The purpose of this collective case study was to explore the ways in which piano teachers most effectively alter their curriculum to accommodate students with disabilities. Three piano teachers were recruited for this study and were interviewed about their education and teaching experiences. The interview questions used in this study were constructed to detail their educational background, specifically considering their background in special education, if any, and to describe specific ways in which they have accommodated students with disabilities. The questions also sought to discover how familiar they were with the resources available for accommodating students with disabilities. The participants mentioned several important factors in accommodating students with disabilities in piano lessons. Teacher-student collaboration was found to be essential in accommodating those with physical disabilities, while cognitive or behavioral disabilities seemed to have more complex solutions. Student interest and varying lesson pacing was noted to be particularly effective with students who had behavioral issues. According to the participants, physical disabilities were easiest to accommodate, while accommodations for students with behavioral or emotional disabilities required the most planning. The participants of this study found their preparation for special education from their higher education institutions particularly lacking. They stressed that although they received poor training for accommodating disabilities, there is no substitute for experience. Experience in teaching students with disabilities was shown to be the most helpful tool in making more informed decisions about their accommodations for these students.

In the field of inclusive education and children in need of special education, the access to the general curriculum plays a significant role. Methods mentioned in the curriculum display the pedagogical vision within specific school systems and furthermore how teachers are expected to practice. Comparing curriculums from nations with different school systems can put national education systems in a wider perspective. Although the curriculums were studied out of their contexts, some interesting findings were ascertained. The study, performed with hermeneutic textual analysis and based on a comparison of the national curriculum of England, Finland, New Zeeland and Sweden, shows a difference in both frequency of methods mentioned, the way they are presented as well as what kind of methods each curriculum proposes. The New Zealand curriculum provides a demonstration of using inclusive education for all pupils while the Swedish and the Finish curriculums propose special methods when educating children being in special needs. The English curriculum also aims for inclusive education, but without the wide frequency of methods found in the New Zealand curriculum.

Lietuvos integracija į Europos Sąjungą, nuolatinė aplinkos kaita lemia naujus iššūkius švietimo sistemai, o kartu ir pagrindiniams švietimo sistemos dalyviams – pedagogams, nuo kurių pasirengimo dirbti komandoje priklauso jaunosios kartos, turinčios specialiųjų ugdymo(si) poreikių gebėjimai ir ateitis. Darbo tikslas – atskleisti pedagogų ir specialistų, sudarančių gerovės komisiją, komandinio darbo ugdant specialiųjų poreikių moksleivius pagrindinėje mokykloje perspektyvas. Darbo uždaviniai: 1) Teoriškai pagrįsti pedagogų komandinio darbo organizavimo ypatumus pagrindinėje mokykloje. 2) Aptarti specialiųjų poreikių vaikų ugdymą komandinio darbo kontekste. 3) Atskleisti pedagogų ir specialistų, sudarančių vaiko gerovės komisiją, požiūrį į komandinį darbą ugdant specialiųjų poreikių moksleivius pagrindinėje mokykloje. 4) Įvardinti komandinio darbo organizavimui taikomus komandinio darbo modelius ugdant specialiųjų poreikių moksleivius pagrindinėje mokykloje. Baigiamąjį magistro darbą sudaro trys skyriai. Pirmame darbo skyriuje yra nagrinėjami komandinio darbo ugdant specialiųjų poreikių turinčius vaikus pagrindinėje mokykloje teoriniai aspektai, aptariamas specialiųjų poreikių vaikų ugdymas komandinio darbo kontekste. Antroje darbo dalyje parengta komandinio darbo ugdant specialiųjų poreikių turinčius vaikus pagrindinėje mokykloje tyrimo metodika. Trečiame darbo skyriuje, remiantis teorine darbo dalimi ir parengta tyrimo metodologija atliktas komandinio darbo ugdant... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Lithuania 's integration into the European Union, a permanent change in the environment leads to new challenges in the education system , and thus the basic education system - the teachers, from a pre-work as a team depends on the young generation with special education (learning) skills needs and future. The aim - to expose teachers and professionals as well commission teamwork educating special needs students’ in the main school prospects. The tasks: 1 ) In theory, based on teachers' teamwork specific organization of basic school. 2 ) Discuss the education of children with special needs in the context of teamwork. 3 ) Reveal educators and professionals as well commission teamwork attitude educating special needs students’in the basic school. 4 ) Identify the organization applying teamwork models educating special needs students’ in the basic school. The thesis consists of three parts. The first chapter is the issue of teamwork educating children with special needs in the main school of theoretical aspects discussed in the education of children with special needs in the context of teamwork. The second part of the work developed teamwork educating children with special needs in the basic school methodology. The third part, based on the theoretical part of the work and developed the research methodology conducted teamwork educating children with special needs in the main school study of the results obtained suggest that educators and specialists sees a positive outlook , which... [to full text]

