Inclusive Education for Children with Special Needs: A Comprehensive Guide, Schemes and Mind Maps of Educational Psychology

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POSITION PAPER

NATIONAL FOCUS G ROUP

ON

EDUCATION OF C HILDREN

WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

3.

POSITION P APER

N ATIONAL FOCUS GROUP

ON

EDUCATION OF

C HILDREN WITH

SPECIAL NEEDS

EXECUTIVE S UMMARY

The paper discusses the issues relating to the provisions, practices and curricular concerns for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Though SEN may result from a number of factors, in this paper, however, we are concerned with those arising from physical, sensory and intellectual disabilities. Trends in provisions in India reflect that the leading policy predisposition before the 1970s has been that of segregation. During the 1880s Christian missionaries started schools for the disabled on grounds of charity. This was followed by the government initiatives to establish separate workshops, model schools, central Braille presses and employment exchanges for the disabled population of the country. However, the changing approaches to disability from the charity model to the human rights model have resulted in diversity of policy and practice. In the 1970s the IEDC scheme was launched by the Union government for providing educational opportunities to learners with SEN in regular schools. Nevertheless, the statistics show that though the integration of learners with SEN gathered some momentum, the coverage under this scheme remained inadequate. There was a clear need for fuller access of children with SEN to all educational opportunities. Dissatisfaction with the slow progress towards integration along with the consideration of the costs involved led to a demand for a radical change. After the World Conference on Special Needs Education in Salamanca in 1990s, inclusion became the magic word in the educational field. The Salamanca Statement adopted by representatives of 92 Governments and 25 International Organisations has, in fact, set the policy agenda for inclusive education on a global basis. Inclusive education refers to all learners, young people – with or without disabilities being able to learn together in ordinary pre-school provisions, schools and community educational settings with appropriate network of support services. In addition to the provision of aids and appliances, a flexible, broad and balanced curriculum that can meet the needs of all children is the call of the day. The paper, therefore, proposes an inclusive curriculum for all students without discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnic origin, socio economic group, disability or ability. An inclusive curriculum recognises the need of schools to be organised with the individual differences of students in mind and is flexible enough to enable all students to achieve their goals. Implementation of an inclusive curriculum would require a number of changes in present day teaching practices, curriculum content, evaluation procedures and available resources at the school level. The goal of providing quality education would remain elusive so long as the concept of inclusion is not linked to broader discussions on pedagogy and effective participation of all children in the learning experiences provided in the classrooms. The implementation of a programme of inclusive education would also involve curricular modifications and the use of human and technological support, including the use of ICT. It is also important to mobilise support from parents, the community, and special schools. Considering the above context, specific recommendations have been made in the paper for developing guidelines for planning and implementing effective policies and programmes for education of children with special needs.

MEMBERS OF NATIONAL FOCUS GROUP ON EDUCATION OF C HILDREN WITH S PECIAL NEEDS

Dr. (Mrs.) Smriti Swarup (Chairperson)

Director, Centre of Special Education

SNDT Women’s University

Juhu, Mumbai

Maharashtra

Dr. D. Vasantha

Associate Professor

Department of Linguistics

Osmania University

Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh

Ms. Anuradha Mohit

Special Rapporteur

Human Rights Commission

Indian Institute of Spinal Injury

Vasant Kunj

New Delhi - 110 070

Dr. Jayanthi Narayan

National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped

Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment, Government of India

Manovikasnagar P.O.

Secunderabad - 500 009

Andhra Pradesh

Ms. Usha Chaujer Teacher, Primary School Air Force Bal Bharati School Lodhi Road New Delhi - 110 003

Shri R. Ranga Sayee Director Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped K.C. Marg Bandra Reclamation(W) Mumbai - 400 050 Maharashtra

Mrs. Bharti Lecturer in Special Education Regional Institute of Education (NCERT) Bhopal - 462 013 Madhya Pradesh

