TASH Connections, Volume 40, Issue 3
International Inclusion: The Development of Disability Supports and
Services in countries where they are emerging or nonexistent
Letter from Our President, Ralph Edwards
Every day we are reminded of how the world shrinks and our neighborhood expands beyond our
city/state/nation to include individuals on other continents, in other countries. We are connected not
only by technology and flight, but by a shared hope for the future, by our values, and experiences. We
cheer the news that a South American student with disabilities stars in a biopic movie or Autistic
individuals from Scandinavia are 21st Century employment pioneers. They are our neighbors, too.
Through articles in this issue of TASH Connections, we learn that the experiences of a KSA family in
Riyadh with bureaucracy and attitudes and funding are akin to that of a USA family in Seattle, Boston or
Lincoln. Though nuanced cultural lens, we can assess the change they report and apply the lessons
learned from decades of TASH’s visionary leadership. Many of our members who are engaged in
international endeavors, including educating future disability advocates, researchers, policymakers, and
managers contribute to system’s evolution and change in various countries. We seek to avoid exporting
seemingly intuitive policies and practices such as segregated programs. We hope to expedite sound
policy formulation, program design, and practices supported by research and attentive to the cultural
framework.
Articles such as these can inform and also inspire. In focusing on international matters, we learn of the
progress and the challenges in the application of (American based) international standards to the quality
of life of individuals with disabilities. We get a glimpse of our impact on the perspectives and
philosophies of doctoral candidates. Perhaps, we better understand our progress and the on-going
challenges in achieving our values.
In this inaugural letter to TASH Connections as TASH President, I want to encourage you to consider how
you can effectively respond to the information presented. For example, consider joining the TASH
International Committee or your state chapter and identify and address international issues.Work with
your Congressional representatives to have the US ratify the international human rights treaty, The
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Encourage international researchers and students
to attend, perhaps present at the TASH conference which is a great opportunity for them to network
with a variety of experts on international issues. Most importantly, share TASH with colleagues and
friends.
Letter from Our Executive Director, Barb Trader
TASH and an International Lens
Thanks to Lewis Jackson and his collaborators for this thoughtful issue of Connections.
Throughout our history, TASH has considered itself an international advocacy organization. We
consistently welcome participants from around the globe to the TASH conference each year.
TASH’s scientific journal, Research and Practice in Severe Disabilities, is in many international
libraries. We have members in a number of countries. From the very beginning, TASH members
have worked internationally on every continent, and have recently been active in Poland,
Kenya, Mongolia, Australia, Russia, Jamaica, Vietnam, Paraguay, Ireland, and Israel, among
others. We receive inquiries on a regular basis for help and information from overseas. So far,
TASH’s international engagement has been active, yet defined by individual members and
episodic interaction.
The advent of the work to develop and eventual adoption of the United Nations Convention of
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the CRPD) brought with it a new urgency to improve the
lives of people with disabilities around the world. It also presents new hope for millions of
people with disabilities and their families. Even though the United States is the only developed
country that has yet to ratify CRPD, we have much to offer – and to learn – from working in and
with other countries. In 2012, in recognition of the interest of TASH members in international
work, the international leadership many TASH members have already attained, and the urgency
for change created by CRPD, the TASH board formed an International Committee, led by Board
member Rima Hatoum. This Committee is charged with exploring ways for TASH to more
intentionally engage internationally.
Since the committee was formed, TASH board members have met with and presented a session
at the meeting of the European Association of Disability Service Providers in the fall of 2013.
We hosted a delegation from Israel at the 2013 TASH conference in Chicago, attended by four
individuals interested in forming a chapter there. Also in 2013, TASH was a partner with
Mobility International, USA on a project funded by the State Department to help an
international partner achieve their specific goals on a project related to the CRPD. TASH was
partnered with Mongolia, and worked with Selenge Sambuu, Executive Director, Association of
Parents with Disabled Children (APDC) and Tungalag Dondogdulam, Coordinator of All for
Education! National Civil Society Coalition of Mongolia. Thirteen NGOs are members of that
Coalition: (1) Mongolian Education Alliance, (2) Kazakh Women’s Arular Union, (3) LGBT Centre
NGO, (4) MonFemNet, Towards Gender Justice!, (5) APDC, (6) Center for Human Rights and
Development, (7) Federation of Mongolian Education and Science Unions, (8) NGO Network
Against Unacceptable Forms of Child Labor, (9) Child for Child, (10) National Center Against
Violence, (11) Consumer Information Foundation, (12) DemoCrazy Youth Centre, and (13) Child
Protection Network. This partnership, also led by Rima Hatoum, was an exchange opportunity
for Selenge and Tungalag to visit Washington, DC for 10 days, meet with federal partners and
NGO leaders in disability rights and inclusive education. Rima visited Mongolia for 10 days in
August, and presented workshops on inclusive education, in person and on national TV! The
results of this collaboration are still being experienced.
