Inclusion and Universal Design for Learning in Italian Schools

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
Paola Aiello ◽  
Diana Carmela Di Gennaro ◽  
Carmen Palumbo ◽  
Iolanda Zollo ◽  
Maurizio Sibilio
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Educational Pathways ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
The Right ◽  
Support Students ◽  
Educational Field

The present theoretical-argumentative research is aimed to put in evidence the Italian perspective on the use of technologies for promoting inclusion in school contexts. In a society which uses technological innovations and multimediality in all the domains of everyday life, indeed, school is required to explore the potential and meaning of educational technologies. During the last years, in light of these new requirements, national and international educational policies have tried to take advantage of the opportunities offered by new technologies to create flexible educational pathways so as to ensure equal access to information and learning processes, by promoting the elimination of all barriers that deny students the right to education. In the perspective of inclusive education, technologies within the educational field can't only represent a compensatory tool to support students with disabilities or with learning difficulties, but they also definitely play a very important role in the reconfiguration of learning environments by creating the necessary conditions for the promotion of each student's differences and abilities.

Inclusion and Universal Design for Learning in Italian Schools

2018 ◽  
pp. 559-566
Author(s):  
Paola Aiello ◽  
Diana Carmela Di Gennaro ◽  
Carmen Palumbo ◽  
Iolanda Zollo ◽  
Maurizio Sibilio
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Educational Pathways ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
The Right ◽  
Support Students ◽  
Educational Field

The present theoretical-argumentative research is aimed to put in evidence the Italian perspective on the use of technologies for promoting inclusion in school contexts. In a society which uses technological innovations and multimediality in all the domains of everyday life, indeed, school is required to explore the potential and meaning of educational technologies. During the last years, in light of these new requirements, national and international educational policies have tried to take advantage of the opportunities offered by new technologies to create flexible educational pathways so as to ensure equal access to information and learning processes, by promoting the elimination of all barriers that deny students the right to education. In the perspective of inclusive education, technologies within the educational field can't only represent a compensatory tool to support students with disabilities or with learning difficulties, but they also definitely play a very important role in the reconfiguration of learning environments by creating the necessary conditions for the promotion of each student's differences and abilities.

scholarly journals Reimagining Disability and Inclusive Education Through Universal Design for Learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Doolittle Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
White Male ◽  
Instructional Materials ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Regular Classroom ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Design For Learning

In 1975, Congress enacted a law eventually known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which ensures that children with disabilities receive a free, appropriate, public education. Since then, scholarly and popular debates about the effectiveness of inclusive education have proliferated and typically focus on the ability or inability of students with disabilities to succeed in so-called regular classrooms. These debates reflect widespread assumptions that the regular classroom is rightly the province of nondisabled students and a neutral, value-free space that students with disabilities invade and disrupt via their very presence and their costly needs for adaptation. But as many scholars in the field of Disability Studies in Education (DSE) have argued, these discussions often fail to recognize that the space of the regular classroom, far from neutral, is constructed for a nondisabled, neurotypical, white, male, middle-class "norm" that neither reflects nor accommodates the wide range of diverse learners within it, regardless of whether these learners have been diagnosed with a disability. A DSE perspective sees the educational environment, not students with disabilities, as the "problem" and calls for a Universal Design for Learning approach to education, or the design of instructional materials and activities that allows the learning goals to be achievable by individuals with wide differences in their abilities and backgrounds. Agreeing with this DSE perspective, this article uses an autoethnographic approach to reexamine inclusive education and to consider how university classrooms, pedagogy, and curricular materials can be improved in order to accommodate all students, not just those with disabilities. Ultimately, the article argues that Universal Design for Learning has the potential to radically transform the meaning of inclusive education and the very concept of disability.

