FOUNDATION OF SPECIAL AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION:

Basic Concepts in Special Education

What is Special Education?

Individually planned, systematically implemented, and carefully evaluated
instructions to help exceptional children achieve the greatest possible personal self-
sufficiency and success in the present and future environment

The Objective of Special Education

To develop the maximum potential of the child with special needs to enable him to
become self-reliant and shall be geared towards providing him with the opportunity
for a full and happy life.

Basic Philosophy of Special Education

 “Every child with special needs has a right to an educational program that is
suitable to his needs.”
 “Special education shares with regular education basic responsibilities of the
educational system to fulfill the right of the child to develop to his full
potential.”

What are IDEA and IEP?

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
 Is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible
children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education
and related services to those children.
Individual Education Plan (IEP)
 The Individual Education Plan It is a legally binding document that schools
must follow.
Individuals with Disability Education Act
 The EAHCA of 1975 was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act.
 Children” was replaced with the term “individuals”
 “Handicapped” became “with disabilities”
 Significant change in attitude which focuses on person-first, not disability-first.
 Disabilities are now viewed as one aspect of a person, not their sole identity.

Statements that IDEA requires IEP to include:

 The Child’s Level of Performance
 Annual Goals
 Short Term Instructional Objectives
 Specific Educational Services
 Transition Services

Who are the members of the IEP team?

1. A local representative from the school agency.
2. The child’s teacher.
3. One or both of the child’s parents or responsible part.
4. The child.
5. Other individuals at the discretion of the parent or agency.

4 Points of View about SpEd

1. SPED is a legislatively governed enterprise.
2. SPED is a part of the country's educational system.
3. SPED is teaching CSN in the LRE.
4. SPED is purposeful intervention.

Types of Intervention
1. Preventive: keep potential and prevent minor problem from becoming a
disability.
2. Primary: eliminate risk factors
3. Secondary: reducing the effects of risk factors
4. Tertiary: minimizing the impact of disability
5. Remedial: eliminate the effect of a disability
Foundation of Special and Inclusive Education
Diversity of Learners

Diversity
 Understanding each individual is unique and recognizing our individual
differences.
 Dimension of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic
status, age, physical abilities, religious belief, political belief or other
ideologies.

Race- refers to physical characteristics such as the color of a person’s skin.

Ethnicity – refers to the cultural and linguistic identity of a families nation of origin.

Diversity
 It is the practice or equity including or involving people from range of different
social and ethnic background and different genders.

The Importance of Diversity

1. Diversity aims at eliminating exclusions resulting from a negative attitude and lack
of response to diversity in race, economic status, social class, language, religion,
gender, sexual and ability.
2. Diversity and Inclusion improve teaching and learning.
3. Diversity in teaching strategies help students view themselves as people who
belong to the community of leaners in a classroom.
4. Diversity drives creativity and innovation.

Who is the founder of Loden’s Diversity Wheel ?

Marilyn Loden(1990)
-She develops a framework for thinking about the different dimensions of diversity
within individuals and institutions.

What is Loden’s Diversity Wheel?

 Is a model that pointed to what core to our social identities, the ways in which
people derive a sense of self when identifying with certain groups.
What is the diversity wheel?
The Diversity Wheel gives an overview of the dimensions of diversity that are
present and active in one’s workplace or environment. It consists of four layers of
diversity (personality, internal, external and organizational levels) through which
stimuli, information and experience are processed by all of us.

In other words, diversity may include anything and everything that set us apart and
not only on the eternal visible level but also the deeper invisible level where believes
and values reside.

4 Principles of Loden’s Diversity Wheel (1996)

1. Respect
 Treating others the way they wish to be treated
2. Inclusion
 Making certain that everyone on the team is a truly part of the team’s
decision-making process.
3. Cooperation
 Actively helping each other succeed rather than competing or attempting to
one-up someone.
4. Responsibility
 Managing personal behavior to maintain a diversity-positive environment and
questioning inappropriate behavior when it occurs.