In 2014, TASH was visited by an official delegation from Paraguay, including two government
Ministers, and developed and executed a Memo of Understanding expressing interest in future
collaborative efforts toward the benefit of students with disabilities.
These first forays as an organization into international work are promising and indicate a need
far greater than our current response. We urge TASH members interested in international
outreach to let us know of your interest. A survey will be sent soon to learn of TASH members
involved internationally, to receive feedback on your ideas for TASH engagement, and to solicit
help for future projects. Please be on the lookout and respond!! In the meantime, please let me
know if international work is of interest to you by emailing me at btrader@tash.org with a
subject line “Interest in International Work.”
Barb Trader
Articles from Our Contributors
Towards Inclusive Education in India: Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities
Rashida Banerjee, Ph.D., University of Northern Colorado
Abstract
It is estimated that more than one billion people in the world today have a disability (World Health
Organization, 2011), and many of these individuals are without access to education. Developed through
active participation of organizations of and by people with disabilities, the human rights treaty, the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was adopted in 2006
(United Nations Enable, 2014). One of the purposes of this treaty was to ‘‘ensure an inclusive education
system at all levels and lifelong learning’’ (Art.24, para. 1). This article describes historical and political
trends in education for students with disabilities in India. As a signatory to the convention, India’s
response to CRPD is delineated. Finally, the future of inclusive education in India is considered in light of
present policies and actual practices, and given the adoption of CRPD.
Article
Following twenty years of deliberations, debates, and negotiations by civil society organizations, on
December 13, 2006, the United Nations (UN) adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD). Developed through active participation of organizations of and by people with
disabilities, the CRPD is the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century that recognizes
that disability is a human rights concern that requires a deep understanding of its issues and
misconceptions and strong and specific action. More specifically, it is the first treaty to protect the rights
of people with disabilities to equality and non-discrimination in all areas of life. The CRPD is also the first
UN treaty to affirm the right to inclusive education for all children and youth with disabilities. Article 24
of the CRPD specifically calls upon State Parties to ‘‘ensure an inclusive education system at all levels
and lifelong learning’’ (Art.24, para. 1; see United nations Enable, 2014).
It is estimated that more than one billion people in the world today have a disability (World Health
Organization, 2011), and many of these individuals are without access to education. Countries that
ratified the convention are obligated to ensure that people with disabilities are not subjected to
exclusion, discrimination, neglect, and abuse. As of November 2014, over 175 countries have been
signatories to the convention and over 145 countries have ratified the convention. Through 50 Articles,
CRPD sets out the human rights of persons with disabilities and the obligations on these countries to
promote, protect and ensure those rights as well as mechanisms to support implementation and
monitoring (United Nations, 2014). Recognizing that disability is an evolving concept and a result of the
interaction between negative attitudes or an unwelcoming environment with the condition of particular
persons, the CRPD does not provide a definition of “disability” or “persons with disability”. Further, the
Convention uses the term “inclusive education systems” at all levels instead of “special education” in an
attempt to shift from the implications of narrow, hierarchical, and pathological paradigm of special
education (Nguyen, 2013). Additionally, because the Convention celebrates human diversity and the
contributions of people with disabilities, it does not argue for the prevention of disabilities. Information
on the Convention can be found at: http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?navid=15&pid=150.
This paper discusses how India has addressed issues of disability over the last thirty years, with
particular attention to the potential impact of CRPD on inclusive education. The paper begins with a
discussion of governmental policies, followed by a discussion of actual practices on the Indian
subcontinent. These sections are then followed by a section that describes India’s response to CRPD.
Finally, the future of inclusive education in India is considered in light of present policies and actual
practices, and given the adoption of CRPD.
