1st EBU International Conference on Education, 19-23 July 2000, Montegrotto Terme (Padua) - Italy
Children in Sweden with visual impairment have been individually integrated in pre-school, school and after school recreation activities for approximately the past twenty years.
The special school, which was previously available for children with visual impairment, is currently a national resource centre. This has resulted in the children's local school being able to provide the individual support needed and is due, in part, to the development of technical aids.
A special school, for children with visual impairment and additional functional impairment, serves at the moment both as a school and a resource centre. However, the school section will be closing down shortly following a government decision which makes respective municipalities responsible for compulsory basic and upper secondary school education for those children who live in the municipality.
Governmental responsibility remains, however, for the Education Act, the curriculum and the national goals. Within the goals and framework which the government and parliament stipulate, individual municipalities decide how the school activities are run. Through the Swedish National Agency for Special Needs Education (SIH) the government provides special pedagogic support in the form of consultants which every municipality, at no cost, can use for advice and selected education.
SIH produces special educational teaching material which municipalities can buy at subsidised prices.
Technical aids and adaptations are provided by county councils and those who, in varying degrees, are responsible for education of children who only have a visual impairment as well as children with other functional impairments.
In most cases children learn to read, write and count and receive the instruction which they all have a right to, and which the curriculum prescribes.
Difficulties appear mainly during leisure time, at break time and after school in leisure time.
Nowadays, difficulties are concerned with social participation, children's socialising and children's social competence. We now have the possibility and ability to focus on this problem which has always been there, but has often not been considered as something which can be corrected.
With this as a background, SRF has carried out a number of projects and also has several planned.
A study was carried out in co-operation with Professor Ulf Jansson at the Institute of Education at the University of Stockholm.
The report from the project is entitled "Skolgarden som m�tesplats" (The playground as a meeting place) and is available in English in an abridged version.
The aim of the study was to investigate interaction around pupils with visual impairment and show that encounters in the playground - in other words, the situation where encounters occur - have relevance on how "handicapped" the visually impaired pupil becomes. The conclusion of the study is that the school has a significant responsibility for creating activities which minimise the handicap.
SRF has also carried out an extensive investigation among all members who are 7-16 years old and their parents. The investigation shows that both children and parents are largely satisfied and are happy with integration. Difficulties and problems do, however, exist and in most cases involve the competence of the teacher, co-operation between parents and teachers, the children's social situation and shortage of mobility training for visually impaired pupils.
As a continuation of this theme, I have been responsible for a project the results of which will be published in book form entitled "A place for everyone - including children with visual impairment in pre-school, school and after school recreation". This is a method book which covers both theory and practice aimed at children's socialisation, interaction and play.
The book is aimed at parents, educationalists, teachers and school principals among others, and takes up various theoretical ideas focussed on the child as a person and functional impairment - defective vision - including integration, the current situation with parents, the child's general development and a detailed description of children's play development.
The book also gives many concrete examples of methods, material and procedures for how to design existing educational practices in pre-school and after school recreation activities so that all children are included.
The manner of teaching and implementing educational activities can either take place through integration which separates and isolates - or through integration which involves and socialises.
The latter type of integration - which involves and socialises - means that activities and teaching are adapted and designed so that all children can take part. This is a form of integration where those involved in the process of education possess a high awareness of children's social participation.
Children with visual impairment need individual support in the form of, for example, technical aids, practice in using certain material and training in mobility etc. This support needs to be designed so that it does not separate or appear isolating.
The environment needs to be adapted so that handicap is minimised but at the same time encourages social involvement. If the coat pegs in the hall are marked with Braille then every child's coat peg should be marked so that the child with visual impairment can learn whose peg is whose and not only be able to find its own. The material which is used needs to be planned so that all children are able to understand it. Pictures should be replaced with real objects or models and there should be more work with shapes than with pictures, etc.
There should also be conscious support for social involvement in teaching, activities with adults and the children's own creative play.
To be able to take part in teaching and group activities without the need of an individual and separate support from an extra adult is one way of being socially involved. This implies among other things that visual imitation is eliminated. A physical training teacher, for example, could give instructions by saying, "and now everyone do the same as me�.like this�." and make movements which a child with visual impairment has no chance of understanding. Instead, instructions such as these need to be given with the help of clear, verbal instruction.
I am now going to present a practical example which you can all take part in: "Everybody stand up�..stretch your hands up high��.stretch the right arm higher�..and stretch the left�..and right��and left��let your arms drop down and hang relaxed by your sides�..and bend your knees slowly, down, down and stretch up slowly until your legs are straight and you are up on your toes and go down again�..up on your toes and down again�.."
