Bilingualism for children with special needs

APRENDIZAJES PLURILINGÜES Y LITERARIOS. NUEVOS ENFOQUES DIDÁCTICOS APRENENTATGES PLURILINGÜES I LITERARIS. NOUS ENFOCAMENTS DIDÀCTICS ANTONIO DÍEZ MEDIAVILLA, VICENT BROTONS RICO DARI ESCANDELL MAESTRE, JOSÉ ROVIRA COLLADO (EDS.) PUBLICACIONS DE LA UNIVERSITAT D’ALACANT APRENDIZAJES PLURILINGÜES Y LITERARIOS. NUEVOS ENFOQUES DIDÁCTICOS APRENENTATGES PLURILINGÜES I LITERARIS. NOUS ENFOCAMENTS DIDÀCTICS Publicacions de la Universitat d’Alacant 03690 Sant Vicent del Raspeig [email protected] http://publicaciones.ua.es Telefono: 965 903 480 © Antonio Díez Mediavilla, Vicent Brotons Rico, Dari Escandell Maestre, José Rovira Collado (Eds.) © de la presente edición: Universitat d’Alacant ISBN: 978-84-16724-30-7 Deposito legal: A 728-2016 Diseño de portada: candela ink. Composición: Página Maestra (Miguel Ángel Sánchez Hernández) Impresión y encuadernación: Imprenta Comercial Reservados todos los derechos. Cualquier forma de reproducción, distribución, comunicación pública o transformación de esta obra solo puede ser realizada con la autorización de sus titulares, salvo excepción prevista por la ley. Diríjase a CEDRO (Centro Español de Derechos Repográficos, www.cedro.org) si necesita fotocopiar o escanear algún fragmento de esta obra. BILINGUALISM FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS Ana Mª Pérez Cabello perezoliv[email protected] University of Seville KEYWORDS: Bilingualism, cooperative learning English, school intervention special education needs. ABSTRACT: Bilingual education is carried out by means of a language immersion from very early ages. Priority is giving to oral code used the interaction and second language communication. Once educational laws have been deeply analyzed, a gap concerning pupils with special educational needs has been found out the curriculum design. It is important to know if this fact can be an obstacle both for teachers and for students with special educational needs receiving a bilingual education. Attention to diversity is a matter of particular relevance within a model of inclusive school: all the students should have the same learning and socialization opportunities rights. For this reason, by means of educational intervention we will try to learn how students with special educational needs get along in a bilingual lesson and the possible adaptations of the curriculum. The methodology carried out consists of two axes. The first is the theoretical foundation through data search and existing publications on bilingualism. Once consulted these sources and with sufficient information, an intervention was designed. It consists of the development of a didactic unit composed of a series of activities and resources to be developed primary education classroom. After the analysis of documents, articles and conversations with teachers, it can be concluded that there are neither plans nor specific projects for this type of student. There are not any since the acquisition of a second language should not assume discrimination for students with difficulties. Acquiring another language apart from the native one is a process that any child can carry out since the complexity to purchase will be the same as in the native language. Thanks to the intervention it was found that no alternative material was necessary in the activities to carry out the didactic unit with these students. Every child is special. Bilingual education is carried out by means of a language immersion from very early ages. Priority is giving to oral code used the interaction and second language communication. Nevertheless, children´s special circumstances are forgotten. Once educational laws have been deeply analyzed, a gap concerning pupils with special educational needs has been found out the curriculum design. It is important to know if this fact can be an obstacle both for teachers and for students with special educational needs receiving a bilingual education. Attention to diversity is a matter of particular relevance within a model of inclusive school: all the students should have the same learning and socialization opportunities rights. For this reason, by means of an educational intervention we will try to learn how students with special educational needs get along in a bilingual lesson and the possible adaptations of the curriculum. The intervention consists of the development of a didactic unit composed of a series of activities and resources to develop primary education classroom. In addition, these activities and resources are intended to help teachers when it comes to planning your sessions, as well as try to favour the acquisition of knowledge in a second language in children with special educational Ana Mª Pérez Cabello 886 needs (SSNN). As stated in the order of 25 July 2008, which regulates attention to the diversity of students enrolled in basic education in public schools in Andalusia, it is necessary to orient the measures applied to respond to the specific educational needs of the students to get to reach the maximum possible development within its personal capabilities. This paper aims at four objectives: 1. Analyzing complexity in children with SSNN bilingualism. 2. Providing materials, tools and educational resources for teachers. 3. Carrying out an educational intervention from a bilingual perspective for primary education students with SSNN. 4. Analyzing the presence or absence of bilingual projects in children with educational special needs in Andalusia. Students with SSNN are those who present a series of needs in temporary or permanent way. Students will have complemented with educational care supports to develop capabilities, knowledge, abilities and skills that constitute the curriculum objectives, regardless the origin of the needs. In addition, it is important to highlight educational attention to part of the possibilities, abilities and skills of the child to know their capabilities and help needed to achieve the proposed objectives. Educational response for these children is based on the principles of individualization and personalization of education, since each student has a number of distinct features. Students with SSNN may suffer from different problems or disorders as shown below: 1. Intellectual disability: probably within the pupils with disabilities, the most numerous is students with mental deficiency in four grades: mild, moderate, severe and profound. 