Differences between special needs children within regular classes compared to those learning separately

Abstract EN

This essay has dealt with investigating the differences between children with special needs who are integrated into regular classes with children with special needs learning in closed special ed.

classes, regarding the extent of improvement in their achievements in reading comprehension and mathematics, as well as social involvement.

Twenty-nine students from the 2nd and 3rd grades participated in the research (average age: 8.4 years and deviation from the norm: 0.6), all defined as students of special ed., 14 of whom were in the 2nd grade (48%) and 15 of whom were in the third grade (52%).

Some students were integrated into a parent class and some learned the basic subjects of reading comprehension and mathematics in a special closed class, though the division was not uniform throughout the entire research.

Ten teachers also participated in the study – 6 regular teachers and 4 teachers of special ed., 1 of whom teaches the special ed class and 3 of whom teach the integrated students.

Data were collected using three types of tools: a questionnaire open to teachers of special education to examine their attitudes and perceptions about differences between educational frameworks in terms of addressing the needs of children with special needs and in terms of achievement in reading comprehension and arithmetic and their integration into social activities.

Interviews are open to students in grades 2 and 3 that dealt with learning framework preferences, variance and degree of satisfaction of the student learning framework.

Research findings pointed to the fact that the presence of students in an integrated class helps them advance in their own capabilities, in their social involvement and in their scholastic achievements.

The assistance and support that the students received in the integrated classes from the staff of teachers – both of regular education and of special education – improves their scholastic achievements.

It should be noted that the students expressed their desire to be integrated and continue learning in the class with other students, and not to leave the class – in order to avoid the negative stigma associated with leaving the class to learn with teachers of special ed.

The study shows that there is great importance to the extent of cooperation between teachers of special ed.

and teachers of regular education.

The greater the cooperation, the greater the students’ achievements and social involvement.

We recommend integrating more subjects for the students and organizing advanced courses in schools on the topic of staff work, in order to discuss important pedagogical issues to solve problems and make decisions.

It is suggested that a continued research be made in which the population of students can be expanded to include students from higher classes in schools and to integrate the parents as well.

The parents’ opinions and cooperation with them will enable the school to form a clear policy in dealing with the topic of advancement of children with special needs.