IS IT TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO SPED CLASSES?
With early intervention, special needs children can excel in school. But is it time to rethink special education classes and make mainstream classes more inclusive instead?
A six-year-old boy sits in one corner of his house, his head bowed, eyes intent on his lined paper, determined to find out how much four plus four is.
Jerry “JJ” Maque, Jr. was born with Down Syndrome, a chromosomal disorder caused by an error in cell division that results in an extra 21st chromosome. The condition leads to impairments in both cognitive aptitude and physical growth that range from mild to moderate developmental disabilities.
Despite his condition, he goes to a regular private school with an inclusive educational curriculum for special children like him. He awakes at 6 a.m., takes a hired motorcycle with his mother or father, and waves at schoolmates upon his arrival at the school gate, like any other child you might see.
“One’s disabilities are not hindrances to one’s capabilities,” his mother, Candice said.
This is an ongoing discussion among educators and parents of special children: is it best for children like JJ to attend school along with everyone else or would they be better off in special education settings?
According to Dr. Marilyn Miranda, the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Regional Special Education (SPED) supervisor, “Mainstream education is the typical kind of education. Inclusive education is when both special needs children and regular children are mixed with each other but taught at their own independent learning paces. Special education is the educational system that caters to special needs children in a SPED center.”
In school year 2016-2017, 19 special needs children attended mainstream classes in public schools, according to DepEd’s Cebu City Division Office.
According to Miranda, the children are well adjusted. Can they excel in mainstream classes?
“Definitely yes,” Miranda said. “Why not? Any special needs child can excel while undertaking mainstream education, as long as they have the determination and the capability to look beyond their disabilities and focus more on their abilities.”
Yet the lack of facilities, lack of innovation and lack of special training for SPED teachers have kept the education system less efficient than it should be.
“We are the only ones left with special education since everyone else in Southeast Asia has already adopted inclusive education,” Miranda said.
Preparation, assessment
In Cebu Normal University’s Cebu Braille Center, there are 40 visually impaired students in a class. All the blind and low-vision students are college students and their classes are considered as part of mainstream education.
According to center head Leah Tongco, the Braille Center opened in 1979 and since then, there have been at least 1,332 graduates, all of whom are visually impaired individuals who have found steady jobs.
Last year, approximately 40 students graduated from the Braille Center after pursuing various fields of study, including political science, education, math, English, and social work.
“One graduate is now a teacher at the University of Cebu,” Tongco exclaimed.
It was not easy. The students had to undergo tutorial and remedial sessions when they were in the elementary and high school levels, in order to prepare them to cope with the demands of college.
In the Juanito I. King Foundation Inc. ( JIKFI), physical therapist Deanna Maranion believes that mainstream education is good for a child with special needs if he or she is placed in a class that suits his or her cognitive abilities, supports therapy recommendations, and offers an environment that does not discriminate against children with disability or give them special treatment beyond what they actually need.
“My experience with mainstream settings mostly revolves around the assessment of the child’s PT needs, not necessarily the curriculum, or academic practices. From what I have heard, problems with mainstream settings occur when the child is placed in a level that is not appropriate to the capabilities of the child, or in one that curbs his or her potential. In my opinion, these problems arise due to lack of appropriate assessment prior to acceptance or assignment in a grade level. My point is, mainstream is a good choice if the child with special needs is assessed properly prior to acceptance in a grade level,” Maranion said.
Since 1998, Maranion has helped children with cerebral palsy in her pediatric physical therapy practice. Her current patient load in the Early Intervention Subsidy Program, which she directly supervises, includes children with Down syndrome, osteogenesis imperfecta, GDD, autism, Angelman syndrome and Dandy-Walker syndrome. Every Tuesday, she spends her whole day in Barili town, working with children who reside there. On other days, her time is open.
Some of the children JIKFI supports are enrolled in mainstream classes. She said, “These are children with good cognition—appropriate to their age— who have minimal to moderate physical dysfunction. One is an honor student, and the other is a contender in math quiz bees and chess.”
Everything in place?
The Department of Education plans to phase out the SPED system and cultivate the inclusive system by integrating the mainstream system and the SPED system by 2018.
There are mixed reactions to DepEd’s plan.
Maranion believes that not all SPED learners may be ready for an inclusive system.
“If the plan is well thought out and all the details ironed out—resources ready, personnel trained adequately, physical setup in place—then why not? If they go about it in the same way they launched and implemented K to 12, then I don’t think it will succeed,” Maranion said.
Parent Rhea Arriba, however, likes DepEd’s plan, saying she believes that integrated SPED and mainstream education “will raise regular children’s awareness about special needs children, and in that sense would make them understand their situation and prevent them from bullying special needs children.”
Her sons Chryslan and Chrysnel are both Grade 2 pupils in Cebu Normal University’s (CNU) Integrated Laboratory School (ILS). Chryslan, who is totally blind, is among the top students of his class, and made it to the top five last school year. Chrysnel, who is a paraplegic, is also doing well in school.
“I am elated because I don’t have to pay for tuition as my sons are sponsored by the school since they are honor students,” Arriba said.
(Camille Louise Loo and Takako Ohata are studying Media Communications in St. Theresa’s College.)