UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI

CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON INCLUSIVE EDUCATION AND IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING

SUBMITTED TO Dr. ANILA AMBER TESTING THEORY DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

BY TOOBA ZAIDI (B- 0776050) INDUSTRIAL / ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Inclusive education deals with the complete acceptance of all students and leads to a sense of belonging within the classroom community. The proportion of students
with disabilities who are included differ by place and by type of disability, but it is relatively common for students with milder disabilities and less common with certain kinds of severe disabilities. Researches have shown both negative and positive effects of inclusion. One of the most important domain in inclusive education is Psychological testing which is done by educational psychologists. Educational psychologists apply scientific principles of teaching, learning and behavior to help maximize the social, emotional and educational growth and development of children. A wide range of psychological tests have been developed for children. In order to make inclusive education more effective; changes in course content, teaching strategies, standards, test presentation, location, timing, scheduling, expectations, student responses, environmental structuring and appropriate use of psychological testing with the help of educational psychologists should be given importance.

INTRODUCTION

Inclusive education can be defined as providing an equal opportunity to the challenged children with special attention, support and especially designed instructions along with the other children in normal schools. Inclusive education is simply an attempt to eliminate or reduce the differences in education for children.

Inclusion is a philosophy that exerts classrooms and communities are not complete unless children with all needs and gifts are welcome to it. Inclusive schools are those schools in which students with disabilities attend the school and the classroom that he or she would attend without having had a disability.1

Moving on, it is often said that children who learn together, learn to live together. This happens because children become friends with their school mates and develop close ties with them. Also, it has been observed that most of the childhood friendships are strong and last forever. In this view, inclusive education can be a helpful aid in making the children learn and realize that disabled children are one of them, their disability does not set them apart and they have a right to be treated as every other normal child. On the other hand, it may also work for the disabled children as it will help them realize that their disability has
1

Dr. Shagufta Shahzadi, Inclusive Education: Perspective of Services, Think Pakistan, n.d. http://thinkpakistan.wordpress.com/inclusive-education-perspective-of-services/ (4 October ,2011)

not impaired their lives, they are capable of studying with their friends, neighbors or cousins and that they are not discriminated in any way. Thus, inclusive education can be the one of the best ways to prevent ostracism of the disabled.

The proportion of students with disabilities who are included varies by place and by type of disability, but it is relatively common for students with milder disabilities and less common with certain kinds of severe disabilities. In Denmark, 99% of students with learning disabilities like dyslexia are placed in general education classrooms.2 Similarly in many schools of Pakistan, students with disabilities learn in the normal schools. For instance, in Beaconhouse School System, children with hearing, physical or visual impairment are being taught in the general education class rooms.

Furthermore, it is also important that the schools facilitating inclusive education should take special care of the management, teachers expertise in teaching and handling of special children, courses, activities, hence everything. If they fail to do so, negative effects of inclusive education may be seen. One of the most important considerations in this domain is the importance of psychological testing and the role of Educational Psychologists. Psychological tests are written, visual, or verbal evaluations administered to assess the cognitive and emotional functioning of children and adults and Educational Psychology is a field of psychology that deals with the psychological aspects of teaching and formal learning processes.

Robert Holland. "Vouchers Help the Learning Disabled: Lesson from 22 countries: Special-education students thrive in private schools". The Heartland Institute. (06/01/2002). 14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusion_%28education%29#cite_note-13. (4 October ,2011)

CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON INCLUSIVE EDUCATION AND IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING:

With time, peoples thinking and perspectives are changing. Now more people are in favor of EFA (Equal Education for all). Inclusive education is getting popular world wide since it supports the fact that all children can learn and develop. Although there are many advantages of inclusive education, its disadvantages cant be overlooked.

Each child has a right to attain quality education in his or her school. Now the question is how will we determine that special schools provide better learning environment or are more appropriate for special children or the normal schools and inclusive education is more suitable for them.

In inclusive education, working alongside with peers with diverse skills and abilities helps all children learn and develop the skills necessary to live and work in the existent world. Each and every child has a right to belong and to share normal experiences with family, neighbors and peers. On the other hand, inclusive education has been criticized for neglecting to acknowledge the fact that most students with significant special needs require individualized instruction or highly controlled environments. Thus, teachers in general education classroom often are teaching a curriculum while the special education teachers remediate instructions at the same time.

