3rd Workshop on Training of Teachers of the Visually Impaired in Europe,
Warsaw, Poland, 3 - 6 April 2002
by mrs Galina Nikoulina (St. Petersburg State Pedagogical University of A. I. Hertzen)
and mrs Lilja Plastunova (State Consulting and Education Centre for Habilitation of Visually Handicapped Children)
Today in Russia the process of integration of children with special needs extends and gains steady character. In Russia there are special teachers, which have practical experience on preparation of children with special needs to mainstream school.
The integrated training of children with special needs to the mainstream school - rather new phenomenon for the system of education of Russia.
Parents select training to mainstream school for different reasons:
The choice of the parents, irrespective of concrete motives, is worthy comprehensions and respect. But if to look at a problem in other side, the following output is obvious: the integration to mainstream school is effective only for a small part of children. It is the group of children, who due to early diagnostics and well-timed correctional occupations was approximated on a level of their development to age norm.
Children with special needs, learning at mainstream schools, should simultaneously receive rehabilitational support. The rehabilitational Centres will give children the correctional help. The help can be fixed, then it wears character of regular correctional occupations. But can also be incidental - in accordance with call of the parents. All depends on concrete needs of each child.
For the last 10 years at mainstream schools of Moscow, Moscow regions, other cities of Russia were integrated 48 children with special needs, which are trained in experimental preschool groups and classes of schools. In St.-Petersburg for today at mainstream schools more than 50 pupils with special needs are trained. All these children have received good preschool preparation. It was the operation with the concrete child and his parents.
Apart from economic, organizational and pedagogical problems the question of the integrated training of the child with special needs in conditions of mainstream school is coupled first of all to psychological comfort of the child in the environment, new to him. These problems are coupled to comprehension of the individuality, comprehension of features of the ratio to themselves of the enclosing people. Therefore, integrating children with special needs to mainstream school, it is necessary to think of organization, creation of the adequate ratio for the normal seeing pupils and teachers to children with special needs.
There are a large problem of communication of pupil with special needs and teacher during a lesson. The presence at a lesson of the pupil with special needs at mainstream school requires individual operation of the teacher on the special program. But in conditions of mainstream school, when at a lesson are present 30 normal seeing pupils, individual approach to realize difficultly. In this case teacher simply do not carry on with them operation, giving them to acquire that they can. Not less important is that the teacher should be received by advices for typhlopedagogist and other specialists on a technique of operation with such pupils, to have special manuals and training tools.
However, not look on different difficulties coupled to training of children with special needs to mainstream school, the process of their integration by way of experiment or spontaneously all the same is realized. So, integration needs in the scientific argumentation, legal, financial support and special preparation of the teachers.
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