2. Educational disabilities: these children need to improve the capacities of attention, processing of information, memory, metacognition and executive control of the conduct and it is necessary to reach an optimum development of the adaptive skills. In addition, they present difficulties in learning and processing information in all curriculum areas and the transfer of learning to everyday life. Hearing disability: this disability significantly affects the teaching-learning process, and more specifically to the process of acquisition and development of language. The impact of deafness in learning depends on the degree that has the child has . Within the students presenting this problem can be mentioned two groups: those who have profound deafness and on the other hand, those who have hearing loss. Children with profound deafness have as primary means of communication, sign language, since they have no functional hearing. However, students with hearing loss acquired oral language thanks to support prosthetics, speech therapists and training support in auditory discrimination. Both groups share the need for a communication system to develop their thinking and adapt and customize the process of learning to your hearing needs. 3. Hearing disability: this disability significantly affects the teaching-learning process, and more specifically to the process of acquisition and development of language. The impact of deafness in learning depends on the degree that has the / child. Within the students presenting this problem can be mentioned two groups: those who have profound deafness and on the other hand, those who have hearing loss. Children with profound deafness have as primary means of communication, sign language, since they have no functional hearing. However, students with hearing loss acquired oral language thanks to support prosthetics, speech therapists and training support in auditory discrimination. Both groups share the need for a communication system to develop their thinking and adapt and customize the process of learning to your hearing needs. Bilingualism for children with special needs 887 4. Visual impairment: this capability depends on the degree that presents the student/a, ranging from mild vision loss to total blindness. If there is a loss of vision can favor the visual discrimination and use resources such as optical AIDS and special lighting. On the other hand, if there is a total blindness would require specific materials and the acquisition of the Braille Code. 5. Motor disabilities: students with this kind of disability presents mostly muscular dystrophies that prevents them from having a harmony in the evolutionary development. Therefore, it is necessary that they develop cognitive, perceptual abilities and sensory motor enabling the interaction with the environment, mobility and functional motor skills. Also need to acquire a repertoire of behavioral and social skills that make it possible to control and regulation of autonomous behavior. Visual impairment: this capability depends on the degree that presents the student/a, ranging from mild vision loss to total blindness. If there is a loss of vision can favor the visual discrimination and use resources such as optical AIDS and special lighting. On the other hand, if there is a total blindness would require specific materials and the acquisition of the Braille Code. Autism spectrum disorder: major features that these children have are limitation in social interaction and communication, delay and alterations in speech, language and communication, changes in the pace of development and development of stereotyped patterns. On their needs, you can point out several how to improve their linguistic and communicative, performance stimulate and improve their cognitive skills and regulation of behavior. Autism spectrum disorder: major features that these children have are limitation in social interaction and communication, delay and alterations in speech, language and communication, changes in the pace of development and development of stereotyped patterns. On their needs, you can point out several how to improve their linguistic and communicative, performance stimulate and improve their cognitive skills and regulation of behavior. 6. With/without Hyperactivity Attention Deficit Disorder: it is a disorder Neurobiology of chronic, symptomatically evolutionary character and probable genetic transmission. It is characterized by a difficulty in maintaining voluntary care front activities, both academic and everyday and coupled with the lack of impulse control. The disorder is currently divided into three subtypes according to the characteristics associated with the disorder: inattentive; inattentive and combined. 7. High-gifted: these students are characterized by an above-average intellectual capacity. These students have intellectual, social and emotional needs that have to be met. In this sense, we can also find individualized curriculum adaptations. They can be of two kinds (a) not significant curricular adaptations that are those that made adjustments in the activities and modifications in the time to adjust the rhythm of learning from those students who struggle to learn, and (b) significant curricular adaptations are those designed to students who present learning disabilities on a permanent basis. Therefore, the objectives, content, methodology, activities and evaluation criteria are changed. Students who are enrolled in specific special education centres have serious developmental disorders.It is sometimes considered that the needs of such students may not be covered in ordinary centres. Currently, there is a unique curriculum for all students in our educational system. This can be adapted depending on the needs that present the latter. Education modalities for students with special educational needs are in a regular group with or without specialized support and in a specific special education classroom. Special education is conducted the same curriculum educational stage that the student courses, but with a significant adaptation. However, the main objectives are set: the development Ana Mª Pérez Cabello 888 in the physical and