Similarly, a child with serious inattention difficulties may be unable to focus in a classroom that contains twenty or more active children. Although with the increase in frequency of disabilities in the student population, this is a circumstance all teachers must contend with, and is not a direct result of inclusion as a concept.3 Also. Espin (1998) in his study examined the lack of individualized services provided for students with IEPs (Individualized Education programs) when placed in an inclusive rather than mainstreamed environment.4 A mainstreamed environment is the one in which students attend some general education classes, usually for less than half the day, and often for less academically or mentally rigorous classes. For instance, a young student with considerable intellectual disabilities might be mainstreamed for physical education classes, art classes and storybook time, but spend reading and mathematics classes with other students that have similar disabilities.

Another criticism on inclusive education is that it is impractical because special children are not given special attention to the required extent. Some people criticize that specialized instructions are not enough for special children. They need to be taught in a complete different manner as compared to the normal school children.

Moreover, parents of disabled students may be cautious about admitting their children in an inclusive education program because of the fears that the children will be ridiculed by other
3

Barkley, R.A. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorders: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford. (1998). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusion_%28education%29#cite_note-27. (6 October, 2011).
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Espin, C.A.Individualized Education Programs in Resource and Inclusive Settings. The Journal of Special Education, Vol. 32, No. 3, 164-174 (1998) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusion_%28education%29#cite_note-27. (6 October, 2011).

students, or be unable to develop regular life skills in an academic classroom. Similarly parents of the normal children may be worried about placing their children in such a school where inclusive education is provided because every parent wants best for their child. They may find such school as incompetent or they may feel that their children will be neglected because students with disabilities require more attention so the teachers might not pay complete attention to their child.

On the contrary, Research has shown positive effects for children with disabilities in areas such as reading individualized education program (IEP) goal, improving communication and social skills, increasing positive peer interactions, many educational outcomes, and post school adjustments. Positive effects on children without disabilities include the development of positive attitudes and perceptions of persons with disabilities and the enhancement of social status with non disabled peers.5

Moving on, to gain more insight about parents opinions about the matter; few parents were interviewed. After interviewing the parents it was found out that they appreciate the fact that concept of inclusive education is getting popular in Pakistan and is being implemented but there is a strong need of improvement. According to the parents; courses and activities should be modified, more qualified and trained teachers should be hired by the school management. Modifications refer to the changes in course content, teaching strategies, standards, test presentation, location, timing, scheduling, expectations, student responses,
5

Bennett, T., Deluca, D., & Bruns, D. Putting inclusion into practice: perspectives of teachers and parents. Exceptional Children, 64. (1997). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusion_%28education%29#cite_note-27. (6 October, 2011).

environmental structuring and/or other attributes which provide access for a student with a disability to participate in a course or a test, which do fundamentally alter or lower its standard or expectations.

One of the couple stressed on the importance of psychologists and psychological testing in schools especially in those schools which offer inclusive education. Educational psychologists apply scientific principles of teaching, learning and behavior to help maximize the social, emotional and educational growth and development of children and young people. In other words educational psychologists are applied psychologists in the field of education. As such they are better placed to offer advice and/or consultation on special educational needs in children and young people. They use the data collected by schools as part of their assessment process, which includes the use of observational techniques, questionnaires and psychometric testing and clinical interviews. Thereafter, educational psychologists analyze and interpret the outcomes by giving the impressions about assessment, which impression or opinion can now be used to inform work in school or the world of work. In short educational psychologists contribute to raising standards in the learner and school performance in order to improve and promote inclusion in classroom settings and by extension, social inclusion.6
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Matthews, Adera. Okumbe. Role of educational psychologists in identification, recommendations to assist teachers. ACCOMMODATING LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS IN BOTSWANA: A CHALLENGE TO EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTS AND SPECIAL EDUCATORS. University of Botswana. N.d. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search? q=cache:cGV5kCSo1tcJ:www.iaea.info/documents/paper_1162a16ab4.pdf+psychological+assessment+in+ inclusive+and+special+education&hl=en&gl=pk. (7 October, 2011).

