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Temporary Education Courses for Visually Impaired Pupils: a Method Supporting Inclusion - the Supportive Role of the School for the Visually Impaired in Jyväskylä.
Focus: School Years
Topic: Inclusive Education
Tarja Hännikäinen
Counseling teacher
The Jyväskylä School for the Visually Impaired
P.O. BOX 319
40101 Jyväskylä
Finland
+ 358 14 3343 114
tarja.hannikainen@jynok.fi
In Finland the primary choice of school for each child with visual impairment is the local school, including the necessary supportive and rehabilitation services. If these arrangements prove insufficient, the child should be given an opportunity to attend a special class or school. In Finland there are no special classes or schools in municipalities for pupils with visual impairment, but instead we have two state-subsided special schools. As we have two official languages, there is the Finnish-speaking school in Jyväskylä and a Swedish-speaking school in Helsinki. The final decision regarding school placement lies with the parents.
A child with visual impairment can start pre-school like other children at the age of six or he can attend the preschool already at the age of five. If, due to his impairment, a child cannot be educated within the regular nine-year comprehensive school system, his education can last eleven years. Of these eleven years no more than two may be used for preschool education.
The Jyväskylä School offers various services for school-aged children with visual impairment: special school services, supplementary learning material production and supportive services for mainstreamed children and their schools. Here I concentrate solely on the supportive role of our school.
The Ministry of Education has authorized the School for the Visually Impaired to act as a national pedagogical and supportive centre for children with visual impairment. Today we have 650 registered pupils who need and use these services. Our centre offers services for children with visual impairment who attend different kinds of local schools in inclusive settings, and for their families, teachers, assistants and other persons involved. The three main supportive services are regional counseling, training teachers, assistants and other school personnel and providing temporary education courses for children.
I would first like to focus on regional counseling. Regional counseling services are meant for children, parents and schools in local school environments. Itinerant teachers, special teachers for the visually impaired, offer individual consultation by e.g. visiting and supporting schools and families, providing information concerning pedagogical methods and rehabilitation at school, giving expert advice in drawing up Individual Education Plans. Itinerant teachers also help to organize supportive networks of experts on a local level.
Secondly the training of teachers and class-assistants is mainly arranged at the Jyväskylä School. There are separate courses for every important school level. We also offer training for groups with special educational needs and rare symptoms and also arrange individual courses. The aims of these three to nine day courses are to pass on information on visual impairment and its impact on learning, training special skills for overcoming the special needs caused by the impairment and also offering concrete tools for teaching and assisting in everyday work. The courses also offer possibilities to build up networks with colleagues. The local school authorities are responsible for the costs of a teacher or assistant attending the course.
The third method of support is temporary education courses. These courses are meant for pupils with visual impairment who come from inclusive (mainstream) settings. The next chapter will provide information about these courses in more detail.
The Jyväskylä School for Visually Impaired Children supports integration, and hopefully also inclusion, by inviting children from inclusive settings to attend temporary education courses. A temporary education course usually lasts about one week. Sometimes there are individual needs for longer or shorter placements. We might also call these courses special education needs -courses or assessment courses, but because the course is only one part of child’s education, which mainly happens in inclusive settings, we use the term temporary education course.
Temporary education courses are intended for to both blind and partially sighted pupils from preschool to ninth grade. We also offer individual courses for various educational purposes, e.g. for a low vision child to learn Braille -techniques. Pupils with visual impairments from all over Finland are welcome to these courses, if their need for a course is obvious. As a rule blind children are invited to attend for temporary education courses twice during a school year. Children with low vision are invited according to their individual needs. Thus, some come every year, others more seldom.
Local school authorities are responsible for half of the costs of the course week. The state pays the other half. The costs include transportation, board and lodging, education, materials, rehabilitation, leisure time, preliminary questionnaire and multidisciplinary course report.
In Finland each child with visual impairment who has been reported to the register of the Jyväskylä School is appointed a counseling teacher. Every spring each counseling teacher is asked to report the needs of these children for temporary education courses from their own area. Teachers are also asked to report the level and urgency of these needs. If the parents or school teachers wish to send their pupil attend a temporary education course, they are supposed first to contact their own counseling teacher.
After the preliminary inquiries from all over Finland reach the Jyväskylä School, the members of multidisciplinary group goes through all the papers, and makes a list of those children who have the greatest need for a supportive course the following term. Unfortunately, we don’t have a sufficient number of places for everyone. The final decision about getting a place is sent both home and to the school during summer. Parents are also advised to contact the school authorities and to give their permission for their child to attend the course.
In cases of unexpected, sudden changes in a child’s vision (e.g. loss of eyesight), the counseling teacher contacts the Jyväskylä School and we try to find a suitable course for him.
The main principles for building up groups for temporary education courses are vision, age, curriculum, other handicaps and specific individual needs. Separate courses are offered for both blind children and children with low vision from preschool to grade 9. In order to offer as much individual guidance as possible, the size of one group is limited to approximately six children. When dealing with preschool and multi-handicapped children the groups are smaller. Some children can also attend an individual course due to their specific needs.
