Introduction
The primary goal of this piece of writing is to provide evidence and further support for the proposition that all children in various primary school settings should be considered and involved in all endeavors. In addition, the article outlines the necessary components that must be present to implement inclusion in elementary schools. When it comes to doing research, the report follows the guidelines set forth by the British Educational Research Association (BERA Charter, 2018), which include that the identities of participants should be kept anonymous wherever possible and that they should be respected.
My Understanding of Inclusive Practice within Primary School Setting
Inclusive practices and inclusion are denotative terms describing acceptance and catering to each individual’s needs regardless of socio-economic norms such as ethnicity, beliefs, academic level, or background. Inclusion is a dynamic process of development associated with continual alterations, reviews, and assessments. Thus, inclusive practices involve all individuals since they are considered to have a role within a given setting.
Previously, inclusion was limited to medical intervention models focusing on different ways a child can differ from others (Study Topic 12, p. 144). Such assumptions promoted some children to be considered “ill” or “deficient,” necessitating the need for their “treatment” or “fixing,” sufficing to a negative approach to meeting their needs (Study Topic 14, p.220). However, social models are a more practical approach to identifying various barriers affecting individual participation in their setting or the community.
The social models adopt a holistic perception of an individual’s setting and whether it is a predisposing or protective factor to learning. The approach eliminates the possible burden on an individual learner and instead substitutes it with their required response. Children have a right to get an education from their local schools, which must ensure they promote equality and equal opportunities for all learners. Thus, the schools must work and implement measures to promote the inclusion of all children in the local communities (Study Topic 12, p. 153).
The assertion is supported by international statutes and laws on children’s rights. Such regulations stipulate that education is a fundamental right, including for those children with special needs with the need to ensure they are granted opportunities to maintain and achieve reasonable levels of learning as envisaged in Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (Study Topic 12, p. 142; UNESCO, 1994). Therefore, educating and including children in the process is a fundamental right.
Moreover, inclusion practices within primary schools primarily focus on eliminating barriers to learning. The techniques involve removing barriers by promoting participation and combining them with various educational approaches stipulated in Special Educational Need and Disabilities Codes of Practice policies (Department for Education, 2015, p.17). The policies highlight measures such as allocating resources that promote values and involving external agencies in promoting the inclusion of special needs children in primary schools.
The Rationale for Additional Support
In the context of my setting, a nine-year-old girl named Kate has Mosaic Down Syndrome, a mild form of Down’s syndrome. Her condition is associated with a significant refractive error where near objects appear. At the same time, those in the distance can be seen clearly, resulting in impaired vision, which has been a primary impediment to her education. It thus implies that she has to overcome several learning barriers that need to be improved to ensure her effective participation in the school environment and social interactions (Study Topic 13, p.175). The rationale for this case is informed by the need to create additional support for the barriers induced by her vision impairment challenges to be alleviated not only in the class setting but also in the school environment.
The need for support is meant to mitigate her refractive errors. The initiatives can improve her reading abilities, her vision of displays and classwork, and her capacity to handle homework and class assignments. Since her underlying genetic disorder is associated with refractive errors, it has adversely impacted her capacity to understand and decode written materials within a close-range ability to read, resulting in a slow progression of most aspects of her learning and education. Besides, she has developmental delays due to Mosaic Down Syndrome, even though the disorder is mild and has had minimal impact on her learning except for her vision impairments (Makhov & Medvedev, 2020). Moreover, due to her underlying genetic disorder and vision impairment, she experiences minimal interaction with her peers during recess, such as during lunch and lesson breaks.
Consequently, she is often lonely and prefers to remain in class, thus missing the chance to unwind from strenuous class activities. The situation has adversely impacted her general emotional state, well-being, and self-worth, inducing stress and anxiety while she is in class. Further, she has challenges creating social bonds with her peers, resulting in her isolation in school and feeling unwanted by staff, other children, and people in her environment.
Additionally, her genetic disorder has manifested prominently through vision impairment, limiting class participation and assigned group activities. She often needs additional time to conceptualize and internalize class concepts when given tasks by the teaching staff. Also, the disorder has rendered her engagement in physical activities and role-playing positions in class activities difficult, making her frustrated and discouraged because she never gets to interact adequately with her peers. Lack of participation in such activities impacts her sense of inclusion and equality within schools since she feels left out, unlike her peers (Study Topic 12, p. 145). Accordingly, a need exists for collaborative efforts from staff, pupils, and other stakeholders to help eliminate the barriers that encumber Kate’s learning to ensure her inclusion in participation and learning activities.
