Attitude of teachers towards inclusion of students with learning disabilities in the regular schools in Obio/Akpor local government area

The study investigated attitude of teachers towards inclusion of students with learning disabilities in the normal school settings in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. A descriptive survey design was used for the study. Six research questions and six null hypotheses was formulated to guide the study. The population of study involved 3025 teachers in the area. A stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting a sample of three hundred and ninety nine (399) teachers. Chisquare was used in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Out of the 399 teachers, 253 were involved in the study. The result of the findings shows that teachers only teachers training and teacher’s age significantly influence inclusion of students with learning disability whereas teacher’s gender, experience, qualification and marital status had not significant effect on inclusion of students with learning disability. The finding also indicated that generally teachers had positive attitude towards inclusion of students with learning disabilities. The attitude of teachers is perceived to have been influenced by lack of provision for additional programme that will improve education of students with learning difficulties and required training for teachers in special needs education.

Gifted School Activities With DropTalk, Parent-Teacher Notebook, and SmileNote for Students With Disabilities

Three programs, DropTalk, Parent-Teacher Notebook, and SmileNote, were developed by teachers at schools for special needs education to help students with various disabilities, in collaboration with businesses supportive of students with disabilities. DropTalk was developed to help students with nonverbal communication by using Pictogram and text overlaid with voice/sound. A digital-based Parent-Teacher Notebook was developed to share the valuable data on each student between their home and school. The shared data are effectively used to build up individual support plans. SmileNote was developed to help students with nonverbal communication disabilities present their wills, hopes, and desires to the classmates and others. In this chapter, the aims and valuable functions in three software applications are described in detail, and self-made contents created with the software and gifted school activities conducted at several schools for special needs education are depicted.

School Activities With Educational Robot to Facilitate Student Learning

The teaching of programming and its basic concepts even to young children has a crucial influence on the development of their cognitive functions and blends the lessons in the class with real life. In this chapter, school activities with educational robotics performed at both the special-needs education school and general public school were described. The students with mild intellectual disabilities and physically handicapped at the special needs school could build the robots nicely using small blocks and move them as they wanted through coding. The intellectual disabled students usually do not have enough long-term memory and are weak in abstraction but could develop the ability to actually understand logical thinking through hands-on learning with educational robotics. Through the present activities, the students including the public school could become aware of various goods around them programmed with coding and connect the learning in class to the real world.

The Social Construction of Congenital Deafblindness in relation to Education: Analysis of focus groups in East and Central Africa

This study investigated the importance of social construction of congenital deafblindness (CDB) when planning special needs education services. The study was conducted in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The research was based on a literature review and a focus group study. In the focus groups a dialogical perspective was used for acquiring knowledge through communicative interactions. The focus was on two main topics: social construction of Congenital Deafblindness (CDB) and knowledge about education services for people with CDB. Fourteen participants were selected, with seven from each country. Participants were familiar with deafblind persons and/or with communities where they lived. The grounded theory approach and thematic analysis method were used to determine the correct coding and themes and identify patterns of meaning of different opinions. The results of the data analyses showed that participants attributed the causes of CDB in Uganda and the DRC to cultural and religious beliefs. The medical stance on CDB was less understood. In addition, culture and religion were identified as dominant factors in the social construction of the position of people with CDB in the community, leading to misunderstanding and inappropriate services for them. This community misunderstanding indicates that people at the local level are likely to stick to traditional and religious practices. Therefore, changing attitudes and educational opportunities for people with CDB requires more understanding of third-party voices and the underlying barriers in these communities.

Creating a positive perception toward inclusive education with future-oriented thinking

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the ways that encouraged people to develop positive attitudes and perceptions toward inclusive education. The Japanese special needs education system for students with disabilities has been shifting from a segregated model to a more inclusive form which is the major challenge facing educational systems around the world. While support for inclusive practices has grown rapidly in Japan, their implementation requires more attention. Considering these situations, in the current study, we experimentally manipulated future-oriented thinking and examined whether positive perceptions about inclusive education was enhanced if people acknowledged and realized that an inclusive society may improve the long-term welfare of not only people with disabilities but also people without disabilities or functional limitations. Results Our results partially confirmed that future-oriented thinking encouraged positive perceptions of inclusive education. It increased only when participants thought about the future employment of people with/without disabilities. No significant effects were found for the present orientation or control conditions.

Strategies Used by Teachers in Readiness for Mainstreaming of Learners with Special Needs in Public Primary Schools in Masaba South Sub County. A Case Study of Kisii County, Kenya

Mainstreaming is a concept and practice of educating learners with challenges in regular education settings. Mainstreaming advocates for education of all categories of learners without discriminating the specific group of individuals with disabilities. The study sought to assess strategies used by teachers in readiness for mainstreaming of learners with special needs in public primary schools in Masaba South Sub County, Kisii County, Kenya. The study was underpinned by the Social Model of Disability theory. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 234 teachers while purposive sampling was used to select the 25 headteachers from the schools which were used in the study. Questionnaires were employed for data collection. A pilot study was carried out in one of the schools within the study area. The study adopted survey research design to investigate the study variables. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in analyzing data. The findings of the study found out that teachers’ attitude, professional development and experience influence mainstreaming. The study also observed that for mainstreaming to be achieved, the curriculum needs to be structured, teachers should be trained in special needs education, and the school environment should meet the needs of learners with special needs. It is recommendable that the government and all education stakeholders should jointly enhance expansion of facilities in the already established schools. This will encourage all teachers, trained or not to be ready to handle all categories of learners in the mainstream settings in Masaba South Sub County.

Support through Social Media and Online Class Participation to Enhance Psychological Resilience

Social support was an important factor in minimizing the effect of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. This research aimed to study the role of online class participation and social media usage to link the social support available from family and friends to psychological resilience among pre-service special education teachers against the negative psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. A survey was conducted with 377 pre-service special needs education (SNE) teachers enrolled at universities in Pakistan. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied using Smart-PLS 3.2.8. Results revealed that social media and online class participation played a mediating role between social support and psychological resilience in the pre-service special needs education (SNE) teachers studied. Teacher education institutions can devise strategies to develop social media platforms for student socialization during an emergency to help build resilience against the negative psychological effects of social isolation. Future studies could be conducted to adapt instructions and curricula to social media environments for education in an emergency.

Faktor Penghambat Pemenuhan Hak Pendidikan Disabilitas di Kota Ambon

People with disabilities in Ambon City are part of the citizens who must be given the right to education in a fair and non-discriminatory manner by upholding human rights. Obstacle factors in the fulfilment of education will certainly exist. The government as the executor of the constitution is responsible for efforts to resolve it. This study uses a qualitative research design with a case study method. The subjects in this study are schools, parents and the Ambon city government. The results of the identification and analysis found that the factors that hindered the fulfilment of education for persons with disabilities in the city of Ambon, among others (1) parents of students, among others, parents still feel ashamed of the condition of their children, busy parents and access to special schools that are far away. (2) Inadequate school facilities and infrastructure according to the individual needs of each child with disabilities. (3) Only 23% of the accompanying teachers have special education qualifications from the total number of accompanying teachers, namely 116 teachers. On average, the accompanying teachers are classroom teachers and subject teachers with non-special needs education qualifications.-------------AbstrakPenyandang disabilitas di Kota Ambon menjadi bagian dari warga Negara yang harus diberikan hak pendidikannya secara berkeadilan serta tidak diskriminatif dengan menjunjung tinggi hak asasi manusia. Faktor kendala dalam pemenuhan pendidikan pasti akan ada. Pemerintah sebagai pelaksana konstitusi bertanggung jawab dalam upaya penyelesaiannya. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain penelitian kualitatif dengan metode studi kasus, Subjek dalam penelitian ini yaitu sekolah, orang tua dan pemerintah kota ambon. Hasil identifikasi dan analisis menemukan bahwa faktor kendala dalam pemenuhan pendidikan bagi penyandang disabilitas di kota Ambon antara lain (1) orang tua siswa antara lain orang tua masih merasa malu dengan keadaan anak, kesibukan orang tua dan akses ke sekolah luar biasa yang jauh. (2) Sarana dan prasarana sekolah yang kurang memadai sesuai kebutuhan individu masing-masing anak disabilitas. (3) Guru pendamping 23% saja yang berkualifikasi pendidikan khusus dari jumlah keseluruhan guru pendamping yaitu 116 guru. Rata-rata guru pendamping adalah guru kelas dan guru mapel dengan tamatan bukan berkualifikasi pendidikan kebutuhan khusus.