That is the question...or is it?
by Reva Schafer, B.A., M. Ed., Special Education
Teacher, Certified
Theraplay® Therapist
After at least ten attempts at writing, rewriting,
scrapping and beginning
again, I realized that my title tells the whole story
and, in itself,
demonstrates the problem. There is a great deal
of controversy and
confusion surrounding the education of all
children. I believe that this
has its roots in three basic issues --
beliefs/attitudes/values,
definitions/perceptions, and understanding of the
issues involved. When
one asks "What is Integration?", one receives
responses such as:
1) "Integration is for special needs children."
Based on this response,
integration is viewed as child specific only for
children with "special
needs". What is meant by "special needs"? The
answer may be "Exceptional"
or "Check the Ministry Guidelines". BUT haven't
we all seen written and
been told that all children are different, all
children are unique, all
children belong? Each and every child has
different learning needs,
different approaches to learning different
things, and different rates of
learning different things. Then, each and every
child has special needs
and each and every one should be accepted,
appreciated, and encouraged to
develop to his/her full potential. To achieve
this end, all children
require specific modifications in environmental
conditions, instructional
practices, assessment/evaluation procedures,
programme design, and
curriculum implementation (expand, increase,
decrease, omit, upgrade,
downgrade, change) to accommodate for differences in
learning and responses
to teaching techniques and resources, and
discrepancies in developmental
levels (academic, cognitive, social, emotional,
physical) in order to meet
constantly changing needs. Therefore,
integration should be for all
children and should apply to all children.
2) "Integration is a programme for special
needs children."
Based on this response, integration is viewed as a
programme unto itself
with particular attributes specific to the
requirements of children with
"special needs". But the school programme
should provide opportunities for
support to all children and should be beneficial to
all because it is based
on valid theories of learning and pertinent
information received from
ongoing assessment. Integration should be a
focus on the skills, concepts,
and teaching approaches for all programmes for all
children. Via an
integrated approach, students are able to see
patterns in perception and
understanding and learn to more efficiently and
effectively transfer and
generalize information from one context to
another. In the lives and
learning experiences of all students, there is
sensory integration,
integration of skills/concepts across all
developmental areas, integration
of language across all developmental areas,
integration of cognitive skills
across all developmental areas, etc. One cannot
separate functional and
academic components or social and academic components
as they all involve
the same issues and, naturally, integrate with one
another and therefore,
impact on one another. To have one, you must
have the other. Therefore,
integration should refer to techniques for providing
programming for all
children.
3) "Integration is a placement and/or programme
for special needs children,
within the mainstream."
Based on this response, integration is viewed as a
specific placement in a
"regular" or "mainstream" class. This would
automatically mean that the
child had been initially placed in a segregated or
partially segregated
special education class. Then, integration
means taking a child who has
been set apart physically, emotionally, socially, and
academically from
others and, by some means, involving him/her in the
larger group. The focus
here is on the way it is to be done or the
procedure. Therefore,
integration should be a procedure of placing students
in the mainstream
and/or a technique for providing programming for all
children.
Based on the aforementioned, integration is a
process. It is a process by
which students may achieve what appears to be the
greatest desire of
children, parents, educators, and professionals alike
-- NORMALIZATION.
And this means INCLUSION. But inclusion means
much more. Inclusion is an
attitude or belief based on a set of values. It
is a perception of the
individual as automatically belonging, as always
having been an integral
part of the group so acceptance is never an
issue. With integration,
emphasis has always been placed on differences and
the individual as being
set apart before being allowed into or accepted into
the group. So, the
underlying conflict here is based on one's perception
of the individual
within society.
The focus with inclusion is on the entire
community, the entire school
system, the entire school staff, the entire student
body AND how best to
deliver instruction and support to all students so
that each and every
child gets what he/she requires to be a successful
learner and an
effectively participating member of the group.
