السداسي الثاني

Special Education: Definition, scope and goals

A course designed for students of special education (Master 1)

Definition

Special education or Special needs education refers to separate instruction specifically designed for students categorized as having special educational needs (UNESCO, 2017). Special education is defined as an “education designed to facilitate the learning of individuals who, for a wide variety of reasons, require additional support and adaptive pedagogical methods in order to participate and meet learning objectives in an educational programme” (UIS-UNESCO). The causes may include different physical, behavioural, intellectual, emotional, and social capacities. The vision of  special education differs from an inclusive education system, since it relies on segregation or integration, instead of inclusion. In inclusive education systems, the physical infrastructure of schools, teaching and learning materials, teachers themselves, are adapted to meet the needs of all the students.

Scope

Educational programmes in special education may follow a similar curriculum as that offered in the parallel regular education system, however they take individuals’ particular needs into account by providing specific resources (e.g. specially trained personnel, equipment, or space) and, if appropriate, modified educational content or learning objectives.’ (UIS-UNESCO). Special education programs are designed for those students who are mentally, physically, socially and/or emotionally delayed. This aspect of “delay,” broadly categorized as a developmental delay, signify an aspect of the child’s overall development (physical, cognitive, scholastic skills) which place them behind their peers. Due to these special requirements, students’ needs cannot be met within the traditional classroom environment. Special education programs and services adapt content, teaching methodology and delivery instruction to meet the appropriate needs of each child. 

Goals

The goals of special education are similar to the educational goals for ordinary children; only the techniques for attaining them are different. An effort is made, for example, to teach all children with special needs (except those unable to profit at all from school experience) to read. Children who have learning and mental disabilities require prolonged periods of intensive and more-individualized instruction; for them the learning process might include techniques to maintain interest, more active participation, and much more repetition of similar material in varied form. Children with severe sensory handicaps (such as deafness and blindness) must learn to read through other sense modalities. Deaf individuals learn to read through visual methods, while blind individuals learn to read Braille through the tactile sense.

Children with learning disabilities and those with speech defects require highly specialized techniques, usually on an individual basis. For children with social and emotional problems, special therapeutic and clinical services may be provided. Psychotherapy and behaviour therapy by clinical and school psychologists are generally a part of the educational program. Academic teachers in these classes stress personality development, educational adjustment, and habits of interpersonal relations. With this group of children, these factors are prerequisite to academic achievement. Academic work is, however, sometimes therapeutic in itself and is promoted as much as possible.