Transcript SEN/Disability and classroom practice

Special Educational Need and
Disability in the wider context
Harry Daniels and Jill Porter
Aims
• To explore the contextual and cultural
nature of SEN and disability;
• To consider what inclusive education
means for the classroom teacher
• To examine the ways in which teachers
can differentiate to meet the needs of
individuals and groups of learners.
Number of students in cross-national Category A as a percentage of all students in primary
and lower secondary education
10
8
6
4
2
0
G T N FI A D C N IT F E IR P H U C
R U Z N U E H L A R SP L* R U S Z
Percentage 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 5 6 8
*Public institutions only
France and the United States: estimated figures
Turkey: data refer only to compulsory school period ((ISCED
1)
Sociocultural, historical processes and
categorisation
Females in secondary special education
represented a different combination of abilities
and disabilities than males.
As a group, females were more seriously
impaired; even among males and females with
the same disability category, females had
marginally greater functional deficits than
males. (Wager, 1992, pp.33-34)
National Longitudinal Transition Study of Special Education Students - (USA)
Sociocultural, historical processes and
categorisation
• The incidence of ADHD in Australia is
demographically perplexing. Differential
rates of diagnosis between states and
regions suggest that there may well be
some degree of diagnostic predisposition
connected with the incidence of the
syndrome. Slee 1998 p. 133
Sociocultural, historical processes and
categorisation
• The incidence of ADHD in Australia is
demographically perplexing. Differential
rates of diagnosis between states and
regions suggest that there may well be
some degree of diagnostic predisposition
connected with the incidence of the
syndrome. Slee 1998 p. 133
Contextual Nature of Difficulties
• Definition of Special Educational NeedEducation Act 1996
“ Children have special educational needs if they
have a learning difficulty which calls for special
educational provision to be made for them.
Special educational provision is provision that is
additional or otherwise different from provision
that is normally available in the area”
• Children have a learning difficulty if they
have a significantly greater difficulty in
learning than the majority of children of the
same age or if they have a disability which
prevents or hinders them from using
educational facilities of a kind generally
provided for children of their age..”
What is disability . . . ?
• A disabled person is someone who has … “a
physical or mental impairment which has
substantial and long term adverse effect on
his or her ability to carry out normal day to
day activities”
• The effect must be
– substantial (more than minor or trivial)
– long term (lasting a year or more)
– adverse
• This definition includes sensory and hidden
impairments such as:
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mental illness or mental health problems
learning difficulties
dyslexia
diabetes
epilepsy
Not all disabled children will have a special
educational need, i.e. they will not have a
learning difficulty, and not all children with
special educational needs will be disabled
Duty not to discriminate
• As from 1 September 2002 it is unlawful for
schools to discriminate, without justification,
against disabled pupils
• Discrimination embraces two core elements
– treating a disabled pupil less favourably for a
reason relating to his/her disability
– failing to comply with the duty to make ‘reasonable
adjustments’
Support and Aspiration:
A new approach to special educational
needs and disability
• Spotting problems early
• Distinction between those who may be
“struggling with learning and need school-based
catch-up support which is normally available”
and those with specific needs who require an
“individually tailored programme”
• New single school-based SEN category to
replace School Action and School Action Plus
• Inclusion is a process- a never-ending
search to find better ways of responding to
diversity.
• Inclusion is concerned with the
identification and removal of barriers to
learning.
• Inclusion is about the presence,
participation and achievement of all pupils.
• Inclusion involves a particular emphasis
on those pupils at risk of
underachievement or exclusion or
marginalisation
• Adapted from Ainscow 2007 p 155-156
Differentiation
• What do we mean by differentiation ?
• Modifying or adapting the lesson for one or
some pupils in order that all children make
progress.
• Challenge and Support
Adaptations and Modifications for Individuals
and Groups
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Response mode
Access
Content/Interests
Language
Structure
Pace
Grouping
Level
Some examples of differentiation
• What one thing could adapt in your next
lesson – who would benefit from it and
how ?
Reading Difficulties
Media
Font
Headings and Emphasis
Layout
Writing Style
Increasing accessibility
Language and Communication Difficulties
• low distraction placement e.g. seated near the teacher.
• teacher speaks facing the class and stops speaking when
writing on whiteboard.
• gesture, drawings, prompt cards, photos and, where
appropriate, symbols/signs, are used alongside written
words to support teaching at whole-class and one to one
levels in order to clarify:
• the timetable;
• learning outcomes;
• expected behaviour;
• key vocabulary and information;
• the sequence of steps within an activity;
• safety rules;
• names of equipment and where it is stored, etc.
• Amount of teacher talk is reduced.
• Care is taken in the use of language to avoid metaphor,
sarcasm, overly long or complex sentences.
• Staff slow down their rate of speaking.
• Key vocabulary is planned in advance of the lesson. New
words are linked to existing words and knowledge.
• There is repetition and multiple exposure to new
vocabulary.
• Key vocabulary is displayed (as appropriate to the
situation and pupil).
• Skills of cooperation and interaction specifically taught,
e.g. use of role cards to clarify responsibilities of group
members
• Study and organisational skills are taught e.g. Using
highlighter pen to pick out key information.
• All pupils encouraged to ask questions and seek
clarification e.g. Staff praise pupils who ask for
help, clarification, repetition.
