Separate Classes for Students with Disability
| Subject: | 🎓 Education |
| Type: | Problem Solution Essay |
| Pages: | 11 |
| Word count: | 2754 |
| Topics: | Teaching Philosophy, Human Rights |
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Education is the channel through which societal ideals are infused in a child’s mind (Hanushek and Wößmann 35). Educating every child in the society without discrimination is imperative. Approximately 1 billion people live with disability globally, and at least 1 out of 10 children is born with a disability with an estimated over 75% living in the developing countries (Berger 44). The children often never start school, and if they do they fail in the transitional stages to make it to the next level. The access to quality education by the special children is limited due to lack of the understanding of the children’s needs, lack of special skills among teachers, and lack or insufficient learning resources to support their learning in the classrooms. Consequently, being denied chances to acquire education makes the society face problems concerning the future of these kids in respect to employment opportunities, social and human development (Fulcher and Gillian14). Therefore, education systems have to ensure the children living with disability get access to education without discrimination. The most appropriate way to handle this issue is to have a separate arrangement in which the needs of students with disabilities focused on fully. Therefore, children with special needs must not be included in a general-education classroom due to the special attention they require to excel like others. These learners should be in the hands of qualified teachers who have the technical prowess of handling these learners.
Potentiality of the learners with disability
Empowerment is an effective way of handling students with disabilities. All students should be given a chance to independently explore their ability, develop problem-solving skills, and ability to discover new concepts and capabilities. Fulcher and Gillian (15), highlight the fact that students with a disability have the same ambitions as the normal students. Klein (71) goes ahead to point out that there are students with exceptional abilities among students with disabilities. Therefore, these students need to be treated the same as other children in the classroom and given chances to excel. Studies in the state of Michigan in the United States provided that 70% of students living with a disability who got a chance to be entrusted with independent tasks performed better than when they were assisted. The remaining 27% really could not do without assistance, and 3% excelled more among the groups of a mixture of able students (Swanson and Harris77). The students with disability feel empowered when they complete a task on their own than when they are assisted to do everything. Ideally, it is imperative to let children living with disability to approach problem-solving, learning, and exploring their potential on their own. More than 75% of students living with disability catch up with the rest faster when they discover they can solve some problems or learn on their own. About 7-10 students living with disability have exceptional academic potential equivalent to the rest of children in the gifted category. Therefore, it is imperative to give children with special needs chances to study, learn, and solve problems on their own.
Focus on the Strengths of the learners
One of the milestones a teacher can achieve when teaching learners with disability are making the learner feel confident to achieve. Students living with disability have been characterized by low self-esteem and low self-worth compared to the rest of the peers. As children grow older, they discover they are not like the rest of their peers. Consequently, they lack self-confidence, develop poor socializing abilities and low aptitudes for learning (Cole and Mike 67). Therefore, educators need a close examination of the students in the special needs category to establish their needs, weaknesses, and potentialities to come up with working adjustment in the process of teaching them. To help such children teachers start with boosting their self-esteem and self-worth. There are packs of ways that can be employed. Firstly, give the children simple and achievable tasks and let them solve on their own. As the kid accomplishes the task, the teacher makes more complex ones. When the child hits the highest target, they start developing confidence and cognitive abilities to solve problems on their own. Secondly, recognize non-academic attributes in the child such as a sense of humor, politeness, and tenacity among others. People with disabilities often thrive in a warm environment with support from their people (Lerner and Janet 34). The students do even better when entrusted to accomplish tasks independently. Lastly, develop the strength of a child with a disability. For instance, some disabled children are magnificent in art and music. Ideally, if academic excellence is unreachable to the kid, the alternative will be the talent they have. Learners with disability often develop cognitively when they are empowered to solve problems and learn without much assistance. This achieved through focusing on what they need (Chapman and James 350).
Specialized attention
The students with disability need special attention if possible individualized teaching to give them fare chances to excel in various academic areas. Therefore, a separate learning condition needs to be created. Such a condition should be well equipped with facilities that enhance learning among the students. The disabled students find it difficult to cope in classrooms where they are mixed with other students. Since the social behavior of all learners can perfectly accommodate those with disability, a separate and well-organized setting would do better. Current educational models are moving towards an integrated classroom. However, some learners definitely cannot cope with an ordinary situation. For instance, the deaf learners and the blind learners need special and separate attention from the rest of the learners (Chapman and James 353). Some ordinary situations would simply require the teachers’ prowess in dealing with diverse learners. These learning disabilities would include those who are easily distractible, easily confused, low self-esteem, physical handicap, and poor auditory memory among others can be mixed. But those with special needs need to have their learning environment to facilitate their learning.
