From Integration to Inclusion

The story of Ishaan – the protagonist of Taare Zameen Par – has urged the entire teaching community to revisit their perceptions about children and question parental expectation. And it couldn’t have happened at a better time. According to Learning Matters India, an NGO offering remediation services to children with learning difficulties, nearly 20% of [a1] school going children in India experience learning difficulties. Sometimes symptoms are hard to detect in the early years, but as the child grows, this can lead to a massive struggle with basic academics, spoken and expressive language and reading social cues which may hinder their ability to make lasting friendships.

Early Intervention Services and Diagnostic Centres have started mushrooming in Indian metros. A child grows up under the watchful eye of a plethora of medical professionals, parents and grandparents – all of whom give their expert opinions on each milestone. By the time the child starts with preschool, even a minor deviation in behavioural pattern will ensure that she is labelled and declared unfit for regular schooling.

Which brings us to the moot question – Is the child unfit for schooling as it exists, or is our schools unfit for the child? Many schools cite reasons why they cannot take on a child with learning disabilities – they are unprepared, ill equipped, lack specialised staff. All valid reasons, incidentally, so most schools give up even before they can start.

We have a law wherein the government is committed to provide education for children with disabilities, {The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights & Full Participation) Act, 1995} in integrated (normal) or special schools. Furthermore, being a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, India is also committed to providing quality inclusive education at primary & secondary education (Article 24). However,

the spirit of the law has not been internalised as yet in most of our ‘mainstream’ schools. There is a lack of clarity among majority of the stakeholders regarding the meaning of “integration” and “inclusion”. As a result the terms ‘inclusion’ and ‘integration’ are used loosely and interchangeably, further compounding the problem. What is the difference between the two words?

Most schools start with ‘integrating’ children with special needs into their system of education only if the child can cope up with it. Here, the schooling system remains undisturbed and unchanged, as it accepts a child who has the strengths that allow her to function in a mainstream class. So if a child can cope with age appropriate levels of Maths, she attends the class with other children; for a ‘problem’ area like English or Science, she learns in a small group setting where she gets individualised attention.

In my view, a school becomes truly ‘inclusive’ when the learning needs of the child are tackled in a mainstream setting. Or when the school redesigns its systems to accommodate the holistic needs of such children to provide for maximum schooling experience along with the so called “normal” children. Here, teachers are supported by special educators who address all the learning issues within the class itself. Buddy System, Adapted curriculum, Use of New Age technologies, Creative curriculum delivery, Innovative evaluation methods, Vetting text books from Disability view point, writers and scribes, audio libraries, introduction of sign language and Braille as a second language for all children are some of the action points. Advocacy initiatives include workshops for parents of ‘normal’ children about the rights and needs of special children and how an inclusive environment benefits both as it addresses the needs of all learners.

Carole Paul, Consultant Trainer, Special Education, with Step By Step School, Noida, advocates frequent teacher sensitization & training as a must to enable the mainstream teacher gain confidence in handling children with special needs. “It’s not rocket science’, she says, “but certainly asking for an open mind and the will to include. All children learn differently, some need more time and patience. Teachers certainly need the tools for working with special children, thus training is imperative”. After an initial sensitization workshop spread over a period of 2 months, she feels that her single major achievement in this short span has been that the teachers are now aware of children with learning difficulties and they display a positive attitude towards working with them. They feel more empowered to reach out to all children with special needs.

Most Special Educators recommend that it is far easier to handle 1 or 2 children with identified needs in regular classrooms rather that having 6-7 kids with different needs together in a so called ‘special needs’ class. Here, the mainstream teacher needs to be equipped with strategies to address the needs of such learners. Individualised Educational Plans

(IEP) is prepared by the special educator in consultation with parents and psychologists so that all the caretakers are addressing common goals. IEP’s detail out the strengths and concerns regarding the child to enable an effective action plan. Proactive parents usually work in partnerships with teachers to achieve these goals.

Nomita Mehra of The Shri Ram School, Delhi, has three children in her class of 28 who need extra attention. She believes that there is academic and non-academic benefits for every student in her class be it special or otherwise. “Overall it is a win-win for all my students’, says Nomita “All my students have different expectation of me as the class teacher which I need to fulfil, so for me there is no difference.” Since children love to feel important, the teacher can set the tone for an inclusive spirit in class by encouraging buddies who are eager to help, along with constantly “warning” them not to over protect their friends by “mothering” them.

“I feel that inclusive education is a must for all children’, says Megha Joshi “as I want both my children to not be ignorant or prejudiced but be empathetic and accepting all kinds of differences and I insist that this model imparts certain humanitarian values which are very much a part of education per se”.

Even academically, concept reinforcement using multiple intelligences and application of innovative learning strategies benefits all learners. In such a class, the co-teacher (usually a special educator) shadows the progress of specific children is viewed as a support as well as a resource which becomes an added advantage for all children. Again, the most important question is “How well do you, as a teacher, know your students?” A typical class usually has a heterogeneous mix of children with individual learning styles. Through proper planning, differentiated instructions and classroom management which includes effective seating she can look after the needs of the few children who need help while she also makes sure that she is not denying the others of their learning needs. This ensures that the learning curve is not compromised or slowed down.

