Catering for Difference
Topic One: The educational implications of having a student with a severe learning disability in the classroom.

In addressing this question I will cover three main areas of concern, the environment or the physical space the child will be working in, the academic considerations and adjustments needed and the student’s social realm.

To begin I would like to offer three definitions that help break up the term “special needs” to provide deeper meaning and insight in this area. The World Health Organization provided these definitions, 1980, which were widely accepted and became known as the International Classification of Impairments and Disabilities and Handicaps.

Impairment: refers to an irregularity in the way organs or systems function. It usually refers to a medically based or organic condition, for example, short sightedness, heart problems, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, spina bifida, deafness.

A Disability: is the functional consequence of the impairment. For example, because of the impairment of spina bifida, a student may be unable to walk without the assistance of callipers and crutches.

The Handicap: is the social or environmental consequence of the disability. The extent to which a person with a disability also has a handicap will depend on how well the environment caters for the disability. If a student uses a wheel chair and is unable to enter the school library, then that student will have a handicap in relation to library use. “

Another useful and important document for teachers to consider is the draft of the Disability Standards for Education 2005. In it is outlined the obligations of education and training service providers under the Disability and Discrimination Act 1992 of the rights of people with disabilities in relation to education and training.
Below is an extract from this document

Participation standards

1. The education provider must take reasonable steps to ensure that the student is able to participate in the programs provided by the educational institution, and use the facilities and services provided by it, on the same basis as students without disabilities and without experiencing discrimination.
2. The provider must:
a consult the student, or an associate of the student, about the impact of the students disability on their ability to participate in the programs for which the student is enrolled and use the facilities or services provided by the provider; and
b in the light of the consultation, decide whether an adjustment is necessary to ensure that the student has substantive equality with students without disabilities in participating in those programs and using those facilities or services; and
c if:
• An adjustment is necessary to achieve the aim mentioned in paragraph (b); and
• A reasonable adjustment can be identified in relation to that aim make a reasonable adjustment for the student in accordance with Part 3.
3 The provider must repeat the process set out in subsection (2) as necessary to allow for the changing needs of the student over time.

Measures for compliance with standards
Measures that the provider may implement to enable the student to participate in the course or the program for which the student is enrolled and use the faculties provided by it on the same basis as students without disabilities, include insuring that:
a the course or program activities are sufficiently flexible for the student to be able to participate in them; and
b course or program requirements are reviewed, in the light of information provided by the student, or an associate of the student, to include activities in which the student is able to participate; and
c adjustments and appropriate programs necessary to enable participation by the student are negotiated, agreed and implemented; and
d additional support is provided to the student where necessary, to assist him or her to achieve intended learning outcomes; and
• Where a course or program necessarily includes an activity in which the student cannot participate, the student is offered an activity that constitutes a reasonable substitute within the context of the overall aims of the course or program; and
• Any activities that are not conducted in classrooms, and associated extracurricular activities or activities that are part of the broader educational program are designed to include the student.




When we as educators consider the above material we realise that a great education impetus has been placed before us in catering for children /people with special needs. The attitudes about educating people with special needs have changed dramatically over time to arrive at the idea of an inclusive approach to education and society not the segregated schooling and living conditions common to early and mid 1900’s. (See Above Gladesville Asylum Post)
These understandings and ideas are supported by legislation contained in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, which firstly defines disability, recognises disabilities people may have at present or have had in the in the past or may have in the future and ensures that people with disabilities are provided with educational services. A second important feature of the act is that it provides the opportunities for schools in understanding what there responsibilities are in avoiding discriminating against students with a disability.
Recent research on education systems based on an inclusive approach provide more opportunities for a higher level of academic achievement, social skills learning, communication and friendships not just for people with a disability but also for people without a disability.
Below are some results originally sourced from McGregor & Vogelsburg’s 1998 report on inclusive schooling practices.
• Social competence and communication skills improve when students with a disability are educated in inclusive settings
• Students with a disability may demonstrate gains in curriculum areas, when they are educated in inclusive areas, and inclusive settings
• Typically developing students may perceive that adaptations and accommodations for students with a disability benefit their own learning.
• The presence of students with a disability in the general education classroom provides learning opportunities and experiences that might not otherwise be part of the curriculum.

