specifically, teachers’ positive attitudes towards the inclusion of children with SEN could facilitate inclusion in a mainstream setting (e.g., Cook, 2001; Richards, 2009), since positive attitudes are closely related to motivation to work with and teach children with SEN. Teachers’ motivation in this case is of utmost importance because inclusion demands time, organisation, and cooperation with a pupil with SEN who is not customarily willing or able to participate...
Words: 1510 - Pages: 7
...Introduction to Graduate Studies in the College of Education UNV-501 October 14, 2013 Annotated Reference List Moorehead, T., & Grillo, K. (2013, March-April). Celebrating the Reality of Inclusive STEM Education: Co-Teaching in Science and Mathematics. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 45 (4), 50-57. The article talks about the different methods of teaching in a classroom. Co-teaching and station teaching, allows teachers to efficiently instruct students with learning disabilities. The No Child Left Behind and individuals with Disability Education Act, allowed the inclusion of more students with special needs in mathematics and science (Moorehead & Grillo, 2013). The STEM program now works with special education teachers to increase the knowledge of students in the areas of mathematics and science. Teachers have to implement different types of teaching to fully teach students using different tools, and methods. The article is scholarly, because its peer reviewed and the expertise of different educators through their books and articles. Israel, M., Maynard, K., & Williamson, P. (2013, Mar-Apr). Promoting Literacy-Embedded, Authentic STEM Instruction for Students with Disabilities and Other Struggling Learners. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 45 (4), 18-25. The article emphasizes on the program STEM which means; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The STEM program includes very high vocabulary words, and expository texts that can be difficult for...
Words: 564 - Pages: 3
...study…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….11 7. Literature Review .................................................................................................................................12 8. Methodology 16 9. Timeframe 18 10. Bibliography 19 Introduction For many teachers, students entering general education classrooms are just more difficult to deal with due to the many complex issues that they bring from different aspects of their lives. Teaching children who come to school hungry, stressed out, angry and sleepy interferes with the transfer of learning, even more, if the issues are compounded by other challenges such as language, speech, brain and other disorders. Today’s classrooms are more diverse as education is more inclusive (Mckay, 2012, p.1). The term “inclusion” have recently emerged to address the changing philosophy and school practices in order to better meet the needs of students with disabilities (Deng, 2008). “The exclusion of children and adolescents from the education system is a complex issue that has been widely researched and...
Words: 4115 - Pages: 17
...Philosophy of Special Education Christina L. Richardson Grand Canyon University: SPE-529N November 18, 2012 My Personal Philosophy of Special Education As educators, we need a foundation for why we want to teach, where students with different disabilities fit in that foundation, a rationale for how we teach, and a principle that keeps us striving to be the best educators we can be. The purpose of this essay is to point out what I believe the foundation, student location, rationale, and principle are for why I want to become a teacher. Special Education Philosophy I believe every child is entitled to an education no matter what race, socio-economic status, or disability. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) ensures that every child is given the opportunity to have a highly qualified education while Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires children with disabilities be given a free appropriate public education (FAPE) that meets their individual needs. The latest version of IDEA also works together with NCLB to give children with disabilities the same opportunity of high quality instruction. This causes the responsibility for the progress and performance of children with disabilities to be shared by the general and special education teachers. (Cortiella, 2006, p. 10) As a special education teacher, I will work with general education teachers and collaborate to make sure the individual needs of students with disabilities are met. I believe that all children should...
Words: 978 - Pages: 4
...Janice Nelson has been in the special education field for over 25 years. Mrs. Nelson specializes in Autism. She is the administrator of Special Education in the South Shore District in Chicago, IL. She started out as a teacher’s aid. Mrs. Nelson has had a passion for teaching ever since she can remember as a little girl. She went to Oakton Community College, a local school, to pursue a degree in Liberal Arts to buy herself a little time to figure out what she really wanted to do with her life. During this time, she took a lot of classes in early childhood. Ironically enough, she ended up loving them. She graduated with an Associate’s Degree. During the next couple of years, she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. That did not stop her from pursuing her Master’s Degree in Special Education with Endorsements in Autism and Emotional Impairments. Janice did three semesters of student teaching while earning almost all of her degrees. The first semester she student taught in a general education third grade classroom. She then noticed that general education was not for her. That’s when Janice started to gravitate towards the students who needed extra help. She craved the constant interaction of working with kids with special needs. Lucky for Janice, her next two teaching placements just so happened to be in the same school she was working in. At that point, Janice realized she was getting closer to her goal of becoming a special education teacher. Autism is...
Words: 878 - Pages: 4
