Teaching Inclusive Pupils in the Mainstream Classrooms - Assignment Example

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EXAMINING CHALLENGES FACED BY TEACHERS IN THE INCLUSION OF PUPILS WITH AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDERS (ASD) IN THE MAINSTREAM ROOMS (AND SOME POSSIBLE WAYS FORWARD) Table of Contents Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………. 3 BESD and learning difficulties …………………………………………………………… 3 Causes of BESD ………………………………………………………………………….. 3 Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Defined …………………………………………….. 3 Causes of Autistic Spectrum Disorders ............................................................................ 4 Inclusion Defined …………………………………………………………………………. 5 Characteristics of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders …………………………… 5 Expectations of teachers ………………………………………………………………….. 7 Challenges Teachers face in the inclusion ASD pupils in mainstream classrooms .......... 7 Way forward to eliminate the challenges teachers face …………………………………... 12 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 15 Introduction Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD) is a term which describes a range of complex and chronic difficulties experienced by many children and young people. Such people demonstrate features of emotional and behavioural difficulties such as being withdrawn or isolated, disruptive and disturbing, hyperactive, failing to make friends and lacking concentration and mature social skills; and presenting challenging behaviours. It may also cover people with anxiety, who self-harm, have school phobia or depression and those whose behaviour or emotional wellbeing are seen to be deteriorating (DFES, 2001). BESD and learning difficulties Children suffering from BESD face many challenges in learning such as struggling to overcome trust issues, hence fail to make relationships with others, ability to cope with school routines and relationships, failure to reason appropriately. As such, their emotional and behavioural difficulties make them fail to fit well in an environment where they can learn like other normal children. Their failure to fit in the learning environment contravenes with the learning theories advanced by different psychologists such as Bandura, Piaget, Pavlov, Thorndike and Skinner. These theories imply that learning can only take place where there is punishment or reward, observation, imitation, social interaction, attachment to others and pre-existing mental cognition (DCSF, 2007, Midgley, 2008, Cooper, 2008 and Bandura, 1999). Causes of BESD There are several causes of BESD, which are from within or outside the child. Inner causes are very much associated with biological traits within an individual child. However, external causes may include single parenthood, poverty, lack of attachment, parental conflicts, erratic discipline and neglect, (Jull, 2008). Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Defined Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is a lifelong disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It is a form of BESD which also affects how they make sense of the world around them since it affects ability to understand people, interpret events, communicate, and interact with others. This implies that, just like BESD does, ASD also plays a vital role in the learning of individuals. The term ‘Spectrum’ is used, because, autistic children experience a board band of problems which are grouped into having difficulty with social communication, social interaction and social imagination. For example, a child with autistic spectrum disorders is argumentative, disobedient, annoying, blames others for own mistakes, easily annoyed, resentful, vindictive, likes fighting, destructive, truant, a bully, intimidating, tormenting and molesting. This child may use weapons (e.g. guns, bottles or knives), can be a thief, liar, isolated, hyperactive, disruptive, not concentrating, aggressive, obsessive, , anxious, withdrawn and unhealthy (Howlin, 2009 and Taylor, 2005). Causes of Autistic Spectrum Disorders Autism is a result of a biological abnormality caused by the irregularity of chromosomes. Just like BESD, it may be caused or made worse by the environment in which the child is brought up. For example, children from single parent or large families; and those from poorly educated parents; and those from poor families are more likely to face autism. The condition is made worse due to lack of parental care, resources, better nutrition and exposure to standard life may put them in low self - esteem. Research further shows that the number of children being diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders has continued to rise over the past 20 years (Glazzard, 2012), DFES, 2001, Clements, 2000 and Whitaker, 2001). This essay, therefore wishes to examine the challenges teachers face in the inclusion of pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorders in the mainstream classroom. The essay will also suggest the possible way forward to ensure the teachers’ challenges are minimized. However, before discussing the challenges of teachers, this essay will define “inclusion”, explain what teachers ought to be, characteristics of autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and the learning environment in mainstream schools. Inclusion Defined “Inclusion” refers to a process of increasing the participation of pupils in, and reducing their exclusion from, school curricula, cultures and communities. It promotes interaction between children with autism and other normally developing children. It also gives more chances for autistic children to learn from the normally developing children. Besides, it also gives chance to normally developing children to understand autistic children and therefore treat them as equals (Ainscow, 1999, James, 2006, Soodak, 1998 and Heflin, 1999). Characteristics of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders As explained above, children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders display different characteristics are grouped into three: