The National Literacy and Numeracy Plan challenges teachers to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of all Australian children, including those with disabilities. In working towards this challenge, Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers stated their agreed commitment in April 1999 in the Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty First Century. The national goals contain the goal that students should have attained the skills of numeracy and English literacy: such that every student should be numerate, able to read, write, spell and communicate at an appropriate level.
In 1998 the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) funded a project "Literacy, Numeracy and Students with Disabilities". (The full title was the "Investigation and mapping of programs, strategies and teacher preparation to address the literacy and numeracy needs of students with disabilities".) The project was based at the Schonell Special Education Research Centre, The University of Queensland. It had four principal researchers: Dr Christa van Kraayenoord and Professor John Elkins from the Schonell Special Education Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Ms. Carolyn Palmer, School of Special Education and Disability Studies, The Flinders University of South Australia, and Professor Field Rickards, Deafness Studies Unit, Department of Learning, Assessment And Special Education, The University of Melbourne. In addition, a team of research assistants and colleagues worked on the project. They included: Peta Colbert, Campbell White, Marianne Treuen, Kim Ziebarth, Michelle Rowbotham, Shelley Dole and Kelly Gallaher at The University of Queensland, Dr Susan McKenzie and Jillian Tsilomanis at The Flinders University and Anna Bortoli, Beth Sutcliffe, Gail Preston and Brett Furlonger at The University of Melbourne.
There were four aims of the project:
- To identify the programs and strategies provided by education systems and sectors throughout Australia for students with disabilities in the areas of literacy and numeracy.
- To describe tertiary education programs and professional development programs for teachers working with students with disabilities in the areas of literacy and numeracy.
- To provide a critical review of literature related to literacy and numeracy for students with disabilities.
- To describe how literacy and numeracy are acquired and developed with students with disabilities through the documentation of curricula, teaching practices, assessment and reporting.
Data for the project were collected by a variety of methods and a report of the project was completed for the Commonwealth Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) and is available from Publications and Resources.
Recent views about learning as actively constructed by students and about literacy and numeracy as social practices have meant that the way we provide for students with disabilities has changed. Today there is a greater emphasis on supporting and facilitating learning through creating an environment that responds to the students as they make sense of their world. In these learning situations teachers and peers are seen as important agents in providing interactions which scaffold the students' learning. In our study we observed numerous ways in which teachers, support staff and peers provided support, facilitation and guidance. Often these were undertaken in a direct or explicit manner.
One of the first adaptations that students with disabilities may need relates to curricula. It is often necessary to modify curricula to accommodate students with disabilities. In some cases these students will have an Individual Education Plan (IEP)/Negotiated Curriculum Plan (NCP) which refers to the content and skills to be learned, as well as how and by whom instruction is to be provided. What is taught and the activities through which the content is encountered may need to be changed to be consistent with this Plan.
In the classroom, students with disabilities may need help when new things are to be learned, when an activity involves a number of steps, and when they must store and recall information. Sometimes an activity must be repeated many times before the students have grasped the skill being taught. It is helpful if teachers link new information to information that the students already have mastered. Making learning concrete through the use of manipulatives, and using demonstration and modelling may make learning easier. Changing how instruction is delivered (audio or video rather than reading) and/or how students respond (drawing or speaking rather than writing) is often useful. Computers can serve multiple purposes. There are a number of programs that can be used to individualise instruction, for practicing learned skills, motivation, and word processing. Computers also are increasingly being used for research, for example, via the internet. Ensuring that there is a variety of print materials in the classroom to accommodate students' different levels of ability and interests is also important.
Throughout the day students with disabilities should experience a variety of teaching structures, with periods of intensive individual instruction, small group work, and whole class activities. Designing classroom management structures (eg., flexible grouping) that accommodate the different activities and students' ways of learning can be helpful.
Often students with disabilities work with support staff such as integration or special education teachers. They might also receive help from specialists for a number of related services such as speech-language therapy, occupational and/or physical therapy or specialist help in vision or hearing. Regular classroom teachers should share what they know about the students with these support staff specialists and ensure a congruent learning focus and a consistent way of teaching.
