NEW B.

ED SYLLABUS OF KASHMIR UNIVERSITY

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1ST SEMESTER 100% SYL COVERAGE

COURSE TITLE: INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

COURSE CODE: BED15104

FARASH PRINT POINT

9906713 963
 INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
1ST SEMESTER

UNITS DESCRIPTION Page

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i) Meaning, significance and scope.

UNIT-I ii) Levels of intervention: Preventive, remedial and
EXCEPTIONALITY compensating.
iii) Special education: Meaning, significance and scope.

i) Physically challenged: Visually and Hearing

UNIT-II impaired.
CATEGORIES OF SPECIAL ii) Mentally Retarded
EDUCATION
iii) Gifted
(With special reference to causes, characteristics and
educational measures)

UNIT-III i) Historical background of inclusive education.

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION ii) Principles of inclusion and necessary resources.
iii) Inclusion, integration and mainstreaming.

UNIT-IV i) Integrated education for disabled children(IEDC,

NATIONAL INTIVITIES 1974)
ii) Rehabilitation Council of India (1992)
iii) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA 2000)
iv) National Curriculum Framework (NCF, 2005)

“Kindly note that any mistake in the contents of this notice is due to my imperfection as a human
being as only Allah Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala is perfect in all affairs”.
 LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

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UNIT-1 EXCEPTIONALITY |3

Q: - MEANING OF EXCEPTIONALITY.
A: - Exceptionality is a term used by the Department of Education to identify
patterns of strengths and needs common to groups of students. These strengths
and needs may be: cognitive, emotional, behavioural, medical, social, and physical.
Students with exceptionality may access a range of school based services depending
on degree of severity.
In its linguistic sense, it is the quality or attribute of being exceptional. In other
words, one is labeled as exceptional in one or the other field or trait of one’s
personality on account of the possession of some exceptionality, i.e. uniqueness or
being different from others in possession of that trait or quality. As we Know that,
the uniqueness is the fundamental characteristic of every creation of God and in
this sense, all children we have at our home and the school must be quite unique,
specific, special and therefore exceptional in themselves. Therefore, exceptionality
is essentially a relative attribute. One is always unique, different, special and
exceptional in his relation to others. Exceptionality, in this sense, stands for a
generic term pointing out towards the existence of wide individual differences
among the children in one or the other aspects of their personality. The term has a
quite broader meaning and concept. However, in its practical application in the field
of education, psychology and sociology, the term carries a somewhat limited and
specific meaning. Here, we confine ourselves to its use in relation to the concept of Page
normal arid normality, i.e. the things or attributes of one’s personality which are | 4
quite far away from the normal are often taken as ones exceptionality in that
attribute. In this way, the concept of exceptionality is very much associated with the
concept of normal and normality. It is therefore imperative to us for being
acquainted first with the use of these terms.
At some time or other, practically all school teachers will have exceptional
children in their classrooms. These children can become contributing members of
the community. In a democratic country like ours every child has the right to
education-the right to receive help in learning to the limits of his capacity, weather
that capacity be small or great. It is consistent with a democratic philosophy that all
children be given equal opportunity to learn whether they are exceptional or
normal.
The term ‘exceptional’ means different things to different people. Some use it
when referring to the particularly bright children or the child with unusual talents,
others use it when they refer to any typicl or deviant child. According to Telford and
Sawrey (1972), “To be exceptional is to be rare or unusual.”

Q: - NATURE OF EXCEPTIONALITY.
A:-An analysis of the various definitions given by various thinkers revels the
following facts about the nature of exceptionality:
Exceptionality refers to uniqueness. The uniqueness of the exceptional child Page
may be noticed in one or more of the following dimensions-vision, hearing, | 5
movement, perceptual-motor, communication, social-emotional and intelligence.
Thus, the blind, deaf, orthopedically handicapped, learning disabled, speech
handicapped, emotionally disturbed, socially disadvantaged, mentally retarded,
slow learner and gifted are exceptional.
Exceptionality is related, in part, to the amount and quality of previous experiences
received in the home.
The uniqueness of the exceptional child may be in the negative direction (as in
case of handicapped children) or in the positive direction (as in case of gifted
children).
Exceptionality is more quantitative than qualitative. A qualitative conception
of exceptionality conceives of such children as constituting separate and, in many
ways, distinct categories or classes of individuals.
Exceptionality has variable meanings in different social contexts. Social
influences are undoubtedly responsible for some of the components of the
patterning’s of traits characterizing the various categories of exceptional people.

Q: - SIGNIFICANCE & SCOPE OF EXCEPTIONALITY.

A: - Exceptional children are those children who deviate from the normal children to
such an extent that they cannot benefit from the traditional education system or
the regular education process. They require special education to maximize their Page
potentialities. They require specially trained teachers, special aids and equipments | 6
and special teaching-learning strategies. This is possible only in special schools or if
there is a modification in the regular education classes and if regular schools are
adaptive to the needs and abilities of exceptional children.
Exceptional children have unique needs. For instance the blind needs
education through Braille, orientation about the immediate environment and
mobility training. The deaf child needs training in speech reading, lip reading, etc. it
is special education which can meet the unique needs of exceptional children.
Before the development of special education exceptional children particularly
the severely affected children, were rejected by the parents and the community.
They were considered as burden for the society. They were left at the temple gates
or in a corner of a village. But today educators have established the fact that given
proper education and training exceptional children can become self-dependent and
assets for the society, not a burden for it. They can contribute significantly for social
welfare and international peace process.
Education is a human right issue. Every child, whether he is disabled or non-
disabled has right to education in an appropriate setting. Special education should
be provided to disabled children either in inclusive setting of regular schools or in
the segregated setting of special schools so that they can acquire the knowledge,
competencies and skills which are essential to live as competent and contributing.

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Q: - DESCRIBE THE LEVELS OF INTERVENTION. |7

A:- Special Education as Intervention:-Special education is, first of all, purposeful

intervention designed to prevent, eliminate, and/or overcome the obstacles that
might keep an individual with disabilities from learning and from full and active
participation in school and society. There are three basic types of intervention:
preventive, remedial, and compensatory.
PREVENTIVE INTERVENTION
Preventive intervention is designed to keep potential or minor problems from
becoming a disability. Preventive intervention includes actions that stop an event
from happening and those that reduce a problem or condition that has already been
identified. Prevention can occur at three levels (Simeonsson, 1994):
Primary prevention is designed to reduce the number of new cases (incidence) of a
problem; it consists of efforts to eliminate or counteract risk factors so that a
disability is never acquired. Primary prevention efforts are aimed at all relevant
persons. For example, in a school wide program to prevent behavior disorders,
school- and classroom-wide systems of positive behavior support would be
provided for all students, staff, and settings (Sugai & Horner, 2005).
Secondary prevention is aimed at reducing the number existing cases (prevalence)
of an already identified problem or condition or eliminating the effects of existing
risk factors; it is aimed at individuals exposed to or displaying specific risk factors. To
continue the example of a schoolwide program to prevent behavior disorders,
specialized interventions would be aimed only at those students exhibiting early Page
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signs of troubled behavior.
Tertiary prevention is intended to minimize the impact of a specific condition, to
prevent the effects of a disability from worsening; it is aimed at individuals with a
disability. For example, intensive interventions would be aimed at students
identified with emotional and behavioral disorders.
Preventive efforts are most promising when they begin as early as possible—
even before birth, in many cases. In later chapters, we explore some of the
promising new methods for preventing and minimizing the effects of disabilities.
Unfortunately, primary and secondary prevention programs have only just begun to
affect the incidence, prevalence, and severity of disabilities in this country. And it is
likely that we will be well into the 21st century before we achieve a significant
reduction in the incidence of disabilities. In the meantime, we must rely on remedial
and compensatory efforts to help individuals with disabilities achieve fuller and
more independent lives.
REMEDIAL INTERVENTION
Remediation attempts to eliminate specific effects of a disability. In fact, the word
remediation is primarily an educational term; the word rehabilitation is used more
often by social service agencies. Both have a common purpose: to teach the person
with disabilities skills for independent and successful functioning. In school, those
skills may be academic (reading, writing, computing), social (getting along with
others; following instructions, schedules, and other daily routines), personal (eating,
dressing, using the toilet without assistance), and/or vocational (career and job skills Page
to prepare secondary students for the world of work). The underlying assumption of | 9
remedial intervention is that a person with disabilities needs special instruction to
succeed in typical settings.
COMPENSATION INTERVENTION

Compensatory interventions involve teaching special skills or the use of devices that
enable successful functioning. This third type of intervention involves teaching a
substitute (i.e., compensatory) skill that enables a person to perform a task in spite
of the disability. For example, although remedial instruction might help a child with
cerebral palsy learn to use her hands in the same way that others do for some tasks,
a head stick and a template placed over a computer keyboard may compensate for
her limited fine-motor control and enable her to type instead of write lessons by
hand. Compensatory interventions are designed to give the person with a disability
an asset that nondisabled individuals do not need—whether it be a device such as a
head stick or special training such as mobility instruction for a child without vision.