Historical Trends in Disability Policies in India
In developing countries, fundamental questions related to poverty, gender, and disability confront
governments when they need to prioritize public service development and allocation (Hegarty & Alur,
2002). Problems of poverty alleviation, caste and gender issues, and rural upliftment have in the past
been assigned a higher priority, putting disability further back on the list of service development and
allocation activities addressed by a government; hence, persons with disabilities have been a neglected
segment, often kept out of the political and social framework of society. This means that, for countries
like India, the need to regulate and provide education and services for people with disabilities is just
beginning to be viewed as an important societal concern.
Traditionally, disability has not been perceived as a way for conceptualizing human differences but
rather as a strategic cover for deficit-based practices (Naraian, 2013). And, until the last few decades,
there was no comprehensive law for persons with disabilities in India. The first attempt to enact such a
law was made in July 1980, 33 years after its independence, when a Working Group was set up. A draft
legislation known as "Disabled Persons (Security & Rehabilitation) Bill of 1981” was prepared, and 1981
became the International Year of Disabled Persons. No further action was taken until 1987-88, when a
Committee was constituted that submitted a report in June 1988. The committee’s report made wide-
ranging recommendations concerning the various aspects of rehabilitation, e.g., prevention, early
intervention, education, training, and employment. However, although the formation and
recommendations of the committee demonstrate a growing concern for issues of disability within India,
none of the recommendations were enacted into law.
In 1995, India made a legal commitment to inclusive education through its Persons with Disabilities Act.
Chapter 5 (Clauses 26 - 30) and Chapter 6 (Clause 39) mandate that every child with a disability should
have access to free education in an appropriate environment till the age of eighteen years. It provides
for a comprehensive education scheme, which should cover transport facilities; removal of architectural
barriers from schools, colleges and other institutions; supply of books, uniforms, etc.; scholarships; and
the establishment of a forum for the redress of grievances. The Act also mandated restructuring of
curriculum for the benefit of children with disabilities. Further, it mandated the government to set up
teacher training institutions and to assist the national institutes and other voluntary organizations to
develop teacher-training programs so that adequately trained professionals would be available for
children with special needs. It also provides for research for designing and developing new assistive
devices, teaching aids and special teaching materials.
By the early part of the 21st Century, the development of services for people with disabilities in India
was guided by four pieces of legislations: (a) The Mental Health Act of 1987; (b) The Rehabilitation
Council of India Act of 1992; (c) The Persons with Disabilities (Equal opportunities, protection of rights
and full participation) Act of 1995; and (d) The National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism,
Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities of 1999. It should be noted that the status
of the Mental Health Act of 1987 as disability legislation has been strongly debated because its legal
format is linked to the colonial penal custodial laws (Indian Lunacy Act of 1912, Indian Lunatic Asylums
Act of 1858, etc.) that provided the State with due process to deprive persons of their liberties.
Nevertheless, the Mental Health Act was considered “disability legislation” at the time of CRPD
harmonization by the government. Along with the foregoing policies, India also has the National Policy
for Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted in 2006. It derives its mandate from Article 14 of the
Constitution of India which states that, “the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law
or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India” and (Articles 15 and 16 (2)) that prohibit
discrimination on grounds of ‘religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them’.
In all of this legislative action, there are no laws or policies specifically mandating special education
services, although guidelines for these services are embedded within each of the laws. Moreover, at the
present time, no adequate or systemic preparations have been made to ensure resource availability for
implementation of any of these potentially sweeping pieces of legislation, nor are there remedies
available for non-enactment of the laws. In other words, the laws described above are generally without
teeth, and there are no substantive provisions for due process. Thus, in India today, this legislation
reflects more of a pious intent than an enforceable set of mandates.
Historical Trends in Practices in India
In terms of public education for children and youth with disabilities, there are government-run special
schools in India that are operated by the individual states, and they are funded by the states under the
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The enrollment of children with disabilities in these
schools has increased due to a focused initiative under India’s flagship elementary education program,
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) or Education for All initiative. SSA aims to enroll all 6-14 year-olds in schools
and to have all of them complete grade 8 at their appropriate learning levels (Mukhopadhyay &
Sriprakash, 2013). Major funding for this initiative comes from the Government of India and is
collectively supported by the World Bank, the United Kingdom’s Department for International
Development (DFID), and the European Community. SSA is being implemented in partnership with state
governments in an attempt to cover the entire country, to address the needs of 192 million children
who live in 1.1 million different habitations. The initiative has increased the number of children with
disabilities enrolled in schools, but even greater increases in the overall percentage of children with
disabilities in the total population has resulted in these improvements being negligible.
