Focus Student Selected:

Female. Born with foetal alcohol syndrome. In foster care. Very shy. Easily led. Loves animals.

PART B

National Safe Schools Framework 2011

‘’Teachers are encouraged to be both proactive in building safe and supportive learning

communities as well as reactive in responding effectively to situations involving child maltreatment,

harassment, aggression, violence and bullying.'’(National Safe Schools Framework,2011) Carrying out strategies to prevent harassment or victimisation of foetal alcohol syndrome students is

vital in schools, as well as taking care to prevent them. There is a good chance that this female with

foetal alcohol syndrome lacks inhibition, interacts in the wrong way with people, and fail to

understand cause and effect and consequences of actions. They are also in foster care and may have

been with other carers too. This can all have an effect of unsuitable or indiscriminate patterns

happening with other people , these can be the occurrence of bullying and exploitation. This bullying

can be cyberbullying and teachers are encouraged to be proactive when it comes to monitoring online

programs which is quite difficult but find it reactive mostly,making it difficult to have the two

together.

Involving therapists as key players within a therapeutic curriculum would be a valuable step forward.

However, such services are often in demand and it is not uncommon for schools to be allocated a

quota of hours for a therapist, necessitating prioritisation of those children who present the greatest

need or challenge. This supports a reactive, rather than a proactive, approach to providing

appropriate services for CYP who need them, to their educational detriment. Whereas the complex

needs of CYP with FASDs do always manifest themselves behaviourally, some CYP with FASDs, whose

behaviour has a lesser impact on their peers, may be overlooked.

Inclusive Education today underpinned by UNESCO Salamanca 1994 ‘’The fundamental principle of inclusive schooling is that all children should learn together wherever

possible regardless of any difficulties or differences they may have.’’

‘’Inclusive schools must recognise and respond to the diverse needs of their students,accommodating

both different styles and rates of learning and ensuring quality education for all through - appropriate

curricula , organisational arrangements and teaching strategies. ‘’(Inclusive Education Today

underpinned by UNESCO Salamanca, 1994)

Addressing diversity is important and done in several ways in Australia and is greatly beneficial for this

foetal student , it is addressed through the curriculum , through discrimination policies and other

various frameworks such as the National Disability Standards etc .

In the Australian Curriculum, students develop personal and social capability as they learn to

understand themselves and others, and control their learning better. The capability requires students

to make responsible decisions, working effectively in teams and handling challenging situations.

Building on the social skills of the foetal student for example can involve the student perceiving and

understanding others thoughts and point of views, and showing understanding and empathy. aided by

for e.g. organising for turn taking games and circle games to encourage appropriate interaction.In

addtion in terms of personal capablity skills such as been easily-led suggest,it implies that they have

trouble making their own decisions. Development for this person can be recognising, understanding

and labelling their own feelings, values, strengths and capacities.

In the Australian Curriculum ACPA also talked about drawing from learning area content at different

levels from K-10 and to modifying/changing age-equivalent content, using the general capabilities

and/or cross-curriculum priorities to adjust the learning focus of the age-equivalent learning area

content.’’ All this can be included for this focus student and allow for easier adjustments.(Australian

ACPA)

Environmental/Organisation adjustments for this foetal student can include changes to buildings and

classrooms for eg. things like building design, lighting , flooring , colour and layout of furniture ,

equipment and seating.

Teachers need to to know how to make accommodations to provide student-centred programs rather

than teaching the curriculum. For Foetal alcohol people, this is the most effective. Such programs

would accommodate for the different styles and rates of learning of these kinds of disabled people.

The best learning styles for alcohol fetal people tend to be visual – kinesthetic which is not always in

line with the educators preferred style of auditory and vocal teaching style.(Blackburn et. al., 2010)

In terms of teaching strategies, direct teaching approaches incorporates explicit teacher directed

strategies that ensure specific skills and concepts are taught and learned. Many students, not only

those with special education needs, will benefit from this approach, as well as from other forms of

input from teachers and peers

Reference:

Blackburn, C., Carpenter C., Egerton J. (2010). Shaping the future for children with foetal alcohol

spectrum disorders. British Journal of Learning Support 25(3): 139-145.

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0009/000984/098427eo.pdf

http://www.safeschoolshub.edu.au/documents/nationalsafeschoolsframework.pdf

Stakeholders Two benefits Two possible concerns/ limitations

Student with special needs:

­ INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: having the opportunity to be in mainstream education. The students’ right to equal education can be exercised in a context with which the child with special needs will be likely living in for her future (Blackburn et. Al., 2010).