Ms. Vasanta Mani 75, Ponnaiha Rajapuram Coimbatore District - 641 001 Tamil Nadu

Prof. Vinod Sena 1398, Dr. Mukherjee Nagar Near Batra Cinema Delhi - 110 009

C ONTENTS

Executive Summary ...v

• 1. INTRODUCTION ... Members of National Focus Group on Education of Children with Special Needs ...vi
• 2. LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS (SEN) ...
• 3. SHIFTING MODELS OF DISABILITY: HISTORICAL PROGRESSION ...
  • 3.1 The Charity Model ...
  • 3.2 The Bio-centric Model ...
  • 3.3 The Functional Model ...
  • 3.4 The Human Rights Model ...
• 4. EDUCATIONAL PROVISIONS FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS ...
  • 4.1 Integrated Education ...
  • 4.2 Legislation ...
  • 4.3 Changing Role of Special Schools ...
  • 4.4 Inclusive Education ...
  • 4.5 Benefits of Inclusion for Students without Special Needs ...
  • 4.6 Benefits of Inclusion for Students without SEN ...
• 5. CURRICULAR ISSUES AND CONCERNS ...
  • 5.1 The Purpose ...
  • 5.2 Early Intervention and Preschool Programme for Children with SEN ...
  • 5.3 Planning and Managing an Inclusive Curriculum in Schools ...
  • 5.4 Access to an Inclusive Curriculum ...
  • 5.5 Teaching Practices ...
  • 5.6 Content Areas ...
  • 5.7 Work Education ...
  • 5.8 Evaluation ...
  • 5.9 Resources ...
  • 5.10 Staff Development ...
• 6. RECOMMENDATIONS ...
• 7. THE TASK AHEAD ...
• References...

1

Education of Children with Special Needs^1 For life to go on—change is inevitable. Change is never easy especially when it involves a large number of individuals and an established system. Yet change is necessary when innovative practices demonstrate greater effectiveness than past services.

1. INTRODUCTION

Education is a powerful instrument of social change, and often initiates upward movement in the social structure. Thereby, helping to bridge the gap between the different sections of society. The educational scene in the country has undergone major change over the years, resulting in better provision of education and better educational practices. In 1944, the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) published a comprehensive report called the Sergeant Report on the post-war educational development of the country. As per the report, provisions for the education of the handicapped 2 , were to form an essential part of the national system of education, which was to be administered by the Education Department. According to this report, handicapped children were to be sent to special schools only when the nature and extent of their defects made this necessary. The Kothari Commission (1964–66), the first education commission of independent India, observed: “the education of the handicapped children should be an inseparable part of the education system.” The comission recommended experimentation with integrated programmes in order to bring as many children as possible into these programmes (Alur, 2002). The government’s agenda to universalise elementary education, and its commitment to the Directive Principles of the Constitution, are guided by the recognition that a new universal system of

education should be based on equity, the redressal of past imbalances, and the provision of access to quality education, especially for marginalised groups. Recent educational developments and the Seventy Third and Seventy Fourth Constitutional Amendments outline the possibility of entrusting basic education to the local elected bodies in towns and villages. This would allow for community participation in education at the elementary level and would introduce radical change, leading to the empowerment of learners with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Until the 1970s, the policy encouraged segregation. Most educators believed that children with physical, sensory, or intellectual disabilities were so different that they could not participate in the activities of a common school (Advani, 2002). Christian missionaries, in the 1880s, started schools for the disabled as charitable undertakings (Mehta, 1982). The first school for the blind was established in 1887. An institute for the deaf and mute, was set up in 1888. Services for the physically disabled were also initiated in the middle of the twentieth century. Individuals with mental retardation were the last to receive attention. The first school for the mentally challenged being established in 1934 (Mishra, 2000). Special education programmes in earlier times were, therefore, heavily dependent on voluntary initiative. The government’s (Department of Education) initiatives after independence were manifested in the establishment of a few workshop units meant primarily for blind adults (Luthra, 1974). These units later included people who were deaf, physically impaired, and mentally retarded (Rohindekar and Usha, 1988). While some provisions existed in the States, it was

(^1) The terms Special Needs, Special Educational Needs, and Disabilities have been used interchangeably in this position paper. (^2) Wherever references are made, the terminology used is of the respective authors.

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Inclusive Education Scheme (MHRD, 2003), available on the website of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), www.education.nic.in/html web/iedc_sch_draft.htm (accessed on February 15, 2001), which addresses the needs of learners with disabilities, focuses on the following categories of disability: visual disabilities (blind and low vision), speech and hearing disabilities, locomotor disabilities, and neuromusculoskeltal and neuro-developmental disorders, including cerebral palsy, autism, mental retardation, multiple disability, and learning disabilities. Keeping this reality in mind the main focus of this position paper is on learners with such disabilities.