For all practical purposes, the majority of services in India, whether they are special, inclusive,
community-based, or early intervention, are initiated by non-government institutions (NGOs) (Govinda,
2011a). In many urban areas, groups of educated parents start their own schools, community services,
and support organizations to meet their needs and those of their children. In the 1970s and 1980s there
was a dramatic increase in the number of NGOs. Additionally, international development organizations
such as UNICEF and Action Aid have encouraged NGOs to try innovative approaches to reach out and to
educate people with disabilities as part of their mandate. However, NGOs only serve small clusters of
persons at local levels, resulting in “patchy services” and covering a small proportion of those in need.
Further, the logistics of the subcontinent and expenditures incurred when traveling are barriers to
frequent contact between NGO groups, which keeps them fragmented and divided. Moreover, given an
absence of data on the population of children in NGO schools, it is difficult to make any broad inferences
regarding the degree to which disability is being addressed or served; the education these students are
actually receiving and in what settings it is being provided; or the adult outcomes in terms of
employment, independent living, or empowerment as citizens and members of society. There is also a
lack of data on family or community engagement in the NGOs.
A small number of studies have been conducted in India that specifically address inclusive education,
most with a focus on workforce development. Several of these studies address teacher capacity (Bindal
& Sharma; 2010; Das, Kuyini & Desai, 2013; Sharma & Desai, 2002; Swaroop, 2001), and they suggest
that teachers lack training in the knowledge and skills necessary to provide inclusive education for all
students. In their study, Das et al. (2013) found that 68% of the general education teachers surveyed
had not received any training in special educational needs and over 78% of the teachers had never
worked with children with special needs in their classrooms. Further, 86% reported that they did not
have access to support services such as special education teachers, paraprofessionals or resource room
services in their schools. Thus, without effective policies, targeted training to prepare well-qualified
teachers to work with children with special needs in inclusive classrooms, and proactive school-familycommunity partnerships, the future of inclusive education in India is not promising.
India and the CRPD’s Mandate of Inclusive Education
India was the seventh country in the world to ratify the convention on the opening day on October 1st,
2007. One of the first steps to implementation is for a country to examine its policies, laws, and
programs and aligning them to the spirit of the Convention. The website proclaims, “UNCRPD is just a
paper if it is not implemented” and urges people with disabilities to “play an active role in the
implementation and monitoring of UNCRPD.” As a State Party, India’s obligations are to: (a) adopt
legislation and administrative measures to promote the human rights of persons with disabilities; (b)
adopt legislative and other measures to abolish discrimination; (c) protect and promote the rights of
persons with disabilities in all policies and programs; (d) stop any practice that breaches the rights of
persons with disabilities; (e) ensure that the public sector respects the rights of persons with disabilities;
(f) ensure that the private sector and individuals respect the rights of persons with disabilities; (g)
undertake research and development of accessible goods, services and technology for persons with
disabilities and encourage others to undertake such research; (h) provide accessible information about
assistive technology to persons with disabilities; (i) promote training on the rights of the Convention to
professionals and staff who work with persons with disabilities; and (j) consult with and involve persons
with disabilities in developing and implementing legislation and policies and in decision-making
processes that concern them.
An important piece of legislation that was passed in India as a direct consequence of CRPD, and one that
has the potential to impact movement towards inclusive education, is the Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education (RTE) Act of 2009. Together with the constitutional amendment of 2002 (Eightysixth Amendment), the provision of a free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of
six to fourteen years is mandated, and it is asserted that this as a Fundamental Right. These two pieces
of legislative action came into effect on the first of April 2010. However, the mandate does not cover
children and youth with disabilities served in not-for-profit or private schools.
Challenges and Future Directions
Inclusive education can be achieved when there are effective policies in place; when there are relevant
preservice and inservice professional development opportunities for general and special education
teachers and related service providers; when there are strong and positive family and professional
partnerships across the broader community that focus on integrated services; and when effective
leaders in the schools and early childhood programs provide the vision, resources, and encouragement
necessary for inclusion to be initiated, implemented, and sustained. Despite the legal mandates, India
does not have a well-resourced system for special education services nor does it have effective ways to
gather informa¬tion on how services are being delivered when they exist. Hence, the specific course
that India will take in the future with regard to how and where it will provide educational services to
people with disabilities is not evident. What remains clear, however, is that the good intentions
associated with ratifying the CRPD and generating associated legislation are probably inadequate for
realizing more inclusive services for children and youth with disabilities.