­ The focus student may be able to interact with mainstream students and possibly build relationships with them. This could result in an improvement in the students ‘shy’ character, and may improve current possible deficit in building strong relationships (due to possible attachment issue) (Blackburn et. Al, 2012).

­ The students needs may not be recognised. Each case of children with FAS is distinctly varied due to unpredictable nature of the disorder. Therefore each child’s learning needs are different. Our focus student’s needs should be recognised as specific to her case, not her class of disease. Therefore personalised learning is important (Blackburn et. Al., 2010).

­ May not be accepted by other students and may be bullied and taken advantage of, especially since focus student is easily misled (Rose et. Al., 2012).

Parent/s of student with special needs

­ Attachment to parents may dissipate upon exposure to other students/ teachers due to inherent stability in mainstream school. Since the focus student is in foster care, the student may be suffering from an insecure attachment pattern (Blackburn et. Al, 2012).

­ Due to the nature of FASD, child tends to be admitted to foster care, as indicated by focus student. Inclusive education schools tend to have a lower strain financially on carers, as prevalence of disability is linked to low income/ poverty (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2004).

­ The parent could have a concern for the child’s wellbeing in a mainstream school. Is education really inclusive? Will their child be discriminated against?

­ There may not be enough communication with parents as school not specialised for children with disabilities. Does the school really have a good program in place to support the focus student?

Classmates

­ Able to interact with and work with diverse types of students i.e. those with special needs. The classmates may benefit from diversifying their knowledge of people and are forced to challenge stigma attached to students with special needs.

­ Opportunity to establish relationship with and perhaps destroy stigma associated with students with disabilities as being ‘retarded’. They are exceptional in their own ways and tend to have a beautiful nature (Blackburn et. Al, 2012).

­ There may be too much focus by teacher on the focus student with FASD and her inclusion. Inexperience of teacher in this area may lead to this kind of poor management

­ Students with FAS may have behavioural deficits. Although focus student is shy, will she act out in a mainstream classroom? The concern is that mainstream students may have their learning disrupted (Mutua & Smith, 2006).

Other students in school

­ Students are able to be exposed to different people that exist in the world. The focus student can interact on a day­to­day basis with various students and can have the opportunity to take part in various activities.

­ The students including in the focus student have the opportunity to be a part of a wider school community.

­ The other students may not understand the nature of the disability and so do not do accept the new student, especially in community based activities.

­ The focus student may be bullied by these students, which can cause an uproar in the school and put pressure on other students whom would want to befriend the focus student. It may put them in a situation where they may be bullied also.

Teacher

­ Teacher can learn/ be challenged to deal with issue and implement personalised learning/ inclusive education. This is a very practical type of education that may benefit the focus student (Dybdahl & Ryan, 2009).

­ Teacher can encourage interaction between students and can dissipate/ lessen dependence of FASD student on parent/. Car

er (Blackburn et. Al, 2012).

­ The teacher may not be equipped with educating the focus student as training for pre­service teachers in this field is limited (Mitchell, 2013).

­ Responsibility is greater on teacher to care for student; the teacher arguably takes on the role of a social worker/ carer (Webb et. al., 2008). This is especially the case since the focus student is in focus student­ her situation may require the extra care of the teacher.

Principal

­ The principal is responsible for fostering a sense of connectedness and belonging in the school and so can use the focus student as an opportunity to widen his school community, which will be a favourable choice for prospective students in the school that have learning difficulties (Roffey, 2013).

­ This widening community may attract further government funding which can perpetuate a growing inclusive education program that is suited to the focus student and others of a similar disposition.

­ Responsible for the welfare of the student; if the teacher’s are not trained enough, bullying & discrimination in the school towards the student occurs.

­ More money needed to be spent on facilitating the personalised learning programs that need to be more practical (Dybdahl & Ryan, 2009).

PART A

To understand the Issues of Disability relating to Human rights and social justice in the educational

context include:

Section of the Anti Discrimination Act 1992 includes the following three levels which related to social

justice .

The object(Summary) of this Act includes getting rid of discrimination in the area of education and

therefore promotting the equal treatment of the disabled people in Australia.

‘’The objects of this Act are:

(a) to eliminate, as far as possible, discrimination against persons on the ground of

disability in the areas of:

(i) work, accommodation, education, access to premises, clubs and sport; and

(ii) the provision of goods, facilities, services and land; and

(iii) existing laws; and

(iv) the administration of Commonwealth laws and programs; and

(b) to ensure, as far as practicable, that persons with disabilities have the same rights

to equality before the law as the rest of the community; and

(c) to promote recognition and acceptance within the community of the principle that

persons with disabilities have the same fundamental rights as the rest of the community.’’(Anti

Discrimination Act, 1992)

The disability education standards are accommodated/formulated under this Discrimination Act . The

disability standard includes 5 rights. These rights are enrolment, participation, curriculum

development , curriculum development, accreditation and delivery, student support services and

harassment and victimisation rights.

