Special Education and Needs for Children - Essay Example

Special Education and Needs Introduction Special Education and needs are meant for the special children. Quality education has to be given to all thedisabled children. Many disabled children are not admitted to the common schools. In many countries, there are separate schools to accommodate these children. But all of them are not providing the quality and special needs. There has been an increase in the number of special children in almost all the countries. As these students are not treated like other children, most of them are still taken care by the service organizations. (Florian 2006).These children need special attention and care and that is why special education is needed. The quality of educating special children should improve. Inclusive education is not made compulsory in all the countries. Inclusive education is modifying the existing system to suit the needs of these special children. The government should take measures to provide proper education and other facilities to the special children. Though there is an increase in the number of schools, the people selecting these schools are still less. Most of the disabled children are not enrolled in any of the schools and they feel they are different from others. Educational institutions all over the world are trying hard to provide the necessary facilities for the disabled children. Government should provide the resources required to manage the special children. Inclusion helps in providing the essential opportunities to all students. It helps in increasing the involvement of students in all types of activities. The existing government and their policies on special education and inclusion are better than how it was before. But this is not sufficient, as disabled people find it difficult to mingle with the normal people. Although there are several institutions that help these children and include them, this has to be increased. In countries like U.K and America, where the number of service organizations are limited, it becomes difficult for the parents to manage such children. More service organizations should be established and they should take the initiative to help these children. Government must organize all this and make sure the special education is provided to everybody without any discrimination. Inclusion is done to enable all students including the disabled to participate in all activities. They should not be separated from others; doing so will spoil the child's mind. America When compared to other countries, America has the major number of schools that educate students with disabilities. The number of students in the special education is rapidly increasing, which in turn leads to the increase in the special education schools. Generally it is difficult to make out the student who has disability from the normal students, as not all of the disabled people will be severe. American education system is being inclusive as it includes people with all sorts of disability. (Mitchell 2005).Disabled students will not be able to perform well when compared to the other students. Hence special care should be taken to make them excel in the academics. Most of the special children pursue their high school, where as there is a decline in the disabled students completing the high school. Once they complete their education, most of them try and engage in any employment and some continue their higher education. This information was revealed by a recent survey conducted in America. America is definitely growing at a fast pace in improving the special education institutions. As seen in the survey report, America is better than the other countries in terms of the inclusion and education for all. There are so many schools that concentrate on educating these special and disabled children. To enhance the existing education system, the schools should be made aware of the disabilities and special children. The teachers and the faculties must have knowledge about the problems and how to help them in continuing their education. New strategies can be adapted to manage and get the result from the students. Effective methods have to be followed to enhance their performance. They should have the details regarding each student's disability so that it will help them in guiding the student better. Faculty and the school authorities must have a clear understanding on the child's problem and should have the proper experience of handling such students. Development in Educational System Each person's disability will be different and the experiences and results will not be similar. People in the society treat them as a separate group and who are incapable. New policies should be introduced and the education system should have a complete makeover, so that the people in the society do not under estimate them. Education plans must be flexible which helps the special children and they can take up a course accordingly. Present system does not provide the quality education. Individual attention is lacking in most of the schools. The school authorities must devote time to each and every student and provide the proper facilities. Some institutions in America conduct separate class for the disabled to ensure individual attention is paid to those students. Proper planning and identifying the disability of the children will enable to provide quality education. (Reynolds & Fletcher-Janzen, 2007). Student's who require special education, first prefer government or federally supported organizations for getting their services. Not all students with disabilities continue their schooling till high school. Some of them discontinue in their middle school itself. Due to their disability, they are not able to continue their education. Children may have learning disability, problems with hearing or some may have visual disabilities. The impact of disability and its severity may vary from one student to another. There has been a development in the way people are treating the disabled people. In the recent years various reforms have been done to improve the education of these people and to educate the public on the achievements of disabled and special children. There are certain areas where the educational institutions should concentrate to give a quality education to the children. The approach they follow to help these children is the important criteria. The school should have a good discipline which will help them in taking care of the special children and must make sure that the other students are not treating them in a different manner. Diagnosing the disability plays the major role in the education of disabled children. Each of them has to be diagnosed correctly to identify their problem. If these children learn and achieve anything, it should be told to others and it will make others know they too are capable of doing certain things. Educational institutions must enable them to pursue their high school and if they are interested, must provide them the higher education also. Adulthood is a stage when disabled or special children require more care and attention. Thus it is the responsibility of the organization to ensure they are taken care of properly. Environment plays a vital role in the education of special and disabled children. These children must not have too much restriction and they should be allowed to do what they wish. They can be in the same classroom with the other normal students. Some of the disabled children may not mingle with others. Students who have severe disability need to be attended very frequently. In both the case, students can be kept in a separate classroom and proper attention is necessary. Inclusion may also denote the place where the special students are being occupied. In certain situation, a disabled student cannot be managed in a place where the normal students are available. In some cases, extra faculty is enough to take care of the disabled children. Various amendments have been passed in America regarding the issues of special and disabled children. As there are several legislations and laws, the education system of these children has changed dramatically. It is difficult to talk about the American education system, because there are various strategies and formalities for the educational institutions. Each of them follows a different approach in dealing with special education and inclusion. But America has the advantage of proper planning and consideration when compared with other countries which has not developed in the education system. Inclusion does not have a single definition. Inclusion