In their CRPD Monitoring Report, Zero Draft, Abidi (2013) reports that a survey conducted by the
National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People and Disability Employment
Opportunities Centre found that (a) 88% of respondents to the survey were dissatisfied with the efforts
made by the government of India to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to education on an
equal basis at the primary and secondary levels and (b) 81% were dissatisfied by the efforts of the
Government towards providing access to higher education, vocational training, and adult education for
persons with disabilities. In another study, published by the National Council of Educational Research
and Training (Soni, 2013), an overall lack of implementation of the RTE act in most states in India for
children with disabilities was the prominent finding. Furthermore, while teachers and administrators
were aware of the RTE Act, the parents were not as familiar with the provisions of the act, resulting in
limited advocacy efforts from families of children with disabilities. Finally, while efforts are being made
by states to fully implement the act, Soni identified teacher shortages, very high student-teacher ratio
(sometimes as high as 1:57), numerous non-teaching duties of political nature assigned to teachers, lack
of adequate training programs overall and training of general education teachers in particular in the
education of children with disabilities, and non-availability of organizational support for teachers and
students as the challenges in the implementation of the RTE Act.
Finally, according to the latest statistics from the Flash Statistics and Analytical Reports on Elementary
Education in India (2011, as reported in Abidi 2013), issues of disability education are overshadowed by
much larger issues related to education as a whole. On average, there are only three classrooms per
primary school in India, and there are only three teachers per school. About 14% of the schools have a
single classroom each, and single-teacher schools constitute a similar proportion. In order to maintain
the student-teacher ratio of 1:30 mandated by the RTE act, the supply of teachers will have to be
increased considerably. With over 1.3 million schools and about 6 million teachers currently, over one
million new teachers are required (Govinda, 2011b). Furthermore, lack of accessible classrooms and
buildings, inadequate transportation to and from schools, and limited parent participation, have been
cited as persistent barriers to inclusion.
To conclude, less economically developed countries often target their programs towards meeting basic
needs associated with poverty and lack of economic development, broader education initiatives, and
the civil and human rights of larger segments of the populations related to gender or cultural practices.
Thus, although countries like India may adopt policies that appear to advance the social and human
rights of people with disabilities, the enactment of these policies is often not their priority in practice
(Alur & Bach, 2010).
Perhaps, in the last analysis, inclusive education in India, as in many developing countries, will be the
responsibility of individual stakeholders in education – policy makers, administrators, educators,
parents, community members and children – taking action within their own albeit limited spheres of
influence. It requires concerted and unified action at the local level by governmental and nongovernmental agencies, spurred by dialogue, persuasion, example, and action, and bearing in mind the
social, cultural, and political barriers prevalent in a country.
References
Abidi, J. (2013). United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities – INDIA Monitoring
Report of Civil Society, Zero Draft. Report. New Delhi: National Centre for Promotion of Employment for
Disabled People and Disability Employment Opportunities Centre.
Alur, M. & Bach, M. (2010). The journey for inclusive education in the Indian sub-continent. New York:
Routledge.
Bindal, S. & Sharma, S. (2010). Inclusive education in Indian context. Journal of Indian Education, 35(4),
34-45.
Das, A.K., Kuyini A.B., Desai, I.P. (2013) Inclusive education in India: Are the teachers prepared?
International Journal Of Special Education, 28 (1), 27-36.
Govinda, R. (Ed) (2011a). Who goes to school?: Exploring exclusion in Indian education. New Delhi:
Oxford University Press.
Govinda, R. (2011b). Implementing Right to Education Act in India: Major issues and challenges. National
Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, India. Retrieved from http://www.createrpc.org/pdf_documents/RGovindaBangladeshconference2011.pdf.
Hegarty, S. & Alur, M. (Eds.) (2002). Education and Children with special needs: From segregation to
inclusion. Sage Publication: New Delhi.
Mukhopadhyay, R. & Sriprakash, A. (2013). Target-driven reforms: Education for All and the translations
of equity and inclusion in India. Journal of Education Policy, 28(3), 306-321, DOI:
10.1080/02680939.2012.718362.