Also it may be worth mentioning that the rights under international law (UN ) as mentioned in UN

Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons states ….

The Rights under Anti Discrimination and teacher implications are outlined in the table below.

Enrolment: Rights

‘’Right to seek admission and enrol on the same basis as prospective students without disability including the right to reasonable adjustments. ‘'(Disability Education Standards,2005) Teacher implication is that they fully understand that the principal of a school to which a child applies for enrolment is the officer responsible for making or refusing an offer of enrolment. The principal can require the child's parents to produce a statement describing the child's condition and requirements, including a medical certificate where he or she thinks it will be relevant.

Participation: Rights

‘’Right to access courses and programs; use services and facilities; and have reasonable adjustments, to ensure students with disability are able to participate in education and training on the same basis as students without disability.’’(Disability Education Standards,2005) For example having ‘reasonable adjustments’ like perhaps for a physically disabled person a bit more wheelchair access facilities,extra lift for disabled etc, disabled .

Curriculum development, accreditation and delivery: Rights

‘’Right to participate in courses and relevant supplementary programs that are designed to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding, on the same basis as students without disability and to have reasonable adjustments to ensure they are able to participate in education and training.’’ (Disability Education Standards,2005) Teacher implications can include ongoing and continuing adjustments for disabled student after doing an Inclusive Education intervention Program for them with the help of special education teachers, counsellor and support of parents. As their needs may need to be

adjusted or any changes need to be made due to there disability, curriculum changes possibly etc.

Student support services: Rights

‘’Right to access student support services provided by education institutions, on the same basis as students without disability. Students with disability have the right to specialised services needed to participate in the educational activities they are enrolled in.’’ (Disability Education Standards,2005) Teacher implications include referring the student for extra support whenever required with support staff in schools such as school nurses, school , speech pathologists, social workers, psycologists/school counsellors etc and the student may refuse espeically if it is seeing a school counsellor/psycologist due to the illness that they are suffering from.

Harassment and victimisation: Rights

‘’Right to education and training in an environment that is free from discrimination caused by harassment and victimisation on the basis of their disability. ‘’(Disability Education Standards,2005) For example teacher implications can include talking to bullies , eliminating bullies in the classrooms and school playgrounds as well monitoring cyberbullying which is difficult.

REFERENCES:

https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/rights-people-disabilities-areas-need-increased-protec

tion-chapter-3-education#issues

www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2005L00767/Download

http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2014C00013/Html/Text#_Toc374623159

https://education.gov.au/disability-standards-education

https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/rights-people-disabilities-areas-need-increased-protec

tion-chapter-3-education#rights

PART E ABSTRACT: SHAPING THE FUTURE FOR CHILDREN WITH FOETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM

DISORDERS

Learning Disabilities have increasingly gained more support in the education sector as the number of

affected children with emerging disabilities has increased. Among the most common learning

disabilities is a class of disorders known as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Spectrum disorders (FASD). Due to

the unpredictable nature of the effect of alcohol in-utero, it is very difficult to characterise the

cognitive impairments that result in affected children.

Children with a FASD are affected in many different ways, with cases ranging from mild to severe.In

the case of our focus student, not enough information was given to determine this severity. The most

common factors present in all children with FASD include learning and memory impairment and an

inability to understand their consequences. From this generalisation, we can usurp an understanding,

although somewhat limited, of the problems being faced by the focus student.

The challenge therefore lies in how well education staff are able to respond to the learning needs ofa

child with fetal alcohol Syndrome.. Since the nature of this disorder is varied, it can not fit into a

particular stage or key learning area in any curriculum. Thus, students suffering from FASD must have

a personalised learning program created for their particular case. It is important however, to build

upon their positive personality traits, as they tend to have a strong visual memory and verbal fluency.

In addition, children with FASD tend to be fun-loving, caring and gregarious, so building upon their

personality traits would be beneficial. This is evident through the shy nature of our focus student, in

addition to the added fact she loves animals. Managing her learning environment would be best

through strategies involving repetition, structure, consistency, sensory regulation and a concrete

‘hands-on’ approach to learning as are quite common to most sufferers of FASD. In addition, it is

important to facilitate interactions between the focus student and other students in the classroom,

since she is noted to be quite shy. Activities, however should be targeted to her interests (perhaps in

animals) and must be of a practical nature in order to optimise her learning, rather than limit it by

focusing solely on the focus student’s weaknesses. In this way, the focus student may have a fair

opportunity at usurping a good education.