This means providing a
flexible learning environment where all students,
based on individual
needs, receive large group, small group, or
individual instruction as
required and receive programming techniques which
allow for co-operative
learning, peer tutoring, partial participation, a
variety of goals in
different developmental areas, and various
presentation formats with a wide
spectrum of repeated meaningful practice
exercises.
1) there is a proactive approach involving a
carefully considered,
specific, detailed, and clearly
delineated:
a) mission statement including beliefs, goals, and
learning outcomes (all
children can learn; all children must receive an
appropriate educational
programme; all children will be engaged in learning
outcomes and curriculum
relevant to personal needs; all children will benefit
through collaboration
between home and school; etc.);
b) set of processes and guidelines for
implementation, management,
assessment and evaluation of school organization,
transition procedures,
and programme delivery design;
c) account of staff requirements, individual roles
and responsibilities,
reporting procedures, and assessment and evaluation
guidelines and
techniques;
d) account of support staff requirements,
allocation of services, service
scheduling, individual roles and responsibilities,
reporting procedures,
and assessment and evaluation guidelines and
techniques;
e) account of student programme assessment and
evaluation procedures and
guidelines based on specific criteria to meet student
needs in all developmental areas;
f) account of student assessment and evaluation procedures and guidelines; and
g) procedures for access to and guidelines for use of
specific resources
and materials;
2) there are programming opportunities provided
for all children within the
school to develop an appreciation of all people;
develop an understanding
of differences; develop feelings of respect,
responsibility, and caring;
and develop social skills that enhance communication,
co-operation, and
problem-solving;
3) there is an appropriate setting that provides
the essential
ingredients conducive to learning in all
developmental areas for all
students (high and realistic expectations, active
involvement in learning,
structure/organization/predictability, maximum
academic engaged time [on task, with
learning outcomes at the appropriate level, and
curriculum relevant to
needs], immediate feedback and positive
reinforcement, sensitive and
effective handling of transitions, constant and
appropriate assessment tools
and techniques and ongoing evaluation);
4) the children can address more learning from the
programme within the
'mainstream' setting, are provided with opportunities
to demonstrate their
strengths, and are provided opportunities to
participate in extracurricular
activities;
5) there are appropriate and effective
modifications to accommodate
individual strengths, needs and differences via
adaptations/adjustments to
the environment, programme, activity, instructional
techniques,
supplemental materials and resources, curriculum,
assessment tools and
evaluation procedures;
6) there is a strong, supportive team
(principal, teachers, parents,
teaching assistants, language pathologists,
occupational therapists,
behavioural consultants/therapists, social skills
therapists,
psychologists, psychometrists, etc.) involved with
the children and a
collaborative process in the sharing of information,
in planning and
implementing development of curriculum, in designing
programming, in
developing effective instructional techniques, and in
delivering necessary
support services which impact on the children;
7) there is professional, ongoing
in-servicing provided to and for all
teaching and support staff to develop further
awareness and understanding
of the needs of the children and one's impact on the
children and to hone
the essential observation and self-observation skills
in order to recognize
and interpret behaviors and thereby provide what is
required to address the
children's needs and achieve the learning outcomes
and goals;
8) there is a sound behavioural support plan
in place which promotes a
proactive approach of prevention rather than one of
damage control, that
recognizes the relationship of the behaviour to
language/communication/educational/
environmental functions that impact on the
children rather than focusing on
modifying
the internal conditions of the children, that teaches children how to accept certain
behaviours
and how to deal with others'
behaviors using a problem-solving approach to achieve
acceptable
replacement behaviours;
9) there is daily, specific and detailed
communication of observations
between all teacher and support staff involved with
the children to ensure
an effective curriculum, and effective programme,
effective instructional
techniques, and effective support and not
inappropriate, excessive reliance
or overshadowing which could inhibit academic growth
and social
interactions;
10) there is daily, specific and detailed
communication between school and
home to allow for reinforcement, integration,
transference, and
generalization of concepts and skill in all
developmental areas and for
additional input and insight into the requirements of
the child and how
best to meet his/her needs;
11) the school administration regularly
assesses, evaluates, and revises
delivery of programming and services to continually
improve upon learning
outcomes for all children; and
12) the school administration celebrates the
successes of all children and
promotes, supports, and celebrates creative and
innovative instructional
practices, programme designs, materials, services,
etc. provided by team
members.
