Approaches to Develop Curriculum / Curricular Adaptation
to Children with Visual Impairment for Inclusive Eduction
Rajnish Kumar Arya
Consultant
Special & Inclusive Education, Raipur
Email:
rajnish.spledu_bhu@yahoo.com
Overview:
"Inclusion," "full inclusion" and
"inclusive education" are terms which recently have been narrowly
defined by some (primarily educators of students with severe disabilities) to
espouse the philosophy that ALL students with disabilities, regardless of the nature
or the severity of their disability, receive their TOTAL education within the
regular education environment. This philosophy is based on the relatively
recent placement of a limited number of students with severe disabilities in
regular classrooms. Research conducted by proponents of this philosophy lacks
empirical evidence that this practice results in programs which are better able
to prepare ALL students with visual impairments to be more fully included in
society than the current practice, of providing a full range of program
options. (AFB)
The right to inclusive education is a civil
right that nurtures appropriate social development. Inclusive education
provides children with special needs the opportunity to
learn in an environment that offers them
the opportunity for friendships
and role models. For children without special needs it is the opportunity to
learn about, and be accepting of differences, and learning to
be sensitive to need of others. In an ideal world all children study
together, under teachers who are sensitive, creative and committed, and who use
wonderful experiential and multi sensory approaches that enable the most
marginalized child to learn. (Barua, 2013)
Today a large percentage of students
visual disabilities spend over 80 percent of their school
in general education classrooms. Nearly 88 percent of low vision
and blind students receive their education at a neighborhood school, possibly
with the support from a resource
specialist or itinerant tacher. (OSEP, 2008) These students participated in general
education curriculum with their sighted classmates perform well
academically.
The National Curriculum Framework (NCERT,
2005) is an inclusive curriculum that realizes the importance of including
and retaining all children in school through a programme that reaffirms the
value of each child and enables all children to experience dignity and the
confidence to learn. The National Curriculum Framework 2005 speaks:
For teaching to serve as a means of strengthening our democratic
way of life, it must respond to the presence of first generation school-goers,
whose retention is imperative owing to the Constitutional amendment that has made
elementary education a fundamental right of every child. Ensuring health,
nutrition and an inclusive school environment empowering all children in their
learning, across differences of caste, religion, gender, disability, is
enjoined upon us by the Constitutional amendment.
A policy of inclusion needs to be implemented in all schools and
throughout our education system. The participation of all children needs to be
ensured in all spheres of their life in and outside the school. Schools need to
become centers that prepare children for life and ensure that all children,
especially the differently abled….
This includes children with disabilities, who may need assistance
or more time to complete their assigned tasks. It would be even better if,
while planning for such activities, the teacher discusses them with all the
children in the class, and ensures that each child is given an opportunity to
contribute. When planning, therefore, teachers must pay special attention to
ensuring the participation of all. This would become a marker of their
effectiveness as teachers. (Arya, 2013)
Curriculum: It is a design PLAN for learning that requires the purposeful and
proactive ,organization sequencing, and management of the interactions among the teacher,
the students and the content knowledge we want students to acquire..
According to G. Hass, “The curriculum is all of the experiences that individual learners
have in a programme of education whose purpose is to achieve broad goals and
related specific objectives, which are planned in terms of a framework of
theory and research or past and professional practice.”
Curriculum and Schools: In India schools are governed by several boards of education. Apart from
national boards, such as the CBSE and ICSE, there are several others with
smaller jurisdiction- such as those at the state level, (in case of
Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarh Shiksha Mandal, Raipur). Each one of these boards
prescribes a curriculum that is given to schools to follow. (Kapur,
2011)
Most of children with Visual Impairment
require adaptation in curriculum and assertive devices to
access the general education and succeed at school. One
important rule applies : Each individual has different needs, so different
responses to those needs are necessary. In other words, there is no single
answer to the question “What adaptation benefit
students with Visual Impairment?” Adaptation fir Inclusive
environment so classrooms are safe and maximal learning can occur. (Smith and Tyler, 2010)
The following principles should be kept in
the mind while adapting the curriculum for Children with Visual Impairment in
inclusive classroom:
·
The adaptation should not change the original concept of the curriculum
used because the objective of adaptation is to provide the some learning
experiences to both normal and CWVI.
·
For providing same experiences, compensatory activities should be planned
in such a way that the child gets a holistic picture of the concept
taught in the regular classes. The objective of the instructional materiel should
remain same for both normal and CWVI.
·
Modification in the instructional material should not disturb the
majority of normal children in IED classes. The teacher has to be alert in
providing modifications in the learning experiences in such a way that it
motivates both normal and CWVI.
·
The adaptation in instructional material and methods is done in the light
of the educational needs of disabled child studying in the IED class, in such a
way that the interest of the majority of normal learners is sustained in the
classroom participation.
