Inclusive education allows for universal inclusion, participation and
achievement of all children, including children with specific learning
difficulties (SpLD). Children with SpLD form a heterogeneous group
with diverse cognitive deficits, special educational needs (SEN) and
strengths, and have a legislated right to the continuum of both assistance
and support programmes. Although their intellectual capacity is average
or above average, their learning achievements in some learning domains
are modest, and they are poorly integrated into their social environ
-
ment, which often results in their discrimination. Barriers and oppor
-
tunities in the area of SpLD were analysed with the aid of Ball’s model
(1994), with factors and conditions being analysed within the contexts
of policy influence, text production and practice. The contexts of policy
influence and text production provide the basic conditions for the in
-
clusive education of children with SpLD. The context of influence on in
-
clusive policy for children with SpLD represents a systematic approach
to policy initiation and to the prerequisites for its implementation in
practice. The context of policy text production focuses on professionals
and their impact on the enactment of the rights of children with severe
SpLD. The context of practice concerns barriers and opportunities for
implementing inclusion in practice. Early identification and diagnosis of
pupils’ strengths, deficits and SEN, together with intensified treatment
corresponding to the SEN of children with SpLD, could significantly in
-
fluence the efficiency of the educational process. Barriers, primarily of
an immaterial nature, are mainly encountered in those schools that do
not implement the five-tier Response to Intervention (RTI) approach.
This approach enables children with SpLD a continuum of team-based
diagnostic evaluation, effective adaptations and assistance. The main
reasons for the unfavourable situation concern education professionals and their attitude towards children with SpLD, poor knowledge of
SpLD, a lack of teamwork in problem solving, and a lack of partnership
commitment between education professionals, parents and children. It
is expected that changes could be brought about through innovations in
the education of future teachers, and through positive cases of children
with SpLD being treated effectively in practice. The conditions for the
development of the inclusive treatment of children with SpLD could be
created through legislative and systematic work.
|
