FOUNDATION OF SPECIAL AND INCLUSIVE

MODULE EDUCATION

Chapter 2: Introduction to Child Development and Early Intervention

OBJECTIVES:
Understand the meaning of early intervention.
Familiarize the history of educational programs by the government.
Develop critical awareness for the social responsibility

What is Early Intervention?

 Early intervention is a system of services that helps babies and toddlers with
developmental delays or disabilities. Early intervention focuses on helping
eligible babies and toddlers learn the basic and brand-new skills that typically
develop during the first three years of life, such as:
 physical (reaching, rolling, crawling, and walking);
 cognitive (thinking, learning, solving problems);
 communication (talking, listening, understanding);
 social/emotional (playing, feeling secure and happy); and
 self- help (eating, dressing)

 Early childhood intervention is most commonly defined as a support and

educational system for very young children with developmental disabilities or
delays. Its purpose is to maximize their physical, cognitive, social and emotional
development.

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 FOUNDATION OF SPECIAL AND INCLUSIVE
MODULE EDUCATION

History of Early Childhood Special Education

 Early in the 20th century, many began to

voice growing concern over such issues as infant mortality, childhood diseases,
and child labor (Anastasiow & Nucci, 1994). At this time, physicians, child
advocates, and the general public began to speak out about social concerns
regarding children, including those living in orphanages and those with mental
illness or intellectual disabilities. These concerns came about at a time when
psychologists studying young children began to accept that a child's intelligence
Helen Keller and Walt was
Disneyimpacted
are just aby
fewboth genetic
examples and environmental
of extraordinarily factorsthat
bright minds (Hunt, 1961).
have/had Prior to
learning
this point, experts believed a child's
IQ was set at birth with little that could be done to influence it over time. Although
we were beginning to better understand the importance of environmental
influences on young children, at this point, most children with disabilities such as
intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy were institutionalized rather
than treated. On the other hand, children who were deaf or blind were more likely
to be treated, but were typically sent away to “schools” and were segregated
from their families and peers while receiving treatment and education.

1950

 Parent formed organizations where forming all over the country. One of the first
is believed to be the American Association of Mental Deficiency, another was the
United Cerebral Palsy Association and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Reference:

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1961: President John F. Kennedy creates the President's Panel of Mental
Retardation.

 This 27-member panel

was comprised of doctors, scientists and other like-minded people. This panel
spent nearly a year gathering information about the people and services that
were associated with disabilities. The panel then brought the President a
plan that consisted of more than 100 recommendations. According to the JFK
Library website "President Kennedy used the panel's report as the blueprint to
address those living with disabilities." This was to just be a jumping off spot for
the fight for equality for persons living with disabilities. Changes in legislation
included funding for "facilities related to prevention care, and treatment of people
with intellectual disabilities," writes the JFK library website. And many of these
changes occurred because of this panel and continue to empower changes
today.

1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Elementary & Secondary

Education Act.

 As the fight for equality moved

forward, there was another victory
in the 1960's for the treatment of
those with special needs in
education. It was the belief of then
President Lyndon B. Johnson that
a "full education opportunity"
should be "our first national goal,"
contends the Department of
Education website. The website
goes on to say that this law, which
was a civil rights law, supported
programs like "federal grants for
textbooks and library books" and
"low-income scholarships" and
"grants to improve the quality of elementary and secondary schools."
1968: Eunice Kennedy Shriver founds the Special Olympics.

 The Special Olympic

Games was a vision
of Eunice Kennedy
Shriver. Her dream
became a reality in
1968, when the first
Special Olympic
Games were held.
This gave people with
disabilities a place to
be athletes and it was
a place where they
could be cheered and
appreciated for their
triumphs. The Special Olympics are still in existence today and continues to
inspire and grow year after year, generation after generation.

1975: The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) was created.

 One reason the EHA was created was

to increase the inclusion of children
with special needs into public schools
(any school receiving federal funds). It
also included that these children
received one meal a day and that
lesson plans be established to ensure
the equality of educations between
those with and without special needs.
According to an online article from
Special Ed News the Act also required
that school districts "have an official
division in place to administer
complaints made by parents of
students with disabilities," this would
be a system where parents could
"resolve their complaints." Even with the previous laws and acts previously
enacted there were approximately 1 million children with disabilities "with no
access" to education before its creation claims the Special Ed website.
1986: Amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act.

 This amendment mandated that

programs and services start at birth. This
amendment came after it was found that
services were not reaching the infants
and toddlers. It however, take until 1994,
nearly eight years for this amendment to
be fully enforced. This was a big win for
preschool programs as well. According
to the Department of Education it
created "preschool grants for children
with disabilities," which took the place of
a previous incentive grant program. The
website also estimates that nearly
600,000 3-5 year old children with
disabilities are in these programs today.

1997: Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) takes the place of The Education for
All Handicapped Children Act.

 There are several parts associated with the IDEA. The purpose of the IDEA was
and is to protect the rights of those with disabilities and their families. Specifically,
Part B addresses from 3 years old through the age of 21 and Part C deals with
services and rights of those from both until the age of 2 years old. The IDEA
website at www.idea.ed.gov states that the Individuals with Disabilities Act "is a
law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. The
IDEA is the governing agent to how "agencies provide intervention, special
education, and related services," to
both state and public
agencies.

2002: No Child Left Behind

 This was a strategy to

being national standards
to the education system.
Too many times, areas
of low-income, and both
racially and physically
 diverse people were not able to obtain the equality of education. This law made it
possible for any child to go to school outside of their immediate living areas; it
also made available grants to entice teachers to teach in underscoring
school/districts. Per the website www.greatschools.org the goal was "for every
student in public school to be proficient in reading and math by 2014." Several
websites dispute the improvement this act has actually made to educate the
youth of America. Even though not every family makes this choice to opt into a
better performing school, there are many those that have benefited from its
availability.