Q: - MEANING OF SPECIAL EDUCATION.

A: - Special education in its simple meaning stands for a type of education that is
quite specific and special in nature. Thus through its name, it is capable of
reminding us that it has somewhat different from the education meant for the
general population of students. As a result, the term special education may refer to
a distinctive type of education, specifically or specially designed for meeting the
needs of exceptional or special children. It would be worthwhile for us to take into Page
consideration the view points of some well known thinkers and educationists in this | 10
field to understand the meaning, nature and purpose of the term special education.
Let’s begin with certain important definitions as proposed by them.
DEFINITIONS OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

Kirk and Gallagher (1986): “When youngsters in the same class room are
remarkably different, it is difficult for the teacher to help them reach their
educational potential with out some kind of assistance. The help that the schools
devide for children who differ significantly from the norm is called special
education”
Heward (2000) “Special education is a profession with its own history, cultural
practices, tools and research base, focused on the learning needs of exceptional
children and adults. But at the level, where exceptional children most meaningfully
and frequently contact it, special education is an individually planned, specialized,
intensive, goal directed instruction. When practiced most effectively and ethically
special education is also characterised by the use of research based teaching
method, the application of which is guided by direct and frequent measures of
students performance”
Ysseldyke and Algozzine (1990): “Special education is the instruction designed for
students with special learning needs. Some of these students have difficulty in
learning in the regular classrooms; they need special education to function in
school. Others generally do well in regular classroom; they need special education
to help them master additional skills to reach their full potential in short. Special Page
education is evidence of society’s willingness to recognize and respond to the | 11
individual needs of students and time limits of regular school nonprogrammers to
accommodate these needs”.
SIGNIFICANCE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

A:-It is true that the backward children and the talented children need special
education facilities for their development. So educationists feel the significance of
special education for them.
i) Special classes are necessary for backward children because they require specific
teaching methods.
ii) Special teaching facilities are required to meet the personal and social needs of
exceptional children. So additional facilities enable the children to realize their
potentialities and to minimize the handicaps arising from their anomalies. Here
superior children are provided with the opportunity to work according to their
talent. In an average class, a bright child feels the handicap. With little endeavour
he comes out exceptional. He can stand and keep a position in the class with
minimum effort. Of course, accelerated promotions call for many drawbacks.
iii) Exceptional data reveal that social maladjustment is found to be rampant with
bright children in regular schools. The talented children stay idle in the class due to
the light load of work. So they engage themselves in mischivious pranks and
unapproved behavior.
iv) In the special classes, the bright children get a chance for proper stimulation; but Page
it becomes a problem for teaching experts to provide proper stimulation to both the | 12
talented and average students in an average class.
vi) In a special class of gifted children, every student feels that he is not superior
alone, but there are some other brighter ones. This thought helps a great deal in
developing confidence. Again, special classes also provide opportunities for
developing leadership in special branches.
vi) Selective placement is entailed through special education. T involves the
complete assessment of children as well as their social environment by
professionally qualified experts from different fields.
vii) Special education requires many auxiliary services. For example, the
orthopedically handicapped require physical therapy, occupational therapy and
periodic physical examination. Some exceptional children need to be kept under
constant medical supervision. Periodic examination may be necessary for blind
children and the children who are partially blind and hard-of-hearing. Occupational
and physical therapy with psychiatric and psychological services are also necessary
for some exceptional children.

NATURE & SCOPE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

The foregoing definits of special education help us to draw following conclusions
about the nature and characteristics of special education.
 By its nomenclature as well as definitions, special education is always meant for Page
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meeting the special needs and requirements of the exceptional children.
 It is diagnostic in nature in the sense that it calls upon the necessity of diagnosing
and identifying the nature and degree of the deviations of the children from their
normal peers and consequently labelling and classifying them into one or the
other type of exceptionality for providing special care and education.
 It is inventory in nature in the sense that it always aims to provide a purposeful
intervention for preventing, eliminating for overcoming the problems lying on the
path of the child on account of his exceptionality in the field of learning and
adjustment.
 Special education is developmental in nature, meaning thereby that it follows a
child from womb to tomb. A mother should be given an adequate guidance
through the special education services for nourishing and nurturing her special
child right from the pre-natal period.
 Special education is quite specific and quite specialized in nature. So it needs
special teachers, special students, special methods, aids and special learning
environment for making the special students to learn.
 Special education is highly indidualised in the sense that it takes care of the
exceptionality, specialty or disability of an indidual child and helps to developed
his potentiality to the maximum.
 Special education is highly mobile in the sense that it reaches or moves towards
the child instead of expecting from the child to move for receiving it.
 Special education is continuous in the sense that it is provided to the child from Page
the very beginning till the end or at least up to the time it is needed for the | 14
welfare, progress and adjustment of the child.
 Special education is intensive in nature that all-round total efforts are done at a
quite intensive level for addressing the individualist specific needs of the
exceptional children.
 Special education is goal directed in the sense that it always carries purposeful
instructions and well thought, planned learning experiences to the children to
help them in the realization of their needs and attaining maximum adjustment
and progress as much as possible.
 Special education is research oriented and experimental in character. What we
practice in special education is always supported through active research and
experimentation.
 Special education is quite technical and enriched into the sense that it demands
and makes use of specialized techniques, methods, materials, aids and
equipments for providing needed special education to the exceptional children
besides taking care of their needs and adjustment.
A mere of the above cited nature and characteristics of special education may lead
us to agree that special education is quite vast in its objectives, methodology and
scope, It stands to serve the varying needs of the exceptional children at all their
levels of spain and all places of their availability. Such wide thinking about the
concept of special education may then, persuade us to adopt a functional definition
in the following words for use of this text: Page
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Special education is that specially planned and organized education that is
imparted in a special way to all types of exceptional children irrespective of their of
the nature of their exceptionality in proper tune with their well diagnosed special
needs for helping them to develop their potentiality and adjust as well as progress
in the life as effectively as possible.
ELEMENTS OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

Executive children need special education services comprising of three elements:

 Trained professional personal including teacher educator's consultants,
physiotherapists, psychotherapists, psychologists, counselors etc.
 Special curricular content suiting different areas of exceptionally-giftedness
mental retardation, deafness, dumbness, (speech retardation), orthopedic
handicap, social and emotional maladjustment.
 Facilities including special building features, special equipment, special extra
literary materials and special crafts according to interests, aptitude and other
potentialities of exceptional children.

OBJECTIVES OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

 To provide better instructional arrangement and procedures for evaluating and

meeting the instructional needs of exceptional children.
 To help the gifted children in making the best use of their potentialities and
achieving the maximum so as to be an asset to human social benefits.
 To help the backward children in achieving the maximum level of effectiveness Page
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and making adequate adjustment both for individual and resource development.
 To know the problems of delinquent children and to develop them in solving
their problems, for making adequate achievements and adjustment.
 To help the physically handicapped children in making the best use of their
potentialities and developing normal attitude towards their deformity.
 To help the mentally handicapped children in providing suitable education,
keeping in view their mental deficiency.

IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

Insight to Parents and Teachers: Special education provides insight to parents and
teachers of the gifted and the handicapped which help in the process of adjustment
of these children in the society.
Correct Solution: Special education aims at developing confidence and
competencies in handicapped children to earn their livelihood independently. If
they are trained properly, they can become assets for the society.
Solution of Problems: Special education will solve many problems of the
institutions, which they face because of their disabilities.
Active Participation: Special educational arrangements will create in the
handicapped desire to participate in the activities with non-handicapped children. It
will develop self-reliance and self-sufficiency in them and socialize their behaviour. Page
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Realistic Concept: Special education develops a realistic concept in handicapped
children through this service the children will appraise their abilities, aptitudes,
interests and personality qualities. The children get the chance to understand
themselves in a better way. In order to compensate their disabilities, they excel in
some other fields and get recognition, which helps them as well as the society, in
terms of adjustment.
Suitable Placement: As disabled children are handicapped in various ways, they
may not fit in all jobs. Special education helps the pupils in getting a good start in
the vocation, which is both, suitable to them in the light of their disability.
Individual Differences: Special education is needed for exceptional children because
they differ with regard to their interests, motivation and aims of life, Special
education should be provided with modified curriculum, special instructional
strategies and use of special aids.

UNIT-II CATEGORIES OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

Q: - VISUALLY IMPAIRED CHILDREN.