• Teachers make order, structure and sequence
clear : e.g.
• What will happen during the lesson is written in
language which pupils understand.
• Plan referred to during teacher introduction and
updated as lesson progresses – ‘this is where we
are now.’
• Individual versions of this as appropriate, e.g. A4
sized whiteboards on pupils’ desk with tasks
erased as they are completed, etc.
Controversy & Differentiation
• “The focus on differentiation risks taking us
back….. It encourages us to focus on individual
learners and their differing needs rather than
using the links between them as a resource for
curriculum adaptation and development.”
• Hart.S. (1992) Differentiation- Way Forward or
Retreat ? British Journal of Special Education,
19, 1.
Ask the pupils
• “I suppose I do get treated differently now
and again, I think that’s a good thing and
sometimes I feel it’s a bad thing. I mean
obviously, I want to be treated the same,
but then sometimes I’d like to be treated
differently… I like to be asked.” 14 year old
boy with a degenerative neuromuscular
condition. Asprey and Nash, 2005.
Current SEN Code of Practice
states ….
• “pupils at SEN School Action or above must be receiving
support which is “additional to” or “different from” the
educational provision made generally for children of their
age in schools, other than special schools, in their area.”
• This is not “more literacy” or “more maths” but would be
interventions which address the underlying learning
needs of the pupil in order to improve his or her access
to the curriculum.
Ofsted message is…
• At present, the term ‘special educational needs’ is used too widely.
Around half the schools and early years provision visited used low
attainment and relatively slow progress as their principal indicators
of a special educational need. In nearly a fifth of these cases, there
was very little further assessment.
Inspectors saw schools that identified pupils as having special
educational needs when, in fact, their needs were no different from
those of most other pupils. They were underachieving but this was
sometimes simply because the school’s mainstream teaching
provision was not good enough, and expectations of the pupils were
too low. A conclusion that may be drawn from this is that many
pupils are being wrongly identified as having special educational
needs. Ofsted National SEN Review 2010
SEN Green Paper message is…
• “we intend to tackle the practice of
over‐identification by replacing the current SEN
identification levels of School Action and School
Action Plus with a new single school‐based SEN
category for children whose needs exceed what is
normally available in schools” (p10)
• At present, the way that schools identify children with
SEN is not achieving this. In particular, children are
often identified as having lower‐level SEN (at School
Action) when in fact the barrier to their learning could
and should be addressed through normal day‐to‐day
classroom practice” (p67)
Moving from :
Pupils
School School
needing toAction Action
catch up
Plus
Statement
To
Underachieving
Or less-experienced
learners “target group”
Special Educational
Needs
• “in order to reduce the bureaucratic
burdens on schools, in reviewing and
updating the “Code of Practice”, we will
remove the advice on using IEPs” (SEN
Green Paper 2011)
• will encourage schools to explore the
ways in which new approaches can be
used
While/if schools retain them, IEPS
should …
• only record that which is “additional to” or “different
from” the educational provision made generally for
children of their age in schools maintained by the LA,
other than special schools, in their area
• not be“more literacy” or “more maths” but be
interventions which address the underlying learning
needs of the pupil in order to improve his or her
access to the curriculum.
• state what the learner is going to learn – not what the
teacher is going to teach (ie state the outcome – be
clear about what the pupil should be able to do at the
end of the given period).
• be accessible to all those involved in their
implementation – pupils should have an understanding
and “ownership of the targets”
• be seen as working documents
• be manageable and easily monitored
• be based on informed assessment
• Be time-limited – there should be an agreed “where to
next …” – not necessarily another IEP
Where do the targets come
from?
 Discussion between teacher and SENCO
 Discussion with pupil
 Discussion with another professional
Learning
objectives
Teaching
styles
Quality first teaching
Access
• ‘tracking back’ objectives to earlier year groups / key
stages
• giving significant time to those parts of the curriculum
which are priorities;
• maintaining, reinforcing, consolidating and generalising
previous learning as well as introducing new knowledge,
skills and understanding;
• identifying skills which require regular and frequent
practice and teaching;
• Having high expectations of all pupils.
Other General Strategies
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Support with spelling / writing independently
Support with reading
Peer support
Practical experiences
Alternative forms of recording, including ICT
Worksheets
Appropriate forms of assessment
Modes of communication
Age-appropriate resources
Use of games
Using Assistants effectively
Effectively using IEPs
Unicef Innocenti Report (2007),
• The true measure of a nation’s standing is
how well it attends to its children – their
health and safety, their material security,
their education and socialization, and
their sense of being loved, valued, and
included in the families and societies into
which they are born.
Dimensions of child well-being
used by UNICEF
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Material well-being
Health and safety
Educational well-being
Family and peer relationships
Behaviours and risks
Subjective well-being
• The United Kingdom and the United
States find themselves in the bottom third
of the rankings for five of the six
dimensions reviewed.
In praise of difference
“Each child’s resources and strengths must be the
deciding factors in establishing an educational
programme. (rather than look for weaknesses) we
would do better to look for strengths and recognise
that these will be different for different children.
Differences offer hope because they provide the
possibility of alternative routes for development,
educational and personal fulfilment. We would
rejoice in them and capitalise on them. They are
after all, the very stuff of life”.
Connolly, K.J. (1993) In praise of difference. Developmental Medicine and
Child Neurology. 35, 11, 941-943.