Education and Disability - Case Study Example

Introduction Down syndrome is a genetic condition that arises from trisomy of chromosome 21, leading to duplication of chromosomes at this loci and loss of function of some parts of the body. Down syndrome is one of the most common forms of genetic trisomy, affecting one child in every 700 born in the United States. As a result, over 400,000 Americans suffer from Down syndrome and over 6,000 children are born with the condition annually in the country. Children suffering from Down syndrome have numerous symptoms including small head, poor muscle tone, bulging tongue and low mental capabilities (Fox, Farrell & Davis, 2004, p187). Slow physiological and mental development in children suffering from Down syndrome affects their normal educational processes and growth. As a result, downers require special attention to ensure that their educational and physiological development occurs uninterrupted with. Subjecting downers to mainstream educational environment has numerous challenges, which results into slow development as witnessed in the case of Carl who is subject of ridicule and teasing in school. For normal educational and physiological growth, downers must be subjected to a special environment with the right professional, right environment and tools to enhance their cognitive and educational development (Darretxe & Sepúlveda 2011, p.884). Background Children with Down syndrome are normal individuals that have feelings, functional mental ability and cognition that can be directed and trained to survive in the society. Such children have the same genes from their parents just like other children except for an extra copy on chromosome 21, leading to a trisomy condition. The development of children with Down syndrome varies considerably depending on the environment, support from parents and the safety of the educational environment. Such children have the same social, psychological and emotional needs as other children without trisomy on chromosome 21(Glasson, Dye & Battles, 2014, p.394). Despite their abilities, downers have special needs as their condition affect their health and developmental processes due to genetic functions of the body. For a child to achieve maximum benefit effectively from an educational environment, attention must be placed on how the environment allows them to study despite their sensory impairments (Kasari et al. 1999, p297). Health issues relevant to education of downers Downers have a number of organ defects, which affects their physiological and emotional function as compared to other normal children in mainstream educational facilities. Nearly half of Down syndrome patient suffer from heart defects, which can be corrected through minor surgery at infancy though others cannot actually be corrected. Children who are forced to live with defective hearts face challenging life both at home and in school, calling for the need of special attention. In school, downers are unable to engage in physical activity and easily become tired as compared to normal children. Children with Down syndrome also face defects of the thyroid organs, which increases slowness and tiredness especially when forced to mainstream school activities (Hodapp 2007, p.281). Just like Carl, children suffering from Down syndrome have vision and hearing challenges, which affects their alertness and performance in class as compared to other children in mainstream schools.as a result, such children must be provided with special learning glasses and hearing aid to ensure that they follow the lesson just like other students within the class. Wearing hearing and visual aids in a mainstream educational facility can also lead to more discrimination and teasing from other children, thus affecting overall performance. Apart from health related abnormalities, Down syndrome children have numerous social and developmental challenges that affect their ability to conform to learning standards in mainstream schools. First social understanding of downers is low, which affects their social interactive skills, leading to lack of eye contact, smile or use of nonverbal cues to communicate with instructors. Within mainstream educational environment, such children are withdrawn as the environment is not accommodating and things may be moving faster than their speed as is the case with Carl (Sirlopú et al. 2008, p.2731). Placing children suffering from Down syndrome in mainstream educational facilities subject them to numerous challenges and issues that can affect other normal children as well. Just like in the case of Carl, children who are not suffering from such conditions do not accept their colleagues who are victims. As a result, normal children in mainstream learning facilities create a hostile learning environment making it difficult for children like Carl to learn effectively. In most instances, children lack the ability or experience to handle a unique situation and their reaction affects the victims who are forced to be withdrawn. Despite the current calls for inclusion within the educational systems, understanding and appreciating the special needs of children with Down syndrome is important in order to eliminate any challenges to the children. Assessment findings Carl has special needs, which affect his normal educational progress like other children within the mainstream educational systems. Despite the need for inclusive education in the