Approaches to Supporting Learning
Several measures need to be taken to eliminate the barriers facing Kate in her school environment. Various considerations should be evaluated when approaching the obstacles she is facing. Currently, Kate is positioned close to the whiteboard, enabling her to access an obstructed view of the work being discussed and displayed by the teaching staff. Besides, the team ensured all works displayed on the interactive board were enlarged and other materials she might need, such as books, printed documents, and worksheets. The initiative gives Kate a concise and clear view of her work in a classroom setting.
The teaching staff ensures that they verbalize the written or typed information using interactive or whiteboards. The process enables Kate to follow, understand, and know the task being discussed, thus allowing her to grasp the concepts being taught and become confident in the learning process with her peers. The approach is consistent with National Curriculum Policies in the United Kingdom (2021), which require appropriate curricular activities by staff respecting the needs of all children in their schools. When applicable, the teaching staff often uses different backgrounds, overlays, pens, or colored fonts to improve Kate’s visual clarity through contrasting colors. Such measures ensure that she reads conveniently with minimal discomfort and enhance the transparency of the texts used in class (Study Topic 14). The school has provided her with a sloping desk that enhances her vision field when completing assigned tasks and reading class material.
All of Kate’s books have enlarged spacing. The spacing enables one to read and write with ease. The physical approach taken to aid Kate’s learning is critical in eliminating the barriers she faces while supporting her to achieve significant academic mileage through being an active member of her class and school community (Grigorenko et al., 2020; Study Topic 12, p.157).
Support and teaching usually address Kate directly by her name in class, in other areas of the school, and along the corridors. The strategy helps her be conscious of any commands and prompts directed by the staff. Also, the design provides critical cues for Kate to be aware of the happenings around her environment. It improves her connection to the school community because it nurtures a sense of belonging and being valued.
The teaching staff ensures that they give instructions verbally in a descriptive, concise, and precise manner when they need her to perform tasks that need her interaction with the environment. Also, the approach helps Kate avoid confusion concerning where she is expected to be and what she needs to do in the school environment. The process is congruent with school policy for curriculum because it plays a central role in addressing the unique needs of special needs children within the school setting (School Policy for Curriculum. 2019). Again, the teaching staff usually makes arrangements for Kate to share tables with more “astute” peers to engage in joint academic endeavors to help her in situations where she might find assigned tasks complicated.
The collaborative approach bolsters the efforts to support Kate’s learning potential and capabilities. Further, they enhance her communication and social interaction skills, enabling her to foster potent relationships within the school classroom and promote teamwork, unity, and equality as envisaged in school equality policies (Study Topic 12. p. 146). Moreover, Kate has been included in an intervention whose primary objective is to promote the acquisition of social skills vital in improving her confidence, communication, and social interaction skills within the school setting (Study Topic 12, p.151). The approach has yielded significant dividends by elevating her self-belief and worth in and out of the classroom while encouraging and nurturing her social bonding skills.
Consequently, the measures have made Kate feel less isolated and dejected outside the classroom. It grants her a significant latitude for socializing and building rapport with her peers during break times, relieving her stress and pressure. A pediatric physician routinely visits Kate thrice a term to evaluate her condition in a quest to support her academic work.
The physician has played a central role in suggesting and highlighting relevant tools and equipment that can be used to aid her learning process. The specialist has assisted the teaching staff in modifying the school environment and advising on making individualized arrangements for Kate to do her examinations effectively. All the initiatives have provided a conducive environment for her to overcome the impediments that could deter or slow her learning process.
Meanwhile, the school provides Kate with a laptop with software that guides her in touch typing to support her information technology (IT) skills. The strategy has bolstered her reading and literacy skills and thus strengthened other approaches employed to help her understand and decode phrases and words. The infrastructure within the school has been crafted to support children with special needs like Kate.