Special focus
Today, a majority of students are taught in general education classrooms with the teachers who have general teaching skills. The college training is doing little to the teachers who are handling more students with disability in the public education classrooms. Ideally, the special needs students need special-education classrooms with well-trained teachers in special education (Johnson and David 34). Therefore, the need for elevation of the teachers’ skills for dealing with the special students is critical in schools. The acquisition of such skills is imperative because it enables the teacher to examine the individual needs of the learners and tailor the instruction in a special way based on the group of learners. Statistics show that between 1990 and 2014, the students with disability who attended a general-education class increased from 32% to 62% (Dell and Petroff 47). With this trend, it is difficult to reach the required standards of inclusion and efficiency. Dell and Petroff provided that only about 85% of disabled students can master content in a general-education class. The 15% percentage awaits for a change in the policy of education to cater to their needs. It is difficult to get homogenous groups of learners with the same needs and levels of understanding. Therefore, teachers need special skills if handling more types of learners. Generally, for special needs classes, the education system lacks enough workforce to handle students with disability flocking in both public and private schools. The need for more teachers specialized in certain disabilities, calls for rigorous training at teachers’ colleges to feel the gaps. Colleges for general education only offer one course compares to 11 courses offered to teachers who are purely training for special education. There is rising need for teachers to be equipped with knowledge, skills, and attitudes to handles learners with special needs to promote inclusivity and fairness in education.
Individual differences among learners with disability
Child disability is a complex issue with many problems associated with it. Child disabilities include intellectual, hearing, speech and language impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, deaf-blindness among many others. Educational policies have allowed chances of inclusivity to all children without discrimination. Therefore, institutions are receiving more children with disabilities than before. The trend necessitates intensive training of teachers to assist learners to get a fair chancing of access to quality education (Fulcher and Gillian19)
Teacher training
The Special needs training equips teachers with knowledge and skills that the general-classroom teacher lacks. Special needs teachers undergo a course aiming at preparing them to have specialized skills, knowledge, and attitudes to handle disabled students in the classroom. Ideally, the training enables the teachers to discern the needs of the special students and narrow down to satisfying these needs. Typically, there are two categories of students with the disability. The first category is that whose members can cope well with the rest of the learners who do not have disabilities (Chapman and James 355). The second category is the one whose learners cannot learn with the rest. A specialized teacher can teach both categories while an ordinary teacher can only deal with the first one. For example, the students with hearing impairments, Visual impairments, and those with double visual and hearing impairments need specialized attention that often requires specialized teachers to deal with. This group of learners need special learning environment and cannot learn well when mixed with rest of the learners in an ordinary classroom. Ideally, these students require exceptional skills from the teacher during the preparation of their lesson and delivery of the required content. The skills to handle special students are possessed by well-trained teachers with skills to handle their needs and tailor class instructions in the right way (Johnson and David 38). The skills are to be used in specialized groups of learners who fit the skills of the teacher to enhance the provision of quality education to all.
Psychological, social and Physical development
The trained teachers can help learners develop psychologically, socially and physically. When the three spheres are handled well the learner develops into an all-round person. Mostly, the psychological part of the students learning with disabled kids should be rooted in motivation and focusing on the learner’s self-esteem. The self-esteem of the disabled learners is low. However, the qualified special education teacher can skillfully employ several strategies to engage students in activities that raise their confidence (Johnson and David 38). The activities may include working with students and the parents, using activities whose feedback boost the confidence of the learners and helping the disabled learners identify and build on their strengths. The motivation of learners can be achieved through helping them develop their strengths, structuring lessons that trigger active participation, and creating challenges that call for the personal best efforts among many others. When disabled students develop higher self-esteem and motivation, they are destined to achieve their dreams. Most importantly, the social skills among the disabled children are beneficial regarding helping them socialize, make and keep friends, and cope with life after school. Students’ ability to work and interact in a healthy can be enhanced through eliminating ostracizing social groups, encourage appreciation of other people, involving them in activities that enhance social interaction among many others. Moreover, coping skills can be improved through strengthening nonjudgmental attitudes and reaching skills of going about stress. Lastly, the physical development of learners can be improved through involving in exercises on a daily basis and encouraging proper diet. These learning activities can be channeled by the teacher in a skillful and integrated way to help them develop into all-round individuals despite disability. Teachers need specialized skills to be successful since this category of students differs from the rest (Dell and Petroff 49).