A:-Blindness is regarded as the most severe and traumatic physical handicap. Since
more impressions are conveyed to the brain through the eyes, the visual anomalies
may influence the life of the individual in physical, mental, social, vocational and
educational aspects. In our society, the visually handicapped have always been the
favoured group as compared to those with other types of handicaps. Priority was Page
given to this group for making social and educational provision. Since special rights | 18
and privileges are being provided to them, they attract more public concern than
any other categories.
The definition of vision impairment by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) says a visually impaired person’s eyesight cannot be corrected to a
“normal level”.
 It may be said that visual impairment is the functional limitation of the eye or
eyes or the vision system. This leads to (1-5) –
 Loss of visual acuity and inability of the person to see objects as clearly as a
healthy person
 Loss of visual field meaning inability of an individual to see as wide an area as the
average person without moving the eyes or turning the head.
 Photophobia – inability to look at light
 Diplopia – double vision
 Visual distortion or distortion of images
 Visual perceptual difficulties or difficulties of perception
 Or any combination of the above features
Low visual acuity
The CDC and the World Health Organization suggest that low visual acuity means
vision between 20/70 and 20/400 with the best possible correction, or a visual field
of 20 degrees or less. Page
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Blindness
Blindness is defined as a visual acuity worse than 20/400 with the best possible
correction, or a visual field of 10 degrees or less.
Legal blindness in the US means visual acuity of 20/200 or worse with the best
possible correction, or a visual field of 20 degrees or less. (1)
Measuring visual acuity
 Visual acuity is measured by use of a Snellen’s chart.
 The chart consists of random letters and numbers of various sizes set at a
distance of 6 feet.
 The best possible vision if 6/6. Visual field is the width of the vision without
moving or turning the head. It is measured in degrees.

CAUSES OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED

A: -Visual impairment can happen to children or adults. In the United States,

millions of persons have partial or complete loss of vision. It is important to have
regular eye examinations to detect early stages of vision loss. The October 15, 2003,
issue of JAMA includes an article about the causes of visual impairment.
SYSTEMIC CONDITIONS
 Diabetes
 Hypertension (high blood pressure)
 Cerebrovascular (brain blood vessel) disease or stroke
 Atherosclerotic disease (cholesterol deposits in blood vessels, including those of Page
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the eye)
 Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)Ñusually due to infection
with cytomegalovirus, a virus that affects the eye
 Vitamin A deficiency
 Infections involving the eyes
Some eye infections, including those caused by parasites, are more common in
developing countries. Infections in a pregnant woman can affect the fetus. This type
of vision loss, present from birth, is called congenital blindness.
SPECIFIC EYE CONDITIONS
Macular degeneration—deterioration of the central part of the retina
Cataracts—clouding of the lens of the eye
Glaucoma—damage to the nerve connecting the eye to the brain caused by
increased pressure inside the eye
Eye injuries
Tumors involving the eye or surrounding structures in the head and neck
PREVENTION
Schedule regular eye examinations to detect inadequate vision correction, find
cataracts, test for glaucoma, and evaluate general eye health.
Stop smoking. Smoking has been linked to development of cataracts and macular
degeneration in addition to all the other health problems smoking causes.
Treat chronic diseases, especially diabetes. Good control of blood sugar levels will Page
help reduce your chances of developing diabetic retinopathy, the eye problem | 21
caused by diabetes. Regular screening eye examinations for persons with diabetes
may help to detect diabetic retinopathy sooner. This may limit eye damage by
making earlier treatment possible.
Protect your eyes from sunlight and other ultraviolet (UV) light exposure (such as
tanning beds). Wearing UV-protective sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat helps to
limit UV exposure to the eyes.
Wear protective eyewear when working with tools or during recreational activities.
Eye injuries are a common cause of vision loss for individuals in the United States.

CHARACTERISTICS OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED

A:-The visually handicapped children have many problems like behavior problems,
problems of learning, problems of their placement in society or problems of social
adjustment. Some problems are discussed below:-
i) Poor Intelligence: - Research analysis reveals that visually impaired children have
a poor I.Q. Since they have impairments in the exploration of their environment,
they have impairments also in concept formation resulting in their poor
performance in intelligence tests. Some intelligence tests are measured by degrees
of information, knowledge or experience. But for blind children, this pattern of
scoring is reduced to a very low level.
ii) Academic Retardation: - These children have poor academic achievements even Page
if they use large types or Braille. They are noted to be retarded by at least one to | 22
two years and are found to be underachievers. Visual impairment is the main factor
for slower acquisition of information by observation. These children have a slower
reading rate and lack concreteness in instructional procedures.
iii) Slower Speech Development:-Totally blind children cannot learn the art of
speech by imitation. They can only learn through what they hear and from
occasional touch observation. Progress in speech development is not significant in
comparison with normal children due to the above reason. Through research it has
been discovered that acquisition of words may get hampered by blindness also.
iv) Personality Disorder: - we know that personality development includes both
hereditary and environmental factors. It is a psychophysical organization of the
individual modified by his life experiences. For congenitally blind children, life
experiences go in their own ways which are totally different from normal children.
These differences affect their personality as a whole. Due to his handicap, he is
more likely to experience nervous strain and the feeling of insecurity and frustration
are common with them.
v) Problems in social Adjustment: - Normally these children are looked down on
and ridiculed by normal children every now and then. They face both personal and
social adjustment problems. Because of this, they feel inferior and ultimately this
leads to maladjustment. There is a controversy among psychologists regarding the
adjustment problems of these children. Some research workers feel that the blind
children are maladjusted in school, but others refute it completely. Page
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A:-Total blindness is easy to recognize. Basically it is detected in the child by the

time he is a year old or even earlier. These children have to be educated through
channels other than vision. A child who is born blind depends upon hearing and
touch for his knowledge while a child who becomes blind after birth may however
retain his visual imagery and correlate what he hears or touches with it. The
education of blind children is certainly tedious.
Some educational provisions are being discussed below:-
i) Residential School:-Residential schools are very much essential for blind children.
The school assists the children through the use of special methods and aids. Braille
classes are very conductive for them. A blind child learns to adjust with the world in
which he has to live as an adult. Braille classes supply only supplementary assistance
as is necessary to enable the blind child to participate in regular classroom
instruction. Besides this the primary aim of this kind of education is social
adjustment.
ii) Special Equipment: - For blind children, the medium of education should be
different. Since these children require education through touch and hearing, special
attention should be given to practice on the regular typewriter. It permits written
communication. For teaching geography, relief maps and globes are to be used
schools arrange excursions and study tours to acquaint children with their
surroundings. The children must be provided with opportunities to visit museums Page
and specially prepared educational models must be given to them for additional | 24
experience.
iii) Physical Education: - Blind children are very much restricted so far as physical
activities are concerned. But special attention must be paid towards gymnastics;
corrective posture works such as sports, running, swimming, rowing, wrestling and
all kinds of outdoor activities. Various types of handicrafts are also included in
physical education. Priority should be given to household arts for girls.
iv) Workshops:-For vocational training and employment, sheltered workshops for
the blind are certainly conductive. Previously, the vocational emphasis of these
workshops was almost exclusively on things like brooms, rugs and brushes. But
presently, the workshops are attached to various industrial, concerns. In india, one
workshop of this kind has been set up at Worli and reports say that this one imparts
good vocational training and provides employment to the blind.
The above remedial measures for partially sighted and blind children can only
be possible if educators, authorities and parents cooperate with each other.

Q: - HEARING IMPAIRED CHILDREN.

A: - The term "Hearing Impaired" is a technically accurate description of someone
who is hard of hearing or who has no hearing ... however, many Deaf, hard of
hearing and late deafened people prefer not to be called impaired. They don't want
to be primarily defined by their lack of (or poor) hearing.
While it's true that their hearing is not perfect, that doesn't make them impaired as Page
people. Most would prefer to be called deaf, hard of hearing or deaf when the need | 25
arises to refer to their hearing status, but not as a primary way to identify them as
people (where their hearing status is not significant).
Hearing is the main sensory pathway through which speech and verbal
communication develop. If a child hears imperfectly, he is likely to speak incorrectly.
Again, hearing also influences learning and other aspects of maturation. Early
detection of hearing and other aspects of maturation. Early detection of hearing
impairment is important for the child’s over-all development. If there is a defect in
hearing mechanism there is also a problem in perception. Hearing impairment
reduces our knowledge of the world around us. Again, it is also adversely affects the
child’s performance in learning.

Q: - TYPES OF “HEARING IMPAIRED.

A:-Hearing loss can be caused by many different causes, some of which can be
successfully treated with medicine or surgery, depending on the disease process.
Three Types of Hearing Loss
Conductive hearing loss:-when hearing loss is due to problems with the ear canal,
ear drum, or middle ear and its little bones (the malleus, incus, and stapes).
Sensor neural hearing loss:-when hearing loss is due to problems of the inner ear,
also known as nerve-related hearing loss.
Mixed hearing loss:-refers to a combination of conductive and sensor neural Page
hearing loss. This means that there may be damage in the outer or middle ear and | 26
in the inner ear (cochlea) or auditory nerve.