3. S HIFTING MODELS OF D ISABILITY :

HISTORICAL PROGRESSION

The shifting approaches to disability have translated into very diverse policies and practices. The various models of disability impose differing responsibilities on the States, in terms of action to be taken, and they suggest significant changes in the way disability is understood. Law, policy, programmes, and rights instruments reflect two primary approaches or discourses: disability as an individual pathology and as a social pathology. Within these two overriding paradigms, the four major identifiable formulations of disability are: the charity model, the bio-centric model, the functional model, and the human rights model.

3.1 The Charity Model The charity approach gave birth to a model of custodial care, causing extreme isolation and the marginalisation of people with disabilities. Unfortunately, in some contemporary practices the reflection of this model can still be traced. For instance, the findings of an investigative project undertaken by the National Human

The Gender Issue There is ample evidence that women with disabilities experience major psycho-social problems, including depression, stress, lowered self-esteem, and social isolation, which remain largely neglected (Nosek and Hughes, 2003). Evidence also suggests that women tend to be restricted to home-based activities, while men are likely to be supported in more public and outward-looking avenues. Stereotypes are artefacts of culture that can only be understood by exploring their relations to each other in the cultural system. Gender stereotypes interact with disability stereotypes to constitute a deep matrix of gendered disability in every culture, developed within specific historical contexts, and affecting those contexts over time. While language is the most analysed site for the examination of both gender (Connell, 2002) and disability (Corker and French, 1999), they interact in many other cultural locations—cinema, television, fiction, clothing, and body language. Thus, cultures sustain the social relations of gendered disability in constant reiterations of stereotypes and expectations (Meekosha). In the education scene, discrimination on account of gender has been reported in many studies. However, girls with disabilities have remained invisible both from the writings on gender and on disability. Therefore, the needs of girls with disabilities may be more special than needs of any other group and have to be addressed in all spheres of education.

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Rights Commission of India between 1997–99 confirmed that a large number of mental health institutions today are still being managed and administered on the custodial model of care—characterised by prison-like structures with high walls, watchtowers, fenced wards, and locked cells. These institutions functioned like detention centres, where persons with mental illness were kept chained, resulting in tragedies like the one at “Erwadi” in Tamil Nadu, in which more than 27 inmates of such a centre lost their lives.

3.2 The Bio-centric Model The contemporary bio-centric model of disability regards disability as a medical or genetic condition. The implication remains that disabled persons and their families should strive for “normalisation”, through medical cures and miracles. Although, biology is no longer the only lens through which disability is viewed in law and policy, it continues to play a prominent role in determining programme eligibility, entitlement to benefits, and it also influences access to rights and full social participation (Mohit, 2003). A critical analysis of the development of the charity and bio-centric models suggests that they have grown out of the “vested interests” of professionals and the elite to keep the disabled “not educable” or declare them mentally retarded (MR) children and keep them out of the mainstream school system, thus using the special schools as a “safety valve” for mainstream schools (Tomlinson, 1982). Inclusive education offers an opportunity to restructure the entire school system, with particular reference to the curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and above all the meaning of education (Jha, 2002).

3.3 The Functional Model In the functional model, entitlement to rights is differentiated according to judgments of individual

incapacity and the extent to which a person is perceived as being independent to exercise his/her rights. For example, a child’s right to education is dependent on whether or not the child can access the school and participate in the classroom, rather than the obligation being on the school system becoming accessible to children with disabilities.

3.4 The Human Rights Model The human rights model positions disability as an important dimension of human culture, and it affirms that all human beings are born with certain inalienable rights. The relevant concepts in this model are: 3.4.1 Diversity The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, once said that “things that are alike should be treated alike, whereas things that are unalike should be treated unalike in proportion to their un-alikeness.” The principle of respect for difference and acceptance of disability as part of human diversity and humanity is important, as disability is a universal feature of the human condition. 3.4.2 Breaking Down Barriers Policies that are ideologically based on the human rights model start by identifying barriers that restrict disabled persons’ participation in society. This has shifted the focus in the way environments are arranged. In education, for example, where individuals were formerly labelled as not educable, the human rights model examines the accessibility of schools in terms of both physical access (i.e., ramps, etc.) and pedagogical strategies. 3.4.3 Equality and Non-Discrimination In international human rights law, equality is founded upon two complementary principles: non- discrimination and reasonable differentiation. The doctrine of differentiation is of particular importance to persons with disabilities, some of who may require specialised services or support in order to be placed

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Disabled Children (PIED) in the year 1987, to strengthen the integration of learners with disabilities into regular schools. An external evaluation of this project in 1994 showed that not only did the enrollment of learners with disabilities increase considerably, but the retention rate among disabled children was also much higher than the other children in the same blocks. In 1997 IEDC was amalgamated with other major basic education projects like the DPEP (Chadha, 2002) and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) (Department of Elementary Education, 2000).