Providing regular positive feedback to show to the students that they are capable of doing well and are making progress is important. Assisting students to develop social skills and build friendships may be necessary.
Open and regular communication with the home is important. Parent-teacher meetings and IEP/NCP meetings provide opportunities for the parents to inform the teachers about their child and for teachers to listen to the parents’ hopes and concerns. The meetings also allow discussion of the ways in which learning that is undertaken at school can be reinforced at home.
Finally, it is important for teachers to have high expectations that students will meet attainable goals.
Inclusive education is a phrase used to describe the practice of providing for students with a wide range of abilities, backgrounds and aspirations in regular school settings. Inclusion means that the educational system must respond to the needs of all students.
There are a number of benefits in developing inclusive education. For example, all students benefit both academically and socially. Students who do not have disabilities develop positive attitudes about students with disabilities and learn how to respond to a diverse society. Students with disabilities have been seen to benefit from their inclusion in the regular school by responding to the higher expectations and interacting with broader curricula. There is usually also an improvement in their social and communication skills.
Benefits which accrue to teachers are also numerous. First, teachers' teaching and assessment repertoires are expanded as they are challenged to meet the needs of diverse learners. Second, through shared planning and participation in joint teaching arrangements, teachers, specialists and support teachers learn from each other. Third, teachers develop skills of advocacy and constantly monitor and adapt policies and practices within the school to ensure equity.
The literature also indicates that inclusion is successful when administrators support and facilitate the procedures and processes of inclusion. Administrators need to ensure that the parents of all the students understand how inclusion operates in the school. Administrators often need to provide additional professional development for teachers, support staff and volunteers in the school. Such professional development should focus on how these students can best be supported in their literacy and numeracy learning. Administrators also need to monitor home-school communication to ensure that reporting to parents is regular and informative and that parents have ample opportunity to share information about their child with the school. Finally, administrators can play a role in ensuring that liaison between the school and external agencies, such as health and welfare agencies is professional and advantageous to both the teachers and the students in the school.
Students with disabilities are those with vision impairment, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, physical disability, social-emotional disorder and multiple disabilities. These students comprise some three to five percent of the school population, although this figure varies as a result of different definitions and consideration of different types of disability. In Australia, the majority of students with disabilities are located in regular classroom contexts, although some students with multiple disabilities, some who are blind, and some who are deaf may be in special class settings in regular schools or in special schools. Students with disabilities are similar to their non-disabled peers, and as such have many of the same characteristics as their classmates. They do, however, have particular needs.
Students with disabilities typically develop in the same ways as other children, although sometimes at a slower rate and in a less predictable pattern. As with all students, students with disabilities may be good at some things and have problems with others. They may be less likely to take risks in trying some activities. Students with disabilities may show frustration or anger because they find learning difficult. Socially, some students with disabilities may have difficulties interacting with their peers. They are sensitive to other people's negative attitudes and fears. One of the responsibilities of the classroom teacher is to respond to these students by ensuring that the classroom environment and teaching are supportive of the students’ academic, social and personal needs.
It is difficult to make generalized statements about the literacy and numeracy-related characteristics of students with disabilities. Indeed, many students with disabilities will achieve in literacy and numeracy at the same levels as their non-disabled peers. For example, as long as accommodations have been made for a disability in vision (eg., through the provision of Brailled materials), a student with a vision impairment may perform as well in reading as his or her peers. So, it is important to remember that having a disability does not mean that students will have problems in literacy and numeracy.