2010: President Barack Obama signed legislation changing the term "mental
retardation" to "intellectual disability."

 Even though this change from

"mental retardation" to "intellectual
disability" was already happening in
many parts of the country and within
various departments of the
government; President Obama made
a clear public gesture that the use of
the words "mental retardation" was
offensive and not acceptable in our
modern language. This was a federal
law that will not be implemented all
at once, but it is seen as win for all
persons with and without disabilities.

2015: The Every Student Succeeds Act was signed by President Barack Obama

 After 50 years of helping elevate secondary and elementary schools the ESEA
was revisited and reauthorized. Just a few key items that were improved upon
were that the law required "all students in America be taught to a high academic
standard," it also expanded access to preschool and it "advance[d] equality by
upholding critical protections for America's disadvantaged and high-need
students." The President listened to the voices of America in that the people with
the smallest voices need to be heard; the gap in inequality, especially among
those of low-income needed a bridge and together there was further progress
made.
 Texas approved a law that parents can request that camera's be placed in the
special education classrooms of their children. The expense of which would be at
the hands of the school/districts. (www.npr.org)
2017: The Supreme Court ruled in favor of providing more educational
opportunities for students with disabilities. (www.pbs.org)

 The US Department of Education released final regulations that removed the

words "mental retardation" and replaced them with "intellectual disability."
(www.sites.ed.gov/idea)

History of Special Education in Philippines

 Special education or special needs education is the practice of educating

students with special needs in a way that addresses their individual differences
and needs. This process involves the individually planned and systematically
monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and
materials, accessible settings.
 SPED in the Philippines started in 1908 where the school for deaf (in Harrison,
Pasay City) was established and marked the official government recognition of
obligations towards the education of the handicapped children.
 An Act of Promote the EDUCATION of the blind in the Philippines which

Philippine Normal College offered courses in Sped for teaching the blind in 1964
wherein 14 elementary teachers were selected for training.
 In 1952, a pilot school for the SPED (at the Phil. Women’s University) of mentally
handicapped children was started. All children from this school were transferred
to the Special Child Study Center in Cubao, Q.C. in 1957.
 An act providing for the rehabilitation, self- development and self- reliance of
disabled persons and their integration into the mainstream of society and for other
purposes.
 An act of establishing a ten- year program for teachers of special and exceptional
children in the Philippines and authorizing the appropriation of funds thereof.

Goal of Special Education

 States that the ultimate goal of special education shall be integration of

mainstreaming of learners with special needs into the regular school system and
eventually in the community.
 To meet the individual educational needs of the learners and, to extent possible,
prepare them for going to a more regular classroom setting.

Challenges and Common Pitfalls of Inclusive Education

 Inclusion classrooms are a wonderful concept but they require a lot of training,
patience and compassion on the part of these teachers. Fully inclusive
classrooms have students across the educational and developmental spectrum,
ranging from typically developing students to severe and profoundly disabled
students. For this reason, it becomes a challenge for the teacher to find enough
of a balance to serve all the students.

What are the top challenges teachers faces in a special needs inclusive
classroom? Let’s take a closer look:
 Lack of experience in an inclusion setting. Some teachers have not been
exposed to special needs classrooms and this can be a disadvantage. Educators
need to coordinate efforts and understand the needs of the classroom in terms of
developing skills and lesson plans.

 Lack of experience dealing with severe and profound disabilities. Students

with severe and profound disabilities require more adaptation and medical
attention than the average student. Teachers must be skilled in handling severe
disabilities and create lesson plans based on individual abilities and adhere to
dietary needs of the child. Lack of experience can lead to the child not
progressing with skills or cause of adverse medical incidents.

 Including all students in all activities. Special needs inclusion classrooms

must be able to involve its students in all classroom activities. Teachers need to
address how the classroom will communicate with each other and encourage
participation. If there is a lack of adaptive equipment or adaptive communication
and language tools, it makes it difficult for teachers to function as a united
classroom.

 Educating students with less severe disabilities. When there are children of all
abilities in the classroom, both physical and academic, children in the middle can
easily fall between the cracks. These children can have learning disabilities, hearing
impairments, ADD or language delays to name a few. Providing the right amount of
attention and adaptation can be challenging, especially if there is a higher teacher
to student ratio.
 Dealing with death. Death is difficult for any teacher to explain to their
classroom. When you have a special needs inclusive classroom, there may be
students with chronic illnesses and teachers may have to deal with the death of a
student.

 Shortage of teacher aides. Normally, inclusive classrooms have a regular

educator and special needs educator. Due to the nature of the classroom and
size, it is imperative that there be an appropriate number of teacher aides to
assist the teachers with day to day activities.

 Teaching compassion to students. Not all students have been exposed to

persons with special needs and this becomes a challenge to teachers. Teachers
must not tolerate insensitiveness and cruelness and teach that all students are to
be treated with respect, regardless of ability.
 Dealing with parents of “typically developing” students. As some students
are not use to dealing with persons with special needs, parents are no exception.
Teachers need to convey to parents how the classroom is conducted and that all
educational needs will be met.

 Individualized lesson plans. Because there are varying abilities in the

classroom, teachers can be challenged to address individual academic needs
based on ability.

 Coordinating therapies. A special needs inclusion classroom needs to be well

organized and allow for students to attend therapy sessions. However, this
becomes a challenge in planning day to day activities and keeping all students
engaged and learning.

For More Knowledge:

References: