Colegio De La PurisimaCconcepcion

The School of the Archdiocese of Capiz

Roxas city

College of Education

FLEXIBLE LEARNING KIT

Special Education

WEEK 1

Topic 1. General INTERVENTION AND PUBLIC POLICY

Lessons: Specific A. AN INCLUSIVE APPROACH TO EARLY EDUCATION

1. Definition of Inclusion and the salient features of inclusive education

2. The current perspective about Inclusion.

3. Rationale for Inclusive Education

4. Benefits of Inclusion

5. Implications for Teachers.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

1. Define Inclusion and describe the salient features of inclusive education

2. Describe the changing society’s attitude toward children with disabilities

3. State the rationale for Inclusive education

4. Give the benefits of inclusion.

5. Discuss the challenges teachers face when implementing inclusive early education program.

Introduction: This lesson focuses on inclusive education. Inclusion is when children with special
needs like Chanda, a young child with Down syndrome, attends a local program. Devon, a little boy with
autism, in a class with six children with disabilities and six children without disabilities, takes swimming
lessons at the local community center after preschool. Jonathan, a second grader with severe
communication delays, participates in the youth choir at his church.
All of these children are involved in inclusive programs.
Inclusion is in the lives of these young children such as Chanda , Devon, and Jonathan. Inclusion means
that children with special needs attend preschool, childcare, recreational programs and school with
typically developing peers.
The Department of Education clearly state its vision for children with special needs in consonance with
the philosophy of Inclusive education: “The state, community and family hold a common vision for the
Filipino child with special needs. By the 21st children with special needs be adequately be provided with
basic education

Content: INCLUSION DEFINED

Inclusion describes the process by which a school accepts children with a special need for
enrolment in regular classes where they can learn side by side with their peers.” Inclusion is a right ,not
a privilege for a select few”. The school organizes its special education program and includes a special
education teacher in its faculty. The school provides the mainstream where regular teacher and special
education teachers organize and implement appropriate programs for both special and regular students.
Mainstreaming is enrolling children with disability along with typically developing children in the same
classroom. The term integration also has been used to describe the inclusion of children in programs for
typically developing children . Some educators argue that there are clear- cut difference between
integration and mainstreaming; others use the terms interchangeably .Both terms refer to children with
disabilities being placed full time or part-time programs designed for typically developing children.

THE SALIENT FEATURES OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Inclusion means implementing and mainstreaming warm and accepting classroom communities
that embrace and respect diversity or differences.

Inclusion implements a multilevel, multimodality curriculum. This means that special needs
students follow an adapted curriculum and use special devices and materials to learn at a suitable
pace.
 Inclusion prepares regular teachers and special education teachers to teach interactively. The
structure is where students work together, teach one another and participate actively in class activities.
The students tend to learn with and from each other rather than compete with each other

Inclusion provides continuous support for teachers to break down barriers of professional isolation.
The hallmark of inclusive education are co-teaching, team teaching, collaboration, and consultation and
other ways of assessing skils and knowledge learned by all the students.

INCLUSION IN PERSPECTIVE

EARLY ATTITUDES

The number of children with disabilities in the educational mainstream has increased steadily
over the past thirty years. This is in marked contrast to the way of children with disabilities
were viewed in the past. Caldwell (1973) gives the following description of the stages our
society has gone through in its treatment of people with disabilities.

FORGET AND HIDE

Until the middle of the twentieth century, families, communities, and society in general seemed
to try to deny the existence of people with disabilities. As much as possible, children with
disabilities were kept out of sight. For example, families often were advised immediately to
institutionalize an infant with an obvious disability such as Down syndrome.

In 1950, the National Association for Retarded Children (now the ARC)was founded. Efforts
were put into motion to identify children with disabilities and to bring them out of attics and
back rooms

SCREEN AND SEGREGATE

About the same time (1950), special education began in public school systems. These first
special education classes often provided little more than custodial care.

The screen-and-segregate period lasted more than twenty years, at which point the
constitutional rights of people with disabilities began to be recognized.

IDENTIFY and HELP

The identify-and-help period came about during the 1960s as a result of political and social
activities. Caldwell summed up this period thus: “We have not abandoned concern with
screening, with trying to find children who need help.
INCLUDE and SUPPORT

In 1986, Madeleine Will, then, assistant secretary at the Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services (under the U.S. Department of Education), in an annual report regarding
the status of special education programs education suggested that greater efforts to educate
mildly and moderately disabled students in the mainstream of regular education be pursed.

RATIONALE FOR INCLUSIVE EARLY EDUCATION

The rationale for inclusive early childhood programs will be discussed in terms of ethical issues,
socialization concerns, developmental considerations, and the always pressing issue of cost
effectiveness.

THE ETHICAL ISSUE

The rights of children with disabilities to as full a life as possible is a major ethical force among advocates
of inclusion. Dunn (1968) first brought the unfairness of segregated education for children with
disabilities to the public consciousness. He asserted that special classes, for the most part, provided
inadequate education for children with development delays.

