National Special Education Research Articles

Effects of dietary intake on cognitive skills of physically challenged children.

Objective: To determine how a child’s dietary intake affected their growth and cognitive skills when physically challenged in Faisalabad City, Pakistan. Study Design: Cross Sectional Study. Setting: Tanzeem ul Lisan, the Government Special Education Center, Al Faisal Markaz e Nabina, and Government National Special Education Center. Period: January 2023 to December 2023. Method: One hundred special children were selected randomly, face-to-face interviews were conducted, and collected data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: Indicated that male participants aged 10 to 15 years were prominent, whereas 20% each had ADHD, autism, blindness, and deafness. Many participants maintain an active or very active lifestyle despite a significant portion not engaging in regular exercise. Preference for home-cooked meals, moderate consumption of dietary supplements, variation in water intake, and frequency of eating out were found. Respondents' Common issues include difficulty making decisions, remembering personal information, and learning new content. Based on the results, cognitive training programs are recommended to increase awareness among children and their families. Conclusion: In the nutshell, results concluded that dietary intake of special children were associated with physical growth and cognitive skills. Majority of the children were not following normal dietary pattern and the chances of micronutrient deficiencies was higher. Results showed that socioeconomic conditions, type of disorder/ disability, low education of parents, awareness about good nutrition were significantly associated with healthy eating habits and physical growth of special children.

EDUCAÇÃO ESPECIAL NA PERSPECTIVA INCLUSIVA

This case study brings reflections on possibilities for implementing the concept of a school for all in everyday school life, reinforcing the importance of the struggle movement for people with disabilities in our country. It focuses on the situation of Special Education in the municipality of Miracema/RJ based on a comparative analysis between the Municipal Education Plan (2015-2025) and normative and political devices (such as: the National Education Plan, the Law of Guidelines and Bases of Education and the National Policy on Special Education from the Perspective of Inclusive Education) that guarantee education for all as a human right. The work carried out by the municipality's Specialized Assistance Center (NAE) is also analyzed. Methodologically, the study was carried out taking bibliographic and documentary research as its starting point. It is theoretically based on authors such as: Paulo Freire, Maria Tereza Mantoan and Rita de Cassia Fumegalli. It is concluded that the municipality of Miracema has been expanding its horizons with regard to the implementation of what is implied by goal 4 of the National Education Plan and the National Special Education Policy from the Perspective of Inclusive Education, seeking to promote a break with related social prejudices to the education of students with disabilities, charting a new path, where the commitment is to an education that proposes to be universal, which must include diversity, moving away from standardized models, which do not respect the reality of students and their families and promote scenarios of exclusion and school failure.

Results of a Competency-Based Approach to Prepare General Educators to Effectively Include Students with Disabilities

Research has shown that general educators may lack the competencies to effectively include students with disabilities, thus widening the gaps in outcomes between students with disabilities and their peers. In this study, we outline the development and implementation of a competency-based continuing education program, designed to equip general educators to effectively include students with disabilities (SWDs) and earn special education certification. This paper presents the results of a program evaluation conducted using both validated measures and author-developed instruments. Participants included general education teachers, instructional coaches, and those in similar roles. Results indicated that participants significantly increased their knowledge of professional standards, demonstrated knowledge in high-leverage practices, and showed high levels of self-efficacy to implement inclusive practices. We discuss these results, emphasizing the timeliness of this nontraditional approach and its implications for teacher preparation, research, and policy amid the troubling national special education teacher shortage. Namely, this approach epitomizes a model that allows leaders to strategically utilize their existing workforce to address vacancies in special education and emphasizes that the responsibility to support SWDs rests squarely upon all educators.