characteristics that show difficulty with social communication; difficulty with social interaction; and difficulty with social imagination. Pupils social communication problems display different characteristics such as failure to use and understand both verbal and non – verbal language (communication) such as facial expressions, tone of voice, jokes, sarcasm or common phrases differently. Some may not even speak, or simply utter limited speech. They may understand what others say but may respond using alternative means of communication such as use of sign language or non-verbal language. Others choose to dominate in any conversation without giving chance to the other to speak. Such conditions make them face difficulties in learning (Cole, 2003, Cassady, 2011, Hsiao, 2013, Lopes, 2004 and Horne, 2009). Furthermore, children with autistic spectrum disorders have difficulty with social interaction. They have difficulties in understanding emotions and feelings of other people. They may not understand unwritten social rules. They are insensitive because they have not recognized how someone is feeling. They usually choose to be isolated yet socialization has to be learnt in a particular environment. Sometimes they appear to behave inappropriately since it is not easy for them to express feelings, emotions or needs. With all these, it becomes hard for children with autistic spectrum disorders to form friendships (Robertson, 2003, Heflin, 1999 and Howlin, 2008) Lastly, pupils with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) find difficulties with social imagination. It is hard for them to find out what they know or think and what other people know or think. Yet, social imagination is very important individuals understand and predict other people’s behaviour, make sense of abstract ideas and imagine situations outside immediate daily routine. The inability to understand social imagination has made pupils with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) unable to easily understand and interpret other people’s thoughts, feelings and actions; predict what will happen next; understand concepts of danger (e.g. running away from certain danger); unable to change the repetition of imaginative play which they prefer to act out repetitively. They fail to prepare for change and plan for the future. Others fail to cope with unfamiliar situations (Wing, 1996 and Smith, 2012) Unfortunately, Social communication, interaction and imagination are very important in creating an appropriate environment for learning. Just like it has been explained in the theories of learning above. Failure to cope with social communication, interaction and imagination leads to the creation of learning gaps. Where learning gaps exist, “inclusion” becomes a failure. Therefore, it is very important to critically look the environmental setup of the autistic child before inclusion is done. Expectations of teachers Different characteristics of learners demand eloquent teachers who have the capacity to know their learners. Such teachers are able to plan their work using specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-related (SMART) targets; set clear guidelines; create a structured routine; carefully monitor and evaluate behaviour; able to organize learners in groups which can easily be reached during the teaching and learning process. Such teachers are also capable of loving and developing positive interest towards the learner. They should also have the capacity to work with parents of the learners. These teachers should also reward and reinforce behaviour. They should tailor work to particular learning needs; and should also be good counselors and peer supporters. Such teachers have the knowledge and flexibility that makes it possible for a particular set of learners with a particular set of behaviour to learn (Bennett, 1996, Schmidt, 1998, McGregor, 2001 and Coffey, 2004). Challenges Teachers face in the inclusion ASD pupils in mainstream classrooms Although such expectations above may exist, there are challenges which teachers encounter in the inclusion of autistic pupils in the mainstream classroom, yet inclusion is said to be the best way to make autistic children learn and excel efficiently. Such challenges supersede their knowledge and zeal to perform their duties. Below are some of these challenges teachers face. Firstly, most teachers who teach mainstream classroom pupils do not have specialized training which can help them understand and handle the pupils with autistic spectrum disorders. They only have training for general education for pupils who are developing normally. Such lack of training makes them fail to interpret particular behaviour of the autistic learners. Sometimes they think the learners are rude and therefore punish them when in reality the learners did not understand the teachers and therefore did not deserve punishment. They may not even know why the learners perform poorly, remain isolated or simply make a lot of noise in class. Because of lack of training, teachers may not even know the language to use in order to communicate effectively with the learner. For example, use of sign language demands training. Some points demand use of gestures which the learners can easily understand. Such a condition makes most of the teachers see the autistic pupils as burdens in their profession (Taylor, 2005, Lopes, 2004 and Ross – Hill, 2009). Secondly, most of the mainstream classrooms teachers feel not secure in the face of pupils with autistic spectrum disorders. Autistic children display multiple behaviours or characteristics such as being aggressive, argumentative and sometimes use weapons such as guns, bottles and knives. They may at some point misunderstand a teacher who means well to them; and consequently attack their teacher. Recently, the media, especially the “yahoo news” has reported frequent shootings in many schools in the USA; some of which are supposedly done by students who have lived isolated lives, withdrawn, single parented and lacking parental care. It is imperative that such students are autistic. To avoid being attacked, teachers