If a school wishes to adopt an inclusive approach to the educational needs of students with special needs there are several important domains that must be considered.
The first of these considerations, and I think one of the most important, is that when a school knows that a student with special needs will be enrolling a meeting must be organised between all of the people that have been and will be working with the student. This meeting, or series of meetings should seek as its focus to bring together the parents of the child, the child when appropriate, the class teacher, support teachers, relevant health professionals either in person or through phone conferencing to create a process of assessing the students needs in the physical, emotional/social and educational domains. This coming together should occur well in advance of the child’s first day in school allowing for as many adjustments as possible to take place to curriculum and physical space where necessary, wheel chair access for instance.
Another crucial element in this process is that it allows the parents to express their needs and desires in terms of what they would like to see happen for their child, what they would envisage the outcomes of this education process to be. This is very important because firstly it allows the parents to express themselves in terms of the kind of social and educational processes that they see as important for their child in his or her life at school and beyond. And secondly that they can become a part of designing the educational experience as they will have had many crucial insights into the character and behaviour of the child. Often parents of children with special needs have encountered many of the handicaps that the “normal” environment and attitude towards people with special needs creates and so can often feel as though they are the only ones who will champion their child. This process of parental involvement allows them to build the security and trust in the school organization they will need for the successful education of their child.
As these meetings take place a document can be created that gives the school and any teachers of the child an informed and thorough picture of the chid in the following areas.
• Identification of student needs/ strengths/challenges
• Identification of priority learning goals for the student
• Identification of adjustments required to achieve goals
• Identification of additional considerations, for example, medical/health considerations, behaviour support considerations, therapy considerations.
• Identification of key personnel to assist in classroom implementation, not as separate programs but embedded in the classroom activities.
• Identification of the students character, who the student is, what he or she likes-dislikes, what is the normal healthy behaviour of the child etc.
• Identifying the stage the student is working within in terms of achievement of outcomes
• To identify possible areas of funding that the student receives or is eligible for
• To identify possible funding or support for the people within the school who will be working with the student.
• Identification of curriculum adjustments
• Identification of the student’s communication needs.
• Identification of the students social competence
• Identification of safety factors for the student, for instance fire procedures.
• Identification of personal care and mobility.


Through this collaborative process of needs assessment and implementation a partnership of support is created for the student between the health professional’s parents, teachers and the school community. This documentation becomes a living and evolving process that allows its participants to share the expectations, understandings and goals that grow and change as the student grows and changes. And above all it allows the child to have the same opportunities as the other students in their learning by making sure that the child’s impairment and disability does not become a hindrance and a handicap.
Once this initial process has been undertaken the school, teachers and student support team must begin the task of developing a curriculum the meets all of the needs outlined in the students profile by adapting existing materials, adopting alternative materials and creating new materials.
There are three main areas in adapting the curriculum. They are curriculum content, presentation methods and additional skills that need to be taught to assist the understanding of curriculum content.
Below is a chart taken from page 120 of the book Inclusion in Action, edited by Phil Foreman, Harcourt Australia, that outlines some methods for adapting the curriculum for a student with special needs.


Curriculum Content
• Stream line the sequence of content
• Use a different curriculum format
• Embed a skill in an activity
• Modify the rate and presentation of the curriculum
• Make sure that the tasks are developmentally appropriate and not beyond the ability of the student
Presentation Methods
• Require limited but specific participation by students with additional needs
• Use alternative materials
• Use learning centres
• Use the same activity but targeting different skills
• Make the presentation of content relevant to the experiences of the learner
• Provide more time for learning a task
• Use memory assistance such as charts and checklists where memory of a task is not essential
• Allow the use of aids such as calculators
• Use project work, preferably through cooperative learning activities
• Where possible, use explicit direct teaching of both academia skills and cognitive skills
• Use individualised learning kits
• Use discovery learning to encourage mental effort, group work, student language and transfer but be careful not to make activities to unstructured as students with additional needs may become lost in the process
• Allow time for students to think through questions and then respond
• Involve language skills in lessons and encourage students to use student language
• De-emphasise the use of textbooks
• Modify the assessment requirements to be consistent with teaching approaches
• Provide structure and be explicit in all assignments
• Highlight the critical features of the content being presented
• Make worksheets clear, well spaced and unambiguous, and print in a readable font.

Additional Skills Training to Assist Curriculum Content Understanding.
• Teach cognitive strategies to encourage self-monitoring, problem solving and increased self-reliance.
• Teach structures such as essay writing skills
• Teach general study skills.
• Teach strategic learning or process skills that focus on thinking about, completing and evaluating curriculum tasks.


Other areas in the modification of curriculum units involve vocabulary changes, text adaptation and adapting assessment.
Making changes to the vocabulary of a unit of work involves adapting texts and vocabulary towards the stage that the student with special needs is working at. For instance words such as cascaded becomes fell, flourished-grew, abounded-lived.
Text adaptation involves creating shorter sentences to reduce the amount of information within each sentence.
Assessment adaptation involves a continual process of monitoring and assessing the individual students progress throughout the unit instead of having a final assessment in a test or essay format which usually falls at the at the end of the unit. Things such as daily student summaries of the material covered in a lesson through the use of a reflective diary, a collaborative learning environment, for instance jigsaw learning and the use of constructivist educational techniques that focus on cognition occurring as a collaborative process of social interaction and self reflection can all be used as other forms of assessment.
(It is important to note that if the teacher has chosen to adapt the curriculum level and outcomes for a student with special needs this must also be reflected in the assessment. )
The diagram in the above blog post illustrates another way to assist the teacher in modifying the lesson by grouping the things to be taught in the unit into three different categories, the must know, should know, and could know.
The must know is the information essential to the topic; the things the student needs to master the essential knowledge of the subject.
The should know and could know is material that may confuse the student working at an early developmental level.