Although all families in the United States experience stress, families of children with special needs frequently experience prolonged periods of stress. Prolonged exposure to stressful circumstances increases their vulnerability to financial, physical, and social strain. With the continuing increase in the prevalence of children who have special needs, it is vital to examine the efficacy of different educational approaches on parental stress. It is unclear whether there are differences in stress levels for families of homeschooled versus public-schooled children with special needs. Using the family adjustment and adaptation response model, the purpose of this quantitative, ex post facto study was to investigate the degree to which parental stress reported by parents of a school-aged child with special needs could be predicted by school approach and severity of learning disability. Seventy parents of children participating in either public special education or homeschooling completed self-administered questionnaires, including the Family Impact of Childhood Disability Scale, the Educational Stress Survey, the Cognitive Processing Inventory, and demographic questions. Results from the descriptive analysis and multiple regression analyses indicated that the severity of the learning disability significantly predicted both overall parental stress as well as stress contributed by schooling. However, the type of special education setting did not significantly predict parental stress. The results from this study can promote positive social change by increasing parental awareness so that parents can make informed decisions about schooling for their children with special needs. It can also provide valuable information about additional stress related to special education programming services based on the severity of the child's learning disability.

This study was designed to investigate concerns with respect to the delivery of special education services in reserve schools, to identify the special needs of children attending these schools, and to study means of identifying and assessing children with special needs. The information obtained was used to develop a special education funding formula which would be more sensitive and responsive to the specific needs of Indian students in schools on reserves in Saskatchewan.<p> The study which was an exploratory field study involved two or more days of intensive discussion between the researcher and various groups of people on each of six reserves. At the conclusion of the study, a committee comprised of representatives of each band met with the researcher to review the findings and to make recommendations.<p> The study addressed three main areas of concern-the identification and assessment of special education students, the special needs of students in reserve schools, and funding arrangements. Results indicated that current procedures for identifying and assessing special education students are vague, costly, and time-consuming. As well, bands do not have easy access to the qualified personnel to do the identification and/or testing. It was also discovered that large numbers of students in reserve schools are handicapped because they are severely disadvantaged, seriously age-grade misplaced, and/or severely emotionally deprived. These categories of handicap, although not recognized by the the special education funding formulas, do interfere with the academic achievement and success of the students. Bands are experiencing problems with the current funding arrangements. Inadequacy of funds to cover the costs of delivering appropriate programming, lack of firm policies and procedures for accessing and allocating funds or to direct the process of delivering funds to the band level, and ineffective systems at the band level for administering special education funds are the chief problems.<p> It was recommended that the funding formula should consist of three components--a low cost component to offset the costs of programming for the mildly to moderately handicapped; a special needs component to cover the costs of programming required beyond what is provided through the low cost component; a support services component to cover the costs of education psychologists, classroom consultants, speech therapists, and other consultant services. As well, it was stressed that for such a formula to be truly functional, well-defined policies and procedures would have to be developed and implemented.

This study was designed to investigate concerns with respect to the delivery of special education services in reserve schools, to identify the special needs of children attending these schools, and to study means of identifying and assessing children with special needs. The information obtained was used to develop a special education funding formula which would be more sensitive and responsive to the specific needs of Indian students in schools on reserves in Saskatchewan.<p> The study which was an exploratory field study involved two or more days of intensive discussion between the researcher and various groups of people on each of six reserves. At the conclusion of the study, a committee comprised of representatives of each band met with the researcher to review the findings and to make recommendations.<p> The study addressed three main areas of concern-the identification and assessment of special education students, the special needs of students in reserve schools, and funding arrangements. Results indicated that current procedures for identifying and assessing special education students are vague, costly, and time-consuming. As well, bands do not have easy access to the qualified personnel to do the identification and/or testing. It was also discovered that large numbers of students in reserve schools are handicapped because they are severely disadvantaged, seriously age-grade misplaced, and/or severely emotionally deprived. These categories of handicap, although not recognized by the the special education funding formulas, do interfere with the academic achievement and success of the students. Bands are experiencing problems with the current funding arrangements. Inadequacy of funds to cover the costs of delivering appropriate programming, lack of firm policies and procedures for accessing and allocating funds or to direct the process of delivering funds to the band level, and ineffective systems at the band level for administering special education funds are the chief problems.<p> It was recommended that the funding formula should consist of three components--a low cost component to offset the costs of programming for the mildly to moderately handicapped; a special needs component to cover the costs of programming required beyond what is provided through the low cost component; a support services component to cover the costs of education psychologists, classroom consultants, speech therapists, and other consultant services. As well, it was stressed that for such a formula to be truly functional, well-defined policies and procedures would have to be developed and implemented.

