Comprehensive Guide to Disability-Inclusive Education in Education Fiji

Handbook Documentation and Development Overview

• The Disability-Inclusive Education Handbook for Teachers is the primary document within the Toolkit for Disability-Inclusive Education – Fiji.
• It was developed as a central component of the Disability Inclusion Strategy of the Access to Quality Education Program (AQEP) in partnership with the Fiji Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts.
• Funding for this publication was provided by the Australian government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
• The document draws heavily on resources including:
  • UNESCO (2001): Understanding and Responding to Children’s Needs in Inclusive Classrooms - A Guide for Teachers (R. McConkey).
  • Malawi Voluntary Services Overseas: Disability Toolkit – removing the ‘dis’ in disabilities.
  • Mariga, L., et al. (2014): Inclusive Education in Low-Income Countries.
  • UNESCO (2004): Embracing Diversity: Toolkit for Creating Inclusive, Learning-Friendly Environments.
• Key Contributors and Reviewers:
  • Western Division Allied Health Team.
  • Academic and technical experts: Suzanne Hopf, Sarah Masso, Joanne Webber, Jenny Finemore, Gabriel Fuller, Umesh Sharma, and Rebekah McCullough.
  • Specific Fiji Special Educators: Kitione Ravulo (Corpus Christi Teachers College), Jone Robanakadavu (Fiji Technical Vocational Training Centre), Bishwa Sidal (Suva Special School for Intellectually Impaired), Makereta Musukasau (Fiji School for the Blind), Akanisi Vueti (Fiji Society for the Blind), Elenoa Vunitabua (Sunshine Special School), Ana Tuiova (Ba School for Special Education), Shiromani Felix (Nadi Centre for Special Education), Salesh Deo (Nausori Special School), Fairul Shaheed (Lautoka Special School), Merelesita Qeleni (AQEP), Nanise Ravisa (Hilton Early Intervention Centre), and Paulo Vueti (Sigatoka Special School).
• Authors: Beth Sprunt (CBM Australia – Nossal Institute Partnership), Jennifer McAleer, Megan Steele, Mereoni Daveta, Merelesita Qeleni, and Litea Naliva.

Purpose and Application of the Handbook

• The resource is designed for all teachers in Fiji to improve school and classroom inclusiveness, targeting children with specific educational needs.
• Defined Audience: All Fiji teachers, qualified special educators (for training others), volunteers, teacher aides, and caregivers.
• Definition of Caregivers: This term encompasses parents, extended family members, guardians, and friends.
• Core Utilization Strategy:
  • Chapter 5: General Principles and Strategies of Inclusive Education is considered critical for all readers.
  • Chapters 7-14: Detail specific impairments and health conditions for targeted intervention.
  • Screening Tools (Appendix 21): These are intended for systematic observation of students at risk of disability. They are not a replacement for formal assessment or diagnosis. Teachers must refer students to specialists (doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists, and vision/hearing services) using the Fiji Disability Services Information ‒ Referral Directory.

Defining Disability and Functioning

• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006): Defines persons with disabilities as those with long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
• World Health Organisation’s ICF (2001): Defines disability as the outcome of a complex relationship between an individual’s health condition/personal factors and external environmental factors.
• The Functioning Umbrella: Includes three concepts:
  1. Body functions and structures: Anatomical and physiological characteristics.
  2. Activities: The ability to perform tasks or actions.
  3. Participation: Involvement in life situations.
• Environmental Barriers:
  • Physical: Inaccessible buildings.
  • Institutional: Exclusionary school policies.
  • Attitudinal: Negative beliefs regarding a child’s ability to learn.

Concepts of Disability-Inclusive Education

• UNESCO Definition: A process focusing on responding to diverse learner needs by increasing participation and reducing exclusion. It involves modifications in content, approaches, structures, and strategies.
• Educational Settings Dynamics:
  • Exclusion: Children are not in the school system at all.
  • Segregation: Children are educated only in separate schools for students with disabilities.
  • Integration: Children attend mainstream schools but are separated into specific disability-only classes.
  • Inclusion: Children are students in regular classrooms with their age-mates.
• Least Restrictive Environment: The principle that children should be enrolled in the setting that offers academic and social optimality. While inclusive education is the goal, some children may currently require the specialized staff and equipment (e.g., Braille, sign language) found in special schools until regular school capacity is strengthened.
• The Role of Special Schools: They serve as centers of expertise, provide early intervention (learning Braille or Sign), and act as mentors for regular schools.

