I BES nella scuola primaria: un'indagine con docenti e genitori sulle buone prassi di inclusione

Over the last 40 years, there has been an increasing need to implement effective, inclusive school models, based on the principles emerging from the Salamanca Conference (1994) and the UNESCO Guidelines on Inclusion (2005). Although the current trend is to include students with special education needs (SEN) in a common school environment, the situation all over the world is still extremely heterogeneous. Many studies have tried to determine the most effective practices for promoting inclusive education, but their outcomes have been inconclusive. Using questionnaires and focus groups, this research project aims to determine which practices, in teachers’ and parents’ opinions, are more effective for promoting the inclusion of pupils with SEN in primary school and to provide suggestions to enhance their efficacy. Data analysis shows that the most controversial issue to improve are the role of support teachers, teacher training, the relationship between teachers and therapists, and class sizes. This should lead to the design of methods of inclusion that are more suited to users’ needs, as well as strategies of greater involvement/communication with families and local governments

Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Impact of Housing Modification/Adaptation for Supporting Older People at Home: An Introduction

Foreword to Special Issue of Journal of Aging and Environment The desire of older people to age in place and government policies intended to support people living in their own homes suggests that future-proofing this environment is fundamental to improving person-environment congruence at a time of global aging. The UK-initiated genHOME network, founded by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, promoted the health and well-being of older and disabled people and their families through the co-ordination and dissemination of international research on home modification or adaptation and housing design. In 2017, researchers attached to the network from five developed countries with diverse housing types, tenure, space standards, regulations and funding opportunities took part in a symposium at the IAGG World Congress, debating empirical research and common priorities. The symposium was chaired by the editors of this Special Edition of the Journal of Aging and Environment. Aiming to inform national and international policy there is recognition of diversity in the evidence presented, and a need for consistent methodology and outcome measures (see Adams & Hodges, 2018). The introduction and discussion address the priorities raised, including: housing design and environmental barriers, financing adaptations (public and private), user satisfaction with adaptations, concern over housing assets, developing robust assessment tools, and the future of inclusive design. Finally, consideration is given to whether current understanding of culturally specific home adaptations can lead to wider discussion of more inclusive design and architectural practice for new build housing, and how this relates to population growth in times of climate change

Inclusive education in India: interpretation, implementation, and issues

Children with disabilities are a minority that are not prioritised in the context of education programmes in India, although they are often found in many marginalised groups that are catered for if non-disabled ? for example, girls, scheduled tribe, scheduled caste, and other backward caste children. Inclusive education may be a way of merging these children’s needs in order to improve school quality and achieve EFA. However, a dominant special needs conceptualisation of IE in India, combined with negative attitudes towards disability, are currently preventing this approach. After exploring the relevance of disability and inclusive education in the context of EFA, this paper analyses the interpretation and implementation of inclusive education in India. The issues and constraints faced by the stakeholders involved, and the implications these may have, particularly for children with disabilities, lead to the conclusion that a twin-track approach to disability may assist not only in improving education access, but also the reconceptualisation of inclusive education as a school quality issue. In the long-term, it is hoped that this could assist in fulfilling the right to education for all children

Does My Stigma Look Big in This? Considering the acceptability and desirability in the inclusive design of technology products

This paper examines the relationship between stigmatic effects of design of technology products for the older and disabled and contextualizes this within wider social themes such as the functional, social, medical and technology models of disability. Inclusive design approaches are identified as unbiased methods for designing for the wider population that may accommodate the needs and desires of people with impairments, therefore reducing ’aesthetic stigma’. Two case studies illustrate stigmatic and nonstigmatic designs

A systematic review of pedagogical approaches that can effectively include children with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms with a particular focus on peer group interactive approaches

The broad background to this review is a long history of concepts of special pupils and special education, and a faith in special pedagogical approaches. The rise of inclusive schools and some important critiques of special pedagogy (e.g. Hart, 1996; Norwich and Lewis, 2001; Thomas and Loxley, 2001) have raised the profile of teaching approaches that ordinary teachers can and do use to include children with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms. Inclusive education itself is increasingly conceived as being about the quality of learning and participation that goes on in inclusive schools rather than simplistic matters of where children are place

Discussion paper: Disability and poverty reduction strategies: How to ensure that access of persons with disabilities to decent and productive work is part of the PRSP process

[Excerpt] In 1999, the IMF and the World Bank launched the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) approach to poverty reduction in low-income countries in order to ensure that concessional funding through the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) and the World Bank Group’s IDA, as well as debt relief under the HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Countries) Initiative address poverty reduction more effectively. At present, nearly 70 low income countries are engaged in the formulation of national PRSPs that, once approved by the World Bank and IMF Boards, become the basis of concessional assistance from the two institutions

A Universalist strategy for the design of Assistive Technology

Assistive Technologies are specialized products aiming to partly compensate for the loss of autonomy experienced by disabled people. Because they address special needs in a highly-segmented market, they are often considered as niche products. To improve their design and make them tend to Universality, we propose the EMFASIS framework (Extended Modularity, Functional Accessibility, and Social Integration Strategy). We first elaborate on how this strategy conciliates niche and Universalist views, which may appear conflicting at first sight. We then present three examples illustrating its application for designing Assistive Technologies: the design of an overbed table, an upper-limb powered orthose and a powered wheelchair. We conclude on the expected outcomes of our strategy for the social integration and participation of disabled people

Foregrounding accessibility for user experience design

textI am interested in creating generative tools and techniques for designing accessible user experiences for end users. As a user experience designer, I am working on embracing the web accessibility standards and guidelines and including them from the beginning of the User Experience (UX) design process. My projects are directed at facilitating design students and professionals to understand two things: that the broad concept of web accessibility is important, and how they can embed web accessibility into the UX design process at a very early stage. To do this, I used different media (website, posters and videos etc.) to create awareness and educate designers in an interesting, simple and engaging way. In this report, I will discuss the definition and role of accessible design, identify limitations in existing tools and methods, and demonstrate how future designers might research, prototype, analyze, and implement their designs for all users.Desig

'Looking back, looking forward': An interview with Emeritus Professor Ted Glynn on his involvement in special education

In interview with Dr Peter Stanley, Professor Glynn reflects on how he became involved in special education, and on his work with the Pause Prompt Praise reading strategy, the Mangere Guidance and Learning Unit (which gave rise to Guidance and Learning Units nationally), and Glenburn Residential Centre, which was an innovative study of child behaviour management across multiple settings. Professor Glynn also talks about his time training psychologists on both the Auckland and Otago Diploma in Educational Psychology programmes and about his involvement in training Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour. Glynn advocates for inclusion, and for regular class teachers to be principally responsible for working with students with special needs. He also contends that much greater attention should be given to the cultural experiences of children in special and mainstream education