Depending on the disability, special educators can use various techniques in order to promote learning in an inclusive setting. Individualized instruction, problem-solving assignments, and small group work are some of the teaching methods that special educators may apply given the magnitude of the disability. Educational psychologists most important tool is psychological testing. There is a wide range of tests developed for different purposes. Separate tests for disabled or special children have also been established. Psychologists are well trained in conducting psychological tests, scoring and interpreting results and thereby assessing children, both normal and disabled or special.

Some of the psychological tests and techniques used for children of different ages are Stanford Binet Intelligence Scales, Wechsler Intelligence scale for children, Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence, SOMPA, Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test, Adaptive Behavior Inventory for children (ABIC), Kaufman assessment battery for children, McCarthy scales of childrens abilities, Piagetian scales, The Oseretsky Tests of motor proficiency, Brujpinks Oseretsky scales, Vineland social maturity scales, Pintner Paterson performance scale, Arthur performance scale, Hiskey Nebraska test of learning, The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, The Culture Fair Intelligence Test, Ravens Progessive Matrices (RPM), The Colored Progessive Matrices, Goodenough Harris Drawing Test, Human Figure Drawing (HFD), Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) etc.

Out of many of the psychological tests, educational psychologists use a test that is most appropriate for children in given circumstances. Whether its a normal child or a special child, testing has an equal significance. In both cases psychological testing proves to be helpful in analyzing childrens functioning and conflicts. Then accordingly children are assessed by the psychologists and their conflicts and problems are resolved.

CONCLUSION: Educational psychologists, with their knowledge and skills can enable effective accommodation modes for learners with special needs in an inclusive education setting. Moreover, Psychological testing for children whether disabled or not is a helpful aid which predicts children capabilities and functioning in various aspects. Thus, in order to make the inclusive education system effective; school managements should benefit from educational psychologists and psychological / educational testing along with the other trained professionals.

LIMITATIONS: Note the fact that being the imperfect human, I was not able to cover all the important aspects related to the topic. Implication of different psychological tests on special and normal children could have been discussed. Name of the schools providing inclusive education in Pakistan could have been enlisted after conducting a research on it. A short Interview has been conducted from parents, teachers, children and management staffs could also have been interviewed for more detailed and accurate knowledge.

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RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Inclusive education should be introduced in the education systems in Pakistan to ensure best educational facilities for special children. 2. Psychological testing should be used for children under the supervision of Psychologists. 3. Special children should work alongside with peers with diverse skills and abilities, it will help them learn and develop the skills necessary to work in real life. 4. Each school should put in effort for promoting the concept of inclusive education because they have a vital contribution to make the society better. 5. Workshops should be conducted to bring awareness and acceptance for the people belonging to different professions, especially teachers and parents.

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REFERENCES 1. Dr. Shagufta Shahzadi, Inclusive Education: Perspective of Services, Think Pakistan, n.d. http://thinkpakistan.wordpress.com/inclusive-education-perspective-of-services/ (4 October ,2011) 2. Robert Holland. "Vouchers Help the Learning Disabled: Lesson from 22 countries: Special-education students thrive in private schools". The Heartland Institute. (06/01/2002). 14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusion_%28education%29#cite_note-13. (4 October,2011) 3. Barkley, R.A. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorders: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford. (1998). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusion_%28education%29#cite_note-27. (6 October, 2011). 4. Espin, C.A.Individualized Education Programs in Resource and Inclusive Settings. The Journal of Special Education, Vol. 32, No. 3, 164-174 (1998) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusion_%28education%29#cite_note-27. (6 October, 2011). 5. Bennett, T., Deluca, D., & Bruns, D. Putting inclusion into practice: perspectives of teachers and parents. Exceptional Children, 64. (1997). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusion_%28education%29#cite_note-27. (6 October, 2011). 6. Matthews, Adera. Okumbe. Role of educational psychologists in identification, recommendations to assist teachers. ACCOMMODATING LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS IN BOTSWANA: A CHALLENGE TO EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTS AND SPECIAL EDUCATORS. University of Botswana. N.d. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search? q=cache:cGV5kCSo1tcJ:www.iaea.info/documents/paper_1162a16ab4.pdf+psychological +assessment+in+inclusive+and+special+education&hl=en&gl=pk. (7 October, 2011).

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