E.g. during the term 2001 – 02 we had temporary education courses for approximately 200 children at the Jyväskylä School. The groups of special needs were:
1. Pre-school children: Blind and partially sighted children with no other impairments. Multi-disabled children, blind and partially sighted.
2. Pupils studying the regular curriculum at a local school: A group for each grade from 1 to 9 for blind and partially sighted children.
3. Pupils studying in special school: One to three blind or partially sighted children per group according to their abilities and other impairments.
4. Blind and low vision pupils with NCL-disease: One or two children studying for one week in a special class at the Jyväskylä School alongside their peers with the same disease.
5. Individual courses: A course intended for children with more specific individual needs.
The aims for the courses vary according to impairment, age, grade, individual needs etc. Some of the aims deal more with school subjects some with rehabilitation. One of the important aims is to meet peers and to have an opportunity for long lasting contacts, which is considered very important also by pupils.
The home and school are informed about the goals of the course in advance. As a basis for a course we also ask them to fill a questionnaire on the present situation of each child, e.g. how a child uses his low vision aids, what his strengths and weaknesses are in schoolwork and homework, how he is coping with mobility and daily living skills. We also ask the parents to send us papers from the latest visit to an ophthalmologist. The teacher at the Jyväskylä School who is in responsible for the temporary education course gathers the background information on each child. Before each course a multi-disciplinary meeting is held with the workers involved. In the meeting the teacher in charge passes on the information concerning the child to the other workers. Although the aims for the course are set in advance after getting the final descriptions, the group re-evaluates them individually, and sometimes new aims on a more individual basis are needed.
During a temporary education week each a child has his own timetable for schoolwork. Most of the day a pupil studies in a group with individual aims guided by a special teacher and a classroom assistant. In the classroom the pupils practice special skills such as mathematics, talking books, map reading, information technology etc. Some lessons are part of the pupil’s individual program such as assessment in functional vision and mobility. After the school day a child goes to the dormitory where he can practice daily living skills and enjoy his leisure time and take part in a variety of activities.
The preschool children are invited for a two-week-course during which a multi-disciplinary team (preschool teacher, psychologist and rehabilitation workers) assesses the child’s academic and social skills. In addition a blind child has another course during his pre-school year/s. He is invited later for a one-week-course mainly to practice basic skills for Braille.
Generally the basic program for grades from 1 to 9 includes the following themes according to impairment: assessment of functional vision, use of low vision aids, basic study skills suitable for each grade in reading and writing, mathematics, listening skills/talking books, reading pictures and maps, information technology, techniques in arts and crafts, sports, orientation and mobility, daily living skills.
A lot of the material used during courses is given to the child to take with him back to his school. Some of the materials may have bees designed for him individually.
When a child comes to the Jyväskylä School for the first time his parents are invited to accompany the child. Some parents come, others don’t, and the decision is totally up to them. When coming for the first time Jyväskylä School offers free of charge one of the parents board and lodging and transportation during child’s one or two weeks’ course.
There are also regular courses for parents organized jointly with the Finnish Federation for the Visually Impaired. These three-day-courses for parents are held at the Jyväskylä School during the same week as the child’s temporary education course. National Insurance pays for the course costs for adults.
Courses are held in the most important stages of education. Such stages are when getting prepared for preschool and for classes 1 to 2, 3 to 6 and 7 to 9 and also when getting prepared for further education after 9th grade. Courses are called e.g. “Starting school”, “What should I know about classes 3 to 6”, “What is to be expected after grade 9?” Aims for the parents’ courses are both concrete and informative. Parents also have an opportunity to observe their child in classroom work and to discuss the child’s situation with the workers. One very important aim is to meet other parents in the same situation and to establish networks.
Sometimes also teachers and assistants ask if they may to come and observe teaching during child’s temporary education course. Visits like these are more common with children in the 1st and 2nd grades and also with groups with more special demands.
The teacher who has been responsible for the course draws up a multi-disciplinary report on each child. This feedback contains a short description of every theme and an evaluation of child’s strengths in the specific subject. The feedback report shows the areas where more practice is still needed and concrete instructions approaching different subjects for the local school are included in the paper. In addition a recommendation for required new aids is drawn. If there is an obvious need for a new course during next term, it will be mentioned in the reports.
Two or three weeks after the course the multi-disciplinary report is delivered at least to the child’s family, school and rehabilitation worker at the local hospital. The report is then discussed with the child’s own schoolteacher during the next possible visit by the counseling teacher. The schoolteacher is also guided to use the report as a guideline when preparing an Individual Education Plan for a child.
The original aim of temporary education courses was to provide visually impaired children with learning support services by specialists. Another (and equally important) aim was to offer the children an opportunity to meet their peers and to study - albeit for one week at a time only - in a setting and using methods intended for visually impaired pupils.
By drawing up multidisciplinary reports we hope to share and to obtain a more profound understanding of a child's special skills and to provide teachers, assistants and families with various ways of helping the child improve these skills. In the future we hope to increase the number of our temporary education courses in order to make it available to all applicants.
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