Benefits of Inclusive Education

• Developmental: Provides children with disabilities the chance to reach full potential and contribute to society.
• Pedagogical: Teachers develop methods based on individual student needs and learning preferences, which benefits the entire class.
• Cognitive Skills for Non-Disabled Students: Enhances lateral thinking, communication variety, problem-solving, and peer mentoring.
• Social: Breaks down ethnic and disability-related attitudinal barriers; promotes the classroom as an interdependent community.
• Economic: Increases overall family earning capacity and sibling school attendance by reducing home-based caregiving burdens.

Historical and Policy Context in Fiji

• History: Early 1960s education began at Beatty Keen Ward of Colonial War Memorial Hospital following a polio epidemic. Hilton Special School (formerly Suva Crippled Children School) was founded in 1967 with Mr. Frank Hilton. Fiji currently has 15 special schools and 2 vocational training centers.
• Constitutional Support (2013):
  • Article 42: Entitles persons with disabilities to reasonable access to all places, information, Sign Language, Braille, and reasonable adaptations to buildings and practices.
  • Article 31: Every person has the right to early childhood, primary, secondary, and further education.
• Key Legislation:
  • Policy on the Effective Implementation of Special and Inclusive Education (2011).
  • Social Justice Act (2011).
  • Fiji Human Rights Commission Act (1999).
  • Fiji National Council for Persons with Disabilities Act (1994).
• Demonstration Schools: AQEP established five inclusive education demonstration schools in 2012, showing a jump in enrollment from $6$ to $82$ students within $14$ months.

General Principles and Strategies for Inclusion

• Classroom Management:
  • Arranging desks in small groups and situating students near the front or near the teacher to improve engagement.
  • Maintaining a calm, consistent, and clutter-free workspace.
• Adaptive Instruction:
  • Scaffolding: Modeling expected behavior and gradually withdrawing support as the child gains mastery.
  • Differentiated Instruction: Adjusting the difficulty level (e.g., one child writes a page while another with an intellectual disability writes a sentence and draws a picture).
  • Multi-Sensory Approaches: Using sand, clay, or singing to teach concepts like spelling names.
• Communication Strategies:
  • Using communication boards, gestures, and Sign Language.
  • Providing a "wait time" for student responses.
  • Using "Whole Body Listening" visual displays.
• Cooperative Learning:
  • Implementing mixed-ability groups of $4$ to $6$ students.
  • Assigned roles: materials manager, facilitator, summarizer, recorder, presenter, and encourager.
• Positive Behavioural Support:
  • Setting explicit expectations and rewards for positive behavior.
  • Using the ABC (Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence) chart (Appendix 12) to identify triggers.

Stakeholders in Inclusive Education

• The Team: Student, caregivers, other students, Head Teacher/Principal, teachers, Inclusion Coordinator, Teacher Aides, Community Rehabilitation Assistant, and Specialist staff.
• Principles for Teacher Aides:
  1. Assigned to the classroom, not the individual student.
  2. Avoid "hovering"; favor "aide then fade" to build independence.
  3. Support all students in the class.
• Inclusive Education Committee: May include village/church leaders, women’s groups, and parent associations to reach out-of-school children.

Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD)

• Definition: Neurological disorders affecting the acquisition and organization of information. Individuals typically have average or above-average intelligence.
• Categories:
  • Dyslexia: Impacts reading and writing (approx. $85\%$ of those with SLD).
  • Dysgraphia: Impacts handwriting (pencils grips or 3-ring binder "writing slopes" may help).
  • Dyscalculia: Impacts mathematical computation and numeracy.
• Key Fact: SLDs affect an estimated $10\%$ of the population. They are permanent but manageable with intervention.
• Strategies:
  • Use Arial Narrow font (easier to read).
  • Break tasks into small, sequential chunks.
  • Provide handouts to reduce the burden of copying from the chalkboard.

