WHAT IS INCLUSIVE EDUCATION AND HOW TO IDENTIFY THE DIFFERENTLY ABLED CHILDREN?

❝Regular schools with inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discrimination, creating welcoming communities, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all.❞

- Salamanca Statement, Art. 2

A.    What is Inclusive Education?

Inclusive Education, in our State is taken as inclusion of the differently abled children in the regular schools. In fact, it is the non-rejection or non-segregation or exclusion of learners for whatever reason – ability, gender, language, care status, family income, disability, sexuality, colour, religion or ethnic origin. It differs from previously held notions of ‘integration’ and ‘mainstreaming’, which tended to be concerned principally with disability and ‘special educational needs’ and implied learners changing or becoming ‘ready for’ accommodation by the mainstream. By contrast, inclusion is about the child’s right to participate and the school’s duty to accept. The educational inclusion is -  

Ø  Enhancing learners participation in schools of their choice irrespective of the reason mentioned above;

Ø  Making learning more meaningful and relevant for all, particularly those learners most vulnerable to exclusionary pressures;

Ø  Rethinking and restructuring policies, curricula, cultures and practices in schools and learning environments so that diverse learning needs can be met, whatever the origin or nature of those needs.

It is not the learners but the schools have to change its educational system to accommodate all categories of learners and make them learn in the way how they can learn. This means that the schools have to change its institutional arrangements which encourage to follow active pedagogy feasible for all sets of learners. Creation of barrier free environment in the school to enable every learner to participate in the learning processes of the school is the priority now.

Inclusion, as a way of integrating differently abled children who were called “children with special needs” into regular schools, gained prominence in India in the 1970s, when the Scheme of Integrated Education of the Disabled Children-IEDC was launched in 1974. The Scheme of IEDC aims to provide educational opportunities for the differently abled children in common (regular) schools, to facilitate their retention in the school system and also to place in common (regular) schools such children already placed in special schools after they acquire the communication and daily living skills at the functional level. The increased awareness and need to educate differently abled children has been reflected in the National Policy on Education- NPE (1986) and the subsequent Plan of Action- POA (1992), which clearly advocated the approach of providing integrated education for the mildly (educable) differently abled children and of special education for the severely handicapped children. The inclusion of a section on Education of the Disabled in the NPE and POA led to a series of experiments on integrated education in India, some full-fledged like The Project Integrated Education for the Disabled (PIED) and the others as a part of the flagship programmes aiming to achieve Universalization of Elementary Education like The District Primary Education Programme and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. All these programme have emphasized the need to place differently abled children (CWSN) in regular schools, giving due importance to evolve a broad spectrum of educational models for children with different special needs tailor made to their needs. The process of inclusion got more impetus after the Jomtien declaration. The programme for Secondary Education called the Scheme for Universalisation of Access for Secondary Education (SUCCESS) or Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) which is being implemented in our Country also has the provisions for these children.

However, the identification of these children and their abilities is one of the major problems in our state. As per the Household Survey 2008, only 0.86% of total population in the age group of 6 to 14 years [965 CWSN out of 112000 children] was identified as differently abled children. It is said that the percentage of differently abled children should corroborate the percentage of PWD [Persons with Disabilities] as per census. The identification only does not serve purpose. These children are to be tracked, conduct need mapping and provide proper supports to bring them in the regular school system. Conduct of school readiness programme and involvement of PRIs, teachers, school heads, School Managing Committee, Parent-Teacher Association, Mother-Teacher Association, etc. in the enrolment processes of these children (6 to 14 years) in regular schools is another issue to be addressed after the enactment of RTE Act.

This article is just to sensitize our teachers, school heads and household surveyors to know about Inclusive Education and rational identification of differently abled children attending schools and out of schools.