Tailoring successful instruction
The grand aim of education is to empower the student to attain an all-round growth and development according to the students’ aspirations and attributes. Special needs students should be given proper guidance and assistance. Such guidance should be according to their abilities and learning ambitions. As such, despite the disability, the learners can develop to their full potential just as others who have minimal challenges. The disabled students have the same needs as those who are normal. Additionally, they are different as well. They have different affective and cognitive difference, ability, motivation, dreams and aspirations, social maturity, learning potentials, and interests. The factors that shape these differences include variation in the congruency levels between the student and the curriculum, innate level of intelligence, the difference in social-economic c backgrounds, and the learner’s experience among many others. The purpose of quality education to the learners with disability is to help them achieve their best. Therefore, the teachers need to help the student to overcome environmental and individuals’ psychological obstructions to reach their dreams and aspirations. This process should be at a rate that is of advantage to the learners since disabled learners are slower regarding catching up than the rest. This is due to the amount of time required pass a particular stage of learning. With the skills of the special education teachers, learners would learn to grasp each step of proficiency after which the teacher introduces a new concept. The learner-centered approach in the teaching of disables students produces the highest proficiency levels in both languages and mathematics (Snell and Brown 54). Practical subjects like sciences can be made easier to handle through taking into consideration the ability of learners as the pivot of the lectures.
Teaching objectivity
Objectivity guides any instruction delivery prepared by the teacher. Having clear objectives before contacting the lessons in the classroom situation is one of the critical aspects of successful lessons. An objective guides the teacher in the classroom during the delivery of the learning instructions. Teachers charged with the responsibility of teaching disabled learners prepare the lesson based on the learners’ characteristic (Chapman and James, 355). Such preparation is inspired by what the teacher is going to achieve at the end of the lesson. In specialized classes, the teacher can have specific objectives based on both strengths and the weaknesses of the learners. This is not possible with general education classrooms since the students are a mixture. With the well-designed classroom that supports particular students, the teacher can easily achieve the ended objective as drawn from general educational expectation. Therefore have specialized classes for special education is imperative in the quest of providing quality education to the children with disability.
Creation of a conducive environment
In specialized classes, teachers can create a unique environment for the disabled learners. Such an environment focuses attention on the learners rather than generalized teaching environments. The learning environment plays an important role in helping the learners thrive in all learning spheres. The needs of learners in a general-education classroom differ sharply from that of the specialized classes. Therefore, in a specialized environment, the teachers can do all the possible modifications to improve the learning environment. Considering the learners who are deaf, the classroom can have a special arrangement of visuals that help the learners to grasp the educational content intended (Johnson and David 37). The factor of a conducive environment couples with teachers qualifications breeds a successful educational discourse for the learners. Furthermore, having specialized classes helps the educators to develop the class through research and technology. Ideally, understanding and comprehension are improved when the learners are given all the chances to thrive in a conducive environment. Studies have shown that well-equipped learning environment has enabled disabled learners to cope faster and comprehend the content. Over 87% of the disabled students thrive in specialized classes compared to only 67% of those who were taught in general classes (Snell and Brown 56).
Conclusion
Conclusively, education for everyone is ideal for today’s generation. This is the reason for legislative laws such as No Child Left Behind and the Every Child Succeeds Act. The laws are in place to make sure all children get access to education despite different challenges. Because of the disabilities, then students require specialized attention from qualified teachers to help them develop cognitively, emotionally, socially and physically. Therefore, they need special environment more equipped that that in which their normal peers learns from. Research has provided that most disabled students do not do well in an environment where they are not given the special attention they deserve; the general-education classrooms. As such, these learners need special-education classrooms where the teachers can focus on their educational needs to help them succeed. Additionally, teachers handling these learners require special training. The training equips them with the ability to discern the needs of the learners and devise means to help them.
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Offered for reference purposes only.