THE SOCIALIZATION ISSUE

Including young children with disabilities in the educational mainstream implies equal social status with
children who are developing normally. Inclusion promotes awareness. Members of the community
become more accustomed to children with developmental disabilities; this leads to greater acceptance.
It cannot be overemphasized that young children with developmental disabilities are entitled to the
same kinds on enriching early experiences as typically developing children. Young children with
disabilities who play and interact only with other children with disabilities will not learn normal social
skills.

DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUE

The significance of the early years in laying the foundations for lifelong learning is well established.
During these early years, children acquire a broad range of basic skill in all areas of development.

1. They learn to move about, to get from one place to another independently, to explore and
experiment.

2. They become skilled at grasping, holding on to, releasing, and manipulating ever more complex
objects.

3. They become increasingly able to take care of their personal needs: toileting, dressing, eating.

4. They acquire their native language and use it in a variety of ways to get what they need (and prefer)
from other in their environment.
5. They develop the ability to think, generate ideas, solve problems, make judgments, and influence
others.

6. They respond with increasingly sophisticated words and gestures when other speak to them or them
or attempt to influence them.

7. They discover ways of getting along with and interacting with others—those who are like themselves
and those who are different.

There will be interaction with all kinds of other children who serve as models to imitate and to play with
children who will help.

SENSITIVE PERIODS

The majority of young children will acquire basic developmental skills on their own. Some of this
learning, seems to come about more readily at particular points in time, known as developmentally
sensitive or critical periods. During these periods, the child appears to be especially responsive and able
to learn from specific kinds of stimulation.

A developmental disability or delay often prevents a child from reacting in ordinary ways during a
sensitive period.

Without special assistance and opportunities to follow the leads of other children who are responding to
what is going on, the child with a sensory impairment is isolated from everyday events.

A child whose hearing problem is identified early may experience fewer problems in language
development.

Children who are physically disabled also are denied critical learning opportunities, but for different
reasons. Many cannot move around. They can- not explore their environment.

TEACHABLE MOMENTS

For teachers in an inclusive setting, another concept of developmental significance is that of teachable
moments. These are points in time when a child is highly motivated and better able to acquire a
particular skill such as walking. Riding a tricycle, or learning to count. All children, including those with
severe disabilities, have many such teachable moments everyday. They occur during daily routine and
activities. It is important that teachers recognize these opportunities and make sure they lead to
developmentally appropriate learning experiences.

Imitation

Another important rationale for inclusive early childhood setting is that young children with disabilities
will observe and imitate more advanced skills modeled by typically developing children (Goldstein,
1993). The logic is sound. Imitating others is a major avenue of learning for, everyone, old and young
alike.
Young children learn by doing. If children with developmental problems are to learn to play
appropriate, they must have children to imitate and play with. If a young child with severe
communication problems is to learn to initiate conversation, there must b be peers available
who are interesting and appropriate conversational partners.

The Cost Issue

The cost of providing inclusive early education services is of concern to parents, program
providers, administrators, and other program consumers.

The existing data on the cost of inclusive education programs suggest that these programs can be an
economical alternative because they take advantage of existing programs structure rather than creating
parallel and often duplicate structures (Odom & Parrish (in press), Salisbury &Chambers, 1994). The cost
of providing appropriate educational services for young children with special needs can be reduced by
capitalizing on existing programs in the community.

BENEFITS OF INCLUSION

Benefits for Children with Disabilities

In addition to the philosophical and legal issue , there are many clear benefits of
educating young children with special needs in inclusive program.

Research also indicates that inclusive setting are more stimulating and responsive to young
children with disabilities than environments serving only children with special needs.

Development progress

The progress of children who are typically developing is not adversely affected by
placement in inclusive classes with children with developmental disabilities.

In studies that have compared the amount of teacher attention to individual students and
student’s rate of engaged learning time in classroom with and without students and disabilities
there are no differences, again suggesting no negative impact on instructional opportunities in
inclusive classrooms.

Peer tutoring

A well-documented benefit of inclusion for normally developing children is peer tutoring—one

child instructing another. It appears that both the child being tutored and the child doing the tutoring
receive significant benefits from the experience used of materials.
In fact, peer tutoring tends to be of special value for gifted children. It provides an exciting and
challenging stretch for their own creativity and inguenity.

Benefits for Families

In general, parent’s attitudes about inclusion were influenced by their experiences with
inclusion ). Parents of children with disabilities were most often positive in their responses, although
they did identify some concerns.

Parents perceived their children’s experience as generally positive ,t parents reported that their children
were more accepting of human differences and had a less discomfort with people with disabilities and
people who looked or behaved differently than they did.

Benefits for Society

Not only does inclusion have positive effects on all children; it appears to be of long-term benefit
with society. Non-disabled children who grow up with opportunities to interact with children with
disabilities are likely to be more tolerant in later years. They tend to mature in to adults with greater
understanding and respect for those less able in our society attitudes.

believed that non-disabled children who grow up with the opportunity to interact with children with
disabilities are more likely to show greater understanding of individuals with disabilities.