The IEDC scheme provides for a wide range of incentives and interventions for the education of children with disabilities. These include preschool training, counselling for parents, allowances for books and stationery, uniforms, transport, readers and escorts, hostel facilities, and other assistive devices. The scheme provides one special teacher for every eight children with disabilities, community involvement, and a resource room in a cluster of eight to 10 schools. A number of voluntary organisations are implementing the scheme in the various States.

Table 1: Enrollment of Disabled Children in Schools Under The Integrated Educational Programme (Stage: Primary)

Type of Disability Visual Hearing Orthop- Mental Area Management Impairment Impairment aedic Retard- Others Total Handicaps ation Rural Govt 1539 1307 15168 1066 2070 21150 Non-Govt 391 354 2189 188 80 3202 Total 1930 1661 17357 1254 1250 24352 Urban Govt. 896 1420 5072 1694 1382 10464 Non-Govt. 982 1877 3959 800 1538 9156 Total 1878 3297 9031 2494 2920 19620 Total Govt. 2435 2727 20240 2760 3452 31614 Non-Govt 1373 2231 6148 988 1618 12358 Total 3808 4958 26388 3748 5070 43972

Note: Govt includes the Central Government and the State Governments as also Local Bodies and Non-Govt includes Pvt. Aided and Pvt. Unaided. Source: NCERT, 1998

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the urban areas (444). [National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), 2002]. The Office of the Chief Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities stated that not more than 4% of children with disabilities have access to education. Whatever may be the case, the enactment of legislations by the State Governments has helped in facilitating access to education for all learners with SEN by introducing various entitlements like reservations, scholarships, allowances, etc. By promulgating the equal rights of learners with SEN, these Acts have significantly impacted the educational policies both at the Central and State levels, but the effect has been marginal. About 11% of disabled persons between the ages of 5–18 years were enrolled in special schools in the

As evident from the tables above, until 1998, integrated education was provided to 8,90,000 learners in different States till the senior secondary level (NCERT, 1998). By the year 2002, the scheme had extended to 41,875 schools, benefitting more than 1,33,000 disabled children in 27 States and four Union Territories (Department of Education, MHRD, 2003). The total number of learners with SEN enrolled in regular schools under DPEP was more than 5,60,000: this represents almost 70% of the nearly 8,10, learners with SEN identified under this programme (DPEP, 2003). The current enrollment ratio per 1000 disabled persons between the ages of 5–18 years in ordinary schools is higher in the rural areas (475) than it is in

Table 2: Enrollment of Disabled Children in Schools Under the Integrated Educational Programme (Stage: Upper Primary)

Type of Disability Visual Hearing Orthopaedic Mentally Area Management Impair- Impair- Handicaps Retard- Others Total ment ment ation Rural Govt. 996 533 6734 369 926 9558 Non-Govt. 262 264 1582 67 141 2316 Total 1258 797 8316 436 1067 11874 Urban Govt. 604 904 3781 271 251 5811 Non-Govt. 736 581 2293 572 1467 5649 Total 1340 1485 6074 843 1718 11460 Total Govt. 1600 1437 10515 640 1177 15369 Non-Govt. 998 845 3875 639 1608 7965 Total 2598 2282 14390 1279 2785 23334

Note: Govt. includes the Central Government and the State Governments as also Local Bodies and Non-Govt. includes Pvt. Aided and Pvt. Unaided. Source : NCERT, 1998

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Though the integration of children with SEN has gathered momentum in the country since 1974, there are other possibilities for these children to gain an education. For example, the National Institute of Open Schooling offers courses that have the advantage of being specially adapted to the needs of every child as well as giving the child every opportunity to progress at his/her own pace. Another example is Alternative Schooling (Advani, 2002) and community-based rehabilitation programmes. It is believed that the fundamental right to education will bring more students with SEN into ordinary schools, which will in turn provide an impetus for change and bring about a number of innovations in the field of SNE.