As you can see, this is applicable in many situations. In order to be socially involved the children also need adequate time for conversation and mutual experience. All in all, this is an educational way of working which not only benefits children with visual impairment but also provides good teaching for all children.
It is also an educational way of working which can be used not only in pre-school and during the first years at school, but can in principle be used in all types of instruction.
The way in which teaching is done in school affects relations between the children, even at break and leisure time.
Handicap which occurs, or does not occur, happens when we meet each other. This even applies to children - when children meet.
In order to get to know each other and be friends, children need positive company, time for interaction in play and other activities.
Play is children's way of being together. Playing together with children of the same age develops social rules, gives equal, real social experience and ties bonds of friendship.
Those children who have the best social competence, who are very popular and have status in a group, are those children who are clever at solving conflicts in a positive and constructive way. By playing together, children learn how to solve conflicts when they are small with the help of adults and eventually more independently.
A child with visual impairment has the same needs as all other children, of getting social experience through play, but needs as a rule many more opportunities to play in order to develop his/her social competence.
This is because children with visual impairment have so much more to concentrate and use their energy on at the same time due to their reduced functional ability. It also depends on the fact that a child with visual impairment often needs to build his/her relationships with other people through verbal communication, a communication which other children have through using their eyes. Playing together with children of the same age is difficult before verbal language has been developed by the child but can even take place with the help of other non-visual communication.
Because difficulties between children arise during interaction, educational support should be given to all children and not only to the child with the visual impairment.
One way in which pre-school creates situations which are socially beneficial for all children is to form small groups of two to four children who play together regularly during a longer period in a well adapted and stimulating play environment where pretend play and role play are included. Even adult supervised activities need to be in smaller groups and carried out in a way so that all children are included.
In school, children continue to play but the conditions there are often different. There are more children, larger groups and classes. The environment can be more difficult to adapt for play so that even children with visual impairment can take part. There are often fewer adults present but the child's need to play does not decrease because he/she has started school. The opposite is probably true. Play promotes children's potential to learn, in every respect, and not least for the development of social competence. Play is needed even in school.
Children with visual impairment who are older need (just like all other children) a great deal of positive social experience alone, without an adult, together with children of their own age, in order to be able to develop social competence. At the same time, if the child is left without the supervision of an adult, there is a risk that this experience could create a handicap - i.e. create dependency and an unequal friendship because of the functional impairment.
For the adults around the children it can become difficult to decide when and how often to offer support.
Pre-school and school have a significant responsibility. The children need support from adults in different ways in order that socially beneficial situations arise. It is in the actual togetherness between children that the support is needed.
We live today in an age of opportunity. With the help of computers and other modern technology the visually impaired can obtain an excellent education and live well.
BUT - to live well also means social involvement, friendship, human warmth and consideration. If an integrated education is to be meaningful, even in the long term, i.e. in the child's adult life, it is vitally important not to forget the social aspect. This is an aspect which cannot be solved solely with individual support, technology and modern technical aids, but demands a conscious educational input for the entire child group or class, with the inclusion of basic principles of conduct.
Children should not bring up each other - adults should bring them up. Children should play together.
Schools in Sweden are under the authority of the municipalities, who have full responsibility for their resources, under a National Education Act and a single National Curriculum. A growing number of private schools are financed by public money and regulated by the same national rules.
The nine-year basic school is compulsory. In practice, higher education is also compulsory nowadays, since it is impossible to find a job without having achieved this level. Adults with no higher education have a right to adult education and are eligible for state grants and loans to finance their studies.
About one-quarter of students go on to university studies - a fairly low figure for an industrial country.
As a rule, people with disability get their education in regular classes, in the same schools as other students of their age (the exception is deaf people who must use sign language).
The municipalities are responsible, according to law, for making it possible for students with disabilities to attend any school he or she prefers. This may imply special text books (e.g. literature in Braille or on tape) as well as specially trained teachers.
County councils, through their low vision centers, are responsible for providing students (as well as other people) with technical devices.
The state provides resources, such as adapted text books, support and guidance from special advisors, and financial support for development. The state also has a responsibility for providing university or adult education college students with special educational equipment.
There is also a National Agency for Special Education (SIH) to give advise to municipalities on how to adapt education to special needs. SIH also produces educational material for students with disabilities.
According to SRF the capacity to provide these resources has been impeded by recent budget cuts. Although integration as a principle is supported by SRF, it has not been fully followed up by either necessary financing or clearly demarcated responsibility.
There are three national special schools for multi-disabled students. The future of these is questioned. Some think that all students should be integrated into regular schools, while others think that the abilities must be increased considerably in the school system before that can be done.
A former special school for blind students, Tomteboda, was transformed over a decade ago into a resource center where specialists give advice and knowledge to students, teachers, parents and relevant agencies and authorities.
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