CAUSESOF HEARING IMPAIRED

A:-Hearing impairment is usually linked with the defects and deficiencies associated
with our organs helpful in hearing sensation and its perception. Both hereditary as
well as environmental factors may be responsible for making one hearing impaired
and thereby the main causes underlying this impairment may be cited as below.
i) The child may inherit the genes and chromosomes related with hearing
impairment from his parents at the time of conception.
ii) In some cases, the causes of hearing impairments are purely psychological. The
child may unconsciously learn hearing loss as an escape from the unpleasant and
intolerable situations of his life.
iii) In some cases, the sound pollution and its adverse effects may become the
germinating as well precipitating cause of the impairment.
iv) There is never an end to the incidents and accidents in one’s life causing physical
injury to the sensory and perceptual organs of the hearing system resulting into
hearing impairment.

CHARACTERISTICS OF HEARING IMPAIRED CHILDREN

A:-The hearing impaired children invite certain limitations. The nature and severity
of these limitations depend upon the type and degree of the hearing impairment. Page
Naturally these limitations cause certain changes in behavior. The following are | 27
some important characteristics of the hearing impaired:-
i) Socially Handicapped:-Hearing impaired children are not well adjusted in the
society. They find it very difficult to adjust with the environment. They develop
certain personality disorders and slow temperantrums, withdrawal or
submissiveness etc. communication difficulties are rampant with them. They, often,
fail to understand what other people say.
ii) Problems in Personal and Social Development: - The problems regarding
personal and social development are very much pertinent for hearing impaired
children. Language becomes a barrier for them for communicating with other
children. This affects the socialization process and plays a vital role in the personal
and social development of children. The most significant aspect of these children is
their increased dependence on others which leads to a sense of inferiority.
iii) Personality Problems: - Certain studies reveal that these children face some
personality problems. Partial hearing difficulty may create more confrontation and
personality problems than in the case of totally deaf children, because a partially
deaf child gets more frustrated as he tries to reach the level of the normal’s and a
totally deaf child seems reconciled to his fate.
iv) Psychological Characteristics: - Hearing impaired children have some
behavioural problem. Children develop a sense of inferiority since they find
themselves helpless in adapting to circumstances that require verbal Page
communication. The child always compares himself/herself with his/her. He/she | 28
observes that attitude of the society towards him/her is not normal, but either
overprotective or rejective. She feels that he/she is different from a normal child.
This feeling hampers growth and development of the personality.
V) Abnormal emotional behavior: - Very often, young hearing impaired children
show abnormal emotional behavior. This may throw tantrums to attract attention
to himself or his needs. Lack of comprehension may invite tension and resistance.
He is frequently obstinate and has a tendency to taste. He gets irritated when he
cannot make himself understood.

Q: - EDUCATIONAL MEASURES OF HEARING IMPAIREMENT

A: - Hearing loss or deafness does not affect a person’s intellectual capacity or

ability to learn. However, children who are hard of hearing or deaf generally require
some form of special education services in order to receive an adequate education.
Such services may include:
 Regular speech, language, and auditory training from a specialist;
 Amplification systems;
 Services of an interpreter for those students who use sign language;
 Favorable seating in the class to facilitate lip reading;
 Captioned films/videos;
 Assistance of a notetaker, who takes notes for the student with a hearing loss, so
that the student can fully attend to instruction; Page
| 29
 Instruction for the teacher and peers in alternate communication methods, such
as sign language; and counseling.
Children who are hard of hearing will find it much more difficult than children
who have normal hearing to learn vocabulary, grammar, word order, idiomatic
expressions, and other aspects of verbal communication. For children who are deaf
or have severe hearing losses, early, consistent, and conscious use of visible
communication modes (such as sign language, finger spelling, and Cued Speech)
and/or amplification and aural/oral training can help reduce this language delay.
By age four or five, most children who are deaf are enrolled in school on a full-
day basis and do special work on communication and language development.
Parents work with school personnel to develop an individualized education program
(IEP) that details the child’s special needs and the services and supports that will be
provided to meet those needs. IDEA requires that the IEP team address the
communication needs of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing.
It is important for teachers and audiologists to work together to teach the
child to use his or her residual hearing to the maximum extent possible, even if the
preferred means of communication is manual. Since the great majority of deaf
children (over 90%) are born to hearing parents, programs should provide
instruction for parents on implications of deafness within the family.
 People with hearing loss use oral or manual means of communication or a
combination of the two. Oral communication includes speech, lip reading, and the
use of residual hearing. Manual communication involves signs and finger spelling. Page
Total Communication, as a method of instruction, is a combination of the oral | 30
method plus signing and finger spelling.

Q: - MENTALLY RETAEDED & ITS DEFINITIONS.

A: - Mentally Retarded children are those who deviate from the normal children in
the negative side mentally, physically or emotionally. They have Sub-normal mental
development. They possess limited intelligence and social inadequacy. It is generally
believed that children who possess I.Q below 70 are mentally handicapped or
mentally retarded children. But there are some psychologists and educationists who
hold that backward children can also be called mentally handicapped children.
DEFINITIONS
1. According to the definition given by William Hazlitt, “Mental retardation is the
stage of worst mental set-up in which the mentally retarded person thinks and
behaves most irrationally and most absurdly.”
2. According to the view-point of Johnson Smith, “Mental retardation is that
backward state of mind, in which the mentally retarded person keeps himself
behind others by unnecessary and slow thinking, because his mental powers are
benumbed and he cannot undertake quick mental work or quick mental thinking.”

CAUSES OF MENTAL RETARDATION.

A:-
1. Factors operative at the time of conception: There can be some factors Page
operative, at the time of conception, which can become the cause of mental | 31
retardation of the child. In such a case mental retardation may be cause by some
defective genes in the chromosomes of one or both parents at the time of
fertilization.
2. Factors operative inside the womb of the mother: When the child is in the womb
of the mother for a period of about nine months, the improper and deficient intra-
uterine environment may cause mental retardation. Abnormal emotional and
undesirable mental conditions of the mother during pregnancy, her severe illness,
chronic infections and the deficiencies with respect to the food which a human
embryo receives from the blood stream of the mother are some of the factors
which may produce mental deficiency or retardation in the child, who is yet to see
the light of the outside world.
3. Factors operative at the time of delivery: It is possible that, at the time of
delivery, due to too short or too long labour or due to the wrong use of mechanical
instruments, the child may receive head injuries. Such injuries often cause mental
retardation.
4. Post natal factors: Post natal factors are the factors operative from birth to
death. In addition to the cause mentioned above, mental deficiency or mental
retardation may be caused by the following post natal factors: -
(i) Head injuries due to accidents.
(ii) Food deficiency and malnutrition in early childhood.
(iii) Infections and chronic diseases in early childhood. Page
| 32
(iv) Emotional mal adjustment and mental conflicts at any stage of life, especially
at childhood stage.
(v) Socio-cultural emotional deprivation.
(vi) Disturbed environment, such as family quarrels, dru,nkard parents etc.
CHARACTERISTICS OF RETARDED CHILDRENDEGRADATION

A: - Classification on the basis of physical and physiological characteristics.

Mentally retarded children have been categorized as under according to their
physical and physiological specializations:-
Brain damaged child: This is an organic retardation which occurs due to damage of
the brain or because of some other sickness.
Mongoloid: - These children can be recognized by their physical attributes.
Although friendly, modest and jolly they do often manifest obstinate behaviour too.
Cretin Child: - This too is a condition of retardation. It occurs due to a disturbance in
thyroid gland. It can be cured at the primary stages. The certain children are also
jollying modest and friendly.
Phenylketonuria (PKU):- This is found very rarely. It happens due to metabolic
disturbances. A poisonous matter enters into the brain through the blood
circulation and destroys the brain cells.
Microcephaly and Hydrocephly:- The cerebrospinal fluid stops and the brain is
either enlarged or remains small.
Ceberal Palsy: - This is also a sort of brain damage. Some muscle activities become Page
| 33
uncontrolled and such children’s muscular adjustment becomes defective.

Q: - EDUCATION FOR MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN.

A: - The mentally retarded, as emphasized earlier are not all alike. After segregation
from the normal individuals they can be properly grouped into distinct categories.
The most accepted classification based on the [Link] well as adaptive behavior
criteria enumerates the four levels of retardation i.e mild, moderate, severe and
profound.
1) Social grounds: - In order to make mentally retarded children the useful and the
self-sufficient citizens of the society education should be imparted to them.
2) Democratic grounds: - our beloved Country India is a democratic country and
Justice demands that a democratic government has to look to the needs of each
Section of the Population.
3) Humanitarian grounds: - on humanitarian grounds education must be given to
unfortunate mentally retarded children in order to make their life worth - living.
Recommendations of Review Committee (1990)
For the moderately mentally retarded, special curricula should be developed
and standardized-not merely for the purpose of basic education in 3 Rs but for
training in self-care skills like motor integration, perceptual and motor skills,
language, communication and conceptual skills. It should be clearly understood that
for the mentally handicapped, academic achievements are relationally unimportant
in comparison to social adaptation and vocational training. Page
| 34
Vocational schools for the mentally retarded adults are not so many for their
benefit, jobs in sheltered workshops, forms and industries should be provided, as
they are not capable of receiving open employment. The idea is that after receiving
training they can work on sub- contract basis.

Q: - GIFTED CHILDREN.
A:-Gifted children are the back bone of the nation. Potential leaders of different
walks of life belong to this group. The future of the nation depends upon the type of
education provided to this group. If proper educational agreements are made for
them, they will in future prove to be boons to the society. So it is the sacred duty of
educational institutions to ensure their harmonious development.
In the words at witty, “gifted children are those children whose performance in a
worthwhile human Endeavour is consistently remarkable and those who are
academically superior.
It must be noted that gifted children are superior not only in intelligence but also in
physical, emotional, social, and academic and other intellectual characteristics of
children their age.
Some thinkers like Lucita confines it to intellectual pursuits, "the gifted are
those children whose intellectual powers are at such a high ideational level in both
productive and evaluative thinking that it can be reasonably assumed, they could be

CHARACTERISTICS OF GIFTED CHILDREN

for those problem solvers, innovators and evaluators of the culture, if adequate
educational experience are provided to them".

Page
| 35
A: - Their characteristics can be divided into two parts i.e., positive and negative.
1. Positive characteristics
Physical characteristics: Terman and his associates found in an intensive longitude
study that gifted children were physically well developed. They were not undersized
but maintained good health. They had sharp sense organs, they learnt sitting,
standing, walking, crawling, cutting the teeth and taking at an age than the normal
children.
Intellectual characteristics: Terman and his associate found that they had got
superior intelligence. When their superiority was not recognized they assume
boastful attitude. They have better ability to organize, analyse, memorise, imagine,
reason, judge, and to reproduce things accurately than the normal children of their
age.
Social characteristics: As gifted children had better ability to organise, analyse,
memorise, imagine, reason, think, judge and to adjust; they become active
participants in the process of growing emotionally stable. They had some negative
emotional characteristics too.
Emotional characteristics: These children proved to be more popular in the group
because they were humorous, cheerful, liberal, generous, kind, honest etc. They
have friends who were older than them but they played with those of equal level.
They were often interested in activities at home, school and societies and loved to
be assigned tasks, which they carry out with a sense of responsibilities.
School Characteristics: They were generally high achievers in schools; they learnt Page
counting, reading and language very easily. They were able to write their names | 36
before they are admitted to school.
Character and Personality Characteristics: According to Terman, in character and
personality majority of gifted children showed superiority and they were well
adjusts.
II. Negative Characteristics
They were restless, inattentive and disturbing. They were indifferent to class work
when not interest. They were outspokenly critical before themselves and others.
They showed egoistic and jealous behavior. They were careless in handwriting and
poor in spelling.

IDENTIFICATION OF GIFTED CHILDREN

A:-The Following techniques can be devised to identify gifted children:

1) Identify characteristics to locate the gifted children.
2) Opinions and reports of parents, friends, and teachers: we observe them in
various Settings and take into consideration the opinions and reports of parents,
friends and teaches.
3) Achievement tests: standardized achievement Tests ale valuable instruments for
identifying the gifted child with superior academic ability.
4) Attitude tests: we also depend upon aptitude tests in identifying the gifted; the
gifted excel in art, drama, music and other non-academic areas.
5) Intelligent tests: Gifted children can also be identified by intelligence or mental Page
| 37
tests. Gifted children score high in intelligence or mental tests.

Q: - EDUCATION PROGRAMMES FOR GIFTED CHILDREN.

1. Identifying the gifted:-Gifted child is a valuable property of the state. It is

necessary to Identify or pick out such children with the help of opinions of the
parents, friends and teachers, intelligence tests, aptitude tests and achievement
tests.
2) Segregation of classes:-there should be separate classes for the gifted children so
that education may be given according to their mental level and they may be saved
from the idea that the work is not according to their interests, aptitudes and
abilities.
3) Rapid promotion: - Gifted children should be given rapid promotions.
4) Individual Attention: - individual attention should be paid to them so that they
may feel psychological security.
5) Diversification of Courses: - Diversified courses should be there so that they take
subjects according to their interests, needs, abilities and aptitudes.
6) Ample home task: - of Sufficient difficultly should be given to them so that their
idle time may be fully utilized in educational and constructive activity.
7) To help the weak students:- the gifted children should be asked to help the weak
students in the Subjects in which they are very brilliant . In this way, they will get
social recognition. They will develop socially. Page
| 38
8) Library facilities: - Gifted children should be given special library facilities. They
should be encouraged to make intelligent use of library. It will help them to know
new things and acquire knowledge.
9) Hostel facilities: - If the home atmosphere of the gifted children is not good,
then, they must be given free hostel facilities.

UNIT-1II INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Inclusive Education ―Children, who learn together, learn to live together‖.

Q: - MEANING OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION.

A:- Inclusive education is the process of bringing exceptional children of whatever
conditions into the general classroom for their education having access to the same
curriculum, and being accepted by all regardless of gender, ethnicity or special
needs. It involves being physically in the same place as other students and social
acceptance and belonging’.
Inclusive education means that all students in a school, regardless of their
strengths or weaknesses in any area, become part of the school community. They
are included in the feeling of belonging among other students, teachers, and
support staff. The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and its
1997 amendments make it clear that schools have a duty to educate children with
disabilities in general education classrooms.
 It emphasis on equality of access and opportunity for all students to learn and to Page
| 39
make progress.
 It offers high quality education to all, to promote, to foster and fulfill the
potential of every student and to prepare students for adult life after school.
 Respect for difference and diversity is at the heart of inclusive education.
Thus, inclusive education is the practice of providing a child with disabilities with
his or her education within the general education classroom with the supports and
accommodations needed for that student. Inclusive Education means that all
students in a school regardless of their strengths and weakness in any area become
part of the mainstream education.
NEED FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
A:-
Promotion of Human Rights
 All children have the right to learn together.
 Children should not be devalued or discriminated against by being excluded or
sent away because of their disability or learning difficulty.
 There are no legitimate reasons to separate children for their education. Children
belong together - with advantages and benefits for everyone. They do not need
to be protected from each other.
Good Education
 Research shows children do better, academically and socially in integrated
settings.
 There is no teaching or care in a special school, which cannot take place in an Page
| 40
ordinary school.
 Given commitment and support, inclusive education is a more efficient use of
educational resources.
Good Social Sense
 Segregation teaches children to be fearful, ignorant and breeds prejudice.
 All children need an education that will help them develop relationships and
prepare them for life in the mainstream.
 Only inclusion has the potential to reduce fear and build friendship, respect and
understanding
Thus, it can be concluded that Inclusive Education is the gateway to build
relationships where difference is welcomed and respected. A society which accepts
the right to study in a mainstream school as a human right moves in the direction of
delivering good education with good social sense.

Q: - HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION.

A:-The first special school for people with disabilities in India was a school for the
blind, which was opened in 1869 by Jane Leupot, with support of the Church
Missionary Society. Fourteen years later, in 1883, a school for the deaf was opened
in Bombay. 1887 marked the year Christian missionaries opened a school for the
blind in Amritsar. During the 1800s, all of the special schools for people with
disabilities accommodated people with physical disabilities; it was not until 1918
that the first school for people with intellectual disabilities was established. All of Page
these schools exemplify the type of special education services offered during the | 41
1800s and 1900s, specialized and segregated. By 1900, special schools were
springing up throughout the country. Until the 1970s, these schools were the
primary method of service delivery for children with disabilities. Most were for
children who were blind or visually impaired, and the majority was funded by non-
governmental organizations or private funders.
The first half of the 20th century in India was spent by the Indian people
fighting for independence. The political figurehead and leader of the Satyagraha
movement, Mohandas Gandhi attempted to reverse British influence over Indian
education by introducing what he named “basic education”. Gandhi’s idea of
education catered to marginalized populations because it focused on handicrafts,
which favored the lower castes and people with disabilities, many of whom were
used to working with their hands and hadn’t previously done much academic work.
Gandhi introduced this plan in 1937. Although his plan influenced governmental
policy for over 30 years, it ultimately failed. 1909 marks the first piece of attempted
legislation regarding inclusion and education in India. Gopal Krishna Gokhale,
“Professor of English literature, mathematics, and political economy, served, for
example, on the Poona Municipal Council, the Bombay Legislative Council, and
finally, the Imperial Legislative Council, “ introduced a bill under the Indian council
act of 1909 to make primary education compulsory.” This bill, if it passed, would
have provided funding for compulsory education for all. However, it was voted
down. The policies and actions by the government of India regarding inclusive Page
special education in the 1940s contradicted each other entirely. The Sargent Report | 42
by the Central Advisory Board of Education in 1944 suggested children with
disabilities should be entirely mainstreamed.
India gained independence from Britain in the 1947, and inclusive education is
written into India’s constitution as a fundamental right for all citizens. It is important
to differentiate between constitutional rights and state policies and their legal
implications. Rights are listed in the constitution; they are absolute and completely
enforceable.