4.2 Legislation The right of every child to education is proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and was strongly reaffirmed by the Jometien World Declaration of Education for All (1990). Furthermore, the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1993) was an important resolution to improve the educational conditions of persons with disabilities. This had major implications for the Indian situation in the form of three legislative Acts—The Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992 (RCI Act), the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (PWD Act), and the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act,

1999. While the RCI Act was solely concerned with manpower development for the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, the PWD Act comprises 14 chapters and is a significant endeavour to empower persons with disabilities and promote their equality and

participation by eliminating discrimination of all kinds. It emphasises the need to prepare a comprehensive education scheme that will make various provisions for transport facilities, removal of architectural barriers, supply of books, uniforms, and other materials, the grant of scholarships, suitable modification of the examination system, restructuring of curriculum, providing amanuensis to blind and low vision students, and setting up of appropriate fora for the redressal of grievances. The National Trust Act aims at providing total care to persons with mental retardation and cerebral palsy and also manages the properties bequeathed to the trust.

4.3 Changing Role of Special Schools Special schools have been set up in the past and provisions have been made for integrated education. In 1947, India had a total of 32 such schools for the blind, 30 for the deaf, and three for the mentally retarded (Disability in India: www.ccdisabilities.nic.in). The number of such schools increased to around 3000 by the year 2000 (NCERT-UNESCO Regional Workshop Report, 2000). Thus India at present has what Pijl and Meijer (1991) refer to as “two tracks”. In other words, it has parallel but separate policies on segregation and integration. Special schools for children with visual impairment, hearing impairment, and locomotor disabilities are streamlined to follow a curriculum that is almost in line with the general education curriculum. The plus curriculum and the adaptation of instructional methodologies are followed where necessary. Children with mental retardation on the other hand require a specialised curriculum to meet their specific educational needs. Over time, however, there has been growing awareness that special education in special schools may

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be overly restrictive, and instead of working outside the mainstream classrooms, the special schools can work with, and provide support to, regular schools. Early in 1992, the Programme of Action, while promoting integrated education, had also suggested a Pragmatic Placement Principle. It postulated that learners with disabilities who can be educated in general schools should be educated in general schools, and those studying in special schools should be transferred to general schools once they are ready to make the shift (MHRD, Programme of Action, 1992). This was endorsed in 1994 by the Salamanca Statement (statement issued by the World Conference on Special Needs Education) recommendations for an alternative role for special schools. Hence, special schools in their newfound identity would become a far more flexible resource, by working in partnership with and creating a response to special needs, not only in the alternative form of provision and intervention, but within the mainstream classroom, curricula, and pedagogies. Special and general education, in other words, are gearing for a significant move to come closer together. Briefly stated, the education of persons with disabilities in India has been recognised as an integral part of the educational system, hence, the policies and programmes adopted in recent years have been in accordance with this belief.

4.4 Inclusive Education The National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE) (2000), brought out by the NCERT, recommended inclusive schools for all without specific reference to pupils with SEN as a way of providing quality education to all learners According to NCFSE: Segregation or isolation is good neither for learners with disabilities nor for general learners without disabilities. Societal requirement is that

learners with special needs should be educated along with other learners in inclusive schools, which are cost effective and have sound pedagogical practices (NCERT, 2000) The NCFSE also recommended definitive action at the level of curriculum makers, teachers, writers of teaching–learning materials, and evaluation experts for the success of this strategy. This precipitated a revision of the IEDC scheme. This revision is in progress and has, to a certain extent, gained ground in the country. Internationally, until the end of 1980s, integration remained the main issue whenever discussions were held regarding the rights of disabled persons to an appropriate education. Whereas, in India, integration was a major reform of the 1970s, the need for inclusive education became evident from the fact that despite complete financial support under the IEDC scheme, for integrating learners with special needs into the educational system, only 2–3% of the total population of these learners was actually integrated into the regular schools. Dissatisfaction with the progress towards integration, consideration of costs involved, and the advantages of an inclusive environment in bringing about increased acceptance of learners with SEN, led to demands for more radical change. The constant use of the medical model of assessment, wherein educational difficulties are explained solely in terms of defects in the child, led to a re-conceptualisation of the special needs (SN) task as requiring school reforms and improved pedagogy. This re-conceptualisation at the both the international and national level helped in the emergence of an orientation towards inclusive education. In the 1990s, inclusion captured the field after the World Conference on Special Needs Education in Salamanca in 1994, with the adoption of the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. This statement, which was adopted by the representatives of 92 governments and

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climate some schools express increasing reluctance to admit and retain pupils whose presence could have a negative impact on their overall profile of results…there is a growing movement in education towards differentiated provision—a trend that seems incompatible with an inclusive philosophy (Farrell and Ainscow, 2002).