The development of knowledge, skills and strategies in literacy and numeracy are the same for all students. For example, in reading, students should develop concepts of print, letter naming, phonemic awareness, sight word recognition, decoding skills, strategies in comprehension and recalling text, and critical literacy. However, the pace at which the knowledge, skills and strategies are acquired may be variable. For example, students with intellectual disabilities may be better able to develop the more complex skills of reading when they are older. Students with social-emotional problems, for example, may find that attending to text is very difficult (even though they may be able to read well), because they find they are unable to settle to a reading task. In the area of numeracy, students should develop knowledge, skills and strategies in the strands of number, space, measurement, chance and data. Students should display awareness and use of problem solving skills as well as "functional" skills such as money handling, and time. Again, some students may have particular difficulties in numeracy. Students with hearing impairment may have particular difficulty with the language of mathematics. Students with expressive language problems may have difficulties responding if only verbal responses are required. Students with physical disabilities and multiple disabilities may have difficulties with handwriting, turning pages and the like in both the literacy and numeracy domains. However, many of these literacy and numeracy-related characteristics can be accommodated by ensuring a supportive learning environment.
The following vignettes bring together in brief some of the detail from the case studies and other aspects of the project. Megan, Diane and Aaron are three students with disabilities. In their vignettes we describe how they engage with literacy and numeracy in their classrooms. An explanation of how their teachers are assisting them and meeting their needs is given. We describe how the students interact with curricula. Reference is made to the support that is provided through the teaching they receive and the modifications made to their environments. The vignettes show how their teachers and support staff work together to develop the students' literacy and numeracy learning. We describe how their progress is assessed and how it is reported to their parents in the same way as it is for all students. Assessment and reporting to parents which is the same as it is for all students is described.
Megan is an 8 year old student who has albinism. She has a right convergent squint (right eye turns in towards her nose), no fusion (blending the two images from the eyes) and no depth perception. She has an acuity of 3/60. Megan has difficulty judging space, distance and speed, and has associated reading difficulties. Megan is a member of a Year 4 class and despite her vision problems, she works on the same curriculum as her sighted classmates. The teacher ensures that Megan is actively involved in class by asking her questions, including her in discussions, selecting books carefully (the print is clear, the paper is of good quality, and the story and language appropriate) and using white or yellow chalk on the board. Materials utilised by Megan include: a raised top desk, dark lined paper and black pens and pencils. Megan’s writing is large, enabling her to read her work more comfortably. She enjoys reading. She finds Mathematics more difficult and she has some difficulty with spatial concepts and needs to work from concrete to abstract tasks. She uses blocks or counters for all mathematical operations. Megan has a Negotiated Curriculum Plan (NCP) which details the particular adaptations and modifications she needs to participate fully in the curriculum. Megan receives support from a specialist teacher from the Vision Impairment Visiting Teacher Service weekly and from the special education teacher who works with her individually twice a week on computer keyboard skills and numeracy. Her performance is assessed along with the rest of the class and her parents receive two reports per year.
Diane is 7 years old, has a profound hearing loss and wears hearing aids. She is learning to use the aural/oral approach and is making excellent use of her limited residual hearing. Diane’s hearing impairment was diagnosed at 12 months of age and she was fitted with hearing aids six weeks later. Diane attended an Early Intervention Program during her preschool years and was also integrated at her local kindergarten, attending a 3 and 4 year old program. Diane attends her neighbourhood primary school and is in a Prep/Year 1 class. Although her main mode of communication is through auditory means, she also requires visual cues to facilitate learning. She is an active participant in her class and enjoys literacy-based activities; however, she finds the language of Mathematics rather challenging and needs time to explore with concrete material to understand the concepts being presented. In Diane’s classroom of 25 students there are five other students besides Diane with a hearing impairment. The classroom has received specific acoustic treatment to reduce noise levels and reverberation. The classroom is resourced by a regular classroom teacher and a full-time Teacher of the Deaf. Both teachers adopt a team teaching approach and share the responsibility of planning for all students in the classroom. Diane and her peers with a hearing impairment receive regular visits from an Audiologist and a Speech Pathologist. The Teacher of the Deaf provides intensive intervention to Diane and her peers with a hearing impairment in the areas of audition, specific speech work and additional language work twice a week in a quiet part of the school. Diane does not have an Individual Education Program; she is fully included in the classroom’s program. She undergoes the same assessment procedures as her peers. The reporting procedures to her parents are the same as for all other students at her school. At present she is making significant gains in all the Key Learning Areas.