Cartografias da Educação Inclusiva na Educação Especial: Produção Científica, Políticas e Práticas

ABSTRACT In this paper, we present a portrait of inclusive education policies in Special Education. We analyze the scientific production, education policies and the current educational reality, considering the 16 years of the National Special Education Policy from the Perspective of Inclusive Education. In methodological terms, we analyzed federal documents and the School Census produced by the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (INEP), as well as the scientific production of the Revista Brasileira de Educação Especial (RBEE). The findings were compared with qualitative data produced in education networks that are part of the Permanent Special Education Forum from the perspective of Inclusive Education in Baixada e Sul Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The results indicate a set of challenges in guaranteeing Inclusive Education within the scope of Special Education: setbacks in offering educational support, weaknesses in intersectoral policies/programs, educational inequity and theoretical and practical problems in the conception of Inclusive Education in Special Education.

The Effectiveness of School Leaders' Leadership in National Special Education School in Kuala Lumpur

Every school needs a comprehensive plan to produce well-rounded students who meet their physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and social needs. Therefore, the success of a school is determined by the cohesive cooperation between the school community and the stakeholders managed by the school leader. However, a research study found that leaders in special education schools still need to understand the necessary leadership strategies to implement. Failure to do so can result in weak or ineffective leadership. Hence, this study analyzed the leadership level of school leaders in special education schools in Kuala Lumpur. The data was obtained through a quantitative method, which involved conducting a survey using questionnaires as the research instrument. The questionnaire was distributed to 66 special education school teachers. The results showed that the leadership level of special education school leaders for the domain of creating a conducive school environment (overall min: 2.70), improving the competence of school members (overall min: 2.48), and creating partnerships and networking (overall min: 2.63) was at a modest level. Therefore, the stakeholders in the Regional Education Office, State Education Department, and the Malaysian Ministry of Education need to collaborate and channel their efforts towards raising the leadership capabilities of special education school leaders to the highest possible level. It will enable the implementation of the PPPM 2013-2025 goal to place high-achieving leaders in every school.

National special education policy: Scope review protocol

This article presents the protocol for a Scoping Review on the National Special Education Policy through Decree No. 10,502, dated September 30, 2020, which establishes the creation of the National Policy on Special Education: Equitable, Inclusive, and Lifelong Learning, with legal tensions. The aim is to examine the development, scope, and clear understanding of publications in research, seeking answers in the literature about the content of publications in the field of National Special Education Policy from 2020 onwards. This is a qualitative study of a Scoping Review, following the methodology of the Manual for Evidence Synthesis by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). The PCC (Population, Concept, Context) strategy will be used to define the research question and inclusion and exclusion criteria. The search and database selection strategy will be developed with the guidance of a specialist in digital search strategy and will include multiple databases such as Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), National Library of Medicine (PubMed), SCOPUS, WEB OF SCIENCE, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scientific Electronic Library Online (SCIELO), and Google Scholar. Descriptors and synonyms will be used according to the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). This protocol has been registered on the Open Science Framework (OSF) under the DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/HJD3C. It is expected that this protocol will contribute to the findings regarding the national policy of Special Education in Brazil.

Comparison of Powered Toothbrushes and Manual Toothbrushes in Removing Dental Plaque among Children with hearing Disabilities: A Randomized Pilot Study

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the the effectiveness of plaque removal between manual and powered toothbrushes in hearing impaired children. Maintaining a good quality of life requires optimal levels of oral hygiene. In differently abled subjects, manual dexterity may be slightly compromised, which is why powered toothbrushes were initially designed to help overcome the slight deficit. METHODOLOGY: A parallel arm, randomized study was conducted. Twenty two congenitally hearing-impaired participants aged eighteen to twenty two of age were recruited from National Special Education Centre for Hearing Impaired Children,Islamabad. They were randomly divided into two groups of eleven participants. Plaque levels were evaluated on the first day and plaque removal effectiveness of powered toothbrushes compared with manual toothbrush was checked on the eighth day. Plaque scores were evaluated using the simplified Oral Hygiene Index and Turesky's Modification of Quigley Hein Plaque Index. RESULTS: No significant difference of Mean score in effectiveness of plaque removal between manual and powered toothbrushes was seen. CONCLUSIONS: Manual and powered toothbrushes are equally effective at plaque . More studies highlighting cost effectiveness and patient's perception regarding ease of use are required to confirm results. KEYWORDS: Differently abled patients, manual toothbrushes, electric toothbrushes, oral hygiene.

