Recent Trends in Education of Children with Intellectual Disability

Dr. Vijayalakshmi Myreddi*

Education of children with Intellectual Disability (ID) reiterates the provision of appropriate education that prepares them to live as independently as possible in their immediate environments (home, neighborhood) and future environments (school, community). Further the school education should lead to vocational training and employment based on the ability and potential of persons with ID. Professionals, advocacy groups, and parent organizations are working towards achieving the above said goals. However, there are differences in views of the above said groups in reaching the goals of education which are related to type of school services, classification and labeling, trends in the class room and teacher training. The issues are discussed below. Type of School Services When we look at the school services provided to children with ID two decades ago, the children were educated in special settings i.e., special schools or residential schools/institutions. Segregated settings were established as the regular schools were not equipped with the skilled staff to meet the educational needs of children with ID. Later years the proponents of integration and main streaming of children with ID advocated their right to education in public schools along with normal children. To that effect the acts were passed in western countries to accommodate children with disabilities in regular schools and it is the obligation of the school to see that the children with disabilities be provided appropriate education. In addition standard procedures for diagnosis and placement procedures in special education services were developed. Placement There are continuum of placement options for children with ID full inclusion, pulling a child out of class room (resource room support), self contained class room, or special school/ residential school and home bound programme. The question arises where the child with ID is best served or benefited. The proponents of full inclusion believe that pulling a child out of the class room to provide special education services or placing the child in a self contained class room or special school is inherently unequal and inferior ,and, therefore, immoral. Further, they argue that children with ID benefit from full inclusion as it promotes social interaction and acceptance of children with ID leading to natural inclusion.
Paper presented in 18th National Parents Meet held at Aurangabad from 13-14 Nov. 2010 Head, Department of Special Education, National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, Manovikas Nagar PO, Secunderabad, Website: www.nimhindia.org, Email: vmyreddi@gamil.com

The proponents of special school are of the opinion that the children with ID are provided specialized instruction and great care is provided by the teacher as she has only a very few children in the class. In addition, the special school will also provide all peripheral services required for the children especially for children with severe and profound ID which is not available in integrated /full inclusive schools. In addition, every student with ID may not benefit fully from full inclusion and some of them may even require special school/residential school placement depending on the nature and condition of the disability. Classification and Labeling Controversies surrounding labels and categories of children with ID (mild, moderate, severe, profound) is of major concern to professionals and parents. One issue is whether children should be labeled at all. The latest definition of ID (AAIDD, 2009) focuses on measuring both intellectual and functional ability of children for diagnosis and the categories describe the level of support required (intermittent, limited, extensive and pervasive). Further, the special education training programmes should emphasize teaching of functional curriculum which leads to independent living of students with ID. It is stated in the literature that the training programmes planned based on the labels some times may limit the opportunities for children with ID to learn to their optimum ability. For example a child labeled severe ID, by virtue of scoring an IQ 30, the expectations of teacher and parent in terms of skill acquisition will be lower and may not provide learning experiences challenging to the child. However, the proponents of labels believe that the labels will provide a common ground for professionals, researchers and parents to discuss practices and share knowledge about training and management of categories of children with ID. In addition, the labels will be useful to policy makers and administrators in allocation of funds for various programmes as the needs of children vary based on the categories. Trends in the class room The following trends in special education have significant influence on the class room environment: 1. early intervention and prevention, 2.curriculum and instruction 3.technology and 4.transition plans. 1. Early Intervention and Prevention: Major emphasis is now on early intervention and prevention of disabilities. It is noted in the literature that the early detection of developmental delays and stimulation will facilitate the skill development and prevent further handicapping condition. Therefore, early intervention services are initiated in most of the special schools/institutions/hospitals. The government and the NGOs also have taken steps in creating awareness among the public on prevention of disabilities. These initiatives were taken as early intervention and prevention not only benefit children in the long run but save money as well by reducing the later need for costly services. 2

