Special education, also called special needs education, the education of children who differ socially, mentally, or physically from the average to such an extent that they require modifications of usual school practices. Special education serves children with emotional, behavioral, or cognitive impairments or with intellectual, hearing, vision, speech, or learning disabilities; gifted children with advanced academic abilities; and children with orthopedic or neurological impairments.
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2013, April 25). special education. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Education designed to facilitate the learning of individuals who, for a wide variety of reasons, require additional support and adaptive pedagogical methods in order to participate and meet learning objectives in an educational programme. Reasons may include (but are not limited to) disadvantages in physical, behavioural, intellectual, emotional and social capacities. Educational programmes in special needs education may follow a similar curriculum as that offered in the parallel regular education system, however they take individuals’ particular needs into account by providing specific resources (e.g. specially trained personnel, equipment, or space) and, if appropriate, modified educational content or learning objectives. These programmes can be offered for individual students within already existing educational programmes, or be offered as a separate class in the same or separate educational institutions.
As classes resume in the Philippines, special education teachers are reminding us that children with special needs experience online learning differently.
"Failon Ngayon" talks about autism for better understanding, and the Philippine authorities’ capability to provide aid and support children with special needs.
The classroom is a complex environment. If not explicitly managed it can quickly turn into a collection of smaller groups that happen to be in the same room rather than an inclusive whole. See how this, sometimes overlooked, aspect can make a profound difference.
Bobby's story is part of the Inclusion Ready Projects' What's my Story? Digital stories of inclusion. This series of videos aim to raise awareness about inclusion and the opportunities of the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) grants to support inclusion activities in communities.