The Importance Of Providing A Quality-Learning Environment - Essay Example

The Importance Of Providing A Quality-Learning Environment Introduction Everybody needs to be loved and be cared for, no matter the conditions he or she is in. It is important that people with Multiple Disabilities and Visual Impairments (MDVIs) be recognized. The environment around them is the most important consideration, with sensitive responses by different staff personnel being crucial. There must be appropriate staff to deliver training to persons with MDVI to achieve a high standard of interpersonal sensitivity and skills. Moreover, experience should be positive. Their facial expressions and body language should be understood to realize their social skills and to prepare them for future life. Teachers and families of MDVI children have a significant role to play in partnership with other organizations as early as childhood (LaVenture, 2007). Most importantly, role models should be available in this environment to help people with MDVI understand how they fit in the local society. They can be taught to work in teams and to sustain friendships. Providing a favorable environment will help these challenged individuals to overcome social awkwardness, protect themselves, and to ensure they realize their sexuality where necessary. CASE STUDY Sarah is a twenty one year old adult with CHARGE syndrome. She has coloboma in her right eye and micropthalmia in her left. Sarah has a moderate hearing impairment and uses Makaton to communicate. She is very social and loves being around people. She has a moderate learning disability and as she has eating difficulties, her food intake needs to be monitored. Due to a heart condition, she missed a lot of schooling. Despite poor balance, Sarah likes to walk independently but when tired needs the use of her wheelchair. She is able to orientate herself well in her classroom/workshop but can get easily lost once outside. From this case study, Sarah is a MDVI young woman, who seems to associate easily with people and thus there is a high chance of her learning with ease. However, much has to be done to ensure that she takes meals and to encourage her do some activities on her own. The most motivating feature about her is that she is able to orient herself precisely in her classroom, meaning that she can develop knowledge and skills to enable her to pursue her studies further. Underlying concepts and principles associated with working with people MDVI When working with people with such impairments, multidisciplinary teams such as teachers need to consider several principles such as demonstrating a number of academic studies and writing skills that are most consistent to their physical challenge. Like in Sarah’s case, there should be a way to demonstrate an ability to relate a precise approach to the acquisition of new skills that will benefit her in respect to intervention and support strategies (Lee & MacWilliam, 2002). It is important to reflect upon several specialized practical and personal skills connected to mobility, independence, and orientation of different approaches used when working with people with MDVI. However, it is also recommended that one understands the ethical principles as they apply to dealing with this group of people. The skills taught should be of good quality and be transferable to wider fields of the context. There must be planning techniques and systems that acknowledge that MDVI individuals deserve better than just being relegated to teacher planning systems that do not consider personal contextual issues in their lives. It should be considered that young MDVI learners have numerous barriers to battle without educators putting more effort in their daily learning. This is the reason why teachers should set a goal to provide a cool learning environment by planning on a flexible individualized system of educating the learners. It helps to enhance the participation of an MDVI individual in learning since it helps the person focus more on what he or she can do, rather than his or her disabilities and impairments. Barriers to learning and teaching when working with a child with MDVI Working with a child or individual with multiple disabilities and visual impairments is not as easy as working with a normal person. Like in Sarah’s case, she has coloboma in her right eye and micropthalmia in her left, but has a low hearing ability, that is why she uses Makaton to communicate. Students with related disabilities also need special systems such as American Sign Language, touch cues, or electronic communication devices. In this sense, some of these students come from poor backgrounds and may not afford such implements. This makes learning difficult, since they cannot do without them. Further, educators, therapists, and fellow students need to use such tools in order to communicate to them, which may not be so easy. Impairments vary from child to child, and it may be a challenge to know how each child communicates his or her feelings. Failing to be understood, such children may lose motivation and this might affect their learning outcomes (Mason &McCall, 2012). Sarah needs assistance to take in her meals. Other students with multiple disabilities will as well require special equipment or help with feeding. Such assistive technologies like environmental control devices and adapted cups and spoons should be provided to motivate their eating skills. Teachers sometimes find it hard to take care of such students, so they have to use many opportunities and examples to put in practice functional skills like self-feeding and dressing, within natural, meaningful, and relevant contexts of their daily learning. Moreover, children with MDVI may depend highly on consistent prompts, cues, and routines to understand what they are expected to do in school. Changing such regular routines by the teachers may be a huge hindrance to the children’s flow of learning, as they might take too long to catch up with new trends. Extensive modifications on their curriculums should be done regularly so that they don’t get used to a single one. As Kober argues, teaching and learning for MDVI individuals follows a developmental model that changes with time. The approaches to develop curriculum can be a barrier to young learners. Such curriculums may be costly to implement, since MDVI children’s needs are great and require high staffing. In addition, activity-based programs in day schools experience hardships putting up with activity opportunities, usually due to time constraints. Boarding schools are not the best choice of education and care (Kober, 2010). Another barrier is when the breadth of learning is based on activity or