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Scope of Special Education
Special education covers a lot of ground. In reality, as new study discoveries emerge on a global scale, the scope of special education is expanding and evolving.
- Children with visual impairments (blind and low vision), hearing impairments (deaf and hard-of-hearing children), mental retardation (mentally challenged children), learning disability (reading disability, writing disability, and numerical disability), speech impairments (auditory disorder, vocal disorder, stuttering, cleft palate, etc.), orthopaedic impairments (spina bifida, poliomyelitis, muscular dystrophy, etc.), and orthopaedic disabilities (spina Children that are delinquent, mentally unstable, or socially disadvantaged are sometimes included in special education programmes. Some authorities also classify gifted and artistic youngsters as special education students.
- Special education is available to students who are slightly, moderately, or severely disabled. Children with mild to moderate disabilities often attend ordinary schools, while those with severe disabilities attend residential schools and special schools. The pattern has shifted as a result of the 1994 World Conference on Special Education Needs in Spain and the 1995 passage of the PWD Act in India. In inclusive schools, it is now advocated that special education be offered to all children, regardless of the severity of their disabilities.
- The definition of special education includes identifying children with disabilities based on their physical and behavioural traits, evaluating those children (through medical, psychological, and functional assessments), and providing them with care and rehabilitation.
- The placement of disabled children in the appropriate setting forms an important part of the scope of special education. There are various placement settings such as Residential schools, Special schools, Special classes in regular schools, Part-time placement in the regular classes and part-time placement in the special class, and Full-time placement in inclusive schools. Placement of disabled children in a particular setting depends upon the degree of disability, nature and extent of previous training and experiences of the disabled child and his special educational needs.
- The field of special education covers a variety of intervention strategies, including preventative, remedial, and compensating approaches on the academic, administrative, social, and environmental levels.
- Special education also covers a variety of auxiliary services including medical treatment and check-ups for students and instructors.
- An essential component of special education is the provision of aids and equipment to satisfy the requirements of children with exceptionalities. Teachers purchase and create these items.
