Roddy Kay, roddy@nlink.com.br
First published in Issue 158, Dec 2000/Jan 2001

Roddy Kay is UCLES Regional Team Leader, N/E Brazil, and Local Secretary for Pernambuco. He has lived in Recife for 11 years and teaches in Cultura Inglesa.

Since the re-issue of guidelines from the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) for candidates with Special Needs, several teachers have asked me for information on adapting ELT classroom materials for these purposes. I have discovered that little is known locally and as I extended my researches through the Web, I was surprised to find that information specific to ELT hardly exists, or is common knowledge, even among highly experienced members of our profession. This article therefore aims to provide starting points for teachers, trainers and schools who have no experience in Special Education but would like to become involved.

Targeting adults with special needs while noting the provision for children

Existing sources are largely for children to about the age of puberty, and mostly on general education matters. For many in ELT, I suspect the adaptation of materials and techniques for groups aged from the mid-teens upwards will be more familiar pedagogic territory. Nevertheless let me note two splendid non-ELT sites for children: http://www.happychild.org.uk and http://www.irsc.org. The former has much material of interest to any child, not just the disabled or disadvantaged.

An overview of sites giving guidelines by type of Special Need

The blind and those with visual impairments

General guidelines are available on http://www.rnib.org.uk; http:// www.sightsavers.org.uk; and http://www.rgu.ac.uk/schools/sim/research/netlearn/visually.htm

Information about special equipment and software can be found at http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/blist.html. (It offers a range of options and links to other sites. Equipment includes Braille machines and software with programs that convert text into Braille. Much research is on programs that scan written text for conversion to voice production. This site also has a very extensive list of contacts, but please note that it includes links on very adult themes.) http://users.otenet.gr/~kar1125/doit/lsup.htm deals with using the Web in teaching in general but has a section devoted to the blind; and http://www.aerbvi.org is the site of the journal of the American Association of Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AERBVI). It includes resource information and access to professional peers.A number of well-known publishers maintain lists of non-simplified English literature in Braille.

The deaf and those with hearing difficulties

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People warns that the literature is confusing. Therefore, seek local specialist guidance, if you wish to deepen your understanding of deafness and the general approach to educational practice for the deaf.

Another word of warning is that signing is different between different varieties of English. Techniques for aiding those who lip-read constitute an important area for the non-specialist teacher in this area.

http://www.rnid.org.uk is an authoritative source;http:// www.ssc.mhie.ac.uk has an article on ‘Foreign language learning and deaf children’; and Michael Strong is the author of ‘Language learning and deafness’ published by CUP in their Applied Linguistics series.

http://eslcafe.com/discussion/dz2 is a discussion forum in Dave Sperling’s ESL Café. There are few answers to many different questions. Teachers may be contacting each other off-line.

The dyslexic

http://www.dyslexia-inst.org.uk gives detailed guidelines on ‘Recognising Dyslexia’ and ‘Helpful Hints’ to teachers and others. This ought to be essential reading for all teachers. It is presented simply and well.

The physically disabled

Special ELT materials will not normally be necessary for the physically disabled. Those with little use of upper limbs will need a means of writing and recording answers. Questions of mobility will be about access to classrooms etc., and concerns that resources are within reach or assistance is available.

The mentally handicapped

I note from Dave’s ESL Café that there is teaching of ESL to people with mental handicaps but the teachers have no support. I recognise this is a very specialised area. My lay understanding is that significant progress is being made in many parts of the world in integrating people with specific handicaps such as Down’s Syndrome into regular classes. Where this is not possible or feasible, homogeneous groups are taking EFL classes. It would be enriching for us all to know more about this teaching. I invite anyone involved to tell us of their work; to suggest what methodological practices help most; and of how to set attainment levels.

http://www.hood.edu/seri/serihome.htm contains links to Special Education Resources on the Internet (SERI) for most disabilities.

Those with other learning difficulties

This is the area about which I know least, even in general terms. Medical science is identifying more categories of learning difficulties not covered by any of the foregoing. I would welcome reports on this work and assume this will include how to identify the particular problem. Perhaps this is an area where ELT professionals can best help by contacting school education authorities or in-country networks/organisations devoted to a particular difficulty in order to quantify the need.

Limitations for schools, freelance teachers and learners

The most practical limitations are the costs involved. This is both a question of adapting the physical design of schools/classrooms and the purchase — not forgetting the maintenance — of special equipment. Equipment failure will rapidly lead to projects collapsing if spare parts or resources are not available for maintenance. I am informed this is a frequent oversight.
Another cry of anguish I have heard more than once is that acquisition of a given competence in English is by no means a guarantee of better employment or access to better education. Unhappily prejudice is still everywhere. We have a responsibility to speak in favour of those we have taught. Nor should we overlook when we might offer employment.
A perverse limitation is that some able-bodied learners may not wish to study with learners suffering from certain disabilities/impairments. Here too we must strive to overcome prejudice but I also recognise that the moral high ground, even when supported by local law, cannot eliminate boycott based on emotional response.
UCLES, and no doubt other exam boards, have certain restrictions on exemption and exams covered (e.g. UCLES does not offer exemption from both Speaking and Listening nor special provisions over the full range of exams). Potential candidates should be made aware of these before courses begin.
Cases have been reported to me where non-ELT teachers have made no effort to help learners with special needs in their classes. It is ingenuous to suppose ELT is unaffected. While such teacher behaviour is unacceptable, and subject to disciplinary action, schools should avoid springing special needs learners on teachers; should be prepared to supply Special Education training opportunities to teachers; and should design and equip classrooms appropriately.
I assume, perhaps wrongly, that individual private language schools, especially in the Third World, cannot make provision for all types of special need. There may be scope for inter-school co-operation, even among competitors, or, of course, it may be appropriate to hold classes in off-site venues that are properly equipped. In Brazil as in Britain, government agencies declare that 10% of the population has some form of disability/impairment. Only local research will reveal what the spread among different impairments is and whether this offers both commercial and humanitarian opportunities to private language schools.

A global site for all interested in ELT learners with Special Needs?

I suggest we try to centralise or link information and exchange ideas on Dave’s ESL Café unless readers of Issues know of an alternative site. A dilemma for the future may be if there becomes a need for country- or continent-specific sites. I am still idealistic enough to hope there are international solutions to these global problems. Nevertheless, in seeking to help those with special needs, teachers and schools may well feel more confident with their national/regional organisations for general guidance. If specific ELT help is as thin as I claim above (except for the blind), there will be scope for centralising global access to specific materials and practices. If this is practicable, it will help us all to avoid duplication of effort on behalf of those for whose custom it is surely shameful to compete.

Other ways forward

My aim in writing this article has been to alert the ELT profession, particularly those in positions of influence, to large gaps in classroom provisions for special needs learners. I believe there will be a continuing need to maintain an overview such as this for all who are new to considering special needs. Local decisions will be taken if such an overview is worth sharing with (non-) governmental agencies and organisations dedicated to given disabilities, etc. At the same time, as information is gathered and added to, extensive sites for each of the categories I mention are likely to develop.

I am not planning to specialise in this area. Nevertheless, in the interim, I would be pleased to be corrected on any errors of fact and to be advised of important omissions for my local/regional use.