Universal Design for Learning As It Applies to Early Childhood Special Education - Essay Example

Universal Design for Learning As It Applies to Early Childhood Special Education. Introduction It is imperative to offer educational equality to all children irrespective of their disabilities. A step towards attaining this objective is the formulation of Universal design for learning, which provides instructional material and activities to the children with wide differences in their abilities to see, hear, speak, move, read, write, understand English, attend, organize, engage, and remember. Through this technique, innovative methods are implemented to teach disabled children. Universal design for learning does not offer single solution however, it is a combination of various approaches designed to meet the requirements of children with different kinds of disabilities. One of the major challenges that the universal design for learning faces is the concept of inclusion. Inclusion refers to innovative forms of teaching methods in a regular classroom setup that caters to the educational requirements of the children with disabilities. This method does not involve the movement of children in a set up that offers these services rather it brings these innovative methods of teaching in a regular classroom set up. This new form of teaching ensures that all children attain education equally and understand the contents of the syllabus more effectively. There is lot of controversy about inclusion of universal design for learning in a regular classroom setup. Some consider that it is not a good practice to enforce inclusion on all children while others consider it most appropriate since it meets the requirements of all children irrespective of their disabilities. The educational institutions are recognizing the need for identifying innovative methods of education service delivery. These new techniques of teaching practices will help in imparting equal opportunity of education for the disabled children. Especially if this technique of education is implemented in the early stages of childhood education then it will offer equal and effective opportunity of education for all children. There has to be constant innovation in terms of skills and support in this field so that children attain best results from it. However, the concept of new teaching practices by the teachers for the disabled children in a regular classroom set up probably will effect the education of normal children. Moreover, it is not ethical to enforce a certain kind of teaching to students in order to cater the needs of certain segment of students. Since new challenges emerge everyday for the teacher in teaching the disabled children, there has to be reforms made in the field of education. There are both positive and negative impacts of inclusion of the universal design for learning on the current education system. Hence, a holistic understanding of this issue is required in providing effective education to both the categories of children. The proposed study will investigate the students and teachers concepts and beliefs about universal design for learning and the data will be generated using qualitative research method. Artifacts, simple observation and interviews will be the main strategies utilized to generate data. The data generated will be analyzed on an ongoing basis so that new ideas emerge from the data accumulated. This study will be of utmost importance to the children with disabilities and without it. It will also be relevant to the special educators and general teachers. Literary review According to Doty, a strong supporter of Universal design for learning recommends that it should be implemented for all children in a classroom. All the children have different ways of learning. Universal design for learning will provide a broader opportunity of learning to children with disabilities and without it. [Jaehnert, O Malley and Robinson, n. d]. The concept of educational equality can only be attained from a regular classroom setup by introducing universal method of learning. There are teachers who are implementing this technique of teaching with varying degree of inclusiveness in a regular classroom. This practice of teaching is found to be effective for both children with disabilities and those without it. The teachers of normal children and special educators are trying to prepare the curriculum and education service delivery depending on the requirements of the students in the classroom. The federal government is also stressing on the implementation of this new technique of teaching to children in a regular classroom due to its effectiveness in imparting education. [ Orkwis, 1999]. Most of the time peers of the disabled children accept them and socialize with them, which is a great motivation for them to pursue education. This concept of education offers an opportunity to the disabled children to interact and socialize with the children without disabilities in a general education classroom. The concept of inclusiveness has not only help in increasing the interest levels of education among disabled children however it has also created an ambience of social adjustment and social functioning of these children. [Pavri and Luftig,2000]. The implementation of universal design for learning in a regular classroom has ensured high standards of education, effective teaching methodology to the disabled children. In addition to it, this practice enhances the leadership skills of children without disabilities. [Castellani and Tsantis, 2005]. This is because they learn to support and encourage their peers with disabilities, which is a good leadership quality. On the contrary, many people think that inclusiveness is not the best option for disabled children. This is because special education teachers will provide education in the most suitable manner to the disabled children rather than regular teachers. Since these students have disabilities regular teachers do not have high expectation from them which results in lower academic performance of such children. These children require individual attention, which may not be practically applicable in a regular classroom. Therefore, smaller classroom with such disabled children will meet their requirements with a better perspective. The regular teachers do not generally accept disabled children in their classroom. [Inclusion: The Pros and Cons, 2003]. Another major negative impact is that sometimes the peers of these disabled children do not accept them. In such a scenario, these children are isolated and develop a feeling of rejection by the community. This sense of rejection can develop a fear among such children about their future acceptance in the community. A study has revealed that sense of loneliness among such children is 25 percent while those without disabilities range from 10 percent to 18 percent. The rejection of disabled children by their peers in a regular classroom ambience can cause an increase in the percentage of loneliness among such children. [Pavri and Luftig,2000]. Conclusion and Recommendations Universal design for learning is an exemplary effort in promoting educational equality in the community. However, a major concern is in its implementation in the regular classroom set up. Some special educators think that it can only help in the betterment of education to both disabled children and those without any disabilities. Many other people in the community are of the opinion that this kind of teaching practices should be implemented in a small classroom set up that consists of disabled children. In order to attain the best understanding about this issue the researcher has proposed a study through qualitative research method. The strategies utilized by the researcher to generate the data are artifacts, simple observation and interviews. It is recommended that general teachers enhance their service levels in education and provide opportunity for learning to both the category of children. The method of teaching should be implemented in such a manner that it creates an ambience of equality between both children with disabilities and those without it. Every teacher should take the role of a special educator so that all the children are given the opportunity to have the same standard of education. References Kari Jaehnert ,Jean O Malley, Kelli Robinson [n. d]. Include them in. Retrieved October 22, 2005 from http://72.14.203.104/searchq=cache:zrkghqHAmGMJ:www.fctd.info/resources/newsletters/upload/FCTD_newsletter_15.doc+Universal+Design+for+Learning+As+It+Applies+to+Early+Childhood+Special+Ed.+&hl=en Raymond Orkwis [1999]. Curriculum Access and Universal Design for Learning. Information center on disabilities and gifted education. Retrieved October 22, 2005 from http://ericec.org/digests/e586.html Shireen Pavri, Richard Luftig [2000]. The social face of inclusive education: Are students with learning disabilities really included in the classroom VLD Online. Retrieved October 22, 2005 from http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/teaching_techniques/the_social_face.html John Castellani, Linda Tsantis [2005].Setting the Context for Universal Design for Learning and Universal Accessibility. New horizons for learning. Retrieved October 22, 2005 from http://www.newhorizons.org/spneeds/inclusion/teaching/castellani%20tsantis.htm Inclusion : Pros and cons.[2003].Information center on disabilities and gifted education. Retrieved October 22, 2005 from http://ericec.org/faq/i-procon.html Read More