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Special Education: Individualistic, Inclusive, Evolving!

With several days in October devoted to ADHD, celebral palsy, Down's Syndrome and mental health awareness, we just had to turn the spotlight on the education of children with special needs

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Students and teachers of the Aditya BIrla Integrated School
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Individualized
“The challenges of being in this field are tremendous, but the joys are infinite,” says Prisca Alvares,  speaking from 24 years of experience as a Special Educator. “The minute you get involved with these children you become a household name. The parents look to you because you understand. Many of the kids are really ill; everyday that they come to school is a miracle.”
Dilkhush takes on autistic or intellectually impaired children with IQs below 70. “They struggle with things as simple as putting on a shoe and buttoning up a shirt. You learn to look at things from their point of view, do a task analysis, work backwards and break things down. You have to help them feel like they are succeeding. There’s a lot of trial and error involved; their biggest joy is when they do something on their own,” explains Prisca.
Dilkhush does not have a set curriculum. Every March/April, the teachers devise a fresh curriculum based on the class that is coming in and their abilities; the Individualized Education Program (IEP) that they map out is reviewed in two or three months and revised if required. Trekking, camping and overnight trips are all on the activity list.
The teacher:student ratio here is 1:8 for the younger kids  and 1:12 for the older ones. Children start off in kindergarten at around age  5 and move ahead based on their progress. By the time they are 14-18, teachers work with their parents to figure out workshop the child could go into based on their skills. “Those of our students who can be incorporated into open employment have tried it, but just 10% of them can lead an independent life,” says Prisca.   
Integrated
Dr Zirak Marker, CEO, Aditya Birla Integrated School tells us, “Students are evaluated at the point of entry and based on their specific challenges, go either into the integrated learning programme or the differentiated learning one”.
With a student teacher ratio of 1:12, the integrated programme equips children with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with the skills needed to overcome these, going as far as to score 80 and 90 percent in the boards. The school follows the NIOS system up to the 12th grade. The children are taught learning strategies such as putting lessons into flow charts, using mnemonics and sequential memory exercises. Frequent field trips enable them to connect text with the real world, while a 12-week junior college internship programme that’s tied into the subjects they are studying, helps them to make an informed career choice when they leave grade 12.  
The differentiated learning programme uses IEP to help children with autism, Down’s Syndrome and slow learners to learn at their own pace till the age of 14-15. The student:teacher ratio in these cases is never more than 1:5.
  The Aditya Birla Integrated School has specialists on hand, from speech and occupational therapists to psychologists. Their students are exposed to the arts, theatre, dance, sport and weekly discussions on social issues,
The cost of going to a school like this one may be substantially higher, but it  means students are not left running between coaching classes or counsellors after school hours, incurring additional costs and left with no time for themselves.

Inclusive
Varsha Hooja, CEO, ADAPT (formerly the Spastics Society of India) strongly believes in the benefits of inclusive education.  
Over the years, ADAPT has helped include many students with special needs into the mainstream. But wait a minute! With a teacher:student ratio of 1:60 on average in India, is the system equipped to handle these students? “It all depends on the attitude,” believes Varsha. “I’ve seen inclusion work in a class with 70 students and fail in one with just 20 students. It has worked in municipal schools where peers and teachers have been supportive and failed in private schools where they have not.”
“Inclusive education is about teaching all children together; there are students that will not be able to clear the NIOS, but that’s okay. They can still go into the mainstream up to a certain level. Of course, the child should be able to cope with the academic and behavioural requirements of a mainstream institute and needs to be placed into age-appropriate classes. Perhaps the child can begin by attending class once or twice a week in the year prior to starting full-time school.
“That said, we can’t just dump children into an inclusive set-up. We need to prepare teachers, parents, children as well as school authorities.  Peers are a very important resource in a system of inclusive education and they facilitate collaborative learning. A differentiated curriculum is essential to let a child with a disability learn at their own pace. We need to equip teachers with the skills to teach at different levels (often referred to as mixed-ability teaching) and to cater to the diverse learning styles of their students —visual, auditory, tactile...
“The thing is, we can’t wait to have everything in place before we begin inclusion. We have to start and then keep adapting as required. People have to understand that this is the right thing to do; to enable children to be part of a social system rather than isolated individuals. Nowhere are we saying that special schools should be shut down. There may be children who are unable or unwilling to cope or too disabled to do so”.

Special Education Courses

Dilkhush
Diploma in Special Education (Mental Retardation)
Duration: 2-year full-time
Cost: `35,000 per year + `2,000 (internat fees)
www.dilkhush.org
SNDT
B. Ed. Special Education (Learning Disability/Mental Retardation/Visual Impairment)
Duration: 3 years
Cost: Rs 35,000/- (per year)
http://specialeducation.sndt.ac.in/special-edu-courses.html
Note: Dealing with hearing- or visually-impaired children or those with multiple impairments would involve specialised training in these aspects, and is offered by various institutions across the city and country.  Psychologists, speech and occupational therapists, art and dance therapists also cater to the various needs of these children.   

 

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