Naraian, S. (2013). Dis/ability, agency and context: A differential consciousness for doing inclusive
education. Curriculum Inquiry, 43(3), 360-387.
Nguyen, X. T. (2013, May). Rethinking the politics of inclusion/exclusion within the rights-based agenda
of disability and education: The implications of the United Nations’ Disability Convention for inclusive
education, Proceedings from paper presented at American Education Research Association (AERA) San
Francisco, California.
Sharma, U. & Desai, I. (2002) Measuring concerns about integrated education in India. The AsiaPacificJournal on Disabilities, 5(1), 2-14.
Soni, R. B. L. (2013). Status of implementation of RTE Act 2009 in context of disadvantaged children at
elementary stage. Report published for Department of elementary education: National Council of
educational research and training: New Delhi. Retrieved from
http://www.ncert.nic.in/departments/nie/dee/publication/pdf/StatusreportRTE2013.pdf.
Swaroop, S. (2001, Feb.-March). Inclusion and beyond. Paper presented at the North South Dialogue on
Inclusive Education, Mumbai, India.
United Nations Enable (2014). Website of the secretariat for the convention on the rights of persons
with disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/disabilities/
World Health Organization (2011). World report on disability. Retrieved from
http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/en/index.html
Challenges to Implementing Inclusion and Response-to-Intervention in the Arabian Gulf
Region.
Maha ALSulaiman, Ph. D., Princess Nourah University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
A successful inclusive school should welcome students with diverse learning needs whiled providing
these individuals with the services they require so that they can be successful academically and socially.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and similar Arab Gulf Region countries, special education services have
undergone rapid development, especially in the last ten years; however, there is a lack in integrating
students with special needs in the regular education classrooms (inclusion) and in providing appropriate
supports to help them be successful there (response to intervention). Comparing the special education
systems in the United States with those in Saudi Arabia and other countries in our region, one notices
that there are both similar and different barriers that make it difficult to implement inclusion and RTI
practices. This paper summarizes key elements of the concepts of inclusion and RTI, shows how they can
work together, reviews current practices in Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf Region countries, then
discusses some of the issues that we need to resolve to make progress toward inclusion and RTI in this
region of the world.
Inclusive education is fast becoming a worldwide consideration (Charema, 2010; Clark, Dyson, &
Millward, 1997) yet it is a relatively new process in special education history. Its aim is toward
integrating students with special needs into regular schools and classrooms. Inclusion can be defined as
the practice of educating students with diverse learning needs, including intellectual disabilities, in the
same classrooms as all other students, while providing them with the supports and services that they
need to be successful (McBrien and Brandt, 1997; Ryndak, Jackson, & Billingsley, 1999-2000).
A second relatively new process in special education is response-to-intervention (RTI), initially proposed
as a means for ensuring: (a) early screening to identify learning problems; (b) intense instruction when a
problem is first identified; (c) multi-leveled instruction based on differing learning needs; and (d) followalong assessment to ascertain progress and support additional educational decisions (Fuchs, 2003;
Fuchs, Fuchs, & Vaughn, 2008). RTI processes are now more commonly referred to as multi-tiered
systems of instruction (Hoover, 2013), and while applicability is usually viewed in relation to reading or
early math skills impacting grade-level progress, such systems are also relevant when more severe
support requirements define the learner’s needs in relation to universal design principles (Copeland &
Cosbey, 2008-2009).
In the United States, inclusive education and RTI can be viewed as supporting one another when one
considers that both are consistent with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s emphasis on
least restrictive environment, and on the emphasis that both place on accessing and making progress in
the general curriculum. Hale, Kaufman, Naglieri, and Kavale (2006) propose that any children with
learning needs can be effectively found and assessed using RTI, as RTI assures early intervention in
relation to general education standards, beginning in the general education classroom.
Special Education Instruction and Assessment in the Arab Gulf Region
In countries within the Arab Gulf Region, special education services are increasingly being mandated and
delivered (e.g., Alquraini, 2011); however, most students with special are not integrated in the regular
education system. An illustrative case is the special education system in Saudi Arabia, which separates
many students with special needs in individual schools or centers specific to their cases or needs, and
which does not support educational services after these students finish middle school. And, while
students with mild to moderate special needs are now more likely to be integrated into regular
classrooms, this integration is not universal across the country for these students. Moreover, by State
policy, students with more severe learning needs are mostly excluded from general education
classrooms. Hence, while across the Arab Gulf Region there are efforts to expect schools to educate
more and more students with special needs in general education classrooms, there are very large
numbers of students with special needs who still need to be included in the regular education system.