The stairs, doors, and railings are marked with visible and contrasting colors, while the flooring has an uneven pattern. Such arrangements ensure that maneuvering and traveling around the school setting is quick, safe, and convenient because it suits her condition. Some adjustments and adaptations enable Kate to move around the school environment quickly like her peers, thus promoting equality.
Reflection on the Support
As demonstrated in the above sections, providing additional support for children with special needs in primary school has multiple benefits in promoting inclusion. Despite having a mildly debilitating genetic disorder (Mosaic Down’s Syndrome), which has severed her vision and physical mobility, the school has been instrumental in helping create a conducive means to promote Kate’s learning. Indeed, if the school never gave her support, her development could be retarded to the extent that she may have either quits school or lag behind her age mates.
If the highlighted approaches did not address Kate’s condition, she could have been adversely impacted and may not have attained the expected levels at school. Also, she could experience more severe emotional, cognitive, and social distress, resulting in a lack of confidence, depression, and stress. Accordingly, providing her with additional support allowed for improved access to education and creating opportunities and experiences similar to those of her peers in the school environment. The extra support demonstrated that the school respected and celebrated genetic-induced human infallibilities and debilitating medical disorders by striving and adopting approaches that make Kate feel no different from other pupils in her school. The school provided invaluable opportunities to special needs children like Kate in the school community by offering the necessary support to identify and understand prejudices and develop practical counter effects.
Effective communication was central to improving Kate’s understanding and learning of direct speech by mentioning her name whenever she was called to attention. The strategy was critical to her because it gave her cues of what was expected from her. Working alongside her peers let her learn vital phrases and words. The approach was essential for enhancing her communication skills, educational progression, and social development and was a motivating factor for promoting a positive learning environment. Indeed, it proactively reduced tension within Kate’s classroom setting since each person worked towards achieving common objectives.
The support given by outside agencies through routine checkups by a pediatric physician has been of significant essence in offering support and guidance, thus promoting her inclusion. The initiative has helped Kate’s parents and teaching staff develop adept and up-to-date techniques to provide individualized learning methods and tools. It ensures that children with special needs like Kate are well acquainted with the latest alterations and changes in various technologies available in the market (Study Topic 14, p; 229). Also, the physician can aid in future assessments and monitoring of her condition as she progresses with learning, making the school environment less stressful and convenient.
To motivate Kate to overcome the challenges she has in her education, one successful technique is to provide her with the resources and tools she needs, such as computers. The gadgets offer less convoluted instructions and more vibrant visuals than traditional learning materials, making them more straightforward to understand and use. It is essential to remove the stigma associated with disabilities to promote cooperation, unity, and acceptance in a school context. This may be accomplished by enabling Kate to utilize the same equipment and software as her classmates.
Conclusion
Completing this TMA has provided invaluable lessons concerning including special needs children in primary school settings. I have learned that it is far more challenging to implement inclusive and inclusion practices in a primary school setting than I had earlier anticipated. I am now conscious of the painstaking process needed to plan all the facets and aspects to effectively implement relevant approaches that can promote the inclusion of special needs children by eliminating potential barriers.
The methods need to consider the teaching staff and outside agencies in building synergy to ensure a meaningful contribution is made toward improving the unity and inclusion of such children. Initially, I understood superficially inclusive practices as allowing children from all backgrounds to attend mainstream schools. However, while working on this TMA, I have learned that for such a process to be realized, all stakeholders in the education sector need to work in harmony to make children with special needs feel valued and welcome in the school community while encouraging them to explore their potential.
References
British Education Research Association. (2018). Ethical guidelines for educational research. London, BERA. Web.
Department for Education. (2015). Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years, London. Web.
Grigorenko, E. L., Compton, D. L., Fuchs, L. S., Wagner, R. K., Willcutt, E. G., & Fletcher, J. M. (2020). Understanding, educating, and supporting children with specific learning disabilities: 50 years of science and practice. American Psychologist, 75(1), 37. Web.
Makhov, A. S., & Medvedev, I. N. (2020). Physiological and morphological peculiarities of children with Down’s syndrome: A brief review. Bali Medical Journal, 9(1), 51-54. Web.
Study Topic 12. Inclusion and inclusive schools. Web.
Study Topic 13. Identity and discrimination. Web.
Study Topic 14. Supporting the individual learner. Web.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (1994). The Salamanca Statement and framework for action on special needs education. Web.