An Investigation into the Attitude Toward Special Education Curriculum and Teaching of Special Education Teachers: The Data from China’s Guangdong Province

To further understand the curriculum and teaching attitude of teachers in special education schools in Guangdong Province, this study adopted a stratified whole-group unequal probability sampling method and selected 768 teachers from special education schools in Guangdong Province’s 21 cities for a questionnaire survey. The data on special education teachers’ attitudes towards special education curriculum and teaching were selected. Descriptive statistics, one-sample t-test, independent sample t-test, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data and compared with the data of special education teachers’ attitudes towards special education curriculum and teaching in the National Survey of Special Education Teacher Professional Development (NSETPDS). The results indicated that the cognitive response of special education teachers in Guangdong Province to the special education curriculum and teaching attitude is positive (M=1.81, SD=0.51), significantly higher than that of the national special education teachers. The emotional response and general attitude were positive but significantly lower than that of the national special education teachers. The attitude of male special education teachers toward the special education curriculum and teaching was significantly higher than that of female special education teachers. Special education teachers with more than 20 years of teaching experience had a more positive attitude towards special education curriculum and teaching than those with 1-5 years of teaching experience. Based on the analysis of the research results, some suggestions are put forward to provide a basis for the professional development of teachers in Guangdong Province.

Characterization of English Braille Patterns Using Automated Tools and RICA Based Feature Extraction Methods.

Braille is used as a mode of communication all over the world. Technological advancements are transforming the way Braille is read and written. This study developed an English Braille pattern identification system using robust machine learning techniques using the English Braille Grade-1 dataset. English Braille Grade-1 dataset was collected using a touchscreen device from visually impaired students of the National Special Education School Muzaffarabad. For better visualization, the dataset was divided into two classes as class 1 (1–13) (a–m) and class 2 (14–26) (n–z) using 26 Braille English characters. A position-free braille text entry method was used to generate synthetic data. N = 2512 cases were included in the final dataset. Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Trees (DT) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) with Reconstruction Independent Component Analysis (RICA) and PCA-based feature extraction methods were used for Braille to English character recognition. Compared to PCA, Random Forest (RF) algorithm and Sequential methods, better results were achieved using the RICA-based feature extraction method. The evaluation metrics used were the True Positive Rate (TPR), True Negative Rate (TNR), Positive Predictive Value (PPV), Negative Predictive Value (NPV), False Positive Rate (FPR), Total Accuracy, Area Under the Receiver Operating Curve (AUC) and F1-Score. A statistical test was also performed to justify the significance of the results.

Muda o governo, mudam as políticas? O caso da política nacional de educação especial

ABSTRACT Policy change events generates conflicts due to the change in the status quo and the dispute over the allocation of resources. This paper analyzes the attempt to change the Special Education policy, after the government changes that occurred between 2016 and 2019 in Brazil. For this, a categorical analysis of contend is made in documents produced during the review of the National Special Education Policy from the Perspective of Inclusive Education (Política Nacional de Educação Especial na Perspectiva da Educação Inclusiva). It was found that the proposed amendment promotes the discontinuity of school inclusion by reorganizing the responsibilities of the family, the State and the market in schooling and specialized educational assistance; resuming the Special Education model as a modality outside the regular education system; encouraging the training of professionals to work in specialized institutions; and by basing the learning assessment on standardized goals and objectives for disability.

특수교육 기본교육과정의 개정 방향을 위한 제언

National special education curriculum is a fundamental standard of education for students with disabilities. There is currently a nation-wide research being conducted to reform the national special education curriculum. The purpose of this study was to present suggestions for the development of the 2022 Basic Curriculum for Special Education. The ultimate goal of special education is to improve the independence of students with disabilities, helping them to succeed in their present and future lives in a variety of settings such as home, school, community, and job. The study suggested three approaches for reforming the national basic curriculum for special education. The first approach was to use a functional life skills curriculum for reforming the special education basic curriculum. The second was to use a unified subjects approach for the reform of the basic curriculum for special education. Finally, the third approach was to infuse the content of the basic curriculum for special education with functional subject contents. The study ends with a discussion of these approaches as they pertain to the reform of the nation-wide special education curriculum for students with disabilities.