participation and finally an approach that focuses on a limited number of activities could be very challenging for both the staff and the pupils. There could also be barriers in mainstream because of lack of large classes and expertise. This may mean lack of knowledge regarding wider services available and those required. Assessment strategies used to identify the needs of people with MDVI Before any person with MDVI can begin receiving effective assistance and support, an assessment must be carried out to recognize the special services that the person wants. Strategies that may be used include: The Team approach Since the needs of MDVI, people are unique and diverse, no single person has the expertise to assess and look into all those needs. The lawfully authorized and required people to asses the child are his or her parents, a visual impairments teacher, a regular teacher, language and speech therapist, social worker, psychologist, a guidance counselor, or a district or school administrator. This team can compile and review relevant information about the patient’s needs and abilities, inclusive of any recommendations and outcomes of the assessment. They can also help determine the necessary support to be given in relation to the needs ((LaVenture, 2007). Intelligence needs These are often included in a psychological assessment when a person is referred for special education. Psychologists such as the Wechsler Intelligence scale for children administer standardized intelligence tests. Such types of tests assess a learner’s performance in verbal comprehension, vocabulary, picture sequencing, and mathematical calculation. No single test can exactly measure the intelligence or the needs of an impaired person, and thus psychologists use several techniques to collect information to mirror the person’s learning capacity while considering the multiple impairments. Educational goal setting Numerous assessments may be utilized in deciding what educational goals are vital so that the learner can achieve the specialized skills necessary in relation to his or her impairment. For instance, developmental assessments may be conducted on younger children to determine their general capabilities as compared to other children of a similar grade level or age. A teacher who mostly knows the child with help from other team members usually performs such assessments. Checklists or scales are used in this strategy to compare developmental milestones in disabled children. Ecological assessments According to LaVenture, this strategy is to asses how an impaired person performs a certain skill in an actual environment, such as at home, at school, or in his or her society. Any teaching professional in his area of specialization can perform the evaluation. The assessment will illustrate how a child follows the steps of a habitual task and if he or she needs help in any step (LaVenture, 2007). Achievement tests They are standardized commercialized tests meant to asses a learner’s knowledge academically and to compare his or her acquaintance to that of other children in the same grade level. They can be carried out in every one to three years and it is upon the teacher of the visually impaired person to ensure that the tests are availed within a learner’s best reading medium. The importance of a multi disciplinary approach A single person or one teacher in a learning environment cannot manage MDVIs. A multi-disciplinary approach must be included in their daily care, including different professionals to give specific services. Such professional may include: Special educators They work with learners on educational needs connected to their disabilities, either in the regular class or in a resource room. When a child needs any special but essential needs, the special educator will act as a primary teacher to coordinate the educational plan (LaVenture, 2007). He is a significant figure as he is the basic instructor of learning skills and goals related to the special needs of the child. Orientation and Mobility expertise These specialists are important as they work with the educational team to develop plans regarding the ability of the student to relate to the immediate environment, move independently, or move within the environment. They also establish the most appropriate and independent travel means for the learners (Allen & Johnson, 2011). Physical therapists They train parents and teachers in handling and positioning. This assists in facilitating normal movements thus enhancing adaptive environments for pupils. Speech therapists These therapists facilitate the growth of early communication behaviors; teach parents on how to read and ease their children’s communicative ability, ease functional communication behaviors, and implement instructions for optional forms of communication. Of all the tasks, speech therapists encourage a wider array of improved speech, sound production, and ease oral motor skills to prepare impaired children for both feeding and speech. Conclusion It is very important to ensure that people with Multiple Disabilities and Visual Impairments receive high quality education in a favorable environment. The rights of these disabled persons should be recognized and be included in the overall education systems. In addition, they should receive individual support and care they require from people from different disciplines. Parents, teachers, therapists, psychologists, and other specialists must be included in the daily care of the MDVI group of people. Most importantly, systematic changes ought to be put in place to remove the barriers that may hinder teaching and learning. Above all, reasonable support and accommodation services are essential to ensure that the disabled persons are not eliminated from mainstream learning opportunities. A quality environment for learning is the key determinant of their welfare and well-being. References Allen, E & Johnson, J, (2011), The exceptional child: Inclusion in early childhood, Cambridge: McGraw-Hill International. Grant, G, Ramcharan, P, & Flynn, M, (2010), Learning disability: A life cycle approach, New York: Cengage Learning. LaVenture, S, (2007), A Parents' guide to special education for visual impairment, London: Royal National Institute. Lee, M, & MacWilliam, L, (2002), Learning together: A creative approach to learning for children with multiple disabilities, New York: American Foundation for the Blind. Kober, R, (2010), Enhancing the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities: from theory to practice, New York: Springer Mason, H, & McCall, S, (2012), Visual impairment: Access to education for children and young people, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More