Preparing Critical, Secondary Special Educators

2017 ◽  
pp. 100-119
Author(s):  
Danielle M. Cowley
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
Disability Studies In Education ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
University Course

In this chapter the author explores teacher preparation as the logical site for cultivating praxis for secondary inclusive education. The author describes a university course on inclusive education for preparing critical special education teachers. The author offers disability studies in education (DSE) as a theoretical framework for supporting critical thought and creating just and inclusive educational practices for students with disabilities in P-21 settings. The author then outlines two themes that ground the architectural design of the course: re/thinking students (person-first narratives of disability) and re/designing pedagogy (Universal Design for Learning). According to Smith (2009), DSE “sees oppression and prejudice in sociocultural contexts and seeks to address those concerns” (p. 215). In preparing critical special educators it is our job to help students not only “see” the oppression of exclusion, but to provide them with concrete ways to create change and remain resilient.

Implementing iPad and Mobile Technologies for Students with Intellectual Disabilities

2015 ◽  
pp. 27-44
Author(s):  
Cathi Draper Rodríguez ◽  
Iva Strnadová ◽  
Therese M. Cumming
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Solid Base ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Students With Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Support Students ◽  
Research Based Practices

This book chapter describes implementation implications of using the iPad and other mobile technologies with students (birth to adult) with intellectual disabilities. iPad and other mobile technologies offer many built-in features which facilitate their use for students with disabilities, particularly students with Intellectual Disabilities (ID). This chapter details ways that mobile technology can be used to make school and other environments (e.g., home, social) more accessible to students with ID. The theoretical framework underpinning this chapter is Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and it is applied to research-based practices for students with ID. This forms a solid base from which to examine: (a) available mobile applications (apps), (b) how apps can be used to support students with ID in accessing the curriculum, and (c) how teachers can use a framework to review and choose apps for their students.

Digital Tools and UDL-Based Instructional Strategies to Support Students With Disabilities Online

2021 ◽  
pp. 016264342199832
Author(s):  
Kavita Rao ◽  
Caroline Torres ◽  
Sean J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Instructional Strategies ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Traditional Classroom ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Online Learning Environments ◽  
Learning Barriers ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Support Students

In online and blended learning environments, students may experience learning barriers that are more pronounced than in the traditional classroom. When designing online instruction, teachers can use digital tools along with instructional strategies to reduce those barriers. Digital tools have various instructional and assistive features, which can provide supports for students with disabilities as well as other learners. This article addresses how teachers can make meaningful use of various digital tools in alignment with the three principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to reduce barriers and support students to meet learning and affective goals. The article describes how various commonly available digital tools coupled with instructional strategies provide supports for representation, action and expression, and engagement for students in online learning environments.

scholarly journals The Right to Inclusive Education in the Light of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

1970 ◽  
pp. 329-342
Author(s):  
Boubacar Sidi Diallo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Academic Progress ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Quality Education ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
The Right

This article examines the rights of persons with disabilities in the field of inclusive education based on fundamental human rights outlined in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Inclusive education is essential to achieve universal respect for the right to education, including persons with disabilities. Only inclusive education systems can offer persons with disabilities both quality education and the opportunity to improve their social situation. Inclusive education is not just about placing students with disabilities in mainstream educational institutions; it also means making them feel welcome, respected and valued. The values that underlie the concept of inclusive education reinforce the capacity of everyone to achieve their goals and to conceive of diversity as a source of enrichment. Students with disabilities need appropriate support to participate in the education system on an equal basis with other students. Ordinary educational institutions must provide students with disabilities with a learning environment that maximizes academic progress and socialization.