Another tool a teacher can use is a planning checklist that creates a scaffold for teachers in preparation for adapting and modifying a lesson as seen below.

Background: Knowing the syllabus and support information well. Know your subject! Also gathering all the materials, textbooks and other resources. Once this is done the teacher can make a decision as to whether the entire unit or parts of a unit should be adapted to a different level.

Content Decisions: division of content into the must know, should know and could know categories.

Vocabulary Decisions: deciding what vocabulary to use in all or parts of the work unit. One could again use the must know, should know and could know divisions to retain the use of technical words essential to the content.

Incorporate activities: Include activities that increase a students understanding through doing rather than being passive.

Assessment: Provide a range of assessment methods that cater to the multiple intelligences and stage and outcomes of the level of learning.

Check the adapted materials: Check or have a colleague check over your adjustments in the content, vocabulary, presentation and assessment methods to make sure you have covered the essential material to the work unit.
(Originally sourced form page 135 of Inclusion in Acton)

Inclusive education places at its foundations the idea that without question schools should “provide for the needs of all children in their communities, whatever the level of their ability or disability” and that “they welcome and celebrate diversity in ability as well as in cultural, racial, ethnic and social background. (Giorcelli, 1995)
To provide an environment that is open, inclusive and understanding of the differences between people students, from a very early age, must be continually provided with opportunities to interact with and experience the many diverse styles learning can take. Whether it be from the point of view of a child with special needs or not, the children must be given opportunities to explore the different styles other students present and bring to a class.
To achieve this lessons can be provided that allow the students to explore their own learning style and another’s in a socially inclusive environment.
In Steiner schools such a lesson is provided once or twice a week through practicing the art of Eurythmy. Eurythmy is a movement art that derives arm, limb and bodily gestures form the sounds of speech and the tones of music. In speech eurythmy each consonant or vowel becomes a whole arm or bodily movement that mimics the movements of the larynx, palette, tongue and lips in speech.
In a typical eurythmy lesson a class will come into an open space and perform geometric spatial forms whilst moving their arms, and bodies to the different sounds in a piece of poetry or tones in a piece of music lead by the teacher or by themselves as the they remember the sound sequence. The students are encouraged to express themselves individually through arms gestures and form as well as moving with the group.
In our school we have a student who’s name is Lea. Lea is a girl in class one with Down syndrome. Langdon Down, a British physician best known for his work with mentally disabled children and whom the condition Down's syndrome, or Down syndrome was named after wrote…

“People with this condition are usually able to speak; the speech is thick and indistinct, but may be improved very greatly by a well-directed scheme of tongue gymnastics. The coordinating faculty is abnormal, but not so defective that it cannot be greatly strengthened. By systematic training, considerable manipulation power may be obtained.”
J. Langdon Down 1866

In lea’s case a eurythmy class could be devoted to working with the sound gestures of a piece of poetry or verse; It may not even be a eurythmy class, the eurythmy gestures could be performed for the morning and afternoon verse as in the one below.

Steadfast I stand in the world
With certainty I tread the path of life
Love I will cherish in the depths of my being
Hope shall be in all my deeds
Confidence I impress into my thinking
These five give me my life
These five give me my life

Rudolph Steiner

As the verse is recited the class could be lead through the arm or bodily movements that are derived from the movements of the organs of speech. In this way a lesson such as this can allow for someone like lea work on and over come her struggles in the midst of socially inclusive interactive environment while the content of the verse encourages the students individual’s pathway through life and general care for humanity as a whole.

In conclusion I would like to suggest that the idea of inclusion in education does not only provide people with disabilities the same opportunities for education as people without disabilities but provides the opportunities for these special individuals to teach us about our own lives. All of us struggle with something and it is precisely these individuals with special needs who are in many ways experts in dealing with struggles, whether it be struggles in the physical world or in the world of the emotions and mind, they more than anyone deal with overcoming these struggles on a daily basis. Perhaps we as a society would stand to learn a great deal about overcoming obstacles and challenges were we to work with, interact and experience life from the perspective of someone with special needs through a society that includes not segregates and excludes.

References;
Inclusion In Action, Phil Foreman, Harcourt Australia 1996