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Education
Parents Corner
Guidelines for Parents of Children with Disabilities
Education for Children with Special Needs
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open
Education for Children with Special Needs
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Formal Schools
Special Schools
National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)
Open Basic Education (OBE)
Special Accredited Institutions for Education of the Disadvantaged (SAIED)
Special Features of NIOS
Teaching strategies for children with learning disabilities
Strategies for writing skills
Strategies for mathematics
Strategies for Attention deficit and hyperactive disorder
General interventions
Role of the parents
The community at large is often unaware of the potential of children with special needs.
In the popular mind, special needs are usually identified with very low expectations. Parent should believe in the value of educating children with special needs. The higher the expectations, the higher will be their acceptance in the family.
All the children with special needs must be enrolled in primary schools. After the assessment of their disabilities by a team of a doctor, a psychologist, and a special educator, in schools, the child will be placed in appropriate educational settings. Children with mild and moderate disabilities of any kind may be integrated in normal schools, severe in special schools/ remedial schools, drop outs who have problems in availing benefits of normal schools can join open schools. All the children with learning disabilities alone are first managed in the normal schools. Open and special schools also offer vocational courses also for children with disabilities.
Formal Schools
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (Department of Secondary and Higher Education) has been implementing a scheme of ‘Integrated Education for the Disabled Children’ (IEDC) in formal schools since 1982. The main objective of the scheme is to provide educational opportunities for the disabled children in normal schools so as to facilitate their retention in the school system. The disabled children who are placed in special schools should be considered for integration into common schools once they acquire the communication and daily living skills at a functional level.
The following types of children with disabilities must be integrated in the normal school system- formal as well as in non- formal schools.
Children with locomotor handicaps (O.H.)
Mildly and moderately hearing impaired
Partially sighted children
Mentally handicapped educable group (IQ 50-70)
Children with multiple handicaps ( blind and orthopaedic, hearing impaired and
Orthopaedic, educable mentally retarded and orthopaedic, visual impaired and mild hearing impaired)
A three- member assessment team comprising of a doctor, a psychologist and a special educator is formed and their assessment report recommends whether a child can be enrolled directly into a normal school or should receive preparation in a special school/ or a special preparatory class in Early Childhood Education Centre(ECCE) specially equipped for this purpose. Under the IEDC scheme, resources and itinerant teachers are provided. Children are also given certain incentives like book allowance, equipment allowance, transport-allowance etc.
Special Schools
This is a programme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Children with severe multiple disabilities who have difficulty in coping with regular schools are referred to such special schools. Most of these special schools are located in urban areas and run by voluntary organizations. A majority of them are residential schools, and boarding- lodging and other services are provided free of cost. At present more than 3000 special schools for the disabled children are functioning across the country. Out of them approximately 900 institutions are specialized for the hearing impaired, 400 for the visually impaired, 1000 for the mentally retarded and the remaining 700 are for the children with physical disabilities. 40 per cent disability of any such particular types is a benchmark for identification and certification for admission in these special schools.
National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)
The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) formerly known as National Open School (NOS) was established as an Autonomous Registered Society in 1989 with the mission to provide education through an open learning system at the school stage as an alternative to the formal system.
It offers courses like the foundation course, notionally equivalent to class VIII level, secondary education and higher secondary courses and vocational courses. The NIOS also provides the programme of Open Basic Education for Universal Elementary Education (UEE), which includes programme for the disabled children. It offers Open Basic Education courses through the following:
Open Basic Education (OBE)
This project is for out of school children in the age group 6-14 and also for adult learners.
The OBE Programme is offered at three levels:
OBE level A : equivalent to class I-III
OBE level B : equivalent to class IV-V
OBE level C : equivalent to class VI-VIII
Special Accredited Institutions for Education of the Disadvantaged (SAIED)
To cater to the needs of the people with physical or mental disabilities the NIOS has accredited institutions for education of the disadvantaged. Academic courses like open basic education (OBE), secondary and senior secondary courses and vocational courses are offered either independently or in combination with an academic subject(s) through SAIED.
Special Features of NIOS
It allows total freedom to learn at one’s own speed. One gets a period of 5 years and 9 chances to complete the course
Flexibility in choice of subjects.Strategies for reading skills
Prepare the student by presenting new concepts and vocabulary
Guide the student in to reading a story by asking questions wahich bring up the purpose or goal of the reading
Develop or stregthen skills relating to the material through drills or worksheet activities
Assign work in order to apply the skills acquired during a lesson
Read aloud to students regularly
Devote a few minutes every day to sustained silent reading
Use writing activities that provide opportunities for the teacher to model writing strategies and skills.
Include journal writing as part of the student’s individualised educational programme
Provide meaningful printed materials in the instructional setting (e.g. dictionaries, catergorised lists of words)
Establish a network of communication with other teachers, and thus using holistic techniques in working with such students
Let the child read aloud (oral reading). If the child makes mistakes they can be easily identified by the teacher and corrected
Reading can be done with peers or with parents (paired reading). This will enhance the confidence of the child
Reading in a group (choral reading). Here they get both auditory and visual stimulus to correct themselves
Use color-coded textbooks (e.g., green equals start, red equals stop)
Have a small group of class read aloud simultaneously