Q: - PRINCIPLES OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION.

A:-The well-researched and accessible pedagogy, Seven Principles for inclusive
Education, is the underpinning for all of Tanenbaums curricula and teacher training
programs (training in the Seven Principles is a core piece of all our teacher training
programs). The Seven Principles can be applied to any classroom or lesson plan to
increase equality and decrease exclusion.
i) Teaching all students:-Educators should take several different approaches to
teaching the same material so that information becomes more interesting and
tangible to a greater number of students.
ii) Exploring Multiple Identities:-Students who are pround of themselves and
excited by the world around them will be more compassionate and understanding
people; the same is true for educators. Page
| 43
iii) Preventing Prejudice: - Educators should take a proactive approach to
debunking preconceived stereotypes and preventing them from escalating into
prejudices and negative biases.
vi) Promoting Social Justice: - Students are good judges of what is fair, especially
when they are affirmatively challenged to consider issues of social justice. Educators
should talk to them about issues of social justice and injustice n terms of fair verses
unfair, respectful verses disrespectful.
v) Choosing Appropriate Materials: - Inclusive classrooms use books and materials
that reflect accurate images of diverse peoples and challenge stereotypes.
vii) Teaching and Learning about Cultures and Religions:-Educators should create
curiosity and expand students’ horizons by teaching about others in a positive
manner. Students should have the opportunity to learn from their peers as well as
other cultures.
viii) Adapting and Integrating Lessons Appropriately:-Educators should be flexible
when using and adapting lessons in our curricula, as well as in prescribed curricula
in general. Many of the most teachable moments are unplanned and unscripted.

Q: - NECESSARY RESOURCES OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION.

A:-Inclusion is the need of the hour. India, with its vast population of exceptional
/disabled children scattered throughout its land cannot achieve its target- “a
compulsory education for all children up to 14 years of age” without getting stacked Page
to the policy of inclusion. Inclusion has been severely criticized. If planned and | 44
executed properly, it can prove a most potential instrument for serving the interests
of all types of students, whether exceptional or non-exceptional providing least
restricted environment and maximum cost effective education within their reach
and at their door step. The following suggestions in this regard may prove fruitful.
i) Inclusive in the form of full inclusion model should be accepted as a broad based
policy for the education of all the children without discrimination of any kind, both
in the government schools and aided non-governmental schools.
ii) Special schools which take care of a few well-known types of disabled children
may be continued for the time being. However, the government, the NGOs and
charitable minds working in such ventures, should focus on providing incentives to
the schools, who needs support for making inclusion as a success.
iii) Top priority should be given for the pre-service and in service education of the
classroom and subject teachers, and other school personnel associated with the
students for equipping them with the necessary knowledge, skills, attitude for
working in an inclusion set-up.
xi) Essential support services like services of the special education teachers, experts,
resource room facilities, aids and equipment, the environmental modifications as
per needs of the disabled children, guidance and counseling facilities, should be well
available to the teachers and students working in inclusive set-up .A district or block
wise pool of the needed resources may be maintained for providing such assistance
to the schools. Page
| 45
v) Since, there lies too much diversity and the inclusive class set-up presents a
heterogeneous grouping, the emphasis should now be on designing suitable
individualized curriculum and instruction instead of some common instructional
goals as often targeted in a normal non-inclusive set-up.
In this way, if we try to plan and implement the policy of inclusion with utmost
sincerity and determination, then it can prove a quite fruitful and viable policy for
achieving the national targets of “education for all” and ‘equal educational
opportunities” besides serving the interests of all types of children within the
limited means and resources of the country.

Q: - INTEGRATION IN EDUCATION.
A:-Integration is a concept emerged as a philosophy in antitheses of segregation. It
called halt to the system of providing education to the children in segregating
settings of special schools and advocated to make provision for their education in
the regular schools. In this way, historically, when disabled children were primarily
educated in separate special schools, integration was the term carried for describing
their successful placement into regular schools.
In this way, instead of subjecting the disabled students to a sort of segregation
by putting them in separate special schools for their education, their integration
(association) with the non-disabled population of their peers was targeted to
achieve through this new philosophy of integration. It can thus be safely called a
proper step in putting the disabled/exceptional children into the mainstream, i.e the Page
place and opportunities of getting education and training with the population of the | 46
non-disabled peers in the regular schools.
At the level of education the integration of a disabled child into a regular
classroom situation means a concurrent education with a class of non-disabled
children. In such a set up there are greater opportunities for the handicapped child
to mix with his non-disabled counterparts in games, sports and other activities. The
aim of integration education is to assimilate a disabled child into a group of the non-
disabled and providing opportunities to make him/her as independent as possible.

Q: - MAINSTREAMING IN EDUCATION.
A: - Mainstreaming, in the context of education, is the practice of educating
students with special needs in regular classes during specific time periods based on
their skills. This means regular education classes are combined with special
education classes. Schools that practice mainstreaming believe that students with
special needs who cannot function in a regular classroom to a certain extent belong
to the special education environment.
Access to a special education classroom, often called a ‘self-contained
classroom or resource room’, is valuable to the student with a disability. Students
have the ability to work one-on-one with special education teachers, addressing any
need for remediation during the school day. Many researchers, educators and
parents have advocated the importance of these classrooms amongst political
environments that favour their elimination. Page
| 47
Proponents of both philosophy of educational inclusion assert that educating
children with disabilities alongside their non-disabled peers fosters understanding
and tolerance, better preparing students of all abilities to function in the world
beyond school. Children with special needs may face social stigma as a result of
being mainstreamed, but also may help them socially develop.
It isADVANTAGES
believed thatOFeducating children with disabilities alongside their non-
MAINSTREMING
disabled peers, facilities access to the general curriculum for children with
disabilities. Studies show that students with disabilities who are mainstreamed have
higher academic achievement, higher self-esteem and better social skills.

DISADVANTAGES OF MAINSTREMING

Although mainstreaming in education has been shown to provide benefits, there

are also disadvantages to the system.
i) Tradeoff with non-disabled student’s academic education.
ii) Harm to academic education of students with disabilities.
iii) Social issues.

UNIT-1V NATIONAL INITIATIVES

Q: - INTEGRATED EDUCATION FOR DISABLED CHILDREN (IEDC-1974).

A:-This is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and was launched in 1974 by the then
Department of Social Welfare. The Scheme has however been transferred to the Page
Department of Education since 1982. Under the scheme, handicapped children are | 48
sought to be integrated in the normal school system. Hindered per cent assistance is
provided to the States/UTs for education of the children suffering from certain mild
handicaps in common schools with the help of necessary aids, incentives and
specially trained teachers.
The following types of disabled children are covered under this scheme:-
i) Children with loco motor handicaps (O.H).
ii) Mildly and moderately hearing impaired.
iii) Partially sighted children.
iv) Mentally handicapped-educable group (IQ 50-70).
v) Children with multiple handicaps (blind and orthopedic, hearing impaired and
orthopedic, educable mentally retarded and orthopedic, visual impaired and mild
hearing handicap).
vi) Children with learning disabilities.
The handicapped children are provided the following allowances and facilities under
scheme.
i) Books and stationery allowance of Rs. 400 per annum.
ii) Uniform allowance of Rs. 50 per annum.
iii) Transport allowance of Rs. 50 per month (if a disabled child admitted under the
scheme resides in a hostel of the school within the school premises, no
transportation chargers would be admissible). Page
| 49
iv) Reader allowance of Rs. 50 per month in case of blind children after class V.
V) Escort allowance for severely handicapped children with lower extremity
disabilities @ Rs. 75 per month.
vi) Actual cost of equipment subject to a maximum of Rs. 2,000 per student for a
period of five years.

Q: - REHABILITATION COUNCIL OF INDIA (1992).