takes different meaning based on the place it is used. Inclusion can be considered in educational, public rights or a social issue. It may range from people, place or the use of the particular system. Difference and Similarity between U.K.'s and American Education System There are certain differences between U.K and American educational system. In U.K, the disabled are labeled according to their disability and they are divided into categories. In American system, this is not done. The student's disability is noted and they pay special attention. The second difference is the education policy. In U.K personalized learning in implemented, where as in America, the disabled children are treated separately with trained faculty. The similarities between American and U.K system are many. Both have separate schools and institutions for special and disabled children. Their government has passed much legislation to facilitate the disabled children and improve their education system. Canada Canada is also the prominent country which has improved in the special education system and inclusion. Inclusion is not only involved with special education and disability. It also deals with treating the students and faculty in a proper manner. (Norwich 2008).The student's interests should be widened to enable them to take part in various activities other than academics. Each student come from a different culture and the institutions should have a system that brings them together. This is also a form of inclusion where the disabled children from various communities are put together. Disabled children should not have much restriction. Students who require special educational needs must be allowed to mingle with the other children. The differences among the special and disabled children must be taken as a challenge and the institutions should work for their betterment, instead of considering it as a problem. Educational System Enhanced Every student has the right to get educated and the society cannot object this in anyway. The schools in Canada have the important facilities and the faculties are well trained and experienced. Organizations need to change their approach in dealing with the special children. The Canadian system has several new strategies and their method is efficient in taking care of these children. It is effective and has improved in the recent years. A recent survey shows that there has been a tremendous improvement in the Canadian system which deals special education needs and inclusion. Their planning is perfect and it helps to easily deal with these children. The disabilities vary from one child to another. The educational system must be able to handle students with any disability. Special educational needs meet the requirements of the children with learning disability. As they cannot learn and perform like normal children, special education is mandatory. The differences between the children are analyzed and the needs are taken care of based on their disability. The law has been changed to suit the needs of these children. Special educational needs are given to children who has learning disability and if they are unable to concentrate and grasp the lessons. All children do not exhibit the same behavior if they are disabled. It is in the hands of the teacher to find out and teach them accordingly. The system must be flexible enough to include student with any sort of difficulty and disability. Canadian system has been inclusive as it enables the special children to continue their education even though they are not normal like others. Here inclusion has created such an impact, because of which so many children are benefited. Before some years it was not possible for the disabled to get educated. People in the society separated them from others. But now the situation has changed. They are no more a separate group and they treat them like normal people. Various studies have proved that inclusion has been a boon to help these children. Canada has worked hard for the up lifting of the special children. Educational system in Canada is a dual track system. It gives education for the disabled and also the normal people. Comparing the Canadian system with the other countries derives the various differences and similarities. Each country has its norms and methods in establishing and developing the educational system. Countries like America, Canada and London have gone through a tough phase with regard to the special educational needs and inclusion. Each of them took their own time in creating new procedures, adapting various strategies and implementing them. As a result, now there are several schools that help the disable children. The governments have taken pain to improve the standard of these educational institutions. There are many advantages and disadvantages in each of the educational system. As they are developed to suit their country's needs it will be entirely different from the other country. Difference and Similarity between Canadian and U.K's Educational system U.K system has been developing in the recent years. But the hard work of the service organizations in U.K has lead to a drastic improvement in its special educational needs. The major difference is U.K system emphasizes on quality and concentrates on inclusion. Canada prioritizes on individual inclusion. The second difference is children are allowed to work if they are even at school level. In Canadian system, the children are being treated properly till high school and can go for employment related activities only after the completion of high school. The schools in Canada focus on teaching the children the essential things and makes use of trained faculties. In U.K, they give more preference to activities rather than education. There are many similarities between them. Inclusion is given more priority in Canadian as well as U.K's system. Educational Systems in Canada and America American systems strive hard to uplift the disabled people status in the society. America and Canada have the following things in common. High school education is also important for the disabled. The educational system should implement procedures to help and improve the special education needs and inclusion. The disabilities of the children are diagnosed prior to the admission. This enables the faculty to teach them accordingly. If any student excels in any other activities or achieves anything, then the school authorities make sure they are announced to everyone in the school. This helps to develop a self confidence in the student. As there is an increase in the number of school drop outs in the recent years, the system is modified to resolve these problems. Schools enable the students to involve in employment or employment based proposals once they complete their high school. The current special educational needs have been working effectively and can be implemented further to improve the status of disabled children. These practices are efficient enough to take care of these children. Various surveys and recent studies have stated that the changes have helped the disabled and special educational needs and inclusion has changed the life of many people. As number of disabled people is increasing day by day, the government and other voluntary organization should come forward to provide the educational facilities and enhance the special educational needs. This will enable the special children and the disabled to get proper education good facilities. References Florian , L. (2006) The Sage Handbook of Special Education. London, Sage Publications. Mitchell, D. (2005) Contextualizing Inclusive Education: Evaluating Old and New International Paradigms. London, Rout ledge Falmer. Reynolds, C.R., Fletcher-Janzen E. (2007) Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of Children, Adolescents and Adults with Disabilities. London, Wiley Publications. Norwich, B. (2008) Dilemmas of difference, Inclusion and Disability: International Perspectives and Future Directions. London, Rout ledge. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education. Available from: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/carfax/1034912x.html [Accessed on 8th December 2009]. British Journal of Special Education. Available from: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/117989206/home [Accessed on 8th December 2009]. Support for Learning. Available from: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/117977250/homeCRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 [Accessed on 8th December 2009]. 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