Q1
| One-To-One Assistant | Itinerant Consultation | Co-teaching | |
| Key elements and distinctive characteristics of model | In a one-to-one assistant model, the government should employ more special need assistants to ensure that each child with any form of disability is attended to (Cook, Klein, & Chen, 2016). The special needs assistants should also examine all the children with disabilities and be able to point out the kind of attention needed by such a child. This model is characterized by a direct contact of the special needs assistant and the children with disability. | Itinerant consultation mainly involves exposing the children with disabilities to early childhood programs (Cook, Klein, & Chen, 2016). Toddlers born with disabilities are exposed to special treatment and this helps them adapt well and be able to cope with other normal children. | Co-teaching involves having two teachers at the same time in a class where one acts as an interpreter for the disabled children. |
| Advantages | There are two advantages attached to this model. The first one is that the learning abilities of the children with disabilities are enhanced. The second one is that the performance gap between the children with disability and those without any disabilities is narrowed. | The main advantage of this model is that it ensures all children are introduced to special way of learning at very early ages which puts them at par with the other normal children. | There are two advantages to this model. First, it ensures the learning needs for the disabled children are fully met. The second advantage is that it forms a good platform for both normal and disabled children to interact. |
| Challenges | The main challenge facing this model is that most parents with disabled children do not want to expose them to the public. Another challenge is that the number of special needs assistant specialists is still too low to meet the needs of all the children with disabilities. | This model still faces a similar problem as the previous one in that most parents fail to avail their disabled children to such models. | This model is faced by the challenge of slow learning because of the disabled children who might take longer to understand compared to the normal ones. |
| Resources needed to implement the model | Resources needed to implement this model include, special reading materials, wheelchairs, readings aids like special glasses and the right infrastructure. | The government should set up more early childhood learning centers for children born with disabilities and equip them fully to support their learning. | The resources needed to implement this model are the proper learning materials for the different types of disabilities and also proper structures and infrastructure. |
Q2
The issue of disability in children is a global issue which needs to be addressed in the proper way and using the right mechanisms. The needs for the children with disability are not the same as of those without disabilities (Griffith, Cooper, & Ringlaben, 2002). Learning institutions should device inclusion models which suit the needs of all disabled children in the different institutions. In this essay, I will focus on my inclusion model of choice that I believe will go far in ensuring that children with disabilities are in-cooperated in the curriculum. My preferred inclusion model choice for disabled children aged between 3 and 5 years is the co-teaching model for the school district. I have preferred the Co-teaching model to the other models mainly because of the age of the children with the different forms of disabilities. These children are still very young and in most cases are unable to do much on their own. Most of them are still under full parental care, thus, exposing them to models which don’t offer full time inclusivity of special needs assistants might interfere with their social growth (Scribner, 2014). The Co-teaching inclusive model ensures that there is more than one teacher in a classroom at any given point of learning time. The presence of more than one teacher in class assures the children of their security.
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The success of this Co-teaching model will depend on the skills employed to run it. First, I visited the school and collected data from all the children with the disabilities. With the help of their parents, I was able to establish the different degree levels of disability among the children. This first step is made to ensure that the right attention is accorded to the right children to aid their learning abilities in and out of school. Secondly, I grouped the children according to their different forms of disabilities. This is because a deaf student cannot be placed in the same classroom with a visually impaired child. Their needs are different; therefore, their mode of learning will be different from each other (Scribner, 2014). This skill of grouping the children according to their forms of disability will also help the school to know the special needs assistants to employ. The skill of Co-teaching will also help the school to employ the necessary infrastructure and materials needed. Children at this tender age need specialized care and more so if they are disabled. The right mechanism of handling these children with disabilities should be employed to ensure that their learning with their counterparts is at par.
I have also suggested the resources that are needed to ensure that the Co-teaching model is successful. This is also in line with the cost of the resources and the available funds to purchase them. The inclusion of the families of these disabled children must also be in-cooperated in the whole process. Families to these disabled children must be updated regularly on the progress of their children and a good track of their performance kept. If all the stated strategies outlined in this paper are applied by the school, then Co-teaching model will be a great success and the most favorable teaching method for the school.
References
Cook, R., Klein, M., & Chen, D. (2016). Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children with Special Needs, 8th Edition. (Online). Retrieved from https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/product/Cook-Adapting-Early-Childhood-Curricula-for-Children-with-Special-Needs-8th-Edition/9780132596787.html
Griffith, K., Cooper, M., & Ringlaben, R. (2002). A Three Dimensional Model for the Inclusion of Children with Disabilities. (Online). Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3b7f/e58f978940b65b44c5c41b2fb94d05e1e366.pdf
Scribner, H. (2014). 10 Common Disabilities American Children Have. (Online). Retrieved from https://www.deseret.com/2014/8/22/20547070/10-common-disabilities-american-children-have#americans-kids-are-suffering-from-more-disabilities-in-the-last-decade-than-before-here-are-seven-of-the-most-common-ones
