Children With Special Needs
Successful Inclusion of Children with Special Needs in Mainstream Education requires Trained Special Needs Classroom Assistants.
Children with special needs have come in from the margins of society and are now more centre stage than ever before in the history of childhood. There is a growing awareness that early intervention can minimise the potential damaging effects of a child’s condition/impairment. While a lot of progress has been made in the area of inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream education there is as always more to do for some of our most vulnerable children to enable them to develop their full potential.
‘Inclusion’ in education has become a buzzword, which is now widely used in mission statements, policy documents and political statements. The use of the word came from several directions including research, the move to social justice, and calls for civil rights, legislation prohibiting discrimination, from educators, and the voice of people who have been through special education. Future years will see huge increases in the numbers of children with additional/special needs in inclusive education settings in Ireland. The challenge for policymakers and educators is how to provide and support an environment which promotes the overall holistic development of these children.
In the fifties and sixties parents of newborn Downs Syndrome children were often told to forget them and put them into institutions. We now know many of these children are very capable of reading and academic work as a result of the opportunities they have received, and despite their intellectual impairment. Downs Syndrome hasn’t changed, rather our view of the condition has. Society is moving from a ‘medical model’ of disability which had a deficit view of the child to the ‘social model’ which sees the difficulties encountered by individuals with additional needs as embedded in the society. Examples include inaccessible buildings for wheelchair users, lack of access to public transport, lack of loop systems for the hearing impaired, the list is vast.
Inclusive education means all children and young people, with and without disabilities or difficulties, learning together in ordinary pre-school provision, schools, colleges and universities with appropriate networks of support. Inclusion means enabling all students to participate fully in the life and work of mainstream settings, whatever their needs. The benefits of inclusion for the child include increased social and intellectual skills, a sense of belonging, increased participation opportunities, less likelihood of being labelled, and a more realistic community experience.
Inclusion may also be seen as a continuing process of breaking down barriers to learning and participation for all children and young people. Segregation, on the other hand, is a recurring tendency to exclude difference. For inclusive education to be effective, Government, education authorities and schools have to adapt their approach to curriculum, teaching support, funding mechanisms and the built environment.
An early start in mainstream playgroups or nursery schools, followed by education in ordinary schools and colleges, is the best preparation for an integrated life. Education is part of, not separate from, the rest of children's lives. Disabled children can, and are currently being educated in mainstream schools with appropriate support.
“This is a dynamic time for inclusive education in Ireland” according to McDermott. “Inclusive education is now supported by legislation. The Education Act 1998 ensures that children with a special needs statement (psychological report) attending mainstream schools, have automatic access to the special teaching and childcare support they require. More recent legislation supporting inclusion in mainstream education includes the Equal Status Act 2000 and the Education for Persons with Special Education Needs Act (EPSEN) 2004. This Act makes statutory the formulation of educational plans and provides for the implementation of policy through ‘special needs organisers’. The Act also stresses an ‘inclusive environment’ as the optimal learning centre. The introduction of the National Council for Special Education and use of written Individual Education Plans based on the psychological assessment of the child are the way to ensure each child receives the support, adaptations and modifications to optimise their overall growth and development.”
“Key to effective inclusion of children are teachers and Special Needs Classroom Assistants” McDermott continued. “All teachers in primary schools are required by the Department of Education and Science (DES) to have a recognised qualification in teaching. It is now time to ensure that all Special Needs Classroom Assistants are also required to have a recognised level of training to best meet the needs of the children in their care.”
With this in mind The Further Education Training Awards Council (FETAC) have produced two new FETAC Level 5 Training modules titled Understanding Special Needs and Special Needs Assisting. Both of these modules will be delivered as part of the childcare courses in Sallynoggin College of Further Education commencing in September 2008. “Many of the graduates of our course are now employed in Primary schools as classroom assistants and their training equips them to meet the holistic needs of the children in these settings,”
Applications are welcome from school leavers, mature students and those interested in entering a career path in childcare which McDermott stresses is currently a high growth employment sector.
Further details are available from Sallynoggin College of Further Education.
Tel 2852997 ext 218
Eileen McDermott Co-ordinates and Tutors FETAC Level 5 and FETAC Level 6 Childcare Studies in Sallynoggin College of Further Education and is currently completing a European Masters in Early Childhood Education.
Eileen Mobile 087 696 4099
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