Children with weak eyesight, diseases of the locomotor apparatus, developmental problems, or other psychological and physical shortcomings are called children with special needs. As a rule, such medical problems are the main obstacle that sets these children apart from the world, above all from public schools.
However, schools are finding a way out of this situation by implementing inclusive education. Starting from the 2007 academic year, children diagnosed with cerebral palsy are getting an education together with their healthy peers in School No. 168 in Kyiv. So far, there are only 10 pupils in the mixed class (five healthy children and five with special needs). However, the teachers at this school are convinced that it is much better to implement inclusive education in all Ukrainian schools than to increase the number of special boarding schools.
Besides the school in Kyiv, integrated classes have been created in 20 educational establishments throughout Ukraine, a total of 49 classrooms where sick children study alongside their healthy peers. According to the director of the national Krok za krokom Foundation Natalia Sofii, this is a good result, considering that up to five years ago Ukrainian teachers were not aware of the importance of inclusive education.
Discussions about the need for inclusive education began in early 1987, Sofii told The Day. “The Ministry of Education of Ukraine and the Institute of Pedagogy at the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences began to support our aspirations only in 2001. However, proper mechanisms had to be created for the implementation of inclusive education: first of all, our legislation had to be amended. But we did not wait for orders from above and took the initiative into our own hands.
“So, until 2007 we worked with teachers within the framework of the scholarly-pedagogical experiment entitled ‘Social Adaptation and Integration into the Society of Children with Special Psychological- Physical Development by Organizing Their Studies at Non-Specialized Educational Establishments of Ukraine.’ First of all, a number of educational seminars were held for teachers. We tried to convince school principals that they should not be afraid of working with sick children in integrated classes. An integrated class does not differ essentially from an ordinary one, with the exception of children with special needs.”
Sofii thinks that numerous training sessions and conferences for teachers led to the success of this program. Seven resource-training centers were created for this goal, where approximately 400 teachers took courses to prepare them for working in integrated classes. But for integrated educational establishments to work successfully, offices for speech therapists, psychologists, rehabilitation therapists, social educators, and psychological assistance must be created. Sofii says that this new model of the educational process holds a number of advantages for children with special needs.
“Starting from early childhood, children quickly get used to being in classrooms with sick children. They learn to communicate by taking their particular features into account. For example, pupils know that they should talk louder to Petryk than with other children. And Olenka must be shown a picture up close. Children understand that they all have individual needs and certain peculiarities. But the biggest advantage that children with special needs enjoy is that they do not develop the feeling that they are different.”
There are other positive aspects. Sofii emphasizes that healthy children acquire various communication and mutual help styles. Children with health problems gain positive self-esteem. They do not feel that they are a burden on anyone. They also do not suffer from the victim syndrome. Often, children who have studied in specialized educational establishments think of themselves as victims. The inclusive educational system also has a positive impact on parents of sick children, because they know that no one is humiliating or limiting their offspring
According to Sofii, all teachers agree that inclusive education is not only a pedagogical phenomenon but also a social one. It establishes the most humane perspectives in schools. The basic form of work in integrated educational establishments is the path to adaptation and rehabilitation. Thus, a benevolent atmosphere in a classroom may even replace a course of treatment in a medical institution because a human soul is what helps a child, not antibiotics.