Inclusive Higher Education in Spain: Students With Disabilities Speak Out

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anabel Moriña ◽  
Victor H. Perera
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Main Ideas ◽  
Architectural Barriers

This study examined the barriers and supports to inclusive education identified by university students with disabilities in Spain. A qualitative methodology is used. Students identified several organizational and architectural barriers and supports in completing their degrees. The conclusions go back to the main ideas analyzed to discuss previous works; likewise, proposals for improvements are provided, such as the need to train faculty in inclusive education and universal design for learning and the importance of redesigning learning environments to make them more accessible.

scholarly journals THE RIGHT TO INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-226
Author(s):  
GORDANA STANKOVSKA ◽  
IMRAN MEMEDI
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Special Educational Needs ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Right

A child is a member of a vulnerable group in societies. Children's rights are equal for all children and they cannot be denied, because they are a birthright. However, throughout the world, children with disabilities and their families constantly experience a barrier in regard to the enjoyment of their basic human rights and to their inclusion in society. Their abilities are overlooked, their capacities are underestimated and their needs are given low priority. The barriers they face are more frequently a result of the environment in which they live rather than a result of their impairment. The situation began to change only when requirements to include disabled children in the education system were introduced in legislation. Following the example of other countries worldwide, the Republic of North Macedonia introduced inclusion of children with disabilities in the mainstream educational process, because the right to education is a right for all children, including the ones with special educational needs. For this purpose, the Republic of North Macedonia implemented a series of changes in the educational system for successful inclusion of children with special educational needs. Hence, the main aim of our paper is to represent the actual situation in Macedonian schools regarding the problem of educational inclusion of students with disabilities in the regular school system. The research methods are based on document studies and case studies about changes in social and educational policies for students with disabilities and special educational needs who are included in primary and secondary education. At the same time we shall present some guidelines for teachers who work with these children and future directions for a proper inclusion system in the Republic of North Macedonia, because every child has a fundamental right to education and must be given the opportunity to achieve and reach an acceptable level of learning. In this frame, school societies try to support full participation of students with disabilities in areas of their lives on equal terms, conditions, social justice and basic human rights.

Using Universal Design for Learning to Support Students with Disabilities in a SCALE-UP Physics Course

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 320-324
Author(s):  
Westley James ◽  
James H. Cooney ◽  
Jacquelyn J. Chini ◽  
Eleazar Vasquez ◽  
Jillian Schreffler
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Physics Course ◽  
Support Students

scholarly journals A história da pessoa com deficiência e da educação especial em tempos de inclusão

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Neves Rodrigues ◽  
Cláudia Araujo de Lima
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Teaching Quality ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Educational Field

O presente artigo teve por objetivo, realizar uma breve exposição acerca da história das pessoas/estudantes com deficiência, para entender os “reflexos” no campo educacional, assim como, levantar a importância trazida através da garantia de Direitos tangentes a essa população, até então, antes esquecida. Atualmente, a Educação Especial na Perspectiva da Educação Inclusiva é respaldada através de leis, documentos internacionais e políticas voltadas à inclusão, que subsidiarão o texto do referido artigo e que respaldam, tanto o acesso como a permanência de estudantes com deficiência. Entender a história das pessoas/estudantes com deficiência, ao longo dos tempos, torna-se valoroso, pois, as lutas e a garantia dos seus direitos “provocam” possibilidades de mudanças para o contexto educacional de uma forma geral. Afinal, TODOS possuem o direito à educação, mediante a qualidade de ensino, que foi por muito tempo, negada à grande parte da população.Pessoas com Deficiência. Educação Especial. Educação Inclusiva. Direitos HumanosThe history of the disabled people and the special education in times of inclusionAbstractThe present article’s had as objective to accomplish a short exposition about the history of the disabled people/students to understand the reflections in the educational field, as well as, to bring up the importance throughout the guarantee of the rights tangents to the population, theretofore forgotten. Nowadays, the Special Education in the Inclusive Education Perspective is supported through the law, international documents and policies aimed at the inclusion, for them will be given the subsidies to this article and also back up both the access and the stay of the disabled students. To understand the history of the disabled people/students over times become so relevant for the fights and the assurance of their rights that provoke possibilities of changes to the educational context in a general way. After all, ALL have the right to education, through the teaching quality, that a long time was denied to the most of the population.Disabled People. Special Education. Inclusive  Education. Human Rights 

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document