4.5 Benefits of Inclusion for Students without Special Needs^3 The benefits of inclusion for students with SEN are as follows:

• Spending the school day alongside classmates who do not have disabilities provides many opportunities for social interaction that would not be available in segregated settings.
• Children with SEN have appropriate models of behaviour. They can observe and imitate the socially acceptable behaviour of the students without SEN.
• Teachers often develop higher standards of performance for students with SEN.
• Both general and special educators in inclusive settings expect appropriate conduct from all students.
• Students with SEN are taught age-appropriate, functional components of academic content, which may never be part of the curriculum in segregated settings (for example, the sciences, social studies, etc.).
• Attending inclusive schools increases the probability that students with SEN will continue to participate in a variety of integrated settings throughout their lives (Ryndak and Alper, 1996).

4.6 Benefits of Inclusion for Students without SEN The benefits of inclusion for students without SEN are as follows:

• Students without SEN have a variety of opportunities for interacting with peers of their own age who experience SEN, in inclusive school settings.
• They may serve as peer tutors during instructional activities.
• They may play the role of a special “buddy” for the children with SEN during lunch, in the bus, or on the playground.
• Children without SEN can learn a good deal about tolerance, individual difference, and human exceptionality by interacting with those with SEN.
• Children without SEN can learn that students with SEN have many positive characteristics and abilities.
• Children without SEN have the chance to learn about many of the human service professions, such as, special education, speech therapy, physical therapy, recreational therapy, and vocational rehabilitation. For some, exposure to these areas may lead their making a career in any of these areas later on.
• Inclusion offers the opportunity for students without SEN to learn to communicate, and deal effectively with a wide range of individuals. This also prepares them to fully participate in a pluralistic society when they are adults (Ryndak and Alper, 1996).

(^3) Renaissance Group (1999) http://www.uni.edu/coe/inclusion and http://www.rushservices.com/inclusion

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• Inclusive education ensures that a school responds to the educational needs of children in the neighbourhood. It brings a school closer to the community (Jha, 2002).

5. C URRICULAR ISSUES AND C ONCERNS

To make inclusive education possible, and to better accommodate students with different learning abilities, the present education system, educational structure, and educational practices need to become more flexible, more inclusive, and more collaborative.

5.1 The Purpose The purpose of inclusive education,

• Is NOT the same as for a student without SEN—that is, it IS NOT to bring students with SEN up to the level of, or maintain their grades at the same level as, students without SEN.
• It IS to meet the individualised goals of students with SEN, within the context of general educational settings and activities. The following questions need to be addressed while making adaptations to the curriculum. Can a student with SEN participate in the classroom
• Just like his/her classmates?
• With environmental adaptations?
• With instructional adaptations?
• With adapted materials?
• With adapted expectations?

5.2 Early Intervention and Preschool Programme for Children with SEN The identification of SEN of children at an early age is crucial to helping them cope with challenges in later life. Thus, the sensitisation, orientation, and training

Emerging Issues and Curricular Concerns The following curricular issues and concerns have emerged within the Focus Group as a result of in-depth discussion and analysis of the existing scenario.

• Making all options of education, such as, open schools, regular schools, special schools, non-formal and alternative education systems, available to all children including children with disabilities.
• Developing strategies for meeting the educational needs of learners with disabilities in large classrooms.
• Developing national support systems.
• Understanding the significance of early identification and intervention.
• Emphasising good teaching–learning practices.
• Making the curriculum flexible and accessible.
• Utilising technology and assistive devices.
• Developing appropriate assessment and evaluation procedures.
• Capacity building and empowering teachers and stakeholders.
• Providing vocational education.
• Identifying suitable sports and other co-curricular activities for optimal development of learners with SEN.
• Barrier-free intervention/educational environment (including attitudinal barriers).