B.     How to identify Children With Special Needs (Assessment Guidelines)?

Low Vision

Notes: Presence of any four of the following symptoms indicates low vision

1. The child has difficulties in reading from the blackboard, even if she is sitting in the first row.
2. The child keeps the book too far or too close to his/her eyes while reading,
3. The child is not able to write in the prescribed space/line due to vision;
4. The child find difficult identify object/people at a distance 4-5 metres or farther;
5. The child has problem in following moving objects;
6. The child is not able to identify/match colours;
7. The child has difficulties in identifying numbers, symbols, patterns;
8. The child has problem in following paths;
9. Lighting variations in the environment confuse the child;
10. The child functions better when given bold print good contrast, required illuminations;
11. The child is not able to reach the object at about 14 inches;
12. The child is not able to follow 2-D representation of any objects;
13. The child has difficulty in focusing because of unstable movement of the eye balls;
14. The child gets confused between the shadows and the level changes;
15. The child has problem in recognizing action and facial expression;
16. The child mobility is badly effective in semi dark area.

Cerebral Palsy

Notes: Check from parents if the child has delayed milestones, fits, prolonged symptoms of drooling and involuntary movements before the age of 6 years. Presence of two additional symptoms along with the underlined statements indicates Cerebral Palsy.

1. The child has problems in controlling voluntary movements
2. The child has an odd gait, posture and shows problems in balancing
3. The child has difficulty in gross motor skills such as sitting on a regular chair without support, walking, jumping, climbing, bending, etc.
4. The child has problems in fine motor and eye-hand coordination skills such as holding and placing objects, cutting, pasting, writing, etc.
5. The child has problem in performing activities of daily living
6. The child has problem in articulation and regulating breathing while speaking
7. The child may have associated problems in hearing/vision/mental retardation/seizures, etc.
8. The child requires assistance in reading/writing due to in-coordination
9. The child is too stiff or too floppy to be able to sit or stand
10. The child is stuck in one position and unable to move
11. The child has not achieve not achieved head and neck control

Autism

Note: Presence of two additional symptoms along with the underline statements indicates autism

1. The child has difficulty in making and sustaining an eye contact
2. The child shows echolalia or repeat words for example – on being asked what is your name, they will repeat ‘what is your name’ instead of telling their  name
3. The child reverses pronouns like ‘I’ and ‘You’
4. The child has difficulty in playing with peer group/classmates. May not be able wait, take turns or follow the rules of the game
5. The child has problems in understanding body language of others for example ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ by movement of heads and ‘Come here’ by use of hands
6. The child appears to be aloof
7. The child does not always respond to his/her name immediately
8. The child exhibits repetitive motor mannerisms like rocking, spinning, hand flapping, etc.
9. The child interrupts or disturbs the class very often by asking the questions repetitively or out of context
10. The child is pre-occupied or fixated on a topic, object or an activity
11. The child has exceptional rote memory for numbers, dates, phone numbers, names, etc.
12. The child is over selective about his/her seats, subjects, students and shows resistance to change
13. The child may show compulsive tendencies to smell, touch things, cover his/her ears/eyes
14. The child is not able to explain that she/he is angry, sad, in pain, etc. and why?

Multiple Disabilities (MD)

Note: Since this is a combination of more than one kind of disability, symptoms from other disability also must be kept in mind. The obvious symptoms of MD are underlined.

1. The child using glasses, hearing aids, crutches, wheel chair etc.
2. The child have any visible deformities like large head/small head/extra fingers/extra toes
3. The child startles when a known object is brought near him/her suddenly.
4. The child shows habits like poking the eyes, waving the hands and jumping towards light
5. The child goes very near to the objects and touches them to identify
6. Is the child aware of the school bell and does he understand the movement of people when the bell rings
7. The child talks or shows gestures to his/her classmates or never interacts at all
8. The child does not recognize that his/her friends are writing and copying from the board
9. The child does not maintain a proper posture when the physical education class is being taken
10. The child prefers any particular corner of the classroom

Intellectual Impairment (Mild Mental Retardation, Slow Learners, Specific Learning Disabilities)

Mild-Mental Retardation

Note: If the child shows behaviours below 3-4 years when compared to peer group behaviours with IQ between 70-50 (if IQ report available). If IQ report not available, then the underlined statements indicate presence of Mild-Mental Retardation.