Detection of Touchscreen-Based Urdu Braille Characters Using Machine Learning Techniques

Revolution in technology is changing the way visually impaired people read and write Braille easily. Learning Braille in its native language can be more convenient for its users. This study proposes an improved backend processing algorithm for an earlier developed touchscreen-based Braille text entry application. This application is used to collect Urdu Braille data, which is then converted to Urdu text. Braille to text conversion has been done on Hindi, Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, English, and other languages. For this study, Urdu Braille Grade 1 data were collected with multiclass (39 characters of Urdu represented by class 1, Alif (ﺍ), to class 39, Bri Yay (ے). Total (N = 144) cases for each class were collected. The dataset was collected from visually impaired students from The National Special Education School. Visually impaired users entered the Urdu Braille alphabets using touchscreen devices. The final dataset contained (N = 5638) cases. Reconstruction Independent Component Analysis (RICA)-based feature extraction model is created for Braille to Urdu text classification. The multiclass was categorized into three groups (13 each), i.e., category-1 (1–13), Alif-Zaal (ﺫ - ﺍ), category-2 (14–26), Ray-Fay (ﻒ - ﺮ), and category-3 (27–39), Kaaf-Bri Yay (ے - ﻕ), to give better vision and understanding. The performance was evaluated in terms of true positive rate, true negative rate, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, false positive rate, total accuracy, and area under the receiver operating curve. Among all the classifiers, support vector machine has achieved the highest performance with a 99.73% accuracy. For comparisons, robust machine learning techniques, such as support vector machine, decision tree, and K-nearest neighbors were used. Currently, this work has been done on only Grade 1 Urdu Braille. In the future, we plan to enhance this work using Grade 2 Urdu Braille with text and speech feedback on touchscreen-based android phones.

MALI

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Malian population is 18,1 million. Persons with disabilities are 2 247 500, that is 15% of the total population. According to the 2003 household survey, the most prevalent forms of disabilities include visual, motor disabilities, cerebral driving handicap, intellectual disabilities and psychosocial handicap and albinism. The Republic of Mali signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), as well as its Optional protocol on 15 May 2007. The CRDP and the Optional Protocol have been ratified on 7 April, 2008. Through the CRDP Art. 35, the Republic of Mali was supposed to submit its country report on 24 June 2019. Through Art. 2 the Constitution of Mali, all Malians are born and remain free and equal in rights and duties. Any discrimination based on disability is therefore prohibited. In addition, the Constitution indirectly addresses disabilities through Art. 1 affirms that ‘the human person is sacred and inviolable. Every individual has the Right to life, liberty, security and integrity of his or her person. The Republic of Mali has an important pieces of legislation that directly address disability. The key one is the Law 2018-027, of 12 June 2018 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The policies that directly address persons with disabilities are: The Policy of Solidarity (since 1993) which aims to reduce inequalities, provide social protection and promote the socio-economic development of vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities and the National Special Education Policy (1999). Mali has the following programmes: The National program of Rehabilitation on Community Basis (RBC) since 1998 is to raise the awareness of families of children with disabilities, their rehabilitation and their rehabilitation at home; the Health and Social Development Program, the Ten-Year Health and Social Development Plan (2014-2023); and the Strategic Plan for the Promotion of Persons with Disabilities (2015-2024). Other than ordinary courts or tribunals, the Republic of Mali does not have an official body which specifically addresses the violation of the Rights of people with disabilities. The Republic of Mali has a National Human Rights Commission, since 2016. There are numerous organisations that represent and advocate for the rights and welfare of persons with disabilities in Mali, represented by the Malian Federation of Associations of Disabled persons which is an umbrella body of around 20 organisations. In Mali, the Ministry of Solidarity and Humanitarian Action is in charge of people with disabilities. The Ministry develops and implements policies and strategies in favour of disabled people. Persons with disabilities encounter multiple levels of exclusion and discrimination. As far as access is concerned, although laws provide for access to public buildings, employment, in practice, very little is done to ensure access for persons with disabilities. The Republic of Mali should conduct reliable specific household census of persons with disabilities, taking into account women, children and elderly persons with disabilities.