think autistic spectrum disorders pupils should not be part of the mainstream classrooms since they interfere with the security of teachers (Horne, 2009, McGregor, 2001 and Coffer, 2003). Thirdly, many teachers see pupils with autistic spectrum disorders as learners who consume their time and give them an extra load of work, which makes their job difficult. As already explained, most of these children are slow learners because of the multiple characteristics they display, such failure to understand language, interpret gestures, understand abstract concepts, follow and adjust to different classroom activities as the timetable stipulates due. It therefore demands more time and creativity for the teacher to deliver particular concepts. For example, the teacher has to use a lot of teaching and learning materials and strategies. It may also mean that teachers should arrange for special or remedial classes after the normal class time to fully accommodate autistic pupils. This makes teachers overburdened, tired, and consequently hate their job (Clements, 2000, Wing, 1996 and Glazzard, 2012). Fourthly, the growing number of autistic children, as explained in the introduction above, is another challenge which teachers face. Such children display heterogeneous autistic characteristics. This means that a particular teacher has to monitor the behaviour of every individual pupil and prepare individualistic lessons that target particular needs of a particular learner. Therefore, in the face of this alarming increase, how many lessons is the teacher going to make in order to meet the needs of a particular autistic pupil where there are many of such pupils? It is obviously very difficult. This is why teachers feel inclusion is a challenge (Cassady, 2011 and Lopes, 2004). In addition, children with autistic disorders need special equipment to help them understand and fit well with others, hence promote teaching and learning. Unfortunately, the rapid increasing numbers of autistic pupils outweighs the supply of these materials. In addition, some of these materials are difficult to use; and may cause irritation and boredom in the autistic pupils. For instance, some materials may be noisy; have sensitive colours; and others may produce too much light than required. As such, motivating autistic pupils to learn becomes difficult. The absence and choice of these materials may further lead to failure of teachers to explain the concepts and learners to assimilate the concepts (Robertson, 2003). Furthermore, since these autistic learners display multiple sets of behaviour it becomes very difficult for the teacher to track performance of a particular learner. The teacher will not be able to predict the next course of action for each learner at a particular time or day. The learner might choose to be repetitive in one activity at one point and may choose to withdraw at another. The learner might unpredictably switch from one type of behaviour to another. As such, teachers have a challenge of how best to track the pupil and programme learning that is tailored to meet the characteristics of individual pupil (Cassady, 2011 and Ross – Hill, 2009). In addition, since there are two types of learners in one class (those with autistic spectrum disorders and the normally developing children) there is need for the curriculum to be modified to meet the demand of both types of learners. The teacher has to cut the work to be covered in a particular lesson or year in order to accommodate autistic pupils. Even the teaching strategies have to be modified to suit both groups. This makes it difficult for the teacher to complete the curriculum of that class that academic year as the syllabus requires. It also means that there will be a knowledge gap created before going to the next level as Piaget suggests that a particular level has to have enough content that prepares the learner to the next level. Leaving part of that content as interpreted in the curriculum means that learners move to the next level without being fully prepared since the curriculum has been modified to accommodate the autistic learners (Cassady, 2011). Worse still, teachers are also faced with the challenge of being seen as if they are failures before the eyes of the parents of the autistic children and their authorities because they are asked to produce written reports and instructions about the performance of autistic pupils - the work they were not trained for. The production of such reports and instructions makes teachers see the inclusion of such children a challenge because their reports and instructions will not be standard to the authorities and parents of the children (Ross – Hill, 2009). There is also a problem of team work at school. There will be variations on how teachers wish to support learners. Some teachers will be serious and willing to support learners, others not. Those ready to support will see the situation unfair on their side. As such, they become frustrated, abandon the support they were ready to offer to the autistic learners. Team work is also reflected on how authorities support teachers. There will be poor support to autistic pupils where there is lack of motivation to teachers. Otherwise, incentives make teachers become more interested in handling these learners (Wing, 1996). Again, pupils with autistic spectrum disorders come from different cultures and backgrounds. Such cultures use different languages and approaches to different situations. They also interpret things differently. For example, a particular gesture may mean different things in different cultures. The word “cool” may mean different things all together. Some teachers may interpret some behaviour symptomatically rather than culturally. Therefore, knowing the culture of all learners and their cognitive styles influenced by the dominant culture is crucial in designing a curriculum for these pupils of different cultural groups. For instance, issues or materials which are sensitive in a particular culture may be ignored in a particular curriculum to avoid frustrating the learners. Unfortunately, knowing cultures of autistic pupils and using