Mainstreaming Children with Autism - Literature review Example

Mainstreaming Children with Autism Name: Instructor: Course: Institution: Date: Mainstreaming Children with Autism Introduction Autistic children have an inborn disorder that affects the manner in which they relate and communicate with peers and community at large. Poor communication and social skills, therefore, narrows their opportunities for success. According to National Research Council, U.S. (2001), mainstreaming is a system of education where autistic children or children with special needs in general, are taught together with the non-disabled students only at specific times. However, their needs and ability to participate and cope in a mainstream school are evaluated at personal level. It differs from inclusion in that while inclusion model supports permanent incorporation of the two groups in learning, mainstreaming means incorporating the two groups in regular classes only at specific times and lessons. Autistic children present special needs that demands special attention. Apart from the need for special facilities, they also require special education teachers with wide knowledge, and perhaps experience in dealing with autistic children. A normal classroom teacher may not be able to effectively understand and cope with these special demands, hence must undergo a special training on how to teach, especially the social skills, autistic students. Seach, Lloyd & Preston (2002, p. 1) observe that autistic children, more than any other group of disabled children, require special attention in classroom. In the light of the above discussion, this research paper focuses on mainstreaming as a model of educating children with autism, tries to establish the strengths and weaknesses of the system and most importantly, examines how autism base can effectively support pupils and mainstream staff. Friendships and Bullying Bullying in schools has been in existence since time immemorial. It includes behaviours such as physical humiliation and discrimination on grounds of race, disability or social status. There are different definitions for bullying. Certainly, all definitions agree that bullying is not limited to physical harm but also emotional: Olweus (1996 cited in Barter and Berridge 2010, p. 34) explains: Bullying as a sub-set of aggressive behavior and a child is being bullied when he is deliberately exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students, with intention to harm. Studies reveal that children with special needs such as autism have serious challenges in establishing friendship and relationships with their normal peers. In this view, Seach, Lloyd and Preston (2002, p. 3) argue that social assimilation and interaction with peers are much more difficult for autistic students than the real educational procedure taking place in a normal classroom. More often, they fall prey of non-autistic peers, who feel superior and take advantage of their disability to bully and tease them. Bullying has adverse effects on the self-esteem of the victims and its effect on their relationships cannot be overemphasized. Smith (1999, p. 70) argues that victims of bullying tend to exhibit fewer colleagues, reduced self-concept, and are vulnerable different academic and health complications. Many students admit to have bullied their peers in one way or the other. Actions most perceived as bullying includes but not limited to hurting, demanding money, breaking belongings, hitting and kicking. (Arora & Thompson 1987 Cited in Smith 1999, p.72). Mainstream model of education has inherent challenges as far as friendship and socialization is concerned. Most students without disabilities tend to socialize and interact with fellow peers while ignoring and avoiding those with special needs. As a result, the autistic children usually find themselves secluded, lonely, neglected and with fewer friends (Lee, Odom, & Loftin 2007). This is mostly perpetrated in playgrounds than in formal class time. Bullying and barbaric acts on students with autism can be very frustrating on the victims and sometimes may cause death with others result to committing suicide. Mainstream children without disability are at times envious of the special attention and academic resources their autistic peers receive in classrooms. This further strains their relationships resulting to hatred and negative attitude towards the autistic students. Most children with serious autism have a serious problem of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, that translates to hurting their relationships with normal peers. The autistic children seem reserved, may prefer isolation and being alone. Nevertheless, they are at times wish for friends and their poor social skills become the limiting factor. Parents and educators should use indicators such as self-esteem, level of social involvement and friendship to evaluate the effectiveness of the mainstream programme and whether or not, the needs of the autistic child are being met. Behavioral indicators such as low esteem and socialization calls for special attention as the autistic child might be discriminated, bullied, or victimized. This is strongly supported by various studies. For example, Barter and Berridge (2010, p. 37) argues