country as a way of integrating children with special needs and those who are normal, such an approach must be considerate. Carl has problems learning in the current school environment due to several reasons, which is characteristics of other children who are in his situation. First, Carl is unable to survive in normal mainstream educational system due to high low cognitive abilities as compared to other children of his age (Glasson, Dye & Bittles 2014, p.394). While normal children have normal organ development, Carl’s development is impaired, which affects his vision and hearing capabilities. As a result, he finds it difficult to survive in the mainstream educational environment where children with functional organs and brain development compete (Herron-Foster & Bustos, 2014, p.229). Physical activity in mainstream education is non-considerate of children with Down syndrome like Carl, which makes it difficult for downers to interact with his peers effectively. Downers have abnormal brain, thyroid and heart development, which affects his normal physical activity, and exercise in such children as compared to normal children in mainstream schools. Based on this case, Carl’s school have no special extra curriculum program for children with special needs, meaning that he is exposed to the rigors and exercises just like other children in the school. As a result, he suffers from fatigue within a short time as compared to other children, a potential cause of mistreatment, teasing and embarrassment by other kids (Byrnes 2012, p.74). Though this approach can be seen as an inclusive approach to enhance learning of children, it fails to put in place a number of considerations to ensure that Carl benefits from the educational process. For example, Carl needs a teacher with special needs training background otherwise known as special educational needs coordinator. Currently, his teacher or educational coordinator have normal teacher training background which are applicable to normal children learning within mainstream schools(Lightfoot & Bond 2013, p.169). Debbie and Joe must ensure that the needs of their child is put into consideration no matter how inclusive they want him to grow as the current environment affects his emotional and cognitive development. The fact that other children currently tease him demonstrates that the institution is not inclusive with the right safeguards to protect children with special needs like Carl. Recommendations Carl does not need to relocate to a special needs educational institution, but rather to move to an inclusive mainstream facility that has the right instructors and environment to support his condition. Belonging to the right inclusion class increases the cognitive development of a child; provide a rich environment for interacting with other children who are not downers and understanding the world beyond disability. An effective inclusion system must have the right teachers who not only understand the needs of the downer learners but also have the skills to ensure that they develop intellectually. Inclusion environment will also eliminate the stigma that Carl currently faces in a mainstream environment that is not well sensitized to accept his state and accommodate his special needs. Peer relationship will also be enhanced in inclusive environment, which enable Carl to develop into an all rounded kid with the ability to survive in a natural environment irrespective of his challenges. As a student faced with numerous intellectual challenges, downers require special attention in order to benefit like other children effectively. Pursuit for inclusion should not bypass the intellectual challenges faced by downers as has been shown in the case of Carl, but to introduce the right safeguards to ensure that the speed of learning is commensurate with his special needs. The learning curve for Carl must be influenced by nothing else apart from his learning speed and intellectual capabilities as a child suffering from Down syndrome. High quality instruction and the use of special instructor in an inclusive environment will achieve the goal of integration, decline in discrimination and growth of intellectual abilities based on his individual capabilities (MacLean 2008, p.84). The environment also easily distracts downers that they learn in making it important to remove any possible distraction within the mainstream learning environment. Conclusion Down syndrome is a condition that affects the anatomical, physiological and cognitive development of children thus affecting their normal growth, learning and work. Learning should therefore be customized in order to meet the special needs of such children and ensure that issues associated with discrimination are eliminated. Inclusive learning environment is the best approach for Carl’s situation though a number of considerations must be put in place to ensure that it meets his special needs. References Byrnes, Z., 2012. 'Educational psychologists in the community: Supporting parents of children with Down syndrome through times of transition', Educational & Child Psychology, 29, 3, pp. 81-92 Darretxe, L, & Sepúlveda, L., 2011. 'Educational Strategies to Address the Educational Needs of Students with Asperger Syndrome in the Mainstream Classroom', Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 9, 2, pp. 869-892 Fox, S, Farrell, P, & Davis, P., 2004. 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