that knowledge to develop curriculum that suits all may be laborious and depressing (Wilder, 2004 and Perko, 2002). From the challenges above, it is imperative that the inclusion of pupils with autistic spectrum disorders in mainstream classrooms is delicate though highly supported by its proponents. Much as it promotes learning amongst the autistic children, it may also create other problems in the course if not well planned. As such, exploring some of the ways that would ensure success may help eliminate the challenges. Way forward to eliminate the challenges teachers face In the first place, there is need for a comprehensive training for the common education teachers in the mainstream schools. Apart from training in the common education, such teachers should also be trained in special education needs (SEN) so that, as puts it, they have better behavioural, emotional and social frameworks for dealing with these children. Secondly, all equipment for diagnosis, teaching and learning of autistic pupils should be available to the teacher at the right time, in the right order and quantities. These materials should also be user friendly and be able to comply with the culture of the learner. Thirdly, teachers who have been or not been to specialized training should be tolerant and loving. Much as the pupils may frustrate them, they should stand by their teaching ethics, which stipulate that a teacher should approach a learner with soberness and patience and see learners as people who need help (Jean du Treil, 2013 and Perko, 2002). The fourth point is that teachers should take kin interest in studying the behaviour of individual learners to try and establish their likes and dislikes so that they can design the best verbal and non-verbal communication and direct instructions. Such knowledge will enhance the perfect interpretation of the curriculum into the learning process. Furthermore, teachers should also use methods that do not cause negative self-esteem in pupils with disorders when trying to extinguish unacceptable behaviour. They should always identify an alternative skill or replacement behaviour. For example, using punishments may only intensify that behaviour (Jean du Treil, 2013). In addition to that, teachers should endeavour to create activities that enhance interaction amongst learners in order to promote positive social skills. For example, a teacher may coach children to say happy birthday to peers, raise their hand to answer a question, or cover their mouth when they sneeze. There should also be creation or identification of several social groups, such as clubs, that can connect autistic children to peer mentors that are positive. Such activities groups will interaction, hence promote acquisition of social skills. Furthermore, the teacher should also know the signs of anxiety or stress for their pupils such as pacing, hand-wringing, cussing, flushed face, laughing, and so on. They should also know what causes that anxiety or stress for each student. In this way they will adjust according to the mood of the learner (Jean du Treil, 2013). Authorities should encourage teachers who handle children with disorders. They should provide all necessary support required be it materials, time or even incentives. They should be able to help them with insets; and be constructive to them if their instructions or reports are not standard since they are learning. In addition, each time a teacher feels overwhelmed by a situation, that teacher should consult others to help brainstorm on the problem more effectively (Jean du Treil, 2013). Apart from that, the governments should also adopt education systems that have curricular which are already modified to suit the needs of different pupils with different characteristics. This will reduce the labour the teacher has in coming up with the instruction for the learners. In addition, the governments should also come up with security measures for both the teachers and learners in case of attacks from some learners with disorders. This will reduce the fights, shootings and several other pains that other people face in mainstream classrooms (Jean du Treil, 2013). On the other hand, parents should also take an active role in monitoring the performance of their children both at school and home. They should work hand in hand with the teacher concerned and not just rebuke the teacher where there if failure. This will help both the teacher and parents to know the behaviour of the child at home and school. There should also be detailed diagnosis of the intensity of the disorders in the child in order to distinguish those harmful with those mild, hence be able to separate them accordingly. This will help to reduce the accidents that might arise as a result of their interaction (Jean du Treil, 2013). Finally, teachers should be consistent, humorous, calm, enthusiastic, flexible and empathetic to young people. They should be able to socialise freely with their learners. In that way, they will be liked by their learners no matter how badly behaved these learners might be (Jean du Treil, 2013 and Cole, 2003). Conclusion It is therefore very important to note that children with autistic spectrum disorders are children just like any other child. The fact that they display multiple disorders does not mean they are bad behaved otherwise their biological, emotional and social upbringing may have influenced them to behave thus. Whilst teachers are expected to teach such learners through inclusion in the mainstream classes, there have been challenges associated with actual teaching and handling of such learners. If such challenges are not addressed the purpose of inclusion will be ultimately defeated; and the disabled child will be the final loser. It therefore calls for authorities, parents, teachers and all other stakeholders to stand up and remain vigilant in creating the most favourable conditions for the children with autism to excel amidst the normally developing students in mainstream classrooms. References Ainscow, M,1999. Understanding the development of inclusive schools. 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