Supporting Inclusion: Implications For Teachers

The mere act of placing children with and without disabilities together in a classroom does not
ensure successful inclusion. “Inclusion depends on teachers’ attitudes towards pupils with special needs,
on their capacity to enhance social relations, on their view on the differences in classrooms and their
willingness to deal with those different effectively”

Effective inclusion requires specific planning and implementation by teachers, whose responsibilities
include:

. individualizing programs and activities and to meet each child’s specific needs and abilities.

. arranging a highly engaging learning environment that encourages appropriate behavior.

. recognizing the value of play as a major avenue of learning for all children; at the same time,
recognizing that play skills often have to be taught to children with disabilities, many of whom neither
know how to play nor to play spontaneously.

. arranging balance of a large and small group experiences, both vigorous and quiet, so that all children,
at their own levels, can be active and interactive participants.

Structuring Child-Child Interaction

The effectiveness of inclusion depends on ongoing interaction between children with and without
disabilities. Merely placing children with disabilities in the same settings as their typically peers will not
automatically lead to social interaction and acceptance . Disabled and non-disabled children played
together when the teacher structured the environment to promote such interaction.

In another study, focused on imitation in an inclusive classroom, that children with autism can learn to
imitate their peers during small-group activities.

Planning for an inclusive early childhood program must focus on activities that lead to children with and
without disabilities working and playing together.

Planning Activities

Curriculum planning for inclusive setting also requires teachers t integrate the goals and activities on the
children’s IFSPs/IEPs into ongoing classroom activities. Using an activity-based approach to planning
draws from the strong tradition of early children and special education to best meet the learning needs
of young children with disabilities.

Professional Collaboration

In addition to classroom practices, inclusion requires the integration of professional efforts.

Administrators, teachers, aides, volunteers, and members of the interdisciplinary team need to work
together.

Part of the search includes looking for way to develop a partnership with parents. This means listening
to parents, consulting with them, and learning from them

Student Activities:

I Essay: Answer briefly and clearly the following questions:

1. what is Inclusion?

2. Describe the important features of inclusive education?

3. Name and briefly describe the 4 stages of public perception in reference to

children with disabilities.

4. How would an inclusive program be beneficial?

II . List down your answer to the following items

1.) 5 responsibilities of the teacher in an inclusive school

2.) 5 major concern that parents and teachers have about inclusion for young
children with developmental problems.

III Matching Type: Put the letter of your answer on the space provided for:
_____1. It describe services for very young children with A. Teachable Moments

disabilities (ages 0-3) and their families.

collaboratively and describe the child current strength and needs.

_____2. It is a process when children with special needs attend B. Sensitive Period-

Preschool child care, and recreational programs with their

typically developing peers.

- ______3. points in time, perhaps associated with critical periods, when C. Peer tutoring

a child is highly motivated and better able to acquire a particular

skill.

________4. a document that is mandated for every student with D. Inclusion

a disability (ages three to twenty- one .
It is the blue print for the services .

- _______5. enrolling children with disabilities along with typically D. Sensory Deficit-
developing children in the same classroom.

______6. a time when a child is especially responsive and able F. Individualized Education
to learn a particular skill. Program

______7. a loss in one or more of the five senses : vision, hearing, G. Mainstreaming
touch, taste, smell

_______8. one child instructing or assisting another. H. Least Restrictive

Environment-

______9. the most normalized environment in which the needs of a child I. Deficit model
with disabilities can be met appropriately.
–
_______10. It focuses on a child disabilities and delays and tries to remedy J. Individualized Family
what is “wrong “ with the child Service Plan
Assessment:
40% Assessment - Objective test- Multiple-choice. Matching-type, True/False(Scoring)
Subjective test- essay ( Rubric)
60% Periodic examination-
Prelims (25%)+ Midterm (25%)+ Pre- final (25%)+ Finals (25%)+ General Average Grad

Rubric for Essay

Name________________________Course/Year______________Subject_____________Date_________

Criteria Advanced Proficient Partially Needs Score

Proficient Improvement

(20pts) (15pts) (10pts) (5pts)

Content Answer are Answer are Answer are not Answer are partial
comprehensive, accurate and comprehensive or incomplete; key
accurate and complete; key or completely points are not clear.
complete ;key ideas points are stated; key Question not
are clearly stated, stated and points are adequately
explained, and well supported. addressed but answered.
supported. not well
supported.
Grammar and There are no errors in There are few Errors in spelling, Errors in spelling,
Mechanics spelling, punctuation errors in punctuation or punctuation or
or grammar. spelling, grammar are grammar are
punctuation or evident. numerous.
grammar.
Organization of Ideas are extremely Ideas are unified Some Ideas are Ideas are not
Ideas unified and coherent. and coherent. not unified and unified and
coherent. coherent.
Total

Formula (transmuted grades)

Total Score
-------------- x50 +50=
Perfect S
x__________________________

Signature over printed

References
Allen Eileen K. & Education Cowdery Glynnis E. The Exceptional Child Inclusion in Early Childhood
. Wadsworth Cengage Learning USA 2012
Inciong, Teresita et al. Introduction to Special Education Rex Store 2007