Parents' perceptions of their child's behavior may differ for mothers and fathers. Differences in parental perception may also be apparent in cases of special needs adoptive families with high demands of their child for time, interventions and attention. This paper examines the differences in mother-child and father-child interactions, child behavior as reported by mothers, and fathers and changes in both after participation in an intervention program. Results suggest notable differences between mothers' and fathers' parent-child interaction scores and reports of child behavior. In addition, interaction scores and behavior reports showed some correlations. Finally, there seemed to be notable differences in the trends for the Child Behavior Checklist compared to the two attachment measures (Randolph Attachment Disorder Questionnaire and Beech Brook Attachment Disorder Checklist). Several possible explanations for mother and father differences are discussed.

The rise in popularity of work-life balance (WLB) as an essential determinant of one’s health, wellbeing and effectiveness in modern society has included research on the WLB of those caring for children with special needs. Most previous studies have however focused on investigating the WLB of parents of children with special needs and consequently, very few studies have looked into the WLB of the professionals who work with these children. The purpose of my study was therefore to close this gap in the literature by gaining some insight into the work-life experiences of professionals who work with special children. The study sought to unearth how work-life balance plays out in these professionals’ lives and also to discover the factors that influence their work-life balance. Another objective was to ascertain the challenges that they face in integrating their work and life domains and to bring to light the strategies that they use to cope with their various work-life demands. An inductive qualitative inquiry carried out through combined phenomenological and autoethnography research design was used to investigate the work-life experiences of a sample of professionals who work with special needs children in therapy, pre-primary and primary schools, in the Gauteng Province in South Africa. Purposive and snowball sampling methods were used to select participants for inclusion in the study. Data was collected through a series of unstructured in-depth interviews, unstructured observations, personal memory and photographs. Seven themes emerged from the findings of the study. The results also indicated that the majority of the sampled professionals who work with special children were experiencing work-life conflict due to the time-based and strain-based conflict that emanated from their work domains. These professionals’ WLB was also found to be mostly influenced by work-related factors as the work domain appeared to be their major source of conflict. The study also unearthed some very interesting and unconventional micro-level WLB strategies used by these professionals in their attempt to achieve greater WLB. An example of such strategies include the use of prayer and faith in God to reduce perceptions of conflict and enhance capacity to deal with life’s adversities. The findings from this study may therefore be used to develop and focus meso and macro level interventions to assist professionals who work with special needs children to better manage the various demands from their life domains. This will in turn ensure a healthier lifestyle for these professionals, which also has positive implications for the developmental outcomes of the children under their care. Moreover, enhancing these professionals’ ability to achieve WLB is anticipated to improve their motivation, satisfaction and retention. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Human Resource Management / MCom / Unrestricted

I den svenska anpassade skolan finns det elever med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning (IF) som behöver stöd i att få sina röster hörda. Dels för att forskningsläget gällande matematikundervisning i anpassad skola är gjord i liten omfattning, dels för att den forskning som finns fokuserar på procedurförmåga och automatiseringsförmåga. Det är tydligt att det finns ett stort behov av att undersöka matematikundervisning i anpassad skola. Denna studies syfte är att få fördjupad kunskap om hur lärare/speciallärare i matematik i anpassad gymnasieskola planerar och genomför en undervisning och bedömning som främjar elevers lärande i ämnet matematik. Specifikt är syftet att få kunskap om hur elever i anpassad gymnasieskola erbjuds en undervisningsmiljö som främjar deras matematikutveckling. Urvalet består av fyra lärare och tolv elever från nationellt program. Studien genomfördes med en trianguleringsmodell bestående av lärarintervjuer, lektionsobservationer och fokusgruppssamtal med elever. Resultatet i studien analyserades med tematisk analys. Som teoretiska perspektiv användes Öhmans utökade didaktiska triangel och sociokulturellt perspektiv. Resultatet tyder på att det finns många matematikdidaktiska val som lärare kan göra för att underlätta för elever med IF i den anpassade gymnasieskolan. Resultatet visar även att det finns hinder som gör att matematikundervisningen inte blir som eleverna vill och kan genomföra. Både elevers och lärares undervisningspraktik, att planera och genomföra undervisning, påverkas av faktorer utanför klassrummet såsom skolans styrdokument och tillgång till individanpassat undervisningsmaterial. Studiens resultat visar att det finns ett fortsatt stort behov av att studera vidare interventioner i matematik som kan utformas tillsammans med lärare, speciallärare och elever med IF för att sedan kunna användas i matematikundervisningen.  Nyckelord: anpassad skola, intellektuell funktionsnedsättning, speciallärare, matematikundervisning / Students with intellectual disability (ID) in Swedish schools need to have their voices heard about their education. Since the research regarding intellectual disability linked to the design of mathematics education is made to a small extent and focusing on interventions that test students’ procedural skills and ability to automatise there is a need to research education of mathematics in special needs upper secondary schools. The aim of this study is to research how teacher and special needs teachers in special needs upper secondary schools plan, implement and assess in mathematics education for students with ID. It´s also to find out what the students’ perception of the education are. Four teachers and twelve students from special needs upper secondary schools participated in the study.  The study was conducted using a triangulation model consisting of interviews with teachers, observations in classrooms and focus groups with students. The data from the study was analysed using thematic analysis. Theories used where the extended didactic triangle by Öhman and the sociocultural perspective. The result shows that there are many mathematical didactic choices that teachers can make to facilitate learning for students with ID in special needs upper secondary schools. The study’s results also reveal obstacles that prevent mathematics education from aligning with students’ desires and capabilities. Both students and teachers teaching practise, to plan and implement teaching, is affected by external factors beyond the classroom as policy documents and individualised education material. The result shows that there is a further need to study interventions in mathematics that are developed with teachers, special needs teachers and students with ID that can be used in the mathematics education. Keywords: special needs school, intellectual disability, special needs teacher, mathematics education