A: - The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) is the apex government body, set up
under an Act of Parliament, to regulate training programmes and courses targeted
at disabled, disadvantaged, and special education requirement communities. It is
the only statutory council in India that is required to maintain the Central
Rehabilitation Register which mainly documents details of all qualified professionals
who operate and deliver training and educational programmes for the targeted
communities. In the year 2000, the Rehabilitation Council of India (Amendment)
Act, 2000, was introduced and notified consequently by the government of India.
The amendment brought definitions and discussions provided within the earlier
Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992, under the ambit of a larger act, namely,
Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full
Participation) Act, 1995.
REHABILITATION COUNCIL ACT OF INDIA ACT 1992
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
CHAPTER I - PRELIMINARY
SECTION Page
| 50
i) Short title and commencement.
ii) Definition.
iii) Rehabilitation Professional.
CHAPTER II - REHABILITATION COUNCIL OF INDIA
i) Constitution and incorporation of Rehabilitation Council of India.
ii) Term of office of Chairperson and Members.
iii) Disqualification.
vi) Vacation of office by members.
v) Executive Committee and other Committees.
vi) Member Secretary and Employees of Council.
vii) Vacancies in the Council not to invalidate date acts, etc.
viii) Dissolution of Rehabilitation Council and transfer of right.
CHAPTER III - FUNCTIONS OF THE COUNCIL
i)Recognition of qualifications granted by University etc. in Indian for Rehabilitation
Professionals.
ii) Recognition of qualification by Institutions outside India.
iii) Rights of persons possessing qualifications included in the schedule to be
enrolled.
iv) Power to require information as to courses of study and examination.
v) Inspectors at examinations.
vi) Visitors examination.
vii) Withdrawal of recognition. Page
| 51
viii) Minimum standards of education.
xi) Registration in Register.
xii) Privileges of persons who are registered on Register.
x) Professional conduct and removal of names from Register.
xi) Appeal against order of removal from Register.
THE SCHEDULETHE REHABILITATION COUNCIL OF INDIA ACT 1992
No. 34 of 1992(1st September, 1992)
An Act to provide for the constitution of Rehabilitation Council of India for
regulating the training of rehabilitation professionals and the maintenance of a
Central Rehabilitation Register and for Matters connected therewith or incidental
thereto.
Q: - OBJECTIVES OF REHABILITION COUNCIL OF INDIA (1992).

A:-
1) To regulate the training policies and programmes in the field of rehabilitation of
persons with disabilities.
2) To bring about standardization of training courses for professionals dealing with
persons with disabilities.
3) To prescribe minimum standards of education and training of various categories
of professionals/personnel dealing with people with disabilities.
4) To regulate these standards in all training institutions uniformly throughout the Page
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country.
5) To recognize institutions/ organizations / universities running masters
degree/bachelors degree/ [Link]/Diploma/ Certificate courses in the field of
rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.
6)To recognize degree/diploma/certificate awarded by foreign
universities/institutions on reciprocal basis.
7) To promote research in Rehabilitation and Special Education.
8) To collect information on a regular basis on education and training in the field of
rehabilitation of people with disabilities from institutions in India and abroad.
9)To maintain central rehabilitation register for registration of
professionals/personnel.
10) To Recognize Vocational rehabilitation Centers as manpower development
centers.

Q: - SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SSA 2000).

A: - The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is the newest effort of the Government of India
to universalize elementary education in a mission mode. Literally meaning
Education for All Campaign, the SSA aims to provide useful quality education to all
children in the age group 6- 14 years by the year 2010. The SSA is expected to cover
the entire country with a focus on educational needs of girls, SC and St and other
children in difficult circumstances. The SSA will thus address the needs of 19.4 crore
children in 12.3 lakh habitations. Page
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The SSA does not envisage any separate structures but would only try to bring
convergence of all efforts. An attempt will be made to have functional
decentralization right up to the school level and to ensure community participation
through the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) and the Tribal Councils in Scheduled
areas, including the Gram Sabha (the Village Council). States would be encouraged
to enlarge the accountability framework by involving the NGOs, teachers, activists
and women's organizations and groups, among others. Under the SSA, District
Elementary Educational Plans will be prepared based on community based
habitation plans to ensure, community ownership, Merent accountability and
transparency. Education of girls especially those belonging to the scheduled castes
and the scheduled tribes, will be one of the principal concerns of the SSA. There will
be greater focus on the educational participation of children from the SC/ST groups,
religious and linguistic minorities, other disadvantaged groups and children with
special needs.

Q: - FEATURES OF SSA.
A:-
i)Programme with a clear time frame for universal elementary education.
ii) Aresponse to the demand for quality basic education all over the country.
iii) An opportunity for promoting social justice through basic education.
iv) A expression of political will for universal elementary education across the
country. Page
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v) A partnership between the central, state and the local government.
vi) An opportunity for states to develop their own vision of elementary education.
Aims /Objectives of Sarva Shiksha abhiyan: - The Sarva Shiksha abhiyan is to
provide useful & relevant elementary education for all children in the 6-14 age
group by [Link] is another goal to bridge social, religion & the gender gap with
the active participation of the community in the management school.
 SSA realizes the importance of early childhood care & education & looks at the 0-
14 age as a continuum.
 All children in school, Education guarantee centre, Alterative School, Back to
school camp by 2003.
 All children complete five years of primary schooling by 2007.
 All children complete eight years of elementary school by 2010.
 Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on
education for life.
 Bridge all gender & social category gaps at primary stuge by 2007 & at
elementary level by 2010.
 Universal retention by 2010.
Main Characteristics of SSA:-
�A Programme with a clear time frame for universal elementary Education.
�Thrust on quality & making education relevant.
�A main streaming Gender approach
� Focus on the educational participation of children from the SC/ST, religious & Page
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linguistic minorities, etc.
�An opportunity for promoting social justice through basic education.
�A partnership between the Central, State & Local Govt.
� An effort at effectively involving a Panchayti Raj Institution, School Management
committees, Village & Urban Slum level committees, Parents-Teachers associations,
Mother structures in the management of Elementary Schools.
�An opportunity for states to develop their own vision of Elementary Education.
� Community ownership of school based interventions through effective
decentralization.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan as a Framework and As a Programme: -
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has two aspects:-
� It provides a wide convergent framework for implementation of Elementary
Education schemes.
�(II) It is also-Teacher associations, Tribal Autonomous councils & other grass-root
level a programme with budget provision for strengthening vital elementary vital
areas to achieve universalisation of Elementary Education. While all investments in
the Elementary Education sector from the State and the Central Plans will reflect as
part of the SSA framework, they will all merge into the SSA programme within the
next few years. As a programme, it reflect the additional resource provision for UEE

Q: - NATIONAL CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK (NFC-2005).

A:-National Curriculum Framework (NFC-2005) seeks to provide a framework within Page
which teachers and schools can choose and plan experiences that they think | 56
children should have. In order to realize educational objectives, the curriculum
should be conceptualized as a structure that articulates required experiences.
Chapter-1
i) Strengthening a national system of education in a pluralistic society.
ii) Reducing the curriculum load based on insights provided in “Learning without
Burden”.
iii) Systemic changes in tune with curricular reforms.
iv) Curricular practices based on the values enshrined in the constitution, such as
social, justice, equality, and secularism.
v) Ensuring quality education for all children.
Chapter-2
i) Reorientation of our perception of learners and learning.
ii) Creating an inclusive environmental classroom for all students.
iii) Learner engagement for construction of knowledge and fostering of creativity.
iv) Active learning through the experimental mode.
v) Local knowledge and childrens experiences are essential components of text
books and pedagogic practices.
Chapter -3
i) Language skill-speech and listening, reading and writing-cut across school subjects
and disciplines. Their foundational role in childrens construction of knowledge right
from elementary classes through senior secondary classes needs to be recognized. Page
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ii) A renewed effort should be made to implement the three-language formula,
emphasizing the recognition of childrens home languages or mother tongues as the
best medium of instruction.
iii) English needs to find its place along with other Indian languages.
iv) Awareness of environmental concerns must permeate the entire school
curriculum.
Chapter -4
i) Availability of minimum infrastructure and material facilities, and support for
planning a flexible daily schedule, are critical for improved teacher performance.
ii) A school culture that nurtures children’s identities as “learners” enhances the
potential and interests of each child.
iii) Participation of community members in sharing knowledge and experience in a
subject area helps in forging a partnership between school and community.
iv) Decentralized planning of school calendar and daily schedule and autonomy for
teacher professionalism practices are basic to creating a learning environment.
Chapter-5
i) Quality concern, a key feature of systemic reform, implies the system’s capacity to
reform itself by enhancing its ability to remedy its own weaknesses and to develop
new capabilities.
ii) A broad framework for planning up words, beginning with schools for identifying
focus areas and subsequent consolidation at the cluster and block levels, could form
a decentralized planning strategy at the district level. Page
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iii) Meaningful academic planning has to be done in a participatory manner by
headmasters and teachers.
iv) Monitoring quality must be seen as a process of sustaining interaction with
individual schools in terms of teaching-learning processes.
v) Certrality of language proficiency in teacher education and an integrated model
of teacher education for strengthening professionalization of teachers assume
significance.
vi) In-service education needs to become a catalyst for change in school practices.

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

Q:-What is Exceptionality?

A:-Exceptionality refers to the quality or characteristic of an individual for being

exceptional, unique or different from others. The models or approaches like
statistical model, medical or biological model and behavioural or social model may
be used for understanding the concept of exceptionality.
Q:-Definition of Exceptionality?