Role of Mobile Technology in Vocabulary Development of Students with Hearing Impairment

Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative research was to identify the role of mobile technology in the vocabulary development of students with hearing impairment.
 Methodology: The population of study involved students with hearing impairment from schools in Lahore. A sample of 80 students studying at National Special Education Center, Johar Town Lahore, and Govt. Degree College of Special Education, Lahore was selected studying from 7th grade to bachelors. A self-developed and validated questionnaire was used to elicit students` responses on the usage of mobile technology in the aspect of reading, writing, social media and grammar and punctuation skills. Data was collected personally by going to the institutions and distributing the questionnaires among students. A sign language interpreter translated the questions in sign language and the students gave appropriate answers. The collected data was analysed on SPSS. Independent sample t-test was used to see differences in the vocabulary development based on the usage, age, gender, and grade of the students.
 Findings: Major findings revealed that mobile technology is playing a significant role in learning vocabulary among students with hearing impairment. It has played a major role in learning new words and connecting with the world more quickly.
 Implications: This technology should be used for academic purposes to improve their language skills and bridge the communication gap. Conclusions were drawn and recommendations to Punjab Special Education Department of Pakistan were made.

Optical Braille Blocks for Visually Impaired Elementary Education

Learning through play has always proved its effectiveness in elementary education and has yielded prolific results. Although there are trained instructors, special schools, specific toys and facilities for Visually Impaired (VI), yet the communication between tutors and special children holds a significant gap. Also, tools in market are either too expensive or available in limited quantity in underdeveloped countries. This paper presents a cost effective solution for visually impaired children to play and learn via Braille blocks. These blocks are designed by embossed motives representing numbers, alphabets, shapes and mathematical operators with Infra-Red (IR) tags. The blocks transmit Infrared codes when come in contact with the system. The Braille Blocks System consists of a battery, optical detectors and controller which performs detection and processing of selected IR pattern. This system comprises of three different learning modules namely Words Game, Shapes Game and Math Game. These modules are further divided into several sub-game sections so that the children can learn and improve their communication and academic skills. The presence of audio feedback elevates a child’s capabilities to memorize and concentrate on self-learning and spatial coordination in a fascinating way. The designed system was tested on 20 blind children in “National Special Education Complex” Karachi, Pakistan and an assessment was conducted on basis of different types of errors encountered by children. The suitability of the system was also evaluated by taking feedback from blind students through a questionnaire, proving its effectiveness with 79% of blind children giving either good or very good feedback.

Analysis of the Connection between the Functional Life Skills of Ecological Curriculum and the Subject Standards for the Achievement of National Special Education Basic Curriculum by Grade-cluster

Analysis of the Connection between the Functional Life Skills of Ecological Curriculum and the Subject Standards for the Achievement of National Special Education Basic Curriculum by Grade-cluster

As pesquisas em educação especial na ANPEd: a produção do conhecimento nas reuniões científicas nacionais

This paper presents an analysis of the researches published in the last six Annual Scientific Meetings of ANPEd (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017), specifically in the Special Education Working Group (WG 15). Data analysis showed, among other elements, that a significant number of researches are focused on public policies, deafness, pedagogical practices and Specialized Educational Attendance, research interests that may be related to the National Special Education Policy proposition of 2008.