Darbo aktualumas. Specialiųjų ugdymo(si)/mokymo(si) poreikių vaikų mokymas yra aktualus, nes pastebima tokių poreikių turinčių vaikų daugėjimo tendencija. Edukaciniais tyrimais siekiama tobulinti specialiųjų poreikių vaikų ugdymą bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose. Darbo objektas – individualaus specialiųjų ugdymo(si) poreikių vaikų lietuvių kalbos mokymo(si) valdymas. Darbo tikslas – teoriškai pagrįsti ir empiriškai ištirti specialiųjų ugdymo(si)/mokymo(si) poreikių turinčių vaikų individualaus lietuvių kalbos mokymo(si) valdymą. Tyrime dalyvavo 60 lietuvių kalbos mokytojų ir 110 mokinių, turinčių specialiųjų ugdymo(si) poreikių. Tyrimas buvo atliekamas Šiaulių ir Raseinių miestų bei minėtų rajonų bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose, nes tų mokyklų administracijos buvo suinteresuotos tyrimo rezultatais. Tyrimo instrumentai – standartizuota mišraus tipo anketa. Apklausa vykdyta raštu. Tyrimo metodologija grindžiama humanistine, progresyvistine ugdymo koncepcijomis, integravimo principu. Tyrimo rezultatai:  Lietuvių kalbos mokytojai, ugdydami specialiųjų ugdymo(si)/mokymo(si) poreikių turinčius vaikus, dažniausiai naudoja tipinius mokymo metodus: aiškinimą, pokalbį, savarankišką darbą, taiko pagalbos mokiniui teikimo būdus.  Mokytojai konstatuoja metodinių kompetencijų trūkumą organizuojant lietuvių kalbos mokymą specialiųjų ugdymo(si)/mokymo(si) poreikių vaikams, tačiau akcentuoja, kad gebėjimų skatinti specialiųjų poreikių vaikų saviugdą, potencinių galimybių plėtrą pakanka. ... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Relevance of the thesis: teaching children with special needs is urgent because the tendency of increasing numbers of such children is observed. Educational research is aimed at improving training children with special needs. Object of the thesis: managing individual Lithuanian language teaching/learning with special needs children. Aim of the thesis: to prove theoretically and to make an empiric research of managing Lithuanian language teaching/learning with special needs children. Participants of the research: 60 Lithuanian language teachers and 110 pupils with special needs.The research was carried out in Šiauliai and Raseiniai towns and also in secondary schools of the aforementioned districts, because the administrations of those schools were interested in the results of the research. Tools of the research: a standard mixed type questionnaire in a written form. Methodology of the research is based on humanistic, progressive training concepts, also on the principle of intergration. Results of the research:  Lithuanian language teachers who teach children with special needs usually apply typical methods of teaching: explanation, conversation, independent tasks, other ways of helping a pupil.  Teachers state lack of competence in organising teaching/ learning process with children of special needs. They also stress that they have enough skills to encourage self-help and development of potential possibilities of children with special needs.  Children are able to fulfill... [to full text]