A: - Exceptionality is defined as to have exceptional character or quality. It is further

defined as having much more than average intelligence, ability, or skill. The term

Q:-Nature of Exceptionality?
refers to deviating widely from a norm of physical or mental ability, used especially
of children below normal in intelligence.

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A:-Exceptionality refers to uniqueness. The uniqueness of the exceptional child may
be noticed in one or more of the following dimensions-vision, hearing, movement,
perceptual-motor, communication, social-emotional and intelligence. Thus, the
blind, deaf, orthopedically handicapped, learning disabled, speech handicapped,
emotionally disturbed, socially disadvantaged, mentally retarded, slow learner and
gifted are exceptional.
Q:-Significance of Exceptionality?

A:-Exceptional children have unique needs. For instance the blind needs education
through Braille, orientation about the immediate environment and mobility
training. The deaf child needs training in speech reading, lip reading, etc. it is special
education which can meet the unique needs of exceptional children.
Q:-Who are exceptional children?

A:-Exceptional children are those children who deviate from the normal children to
such an extent that they cannot benefit from the traditional education system or
the regular education process. They require special education to maximize their
potentialities. Special education is a profession with its own history, cultural
practices, tools and research base, focused on the learning needs of exceptional
children and adults. But at the level, where exceptional children most meaningfully

Q:-Levels of Intervention?
and frequently contact it, special education is an individually planned, specialized,
intensive, goal directed instruction.

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A:-Special Education is an intervention designed to eliminate or, at least reduce, the
obstacles that might keep a child from full and active participation in school and
society. There are three levels of intervention efforts such as:-
i) Prentive Efforts.
ii) Remedial Programmes.
iii) Compensatory Efforts.
Q:-Special Education.

A: - Special education is organized outside the ordinary school. It requires efforts

over and above the regular school programme. Special education isolates the
disabled from the normal children. Special education can be provided wholly as well
partially. When it is provided wholly it is provided in social in special schools and
when it is provided appreciably, it is integrated with general education; only a few
classes are arranged separately. The special education for the handicapped was
more favored in old concepts but the new approach is to provide them integrated
education as far as possible.
Q:-Why is Special Education Important?

A: - Special education is important in order to cater for children with special needs.
It is also said that the number of children with special needs is on the rise and this is
why special education programs are being integrated into many schools.
Q:-Definition of Mental Retardation.
A: - "Mental retardation" means significantly sub average general intellectual
functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested Page
during the developmental period that adversely affects a child’s educational | 61
performance.

Q:-What is Mental Retardation.

A: - Mental retardation or intellectual disability, (MR/ID), exists in children whose
brains do not develop properly or function within the normal range. There are four
levels of retardation: mild, moderate, severe, and profound. Sometimes, MR/ID may
be classified as other or unspecified. Mental retardation involves both a low IQ and
problems adjusting to everyday life.
Q:-Causes of Mental Retardation.

A:-Mental retardation can be caused by any condition which impairs development

of the brain before birth, during birth or in the childhood years. Several hundred
causes have been discovered, but in about one-third of the people affected, the
cause remains unknown. The three major known causes of mental retardation are
Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome and fragile X.
The causes can be categorized as follows:
 Problems during pregnancy
 Problems at · Problems after birth.
 Poverty and cultural deprivation,
Q:-Who is a Handicapped Child?
A: - A individual who is affected with a physical impairment that, in any way, limits
or inhibits his participation in normal activities may be referred to as physically
handicapped. Page
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Q:-What is Hearing Impairment.

A: - The term "Hearing Impaired" is a technically accurate description of someone

who is hard of hearing or who has no hearing ... however, many Deaf, hard of
hearing and late deafened people prefer not to be called impaired. They don't want
to be primarily defined by their lack of (or poor) hearing.
Q:-What is Visual Impairment.

A: - Visual impairment can happen to children or adults. In the United States,

millions of persons have partial or complete loss of vision. It is important to have
regular eye examinations to detect early stages of vision loss. The October 15, 2003,
issue of JAMA includes an article about the causes of visual impairment.
Q:-Problems of Visually Impaired Children.

A:-The visually handicapped children have many problems like behavior problems,
problems of learning, problems of their placement in society or problems of social
adjustment.
Q:-Who are Gifted Children?

A:-The gifted children are the wealth of any civilization or society. The gifted child is
both an asset and a responsibility. He is an asset of incalculable value to society. His
potentialities for good are difficult to overestimate. The gifted child is the one who
exhibits superiority in general intelligence or the one who is in possession of special

Q:-Characteristics of Gifted Children.

abilities of a high order in the fields which are not necessary associated with a high
intelligence quotient.

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A:-Following are the characteristics of gifted or talented children:
1. The gifted child is essentially an exceptional child.
2. In comparasion to children of his own group, he is superior in some ability or
group of abilities.
3. In most cases, the gifted child invariably exhibits superior performance only in the
area or areas of his giftedness.
4. A gifted child need not necessarily possess a very high intelligence quotient (I.Q).
Q:-What is Inclusive Education?

A:- Inclusive education is the process of bringing exceptional children of whatever

conditions into the general classroom for their education having access to the same
curriculum, and being accepted by all regardless of gender, ethnicity or special
needs. It involves being physically in the same place as other students and social
acceptance and belonging’.
Q:-Need for Inclusive Education.

A:- Inclusive Education is the gateway to build relationships where difference is

welcomed and respected. A society which accepts the right to study in a
mainstream school as a human right moves in the direction of delivering good
education with good social sense.
Q:-Principles of Inclusive Education.
A:-1) Teaching all students: - Educators should take several different approaches to
teaching the same material so that information becomes more interesting and
tangible to a greater number of students. Page
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2) Exploring Multiple Identities: - Students who are proud of themselves and
excited by the world around them will be more compassionate and understanding
people; the same is true for education.
3) Preventing Prejudice: - Educators should take a proactive approach to debunking
preconceived stereotypes and preventing them from escalating into prejudices and
negative biases.
Q:-What is Integration in Education?

A:-Integration is a concept emerged as a philosophy in antithesis of segregation. It

called halt to the system of providing education to the children in segregating
settings of special schools and advocated to make provision for their education in
the regular schools. In this way, historically, when disabled children were primarily
educated in separate special schools, integration was the term carried for describing
their successful placement into regular schools.
Q:-What is Mainstreaming?

A:-Mainstreaming, in the context of education, is the practice of educating students

with special needs in regular classes during specific time periods based on their
skills. This means regular education classes are combined with special education
classes. Schools that practice mainstreaming believe that students with special
needs who cannot function in a regular classroom to a certain extent belong to the
special education environment.

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Q:-Advantages of Mainstreaming.
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A:-It is believed that educating children with disabilities alongside their non-disabled
peers, facilities access to the general curriculum for children with disabilities.
Studies show that students with disabilities who are mainstreamed have higher
academic achievement, higher self-esteem and better social skills.
Q:-What is IEDC?

A: - Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) has been replaced with a revised scheme
of Inclusive Education for the Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS). The proposed
new scheme would enable all students with disabilities completing eight years of
elementary schooling an opportunity to complete four years of secondary schooling
(classes IX-XII), in an inclusive and enabling environment. The IEDSS will also support
the training programmes for general school teachers to meet the needs of children
with disabilities. The revised scheme will form part of RMSA as and when comes
into force. It is also proposed to make all schools disabled friendly.
Q:-What is RCI?

A: - The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) is the apex government body, set up
under an Act of Parliament, to regulate training programmes and courses targeted
at disabled, disadvantaged, and special education requirement communities. It is
the only statutory council in India that is required to maintain the Central
Rehabilitation Register which mainly documents details of all qualified professionals
who operate and deliver training and educational programmes for the targeted
communities. In the year 2000, the Rehabilitation Council of India (Amendment)
Act, 2000, was introduced and notified consequently by the government of India. Page
The amendment brought definitions and discussions provided within the earlier | 66
Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992, under the ambit of a larger act, namely,
Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full
Participation) Act, 1995.
Q:-What is ‘Saeva Shiksha Abhiyan’ (SSA).

A: - ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ (SSA) is a programme for universalisation of Elementary

Education covering the entire country. It was started in 2001. The programme aims
to provide useful & relevant free & compulsory elementary Education for all
children in the age group 6 to 14 yr under RTE Act.2009. It is an initiative to
universalize and improve quality of education The programme has time bound
objectives on one hand SSA is a programme with its own targets, norms & process,
on the other hand it is an umbrella programme covering other programmes like
DPEP, Lok Jumbish & the operational black board etc.
Q:-What is ‘Saeva Shiksha Abhiyan’ (SSA).

A: - National Curriculum Framework (NCF-2005) seeks to provide a framework

within which teachers and schools can choose and plan experiences that they think
children should have. In order to realize educational objectives, the curriculum
should be conceptualized as a structure that articulates required experiences.
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