Learning Difficulties Stigma in Inclusion School in UK (Research Paper Sample)

LEARNING DIFFICULTIES STIGMA IN INCLUSION SCHOOL IN UK
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History
The topic on learning difficulties stigma in inclusion school began to take root in the year 1986 after global concerns came in to effect concerning the need to have students with learning difficulties incorporated in to the learning process subjected to students in normal schools (Shamir & Margalit, 2011, p. 272). The learning difficulties as research points out are often depicted in terms of a childs diminished ability to inderstand language, listen, think, speak, and even write or peform simple calculations(Smilkstein, 2003). However, Gerdner (2011) argues that all these indicators of learning difficulties seldom appear in a sinlge child but are often seen to appear singly. the occurrence of these indicators has stirred enormous interests with researchers seeking to establish the link among all indicators in conection to stigma and inclusion. Historically, children with difficulties have been segregated from those in mainstream institutions (Tsoi, 2006, p. 9). In an attempt to stop the increasing levels of stigma in the society towards this faction of children, non-governmental organizations began to mount up pressure towards governments to intervene and curb the developing social practices as evidenced in escalated levels of sterilization and incarceration (Winters, 2014, p. 208). However, these pleas did not receive any attention until 1996 when the United Kingdom government decided to lead the rest of the world in considering the necessity of integrating children with learningdifficulties in to regular schools (Abbott, Mcconkey & Dobbins, 2011, p. 219).
Even then, global mindsets were not easy to change because the notion that these children do not have the capacity to compete at the same levels with ‘normal’ students had taken root in most parts of the world. According to research, this argument seems well founded because setting up children with difficulties in learning to compete with their agemates who have no difficulties when it comes to reading, writing, understanding language and dealing with calculations is rather unfair (Smilkstein, 2003). As Sacks (2001) further opines, such an endeavor is actualy unfair because children with learning difficulties ofteexhibit a problem of understanding materials on the first reading. Further research indicates that this is a common problem among children with learning difficulties as 45% of the entire group often have to read and re-read materials and even then are not able to accrue the same level of understanding as other students (Smilkstein, 2003). For instance, children with dyslexia and dyscalculia have often experienced escalated levels of stigma in cases of inclusion (Abrams, Hogg & Marques José, 2005). Particularly, dyslexia is a learning difficulty that causes children to experience unsusual problems when it comes to the processing the sound of words (Spaulding, 2014). On the other hand, children that have difficulties when dealing with numbers, calculations, and also have difficulties in simple numeracy skills (Abrams, Hogg & Marques José, 2005). Apprantly, the United Kingdom has had serious difficulties in attempting to deal with the issue of stigma concerning children with these two particular difficulties.
Despite enormous opposition, the United Kingdom government was able to partner with other non-profit organizations in ensuring that the issue of stigma was dealt with to pave way for the entry of children with learning difficulties to enter the mainstream schools (Abrams, Hogg & Marques José, 2005). By the year 2001, the topic had gained considerable amounts of interest from researchers because of the evident learning difficulties experienced by this particular faction in mainstream institutions due to rampant stigma levels. More importantly, scholars had become acquainted with a new aspect of the difficulties faced by children with learning difficulties-, memory problems. Even after reading and re-reading materials, research has established that more than 67% of this faction of students often experience difficulties in remembering both things taught in class and stuff read from class materials (Spaulding, 2014). Consequently, researchers have since then sought to establish the impact of stigma on the learning abilities of these children while simultaneously seeking to find the link between these impacts on the memory of the kids. In addition, scholarly studies have been performed focusing on the specific learning difficulties caused by stigma when children with learning difficulties are integrated in to regular schools (Anderson, 2008). Additionally, studies have recently focused on each different indicator of learnig difficulties in an attempt to establish whether stigma affects children with learning difficulties differently based on whether the indicator appears in speech, listening, thinking, and writing (Spaulding, 2014). One of the major findings concerning this assertion is that stigma causes diferent levels of frustration and withdrawal depending on the kind of learning difficulty exhibited by a particular child. For instance, studies indicate that children with difficulties in speech and writing are more frustrated by stigma especially in classroom cases where they are asked to respond through verbal expression. However, the interest of researchers seems to have shifted towards teaching strategies that could help in alleviating the impacts of stigma in the case of integration in to mainstream erudition institutions. The cause for this shift according to Gerdner (2011) resulted from the realization that apart from efforts being directed towards dealing with the stigma issue concerted efforts should be made to help create a learning atmosphere that empowers children with learning difficulties to cope with minimal levels of stigma while pursuing education together with other children in regular schools. The empowerment according to Iezzoni (2016, p. 5) means that more research has to be undertaken in order to find ways of enhancing the memory levels, understanding of written or printed text, and verbal communique. This will help reduce the levels of stigma towards the children and hence make inclusion a smoother process because the necessary atmosphere wll have been created by the fact that the children with learning difficulties have had their difficulties reduced.
The United Kingdom situation
Despite the efforts made in the United Kingdom to deal with the issue of stigma towards children learning difficulties and its impact in their learning experience when integrated in to mainstream institutions, current statistics indicate that there is still much to be done (Grace &Gravestock, 2009). According to Iezzoni (2016, p. 5), in the year 2011 alone approximately 40 in every one thousand five hundred people bore a difficult in learning. In the same year, England had estimated 256,000 young folks comprising of 170,000 boys and 86,000 girls with learning difficulties. Studies also indicate that most of these children suffer from either dyscalculia or dyslexia. In the light of the aforementioned statistics, it is enticing to assume that a capable country like England has over the years developed systems to support practices that deal with the issue of stigma in order to make the atmosphere in regular schools more conducive for the the group of children in question (Kelly, 2004). However, this is not the case. For instance, Spaulding (2014) comments that United Kingdom should by now have come up with systems for enhancing the ability of children with learning difficulties fitting in to regular school environments with the presence of minimal stigma. This could have been done by first subjecting the children to strategic programs to help boost the speed and ease with which their brains process information (Kelly, 2004). According to O'mara (2014, p. 421), UK should use programs that include the use of images and pictures so that as the children can enhance their ability to process information by learning to recognize the images and simultaneously relate the images and pictures to provided facts and information. Despite relentless efforts by both the government and non-profit organizations to deal with the stigma issue, the integration agenda in its implementation has not been able to accrue the anticipated results. According to O'mara, (2014, p. 422), this is because England has never taken seriously the need to perform an overhaul of its education system in such a way that current and prospective teachers are trained on how to curb and handle stigma issues at school. As Powell and Powell (2004) suggest, because stigma is the product of the difficulties the children experience in the course of the learning process tutors can also be trained on how to use tape recorders rather than handouts for those with problems processing verbal information.
However, England has done well in attempting to deal with the group of children with learning difficulties as entrenched in the dyslexia phenomenon (Gerdner, 2011). This has not always been so. In the beginning of the year 2004, Kelly (2004) came up with a suggestion that changed the teaching of children with dyslexia during a conference for enhancing the teaching of children with learning difficulties held in London. The opinion to have tutors in the country alter their erudition practices to encompass the use of multi-sensory strategies is further supported by Spaulding (2014) who argues that such a strategy is efficient since it makes use of concrete objects to help children with dyslexia establish theoretical mathematical principles. However, in the case of dealing handling chil...