that bullied children have significantly lower self-esteem than non-victims and in turn, tend to have low attitude towards themselves, do not feel in control of their lives and often experience helplessness and powerlessness. Mainstream schools are not necessary the sole environments for bullying. Other children are bullied at home environments, become affected, and therefore become easy targets in a mainstream environment. Such children would find difficulties in their relationship with other non-autistic children in both classroom and play ground environments for fear of another humiliating experience (Eaves & Ho 1997). Transition into New Schools and Classes Transition into a new school and classes is a challenging task for autistic children. With all anxiety for new environment and classrooms, the picture of meeting new pupils and teachers can present a challenging and stressful situation for autistic child. Transition to new school or class therefore must be planned early in advance to prepare the child for the future environment. As much as normal children may be affected and strained by fatigue, hunger and illness an autistic child with such derailment coupled by neurological incapacity can make the beginning of the school year seem like an impossible task (Hess n.d.). The school and the teachers need to fully understand the autistic child’s behavior, and the communication skills the child is familiar with. It therefore calls for thorough preparation in terms of resources needed and how they will be availed to the child. If a child is only used to visual and non-verbal communication methods such as signs, the special education teacher must develop customized and friendly methodologies to ensure the special needs of the autistic child are well taken care of. It is of great importance that the parent explains to the teachers and the school management the behavior and needs of the child. This should be followed by a brief explanation of the same to the non-autistic peers in order to poster understanding and plead for tolerance from them. This is because children with neurological disorders exhibit annoying behaviors such as throwing ‘tantrums and outbursts’ at the slightest provocations. As such, Eaves and Ho (1997) argue that it calls for understanding, compromising, and acceptance from the normal non-autistic community. If the regular mainstream students warmly accept the autistic child, adapting to the new school or class will not be too frustrating to bear. The opposite is strikingly true. A child who doesn’t feel accepted and understood by the other students will find it difficult and stressing settling in a new school. In preparing the autistic child for transition, there is need to start a one-month preparation program with a scheduled bedtime and wakeup routine and noting how much the child can do without a prompt. If need be, she proposes a picture schedule or a written visual schedule at conspicuous and strategic place that the child will easily see (Hess, n.d.). The effect of familiarity cannot be underestimated. Children seem to be at ease in a familiar environment, with familiar peers and instructors. Therefore, a child who has never been exposed to mainstream system may need pre-visits to mainstream classes and have a picture of the new environment and interact with the would-be classmates, teachers and special needs educators. Adapted and Differentiated Curriculum Differentiated curriculum is the process in which tutors proactively plan to teach learners according to the learners’ abilities, rather than following a structured teaching (Hammeken, 2007). Differentiated instruction takes into account the fact that all students are not alike and have inherent special and unique differences hence require an adapted teaching and learning process. The teachers ought to accommodate the various special needs of children in their teaching methodologies. According to Hammeken (2007), the goal of developing a differentiated curriculum is to effectively help students achieve their expected academic goals. The general assumption is that the teacher and not the student should adapt to the curriculum. An all-inclusive National Curriculum cannot be effective in a mainstream environment. Usually, mainstream classroom has both the ‘typical teacher’ and the special education teacher to take care of the special needs and instruction because not all the students in the mainstream classroom are at the same level. An autistic child will be able to cope with an adapted and differentiated curriculum that best suit his needs and its effectiveness can be measured by how the child is able to understand and demonstrate the concepts learned. Overall, this teaching methodology is difficult to implement in a mainstream model due to the complexity and resources needed. Mainstream system uses adapted and differentiated curriculum mostly in simple subjects such as music, arts, and drama. It presents many difficulties in teaching more complicated subjects such as mathematics and sciences. Equality The debate on equality is far from being settled. People hold different opinions of what equality is and where it should be applied. In a general educational setup, equality may refer to equal access to opportunities: academic resources, teachers, and equal treatment throughout the learning process that may lead to equal outcomes. Equality of opportunities in a mainstream setup is of essence in helping autistic children cope with the non-autistic peers (Farrell 2010, p. 23). This equality does not translate to equal resource allocation as in a regular and normal classroom setup, but allocation of resources and attention based on the needs of the students to put them at almost the same footing e.g. more teacher attention and differentiated curriculum. Interestingly, “equality” if used literally and in the wrong context, discriminates against people with disabilities and disorders. Its definition and use must therefore consider the needs at hand. Proponents of mainstream and inclusion models support a comprehensive education system where all autistic children have rights to undergo the national curriculum with non-autistic children otherwise, they claim that it amounts to denying their rights. Critics firmly disagree with this thought. For example, Farrell (2010, p. 24) strongly opposes this approach by noting: A child with autism may be provided with a place in a mainstream school classroom so that it can be said he is given an equal opportunity to benefit from inclusion with [non-autistic]…if he doesn’t participate, [feel stressed, uncomfortable] and threatened, it is unclear what opportunities are being equally shared. He finally concludes that imagined equal opportunity may be leading to poorer outcomes than in a special school (Farrell 2010, p. 24). In the mainstream school context, equality should be more based on providing an enabling and better environment for learning and teaching of autistic children rather than provision of ‘equal opportunities’ in lay terms. This is because a better environment will translate to improved outcomes for the autistic children. Diversity and Awareness of Autism for Inclusion and Mainstreaming Autism has been in existence for so many years, its understanding dates back to 20th Century. Strictly speaking, most cases of autism go unnoticed or undiagnosed and the affected students have to adapt in a non-autistic community where their needs are mostly neglected. With the disorder being increasingly common, Schools are beginning to recognize that they may have autistic pupils and though without formal medical diagnosis, they begin to plan educational programmes for those autistic children based on individual needs (Seach, Lloyd and Preston 2002, p. 2). Inclusion system is however misunderstood by various parties: parents, government, civil society, and educators alike. Diversity in needs of the students must be considered in an inclusion and mainstream systems. The model should be geared towards restructuring and perhaps revising curriculum to suit the special needs of autistic students and not the opposite, adapting the autistic child to the curriculum. A lot however, need to be put in place to accommodate the diverse needs of the pupils and early recognition of the disorders will go a long way into addressing the problem early enough before the child is permanently affected. How a Base Room may Support Mainstream Staff The teaching staff and educators in mainstream school often fear handling autism cases. They are not sure of how best to teach and help the autistic child to respond meaningfully to the learning process. Inclusion of autistic children in mainstream classroom has enormous effect on the teaching staff. Over time however, the teachers gain valuable knowledge and experience in handling special needs of the disabled and are able to confidently deliver content and presentations in the best way that suits the special needs in context. Special education teachers should be deployed in all mainstream schools. The general teachers should too undergo training since they may be involved with the autistic students at times. Mainstream staff should therefore be knowledgeable enough to help the autistic students exploit their potential, achieve the educational objectives while interacting with the non-autistic peers without feeling distressed, or unaccepted. UK Inclusion and Special Educational Needs (SEN) Policy Before adoption of the SEN policy, children with special needs where discriminated against by the national curriculum that was insensitive to their educational needs. Today, learning disabilities continue to influence and change education policies across the globe. The SEN policy outlines the provisions and guidelines to ensuring that children within SEN spectrum such as autism have their needs addressed and met. The key influences outlined in the SEN policy includes: social and cultural developments on how children with learning disabilities are viewed, government agendas such as increasing the levels of social inclusion, stakeholder views such voluntary and parent associations and most importantly, the international policy promoting globalization of children’s rights agendas (Baldock, Fitzgerald & Kay, 2009 p. 60). They further outline the Warnock report and the Education Act that recommended establishment of integration (inclusion) by legislating that children with SEN should be educated in mainstream schools, if it was possible and that educational objectives should