A Cultural Approach To The Study Of Inclusive Education

Introduction. In recent years, the problems of studying the value of inclusive education have become relevant in national education and society. The article examines the influence of cultural values on the development of inclusive education in Ukraine, on the definition of its goals and content and the leading role of its humanistic component in the spiritual, moral and intellectual formation of students on the basis of assimilation of their socio-cultural values. The aim of the article is to study the inculturation of people with special educational needs in the context of the development of national special education. The tasks of the article are to consider the education peculiarities of the children with special educational needs in the institutions of inclusive education in the cultural aspect, to explore the importance of the socio-cultural environment for their development. Research methods. The paper uses general scientific and special research methods. The main among them was the method of analysis. In addition, induction, deduction, etc. were used. Research results. The necessity of introducing culturogical perspective while setting goals for the inclusive education and evaluation of its capabilities is addressed in the article. In the process of education of the people with disabilities it is important to take into account their specific cultural needs. Recognition of the special cultural needs imply the description of the particular system of relationships, the identification systems, the specificity of the constituent elements of cultural environment adequate for people with disabilities, emphasizing the importance of a group as a condition of human development, searching for the language of communication, both for internal needs of this group and for communication with other groups. The need to revise the conceptions of culture in contemporary theory and practice of inclusion is justified towards a more productive use of cultural knowledge in the process of creating a developmental learning environment. The possibility application of cultural forms which can be found in the arsenal of traditional cultures and artistic practices of contemporary art are discussed in creating supportive social and cultural environment that promotes inclusion of people with disabilities into society. Discussion. The views on the content of the inclusive education concept are analyzed. The author substantiates the expediency to denote this term of education for all children who study in a general educational institution. Conclusion. The introduction of elements of social and cultural activities into the inclusive educational process will help the actors of inclusive process master cultural standards and patterns of behavior, meet the spiritual needs and needs for communication, will contribute to their positive perceptions of each other and change the attitude towards the phenomenon of disability. The creative social and cultural environment of the inclusive educational space makes it possible to facilitate the socialization of children with special educational needs.

ADAPTAR, ADEQUAR, DIFERENCIAR: reflexões a partir das políticas curriculares para o público-alvo da Educação Especial

O presente artigo tem como objetivo investigar como no conjunto de documentos que estamos nomeando como políticas curriculares, especialmente cinco textos curriculares criados pós Política Nacional de Educação Especial na perspectiva da Educação Inclusiva, em 2008, vêm evidenciando movimentos curriculares como adaptação, adequação ou diferenciação curricular como formas de inclusão do público-alvo da Educação Especial. O desenvolvimento metodológico deste trabalho deu-se por meio de pesquisa documental, investigando-se alguns dos textos políticos se referem a estes movimentos e que advogam na defesa de um determinado termo como processo de inclusão. Esta pesquisa fez parte do projeto intitulado “Escolarização de alunos com deficiência intelectual: políticas públicas, processos cognitivos e avaliação da aprendizagem” que procurou investigar as formas de escolarização dos alunos com deficiência intelectual inseridos na sala de aula regular e no Atendimento Educacional Especializado. Essa discussão, portanto, é um aprofundamento de questões curriculares presentes no projeto. A análise das políticas curriculares realizadas neste artigo identificou que poucas são as evidências dos movimentos curriculares de adaptação, flexibilização e/ou diferenciação curricular como possibilidades para a inclusão dos alunos público-alvo da Educação Especial. De acordo com a leitura atenta, por meio das políticas curriculares pesquisadas, os tipos de movimentos curriculares aqui conceituados não são representados como formas efetivas de possibilidade de trabalho pedagógico para o público-alvo da Educação Especial.

The Relationships of Socioeconomic Factors and Special Education with Reading Outcomes across PISA Countries

ABSTRACT This study investigates the multivariate relationships among socioeconomic factors, special education coverage (SEC), and reading across countries participating in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Three socioeconomic factors were considered: (a) gross national income per capita, (b) income inequality via the Gini index, and (c) female adult literacy. Two education outcomes were examined: (a) school life expectancy (SLE), and (b) reading performance in the PISA 2009 and 2010 assessments. A structural equation model linking socioeconomic factors, education context factors, and SEC to reading and SLE was tested on 67 PISA countries. The model accounted for 63% of the variance in SEC, 71% of the variance in SLE, and 80% of the variance in reading performance. Special education coverage contributed significantly to SLE and reading. The roles of national economy and special education coverage in predicting reading are discussed.