Intellectual Disabilities

• Definition: Significant limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior originating before age $18$.
• Levels:
  • Mild: Can usually live independently as adults.
  • Moderate: Needs significant help with academic work; focuses on self-care and social skills.
  • Severe to Profound: Requires constant adult care; focus is on Life Skills (currency, time, basic communication).
• Strategies:
  • Life Skills Curricula: Budgeting, caring for teeth, crossing streets safely (Appendix 13).
  • Visual Schedules: To help transition between tasks.
  • Repetition: Necessary for learning even basic skills.

Deafness and Hearing Loss

• Thresholds: Normal hearing is $25\,dB$ or better. Hearing loss ranges from mild to profound.
• Types:
  • Hard of Hearing: Use spoken language but benefit from hearing aids or cochlear implants.
  • Deaf: Use Sign Language; profound hearing loss.
  • Conductive: Problem in outer/middle ear (blockage).
  • Sensorineural: Problem in inner ear or auditory nerve.
• Strategies:
  • Sit student within $3\,m$ of the teacher.
  • Face the student directly and keep mouth visible (avoid talking while writing on the board).
  • Minimize background noise.
  • Use FM systems (wireless microphone/transmitter used by teacher).

Vision Impairment

• Levels: Normal vision, Low vision (moderate and severe), and Blindness (visual acuity in better eye $< 3/60$ or visual field loss $< 10^{\circ}$).
• Refractive Errors: Myopia (nearsightedness), Hyperopia (farsightedness), Astigmatism (distorted vision), and Presbyopia (age-related reading difficulty).
• Strategies:
  • Position student away from window glare.
  • Use high-contrast materials (enlarged text).
  • Utilize other senses (touching counters in math) and Braille.
  • Orientation and Mobility: Teach the child to hold a guide’s elbow; use white canes measured from ground to the lowest rib cage bone.

Other Health Conditions: Epilepsy and Diabetes

• Epilepsy:
  • Absence Seizures: Brief staring spells often missed by teachers.
  • Emergency Care: Do not restrain the child; do not put anything in the mouth; roll them on their side after jerking stops. Call an ambulance if the seizure lasts $> 5$ minutes.
• Diabetes:
  • Type 1: No insulin produced; requires injections.
  • Type 2: Ineffective insulin use; linked to lifestyle but increasing in Fiji youth.
  • Hypoglycaemia (Low Blood Sugar) Treatment: Give fast-acting carbohydrates like $1/2$ can of regular soft drink, $1/2$ glass fruit juice, or $6\pm 1$ jellybeans.

Individual Education Plans (IEP)

• Definition: A plan worked out by a team (teacher, parent, student) to address specific barriers and set goals.
• Five Steps:
  1. Observe and Gather Information: Assessment of current functioning.
  2. Share Information: Involving parents and caregivers.
  3. Design a Program: Setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Based).
  4. Implement the Program: Using inclusive strategies.
  5. Evaluate the Program: Termly reviews to set new objectives.
• Sample Goal: "For Luke to count objects to $10$ with assistance from teacher (prompting Luke to touch each object as he counts)."

Language Etiquette

• Person-First Language: Always name the person before the disability. Say "the student who has a vision impairment" instead of "the vision-impaired student."
• Avoid Labels: Avoid terms like "mental patient," "invalid," "retarded," or "spastic."
• Invisibility of habit: Introducting a child by their name (e.g., "Jone Savu") rather than pointing out their disability to visitors.

Appendix Highlights

• Ear Care (Appendix 20): Earwax is self-cleaning; do not use cotton tips as they push wax deeper. If blocked, use drops of slightly warmed coconut oil/mineral oil.
• Life Skills (Appendix 13): Categorized levels ($1\pm 7$) ranging from healthy choices to independent living skills like time management and resiliency.
• Case Studies: Orlando Bloom (Dyslexia), Melania (Deafness/Sign), Suzzane (Intellectual/Resource use), Arav (Vision/Enlargement), Mikel (Physical/Transportation barriers).