Aaron is an 11 year old who has Down syndrome. His development has been slow, but with early intervention and continuous support from his parents he has been attending his local school after his school start was delayed until age six. He is a member of a Year 4 class and despite some articulation difficulties, he participates enthusiastically in most classroom activities. He enjoys reading and likes to write on a personal computer in the classroom and at home. He uses the computer as a tool to seek information and for word processing because he finds handwriting difficult. He can find topics of interest on the internet, such as the football team he follows. Aaron copes with Mathematics at his own level as long as the teaching is very concrete. He uses a ruler as a number line to perform additions and subtractions. His classroom program depends on support and collaboration among his teacher, parents, support staff and his classmates. The teacher has developed his classroom program based on the outcomes suggested in the curriculum statements and some additional goals which are referred to in his Individualised Education Plan (IEP). Aaron's mother participated in shaping his IEP and she attends the review meetings. Aaron receives individual tutoring each day from an aide or volunteer. While no special materials are used, other than to select topics of interest to Aaron, his teacher has had experience in teaching students in Years 1 and 2, and thus can tailor suitable experiences within the larger classroom program. His performance in many learning tasks is charted daily and he earns rewards when he is successful in achieving targets.
When we visited schools in our project, observed in classrooms, spoke to principals, teachers, specialists, support staff, parents and the students themselves, we became aware of a number of principles and strategies which we believe contributed to a caring, learning community which attempted to meet the needs of all students. We suggest that these communities emerged because the administration and staff shared a joint vision of social justice and actively worked towards shaping such a community.
Schools that work have:
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an administration that creates and maintains a supportive school culture
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a whole school policy and approach to support students
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staff who believe that all children can learn
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commitment from all staff towards all students
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staff with a shared responsibility for students
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a collaborative partnership amongst all those associated with the student
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a team approach using professionals, parents and students
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staff with expertise or the ability to obtain expertise
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regular classroom teachers, specialists and support staff who combine their knowledge and skills
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professional development that is ongoing and outcomes based.
Classrooms that work have:
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a language rich learning environment
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a modified learning environment where necessary
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a wide variety of materials which are used flexibly.
Effective teachers use:
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modified curricula and programs where necessary
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contextualised learning opportunities with relevant and meaningful experiences and activities
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activities that match the students' abilities and interests
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teaching strategies that are adapted to meet the students' needs
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deliberate (explicit) teaching
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activities which ensure motivation and engagement.
Despite the many successful initiatives found in the case study schools which addressed the barriers to literacy and numeracy learning for students with disabilities, a number of challenges remain. We believe that the National Literacy and Numeracy Goal will only be achieved if teachers, administrators and systems meet the challenges of the future. In the list of challenges we have provided below we include reference to the challenges that some schools have met, as well as those that still must be met in their entirety.
Teachers, specialists and support staff need to be:
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creative and flexible with diminishing resources
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knowledgeable about teaching for diversity
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informed and up-to-date with changing technology
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able to respond to rapid advances in the areas of literacy and language intervention
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able to respond to the challenge of teaching numeracy effectively
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knowledgeable about inclusive teaching practices, while being able to respond to disability-specific needs.
Teachers, specialists and support staff need to become:
Administrators and systems need to:
We would like to thank all those people who were involved in this project. We are most appreciative of the assistance that we received from the schools systems, administrators, teachers, specialists, support staff, parents and students with disabilities in all the states and territories across Australia.
Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs. (1998). Literacy for all: the challenge for Australian schools. Canberra, ACT: Author.
van Kraayenoord, C.E., & Chandler, F. (1995). Teaching and researching in schools: Guidelines for the evaluation of instructional approached for students with disabilities and learning difficulties. A paper presented at the Australian Association for Special Education (Queensland) Conference, Rockhampton.
Ashman, AF., & Elkins, J. (1998). Educating students with special needs (3rd edition). Sydney: Prentice Hall.