“Our children are mainstream” says Dr. Manju Lal, mother of a child with special needs[a2] . She firmly believes that all schools should address their academic needs through inclusive processes without fuss and as a way of life. World over, the advantages of inclusive education[a3] are increasingly being recognised and accepted, and time and again it is proven that most children with learning issues can enjoy a fulfilled schooling experience if backed with genuine attempts to address their learning gaps. As they grow, with their self esteem intact and with confidence, these children can become equally productive students and are significant contributors to the talent pool of a school. They shine if their calling is identified and nurtured.

However, in our country, due to lack of exemplary role models on the process of making this happen, even well-meaning school principals who want to welcome diversity are usually caught up in the “how to do it” scenario. The crux of the matter is, do you really want to open your doors? If the answer is yes, then it is all about attitudinal change and a major paradigm shift to provide positive schooling experience to reach out to each and every learner…to include as many children as possible on the school map.

Without waiting for the law to show its teeth, a few passionate, activist school management[a4] s and principals have taken the plunge and their experience tells us that if schools really want to achieve integration or inclusion, the will to do it dominates. Roadblocks become merely procedural. Manika Sharma, Head of Special Needs Education Department at Delhi’s The Shri Ram School, takes this even further. She feels that for a school to become inclusive not only do parents, teachers and students need to be oriented & trained but even the administrative & support staff need to be sensitized in equal measure. The roadmap to the roller coaster ride promises breakthroughs, innovation, creativity, capacity building, major highs and lows and immense satisfaction for the teaching fraternity.

Sometimes the solutions are just in front of us and surprisingly, do not require major efforts.

Children who are orthopedically challenged need to be in regular classrooms and not in special schools. One way or the other, all the school needs to do is to get the child to the classroom and their job is done. The provision of wheelchairs, ramps, lifts and loos can be thought through if the classes are not on the ground floor. Simple architectural consideration…retrofitting solutions if the school already exists. Beyond that, the physically challenged child learns on his own! [a5]

How can we offer integrated schooling to a visually impaired child?

“If we equip these children with pre Braille reading and writing skills and the necessary life skills right from Pre School, the visually challenged child adjusts very well in a regular class. Infact, many of our children are toppers”, says C. D. Tamboli, Director Education, National Association for Blind (NAB), Delhi. NAB is in regular contact with the school by providing a special educator as a resource person. The back up support here is in the form of textbooks in Braille, large print and CDs , Special equipments for writing Braille, Mathematics and Geometry, tape recorders , Braille Watches, talking calculators, white canes, school bags, etc. All visually challenged children enrolled with NAB attend regular schools like the Kendra Vidyalaya , Delhi Public School , Delhi Police Public School, Green Fields etc in the mornings, backed with after school tutorials at NAB where specialised help in various subjects is provided to those needing it. [a6] This synergy has opened new vistas and has learning’s for all.

In case of hearing impairment, the first thing is to check if the child is oral capable. If he uses hearing aids and knows sign language, teaching – learning becomes much easier because the brain is adequately wired to receive communication and responds accordingly. So what does the school have to do here? Well, here the teachers need to be equipped with simple strategies to reach out to this child along with other children. A simple way which works effectively is to maintain eye contact while giving instructions and avoid facing the blackboard while talking so that the child can lip read as well. Care needs to be taken that the medium of instruction for these children is single language. It is important to make sure that the child has understood by some amount of personal attention and making the child repeat the instructions. Remedial back up is also an option.

Perhaps the largest group of children are those with learning disabilities. Borderline cases of children with autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder popularly known as ADHD and dyslexia are found in each and every class and they usually drop out of school only because support is unavailable. With proper educational and psychological assessment and specialised support such children develop necessary skills in reading, writing and math to cope with academics. Such learning issues can be handled at the school itself by having a special educator and a counsellor on board. “My son who is in class 5 has now started performing at full potential at the mainstream class because of the timely help of the shadow teacher doubling as a scribe who assists him with reading ‘difficult’ words and ‘complicated’ spellings as and when he needs her” says Padma Kumar, mother of a dyslexic child who main struggle is to cope up with reading and writing which had dipped his self esteem causing other behavioural issues as well. Things have now changed for the better through proper support he is doing better than many of his peers. And so such transitions do take place… children predicted to have dismal school records with repeated failures become assured, confident and can look forward to a brighter future with inspiring success stories.

So is this a one way street?

When Schools devise innovative strategies, bend rules, tweak their systems to embrace diversity in an attempt to become egalitarian, what do they get in return? What happens to the children as they grow up which others who are so called ‘different’? They are sensitized, for one. Sensitivity which cannot be achieved through a one day sensitization workshop which usually happens in most schools once in two years when they celebrate ‘International day of the handicapped’. And the good news for such a school is that children grow up in a pluralist environment with the value that it is ‘okay’ to be different and non-conformist. Each and every child has the right to be accepted for what she is. Further good news for all parents… the so called “normal” children who grow up in inclusive schools are less likely to abandon their parents in old age, disease and need. For they grow up to be more become tolerant, accommodating & accepting right from early years…worth some soul searching…

~ by rimachibb on July 12, 2008.