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Some children in need of special education are included in inclusive education programs in order to use their talents correctly and to mix with normal life. How does this method work, how to choose an inclusion student, if you want to learn, you can read our article.
What is inclusive education?
Inclusive education is the inclusion of children who need special education in normal education with their peers who show the expected development. Inclusive education in Turkey started with the Law on Children in Need of Special Education, which came into force in 1983.
The purpose of inclusive education can be listed as follows:
- To ensure the socialization of children with special needs.
- To reintegrate these children into society.
- Not to make the child normal, but to help him use his talents and interests.
- To facilitate communication with peers.
What is an inclusive student?
The child, whose special situation regarding his learning is documented with a committee report from the state hospital, is called an inclusion student. The characteristics of children who will receive special education as inclusive students are examined under 5 headings. These children are expected to have some of the characteristics given in the table below.
| Physical characteristics | Social Features | academic features | Personality characteristics | Family and Environmental Features | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Negative external appearance caused by not being able to do self-care | Inability to express feelings and thoughts | Difficulty learning abstract concepts | Diffidence | Inadequate economic situation | |
| Recession | give simple reactions to situations | Carelessness | Unwillingness to succeed | Low level of education | |
| Lack of hand-eye coordination | lack of speech | Auditory or visual achievement | Unwillingness to take responsibility | Excess number of children | |
| Inactivity | Inability to adapt to new situations | dread quickly in the face of failure | Weakness in sense of self | strained family relationships | |
| Instinctive movements and tics | Build poor social relationships | Failure in group work | Aggression | Worrying about the child’s future | |
| Disturbance in gait and balance | Not participating in events, not taking responsibility | limited area of interest | Pessimism | ||
| Insufficient body development, ratio difference between head and body | have short-lived enthusiasms | Tendency to violence | |||
| Hearing, speech, vision or mental retardation | Alınganlık | break fast | |||
| Failure to comply with courtesy and etiquette |
In this context;
- visually impaired,
- Deaf people,
- orthopedically handicapped,
- Language and speech disabilities
- Children with learning disabilities such as dyslexia
- Children with adjustment difficulties
- Autistic children
- Children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder can receive inclusive education.
What are the benefits of inclusive education for children with disabilities?
- Self-confidence increases.
- Since the environment will be arranged according to their own physical, social and educational aspects, the success rate increases.
- Feelings of appreciation, courage and responsibility develop.
- It throws a tendency to show positive behavior.
- It is easier to make friends and socialize.
- The use of tools and equipment improves.
- Co-living skills increase.
- Gross and fine motor development accelerates
How is the inclusive student determined?
It will be more explanatory to evaluate this process under a few headings.
preschool period
If the child’s disability is noticed in the pre-school period and has undergone rehabilitation related to it, supportive education is given along with medical treatment. Following this, the findings obtained from the child are sent to the Educational Diagnosis Monitoring and Evaluation Team to determine the special educational needs with the guidance of the parents or a physician. The preschool education program is shaped by this team.
Compulsory education age
If the child receives special education in areas such as kindergarten or primary school and a problem is detected by the trainers, it is taken into detailed evaluation. The trainers in charge here collect information about the child and the child’s;
- They identify areas of weakness and strength.
- They collect information about his family.
- They record the student’s health problems and progress.
As a result of all these collected data, if it is decided that the child should receive special education through the differentiation of the program, all reported information is sent to the Educational Diagnosis Monitoring and Evaluation Team.
After this report, team members put the student to a test. It is examined whether the individual abilities and personal characteristics of the student are suitable for inclusive education. If inclusive education is deemed appropriate as a result of the examinations, IEP (Individual Education Plan) Development Unit determines the needs of the student and prepares a suitable plan. After these procedures, the child is placed in a suitable school. Guidance reviews continue here as well.
How is inclusive education implemented?
There are 3 types of fusion:
Full-time inclusion: In this type of education, the child receives full-time education in the regular classroom. Children receiving education in these classes should have a low disability rate, have slightly more advanced communication skills, and be able to sit still for at least 15 minutes.
Part-time inclusion: In this education, the child continues to receive special education, but takes some lessons in the same class or participates in activities with his or her peers who have no disabilities.
Reverse mainstreaming: In this education style, the child does not have any inadequacies and can be educated in mainstreaming classes if requested.
After the child is placed in appropriate classes, education begins without any serious discrimination. Every child who is an inclusive student in these classes has their own special education program and teachers continue their education in line with these programs. In this process, the child both receives education according to his own characteristics and becomes familiar with the learning style of other children who are not inclusive students.
At this stage, it is important for the teacher to know the competencies as well as the deficiencies of the inclusion student. For example, if a child’s visual learning is better, including it in education using various materials increases the child’s success. In other words, the basic thing is that the child is recognized by the educator in all aspects.
The patience, awareness and competence of the teacher is also an important issue in inclusive education.
- encouraging the child
- Keeping his interest permanent,
- Contact,
- not to discriminate,
- To support,
- To raise awareness of the family and other students,
- Giving feedback to the management,
- It is the teacher’s task to teach the child to make the best use of his abilities. Therefore, working with the right educator will increase the success of the inclusion student.
What are the benefits of inclusive education?
When it comes to inclusive education in our country, many question marks arise in the minds. Families with children with special needs think that their children will get rid of their obstacles in these classes. Other families fear that their own children may pick up on negative behaviors from children with disabilities.
Many families for no reason attribute their children’s failures to mainstreaming students. However, what needs to be known is that disability is not contagious. The fact that a normal child is a disabled person in his class does not regress him, but advances him.
Children without disabilities learn to cooperate with inclusion students, to share differences, and not to humiliate them. They take the basis of being a better person, of accepting people with their differences.
If inclusive education is applied correctly, it is beneficial for both the child with special needs and the child in normal development. However, if it is applied incorrectly, the inadequacies of children receiving inclusive education will increase and the education of normal children may also decline. For this reason, educational institutions have a great responsibility for the correct processing of this education.