2. Curriculum and Instruction: Curriculum should prepare all students to function in a world that embraces a diverse population, rather than organizing experiences based on limited groups. If becoming independent adults and useful, and contributing citizens is the goal of education, then school must provide educational experiences beyond academic skills. The focus must change from a curriculum centered approach to a child centered approach i.e. making the academic content meaningful for the individual student and has direct relevance to ultimate independence, employability and life style quality. To achieve this, the teachers need to identify the environments with which the students interact and the skills required for interaction. The collected information is to be added to the existing curriculum to make it individual specific for each student. The learning experiences should be planned in such a way that students perceive the connection between what is being taught and how that relates to what takes place in the real world. This is only possible when the students are taught in the community environments. The ultimate goal of education is to prepare them for vocational training and employment. Therefore, the emphasis should be on selection of appropriate curricular content and instructional activities to prepare students with mental retardation for employment from early years. Employment requires the individual to have a salable skill plus the ability to function as a member of community. Employers expect workers to be responsible show initiative and work cooperatively with their colleagues and supervisors. These skills and attitudes develop over a time. Often it is observed that special educators do not address these employability skills until the secondary level, missing the formative years for providing systematic employability skill training. Therefore, it is essential that the teachers systematically develop personal and inter personal skills, work related skills right from the early years. Further it is observed that in vocational training programs the major focus is on teaching the skills necessary to accomplish job tasks. However, training in "life skills" are just as necessary for job success. The Life skills include such as to figure out what to wear, wash up, dress, transportation to get to work on time, to interact appropriately with her/his co-workers and supervisor, handle problems appropriately, understand his/her paycheck and budgeting money etc. Major skill deficits in one or more of these areas could result in loss of job and require further training at a rehabilitation program. Without training the person in life skills, further job skill training could be a wasted effort. Assistive Technology Assistive technology is the term used to describe devices that are used by children and adults with ID and other disabilities to compensate for functional limitations and to enhance and increase learning, independence, mobility, communication, environmental control and choice. 3

It also refers to direct services that assist individuals in selecting, acquiring or using such devices. Several assistive devices such as software, hardware, mobility aids and communication aids, reading and writing aids are available to assist education professionals in creating effective matches between the needs of students with disabilities and technology that may help students with disabilities to be successful in the school environment. Transition There are two types of transition one is transition from one programme/ school to other and second is school to work. Professionals, caregivers and parents need to plan and prepare the children for future programmes. Hence, they are called transition plans. For example children from early intervention are to be transferred to pre school programme, children need to be taught the skills to fit in the pre school programme. Similarly, for smooth transition from school to work the process should focus on improving the academic, functional and vocational skills of children with ID to facilitate movement from school to post school activities, which include vocational education and/or employment (integrated, supported or open employment), independent living or community participation. It is based on the individual childs needs, taking into account the childs strengths, preferences and interests. The research studies conducted on the need for transition from school to work indicated that only few students with handicapping conditions move from school to independent living in their communities. In addition, secondary special education programs does not lead to find adequate employment opportunities and appear to have little influence on the adjustment of students to community life. Therefore, the school and the post school programs curriculum should focus on preparing the students for future employment and also for independent living and community participation (Edgar 1988, Bruin inks and colleagues 1989, Sitington and Frank 1990, and Valdes and colleagues, 1990).The transition plan should include the competencies to be acquired for independent living, behaviors that are more important for competitive employment, services and activities required to achieve the outcome. In addition, the transition process should also include collaboration of outside agencies which are involved in vocational training and employment. Teacher training Teaching training programmes are conducted disability specific in the special education. However, the debate also exists whether the teacher training programmes to be categorical or non categorical. The proponents of categorical training argue that substantial differences exist in each disability category and the teachers should be highly specified in that area. But the proponents of non categorical teacher training programmes argue that the teachers should be trained to deal with all categories of children with disabilities in their class room. Teacher 4

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