4. Téma 2

Inclusive education
Inclusive education – also called inclusion – is education that includes everyone, non-disabled
and disabled people (including those with learning difficulties) together in mainstream schools,
colleges and universities. A learning difficulty does not affect general intelligence, whereas a
learning disability is linked to an overall cognitive impairment (see first reference).
A learning difficulty is a condition that can cause an individual to experience problems in

a traditional classroom learning context. It may interfere with literacy skills development and
maths and can affect memory, ability to focus and with organizational skills. Successful
inclusive education happens primarily through accepting, understanding, and attending to
students' diversity.
Benefits for students

Simply put both students with and without difficulties learn more. Many studies over the past
three decades have found that students with difficulties achieve better results and improve their
skills through inclusive education. Their peers without disabilities also show more positive
attitudes in these same areas when in inclusive classrooms. They make greater academic gains
in reading and maths. Research shows the presence of a student with difficulty (SWD) gives
non-SWD new kinds of learning opportunities. One of these is when they serve as peer-coaches.
By learning how to help another student, their own performance improves.
Types of learning difficulties:

Dyslexia
Dyslexia is one of the most common learning difficulties. There are different types of dyslexia
but the most common type is phonological dyslexia, which affects the way people break words
down into their component parts.
This has consequences for decoding in reading and can cause spelling and writing difficulties.
Because reading and writing are central to most school curriculum, children with undiagnosed
dyslexia can quickly fall behind their peers as they experience problems with note taking,
reading, homework, writing assignments and assessments.
Dyslexia is not associated with lower intelligence, but language difficulties can cause children
to believe they are less intelligent than their peers are and result in a low confidence and a poor
self-image.
Some common signs of dyslexia include problems reading out loud, inconsistent spelling – they
may be able to spell a word one day and not the next – losing one’s place on a page, a poor
grasp of phonics or letter reversals.
Attention difficulties
Attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) used to be
grouped under the umbrella term of ADD. However, in recent years it is ADHD that has become
the general label for attention difficulties, both with and without hyperactivity. ADHD with
hyperactivity is often characterized by difficulties maintaining focus over extended periods.
Children with ADHD can have poor impulse control and produce messy written work. They
are often easier to be noticed in a classroom than a student who has ADD without the
hyperactivity, as in the case of the latter a learner may not call any attention to themselves.
Dysgraphia
Children who struggle with dysgraphia have a hard time with writing and may produce text that
is illegible. Writing can be laboured – taking a long time to complete – and causing frustration
and stress. The spatial orientation and planning aspects of writing can be particularly
challenging for people with dysgraphia. This includes planning the white spaces between letters
and words, writing in a straight line and/or producing lines of text that are vertically spaced.
Letter formation itself might be problematic and typing on the computer is often a
recommended support at school.
Children with dysgraphia are often eager to avoid handwriting, particularly in front of their
peers. They may feel embarrassed when writing on the board, produce less text than is necessary
for written assignments, and can generally perform poorly on assignments that require written
answers.
Dyscalculia
As opposed to dyslexia and dysgraphia, which are both language based learning difficulties,
dyscalculia has to do with processing numbers. Children with dyscalculia can have trouble
performing simple arithmetic. They may not know how to approach math problems.
Even counting can be a struggle and it is often recommended that individuals with dyscalculia
are allowed to use a calculator to support their learning.
When dyslexia and dyscalculia are present together, reading word problems is made more
difficult, and number reversals may be frequent. This may cause errors, which lead the wrong
answer.
Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia is a motor skills difficulty that can also influence the academic success. That is
because it affects the coordination of muscles, including those of the hand.
As gripping the pen or pencil in written language production is painful, writing may contain
more spelling errors and less text as a result. In cases of verbal dyspraxia of speech, the muscles
of the face, mouth and throat are affected, limiting spoken language production.
People with dyspraxia may also walk with a funny gait, have trouble using a paintbrush in art
class, experience difficulties playing a musical instrument, and/or performing coordinated
movements in sports. They may be clumsy and struggle with organisation and tasks that involve
planning.
References:
https://www.alexlowery.co.uk/what-is-the-difference-between-learning-disabilities-and-
learning-difficulties/
https://www.readandspell.com/types-of-learning-difficulties
https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/inclusive-education/
https://www.allfie.org.uk/definitions/what-is-inclusive-education/

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Inclusive education

A learning difficulty is a condition that can cause an individual to experience problems in

Benefits for students

Types of learning difficulties:

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