social environment, the acquisition of the personal autonomy, and the development of communication. Another aspect that should be noted is the rhythms and times of learning of students. Occasionally, school children with SSPP, taking into account their capabilities, need to extend the schooling period. High-gifted may decrease the duration of a stage in a course if the teacher believes that cycle objectives are covered. It is also possible that the students begin Primary Education being 5 years or do just a single course one of the cycles. On the contrary, those who have disabilities need more time to develop the capacities stated in the objectives of an educational stage. These students may begin primary education stage capitalized with seven years names or to stay one more year in kindergarten. Regarding human resources, students with SSPP may be developing educational process in ordinary schools run by the same teachers that the rest of the group. To solve problems and meet other needs that students is also served by specialized teachers and the service of educational guidance. This staff is composed by specialist teachers s in therapeutic pedagogy, hearing, and language and special education. Another aspect to be reconsidered is the concept of bilingualism. There are different definitions of bilingualism, but even so there is a common understanding of what to be bilingual means. According to the RAE (2001) bilingualism refers to the routine use of two languages in the same region. Espejo (2013) says that you can designate different types of bilingualism: the individual, i.e., the people who are able to speak two languages, and social, of the communities in which several languages are spoken. There is also the bilingualism compound, coordinated or subordinate, according the dominant language. In addition, the scope of the term is broad, since by bilingual you can call the person who perfectly masters two or more languages, the emigrant who communicates in a language other than their own (regardless of the level that possess) or the student doing a course in another language (Blanco, 1981). This shows that bilingualism does not imply that the speaker has the same jurisdiction in both languages and perfectly speaks both languages, they have ability to communicate fluently in both languages. It is important to point out that there are many bilingualism are conditioned by circumstances that condition it. In addition, the scope of the term is broad, since by bilingual you can call the person who perfectly mastered two or more languages, the emigrant who communicates in a language other than their own (regardless of the level that possess) or the student doing a course in another language (white, 1981). This shows that bilingualism does not imply that the speaker has the same jurisdiction in both languages and perfectly speaks both languages. They have the ability to communicate fluently in both languages. Collaborative learning as methodology for bilingualism currently projects that use innovative teaching and learning methods used the work of collaborative group or collaborative learning (AC) proposal. Today a lot of authors consider the proposal of collaborative work as a partnership between people who go in search of mutual support as they seek to carry out joint activities, so that may learn from one another. The application of this method is expected that it will be used in the coming years causing a shift in educational processes over the consideration of individual learning learning in group. All this raises challenges to teachers how to prepare to carry out this idea, defining the roles and responsibilities of students. Basic sense says that collaborative learning (AC) is a strategy of teaching and learning that are organized small workgroups; in which each Member receives instructions from the teacher previously and on which the work is performed. That has been shown when comparing the results of traditional learning models and the AC may give better results with the latter. Students who use the AC develop superior reasoning skills and feel more realized and integrated into the whole (Millis, 1996). Bilingualism for children with special needs 889 The educational method carried out was the collaborative learning. The objective was that in the teaching-learning process had special relevance the interaction among students, and everyone could feel important at the collective. On the other hand, this methodology promotes integration of those with difficulties and promotes the acquisition of content to provide help at any time by Parties of the companions. The intervention was carried out in a charter bilingual school in primary education 1st grade. The class was formed by 25 students, three of whom have special educational needs (a girl diagnosed ASD, a child diagnosed ADHD and a student presenting a mild intellectual disabilities). The intervention consists of the development of a didactic unit on Cities and Villages. A series of activities and resources will be developed. In addition, these activities and resources are intended to help teachers when it comes to planning your sessions, as well as try to favour the acquisition of knowledge in a second language in children with special educational needs. Students with SSPP will always stay in the classroom with the rest of students and the English teacher. The main resource was a teaching unit prepared according to course and level of students. Also, it was emphasizes the use of materials such as the flashcards for their visual impact or own educational sheets prepared in accordance with the contents of the teaching unit. Also, the student´s book was used as a guide and resource as well as traditional slate or the computer. Special emphasis on the use of materials such as the flashcards for their visual impact (see Appendix 1) and working sheets prepared in accordance with the content of the teaching unit (Appendix 2). Taking into account the results obtained, we could say that the majority of students have a medium-high level in the knowledge. Students with SSPP present a similar level to the rest of his companions. This shows that the resources used have favored the acquisition of skills without any differences between both groups. Table 1. Non SSPP children results