Reference:

Blackburn, C., Carpenter C., Egerton J. (2010). Shaping the future for children with foetal alcohol

spectrum disorders. British Journal of Learning Support 25(3): 139-145.( ERIC database)

References: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2004). Children with disabilities in Australia. Retrieved August 12, 2014 from http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=6442455787 Rose C.A., Swearer S.M., Espelage D.L. (2012). Bullying and Students with Disabilities: The Untold Narrative. Focus on Exceptional Children 45(2): 1­10. Mutua, K. Smith R.M. (2006). Disrupting Normalcy and the Practical; Concerns of Classroom Teachers. Vital Questions Facing Disability Studies in Education 2: 121­132. Webb R., Greco V., Sloper P., Beecham J. (2008). Key workers and Schools: meeting the needs of children and young people with disabilities. European journal of Special Needs Education 23(3): 189­205. Dybdahl C.S., Ryan S. (2009). Inclusion for Students with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Classroom Teachers Talk about Practice. Preventing School Failure 53(3): 185­196.

Mitchell D. (2013). Proposed values, knowledge and skill sets for educators working in inclusive settings with learners with diverse educational needs. Special Education (2): 145­151. Roffey S. (2013). Inclusive and exclusive belonging- the impact on individual and community well-being. Educational & Child Psychology 30 (1): 38-49

Gillies R. M., Ashman A., Terwel J. (2008). The Teacher’s Role in Implementing Cooperative Learning in

the Classroom: An Introduction. Springer Science+Business Medica, LLC. Queensland, Australia.

Bullying:

Many students with special needs find it difficult to understand their own disability and the

implications of such. Due to the distinct nature of some disabilities, in addition to the stigma

associated with those that have learning difficulties, these students tend to be quite vulnerable to

social pressure and bullying (Rose et. al., 2012).

Students with special needs also have physical features which may distinguish them from other

students. The extent to which these features are distinguishing depends on the nature and severity of

the disability.

This also makes them vulnerable targets for bullies , in classrooms , playgrounds etc leaving them

open to name calling and teasing. This is mostly due to the pressure placed upon image and ‘beauty’.

FAMILY HARDSHIPS: Families that include children with disabilities go through large amounts of

stress and resilience. This is due to the dependent nature of children with disabilities upon their family

members. Due to this dependence, families that have children with a disability tend to go through

many difficulties. Economic hardship is very common among these difficulties experienced (Australian

Institute of Health and Welfare, 2004). As a result, inclusive education and assistance from those in

school would significantly help these families in many ways including financially and to dilute that

child’s dependence.

Building on strengths along with weaknesses in personalised education:

The challenge remains for students with special needs: how can learning be optimised in general, and

how can it be optimised for students with PARTICULAR learning disabilities such as those with foetal

alcohol syndrome? There is a responsibility for all teachers to be well-informed and prepared.

Unfortunately, teachers that have special needs students are not as well trained as they should be,

considering the transition toward a more common inclusive education (Webb et. al., 2008).

The educational response needs to take into consideration the learner’s strengths in addition to their

difficulties for a personalised learning pathway.

This is important since students such as those that suffer Fetal Alcohol Syndrome have a very strong

visual memory and good verbal fluency. Focus on these sorts of strengths allow for a program to be

developed that caters for these particular strengths in order to improve on weaknesses. Focusing

purely on weaknesses will not yield the same results (Blackburn et. al., 2010).

Social ability/ skills:

Feeling a sense of disempowerment in relationships can block students with learning difficulties from

creating friendships with other students. (Blackburn et. al., 2010)

Students with disabilities also may suffer from emotional and social incompetence due to their

disability. This may make it difficult to establish relationships with other students, as they may not

understand emotions or empathise. As a teacher, you are integral to facilitating interactions between

regular students and those with special needs. (Blackburn et. al., 2010)

Dependence & Attachment: Because cognitive function is impaired, these students can’t make

decisions independently, and if they do, the decisions may be harmful or irrational. Therefore,

students with disabilities need to be dependent on someone.

Teachers need to understand the cultural and historical implications of different societies which gives

guidance and support in understanding and recognising that attachment does vary according to such

(Blackburn et. al., 2012).

Environmental Adjustments

Adjustments to the environment should be made for any disabled people including FSD sufferers such

as reducing visual and auditory distractions. For example, for visual considerations could include

reducing the brightness of the lighting in the room. If this is not possible, set up an area of the room

where some of the bulbs can be removed and have the student sit . For auditory considerations,

reducing classroom distractions including mobile phones would benefit. This can be done through

effective classroom management strategies, a necessary requirement for teachers who have students

with special needs.