1. Have the parents reported child having history of delayed development in following areas before reaching age of 6 years -

ü  Neck holding not achieved by 3 months

ü  Sitting not achieved by 9 months

ü  Standing not Achieved by 1.5 years

ü  Speaking words not achieved by 2.5 years

ü  Toilet training not achieved by 5 years

2. Have the parents reported child having history of-

ü  Head injury

ü  Fits

ü  History of ill health due to jaundice, loose motions, poor nutrition, brain fever

ü  Poor attention as a child

ü  Poor ability to remember, sequence of instructions

3. Does the child have difficulty in imitating actions, sequence of task, speech by observing peer groups
4. Does the child have difficulty in understanding meaning of lesson content, sequence in a story appropriately
5. Does the child have difficulty in solving puzzles, mathematical manipulations or decision making in conflicting situation
6. Does the child look for approval before initiating the task or wait for instructions by the teacher
7. Does the child has difficulty in classification of objects by grouping characteristics. Example

ü  Mango described by colours, taste, texture and its name

ü  Dog described as animal, helping to protect, with friendly nature

ü  Water described as liquid, without colour and shape

8. Does the child have difficulty in learning task in a continuous sequence of more than 4-5 steps
9. Does the child have history of scholastic failure in previous classes or history of changing schools frequently
10. Does the child behave in an immature manner resembling children lower than 3-4 years

Slow Learners:

Note: If the child has IQ between 90-70, it indicates problem of slow learning. If IQ report not available, then the underlined statements indicate problem of slow learning.

1. Does the child has history of poor attention before the age of 6 year in spite of no history of significant development delay, illness, injury or fits
2. Does the child take longer to complete a task when compared to peer group/classmates.
3. Does the score consistently between 40-50% in spite of individual instructional support.
4. Does the child have limited vocabulary in using words yet communicate comfortably to express needs with parents, teachers and peer group.
5. Does the child need repeated instructions with practical examples and instructions in a smaller group to cope with lesson content
6. Does the child engage frequently in impulsive actions, aggressive reaction, and abusive expression when frustrated or angry with his/her classmates?
7. Does the child have better performance using oral medium when compared to written performance at a given class.
8.  Dose the child consistently write untidily and illegibly.

Specific Learning Disability (SLD)

Note: if the child has IQ above 85, yet shows below listed characteristics, it indicates presence of a SLD. If IQ report not available, look for the underlined characteristics.

1. Does the child have difficulty in maintaining attention while performing a given task without distracted when unsupervised
2. Does the child have difficulty in completing the task within the prescribed time-limit when unsupervised
3. Does the child commit pattern of consistent errors as listed below:

ü  Leave letters or words while reading a line from a text

ü  Has difficulty tracking lines or words in a row therefore uses finger for tracking while reading

ü  Has difficulty organizing things for example by shape, colour or size as placing books in a school bag systematically by size or arranging cloths on a rack in categories of size and use

ü  Difficulty in copying from black board without missing letters or words

ü  Difficulty in using mathematics symbols and understanding relation between numbers

ü  Difficulty in differentiating letter such as ‘b’ and ‘d’ or numbers like ‘6’ and ‘9’

ü  Difficulty in maintaining a straight line or leaving appropriate space between words

ü  Difficulty in understanding use of punctuations while reading and writing

ü  Difficulty in comprehending word problems and understanding the meaning and relationship between numbers and  sentences

ü  Difficulty in selecting or filtering specific details to answer a question from a story, passage or a narration of an incident

ü  Difficulty in locating an object when given specific sequence of instruction for example: “look for a green  book on right side of the table on the top corner”

4. Does the child have difficulty in associating sound with alphabet
5. Does the child have difficulty in locating specific alphabet or numbers within prescribed text
6. Does the child have difficulty in articulating his/her views or ideas, thus landing in a quarrel or breaking a friendship
7. Does the child have difficulty in discussing a central theme on a given topic unless reminded or assisted
8. Does the child have difficulty in comprehending or explaining concepts in subjects like language, science or social studies in his/her own words
9. Does the child tendency of displaying short span of attention across his/her performance within home/school or during play with neighborhood children
10. Does the child have difficulty in following the rules of common games popular among the peer group?

References: All the books, training modules prepared by different States/UTs on Inclusive Education and Ed.CIL, Govt. of India

[This article was published in Sikkim Express (Local Daily) in two part on 24th & 25th April 2012]

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