be the same for all children, disabled and non disabled. Most recent policies and legislations include: The SEN and Disability Act (SENDA) 2001, that “provides protection for disabled children against discrimination in schools and confirms their right to mainstream schools wherever possible”, and The Childcare Act 2006, that states “Local Authorities will only be deemed to have met the childcare needs of the parents if there is sufficient provision for the disabled children” (Baldock, Fitzgerald & Kay 2009, pp. 62-63). The above legislations have not only been implemented in the United Kingdom but also in many commonwealth countries. Governments and Children Rights movements are today more committed to helping children with SEN meet their full potential and have better opportunities than ever before. Today, mainstream and inclusion systems are forming platforms for developing government’s social and educational policies in many countries. Weaknesses and Strengths Proponents of mainstream point out that there is improvement in the Autistic child’s social behavior. The Autistic child, with inherent socialization problems, learns social skills and sharing from the non-autistic peers perhaps through observation and imitation. Over time, the autistic children become more and more socially involved. Segregate model lowers the self-esteem of the children, often instilling the notion of being less important and inferior to their non-autistic peers. As a result, their socialization skills are severely underdeveloped as compared to autistic children in mainstream schools (Barnard 2002). Another strength singled out is improved academic performance. Whereas critics argue that the academic performance of an autistic child is highly compromised in mainstream schools, others strongly believe that there is notable academic improvement for children without severe autism disorder. Further studies perhaps need to be done with emphasis on mainstream and inclusion models rather than general school setup. The most frustrating drawback is lack of resources to support mainstreamed autistic students. Government and local authorities’ support is hardly enough and therefore, effective curriculum implementation is compromised. The need for trained and experienced educators also presents serious challenge to schools’ management. The typical classroom teachers cannot teach autistic children effectively as they have special needs that require special education teachers. Finally, most general teachers are uncomfortable with having autistic students; the child’s educational needs are consequently not met (Rowe 1999). Conclusion Special Education Needs (SEN) continue to shape education policies the world over. Many governments are adopting mainstream and inclusion models and policies that supports equal opportunities for all, disabled and non-disabled students. This research paper has established that autism presents special education needs that require more resources allocation and professionalism to help the autistic children achieve their educational objectives. It was also noted undoubtedly that the National Curriculum in most countries discriminate against the autistic children and for this reason, most autistic children do not exploit their full potentials. However, with proper structures, policies and government support, mainstream schools can support students with autism. All stakeholders i.e. parents, teachers, voluntary organizations and Local Authorities must therefore play their roles to improve the current educational status and provide better opportunities for children with autism. References Baldock, P, Fitzgerald, D, & Kay J 2009, Understanding Early Years Policy, 2nd edn, SAGE Publications, London. Barnard, J 2002, Autism in schools: crisis or challenge? National Autistic Society, London. Barter, C & Berridge, D 2010, Children behaving badly?: peer violence between children and young people, John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, NJ. Eaves, LC & Ho, HH 1997, ‘School placement and academic achievement in children with autistic spectrum disorders’, Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, vol.9, no.4, pp.277-291. Farrell, M 2010, Debating Special Education, Routledge, New York, NY. Hammeken, PA 2007, A Teachers Guide to Inclusive Education: 750 Strategies for Success, Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA. Hess, EB n.d., Helping our Kids with Autism transition back into School, Viewed December 5, 2010, . Lee, S, Odom, SL, & Loftin, R 2007, ‘Social engagement with peers and stereotypic behavior of children with autism’, Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, vol. 9, no.2, pp.67-79. National Research Council, U.S. 2001, Educating children with autism, 2nd edn., National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. Rowe, C 1999, ‘The Stanley Segal Award: do social stories benefit children with autism in mainstream primary schools?’ British Journal of Special Education, vol.26, no.1, pp.12-14. Seach, D, Lloyd, M, & Preston, M 2002, Supporting children with Autism in Mainstream schools, Continuum International Publishing Group, London. Smith, PK 1999, The nature of school bullying: a cross-national perspective, Routledge, New York, NY. Read More