In order to meet the needs of children with
hyperlexia, it
is essential
that all partners involved in the education
experience of these children
recognize that for successful inclusion it is
important for these children
to perceive feelings of acceptance and belonging
within the group, achieve
participation within the group and maintenance within
the group, receive an
integrated teaching/learning approach to achieve
growth in the areas of
language, communication, and social/emotional skills,
and overcome
behaviours which may interfere with learning, and
learn at the appropriate
level and rate to make the most efficient and
effective use of time to
achieve personal potential.
As well as the aforementioned general essential
ingredients for successful
inclusion, children with hyperlexia require the
following inclusionary
strategies to facilitate success:
1) a schedule and routine in print, in
advance; changes in schedule and
routine in print, in advance;
2) a focus on the children's strengths (reading
ability, rote memory, verbal
imitation, sequential processing, visuo-spatial
skills, concept
association) to take advantage of techniques that
will promote/accelerate
learning -- labelling, written scripts, social
stories, rote learning,
patterns, chunking, rules, examples not explanations,
scaffolding of the unknown
to the known, pairing information, role-playing,
etc.;
3) use of an integrated multisensory
approach whilst taking advantage of
visual strengths and the use of many different
contexts to achieve
transference/generalization;
4) reduced/diminished expectations on the auditory
system; enrich the
verbal stimulus by expanding, exaggerating, using
music, slowing the rate
of processing expectations by pausing longer, using
patterned language,
using cloze and/or prompts/cues;
5) careful observation to anticipate problems --
be sensitive to
behavioural clues which indicate anxiety or tension
due to sensory overload
or fears -- excessive body movements, perseveration,
etc.;
6) initially, environmental modifications to
address problems of sensory
overloading and then introducing a sensory diet of
activities to develop
coping strategies -- desensitization techniques,
relaxation techniques, firm
pressure, etc.;
7) provision of explicit language
instruction, starting where the child is
developmentally and using interests -- vocabulary,
describing, following
and giving directions, requesting, asking and
answering questions,
sequencing, cause/effect, etc.;
8) provision of vocabulary before lessons to facilitate language comprehension;
9) reading materials of appropriate length,
comprehension level, and
sentence structure complexity --
downgrading/simplifying and highlighting
will assist readability;
10) provision of explicit instruction and
modelling in communication and
social skills via specific lessons in specific
concepts (body language,
initiating conversations, etc.), engineering social
situations, using role
playing, using social stories, etc.,;
11) provision of assessment tools that allow
for accurate evaluation of
status, e.g.. for easier retrieval of information
-- multiple choice,
cloze procedure and matching;
12) careful observation of contextual
variables to determine, if possible,
the reason for the specific behaviour (lack of
understanding, anxiety/fear,
perseveration/being "stuck", non-compliance
[attention, power/control,
etc.]), and provision of a repertoire of
management strategies --
ignoring, redirecting, reinforcing visually cued
instruction, teaching
replacement behaviours, relaxation strategies,
problem-solving, etc. to
lead to self-awareness, self-monitoring,
self-regulation, and self-control;
and
13) preparation by prior exposure, at school
and home, of upcoming
concepts of themes, field trips etc. to adequately
prepare and to practise
what is necessary for effective participation and
learning.
In summary, if we believe in an egalitarian society, then what
we want for
all individuals is inclusion via the process of integration.
To achieve
this end is not an easy task but a most worthwhile endeavour
for it will
mean maximizing the potential of all people to live and learn
together
within a respectful, caring, and co-operative environment.
Theraplay® is a registered service mark of The Theraplay Institute, Wilmette,
IL, USA.