·
A possible strategy of adjustment in the instructional material
can be outline the proposed teaching and learning
points, analyzing the needs and type of adjustments at
various level, preparation of supportive materials and
planning of group activities. (Sharma, 1988)
Guidelines for Adaptation:
The following things should be done while adapting the
plan in the classroom setup:
·
More auditory and tactile aids should be given to compensate for visual
deficits.
·
More verbal cues should be provided while explaining the concept in
class.
·
Three dimensional teaching and learning aids should be provided ti
the children to provide a whole experience of the concept.
·
The management of the class should be determined in the light of child’s
limitation .
·
A multi sensory approach should be used to provide complete
learning experience to the child.
·
The teacher should take care of words in instruction like ‘see’, ‘look’ etc. and at the time of use of these
word a special attention may be given to the CWVI e.g. By calling the name of any CWVI, deal
the point or facts as well as provide the tactile TLM to him/ her.
Rules for
Curriculum Adaptation to Children with Visual Impairment:
In our country there is
any separate or special curriculum for children with
Special Needs. So the students who are either studying in any setup
of schools have to study the curriculum which is draft to the so
called abled children. While adopting the curriculum for Children with Visual
impairment one have to follow a set of rule which is frequently termed as MODS
i.e. Modification, Omission, Duplication and Substitution.
·
Modification: In it teacher usually have to do some small correction in the
content of the topic or lesson like “See
above given picture and tell what is going on?” by this “Have this picture and feel and tell
what is going on?”
·
Omission: When there no
any rule of modification, duplication and substitution work then teacher
usually omit that vary content.
·
Duplication: In many case the content printed in general book is not
available in the Braille book or large Print book, then either
teacher itself or some time other develop that vary content, is termed
as duplication.
·
Substitution: In Elementary level curriculum there is lots of use of concrete ideas.
When it turn a bit difficult to transit
to the CWVI. Then teacher replace that vary content for CWVI and taught them
another content having similar experience. This
process is termed as substitution.
Learning occurs best for Students with Visual
Impairments when they are actively involved in the task. In India NCERT’s have
developed the exemplar syllabus at Elementary level highlighting the
curricular adaptations:
o
Language (I - VIII)
o
Environmental Studies (III - V)
o
Social Science (VI - VIII)
o
General Science (VI - VIII)
o
Mathematics (I - VIII)
Some Adaptation should be done as
per the nature of the subject. It is as below:
Language: Learning language does not pose extract ordinary
difficulties for the Visually Impaired. However -
o
The student with Visual Impairment should be provided language book in
Braille, or enlarged print along with the tape recorded
version.
o
Most of the teachers use oral-aural method of teaching. Some of them write
on the blackboard which may pose difficulties. The teachers should be
encouraged to speak while writing.
o
The teachers should also inform the students regarding the text
being used in the next few days so that s/he can bring only the required
text to classroom as the Braille Books are bulky and the students need to read
and write.
Environmental Studies (EVS): This covers area like Family and
Friends, Food, Shelter, Travel, Things what we make and do. The
Children with Visual Impairment have no problem with the verbal content of the
EVS regardless of the media they use. However-
o
Non-verbal content which includes pictures, maps, globes, diagrams etc. may
pose problems. It can be taught by using supplementary material in
Braille, Tactile Aids, and verbal descriptions of
the graphic material.
o
The Visually Impaired Students can be included in all activities like discussions,
stories, singing, actual visits to places etc.
o
Some concepts need to be explained more in detail because
of lack of experience.
Social Sciences: It covers topic like History,
Geography, Social and Political Life, Diversity and Interdependence, Democracy
and Equality , rule of Law and Social Justice. So The students with Visual
Impairment would not face any problem with the verbal content. However, the
Geography mostly and History partially relies on maps and globes. Also the
textbooks may contain graphs, diagrams,and tables that related relevant
data. It is important
that The students with Visual Impairment must be given the concept of Maps from
an early age.
Mathematics: A number of skills are involved in
learning mathematics and variations exist in mastery
levels depending on factors like intelligence, aptitude etc.
Braille Books are not available and also depend upon a
different Braille Code which again causes difficulty.
o
In addition to Textbooks, educational aids are important for learning
mathematics.
o
Oral Mathematics need to be practiced and use of calculator with
speech outputs, enlarged displays is helpful.
o
Teachers should give only representational samples of home works
and very long assignments as the child may required a long
time to do the computational work.
Science: In classes from VI – VIII,
the concepts covered under science are Food, Materials, The World and the
Living, Moving things, People and Ideas, How things work, natural Phenomenon,
Natural Resources. Teaching of concepts under this would involve a number of
experiments, demonstrations and other activities. Children with Visual
Impairment need to be taught using the multi sensory approach that involves all
modalities other than vision.
Source: This is
the modified form of lecture given by Rajinsh Kr. Arya during CRE
programme sponsored by Rehabilitation
Council of India, New Delhi and organised by AAKANKSHA, Lions School for
the Mentally Handicapped, Avanti Vihar, Raipur on dated 22nd November, 2013