In Saudi Arabia and similar Gulf Region countries, students with mild disabilities are likely to be
identified when they are perceived by their teachers as not progressing in a satisfactory manner in the
provided curriculum. General education teachers may then simply continue to expect these students to
meet criteria without support and without curriculum differentiation, or they may refer these students
to pullout services similar to resource rooms and special classes in the United States. Sometimes,
parents may question the general educator as to why their child is not succeeding in the classroom or
behaving in a similar manner as siblings or other children of the same age. These comments may then
initiate referral steps for a student to receive special education services. When placement in special
education services eventually occurs, the pressure may then be put on the special education teacher to
meet all of the education needs of the student.
In contrast to students with mild learning needs, students with severe learning problems are identified
early in life simply by the significant absence of adaptive and coping skills, and they are likely to be
placed in special classes or schools at the start of their educational experiences. Not unlike other
countries in which special education services are still evolving, families with sufficient income may
secure private educational services, and these services can be specific to certain disability categories
(e.g., Down Syndrome).
Across disability categories, educators of students with special needs in Saudi Arabia and other countries
in the Arab Gulf Region today follow instructional approaches commonly used in the United States
during the 1970s and 1980s. Practices in the United States during that period of time have been
described by Moore (2004) as having children informally assessed as to how well they can perform
rudimentary academic or basic life skill tasks. Instruction, then, is one-to-one between a teacher and a
child, and it adheres to a task analysis format in which skills are broken down into incremental steps,
and instruction is delivered until skills are performed upon cue and in the proper sequence, with
minimal help at the very least from the teacher. As in the United States in the late 20th century, there is
inadequate concern for the context and activities in which these skills take form and meaning; rather,
progress is simply doing a task with minimal mistakes, and being able to do a task again when asked to
do so.
In special education services across our region, as suggested by the task analysis instruction approach,
assessment is largely informal, and it is driven by what a teacher thinks a child’s needs are. Formal
assessment processes that can identify the specific nature of a student’s learning needs in relation to
educational standards so that instruction can be targeted or differentiated are absent. Neither academic
assessments covering reading, math, or religion, nor developmental assessments covering perception,
intelligence, communication, or motor skills are conducted in Saudi Arabia or in similar countries across
our region. In all cases, the absence of appropriate assessment activities can be linked to the absence of
the actual assessment instruments and to the absence of policy-regulated systems for screening and
needs identification. Moreover, in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, early intervention and followalong assessment processes that resemble response to intervention and are supported by a law are
absent.
Task analysis instruction and associated informal assessment procedures have value, but they do not
always result in actual improvements in functioning, nor do they assure greater access to either general
education or community living options. Educators throughout the Arab Gulf region modeled many of
their educational activities based on receiving training in, and from consultants coming from, the United
States and other western countries; yet Arab countries in the Gulf Region have not adequately updated
their current policies on educating students with special education as western countries are now trying
to do. As a result, our countries need to have both updated models of instruction and updated methods
of assessment. An ideal model to be implemented in countries within the Arab Gulf Region would
combine inclusion with RTI. However, there are many steps that need to occur before this can
successfully occur.
Difficulties in Implementing inclusion and RTI
I note that our difficulties in the Arab Gulf region in relation to both inclusion and RTI are not dissimilar
to those experienced in many parts of the United States. Having been educated at the doctoral level in
the United States, I saw segregated programs and over-reliance on pullout services in many places that I
visited, and task analysis assessment and instruction in isolation was exclusively relied on in some
programs, especially in relation to students with severe intellectual disability. Furthermore, RTI
processes did not always focus on general education progress but rather on rates of skill acquisition in
Tier 2 instruction (ALSulaiman, 2012). Moreover, RTI tended to be viewed as a teaching process for
students with mild disabilities and not especially relevant for students with more severe disabilities
(AlSuliman & Jackson, 2011). Nevertheless, the ideals of inclusion and of RTI are more likely to be
expressed and to find expression in schools within the United States than in many other parts of the
world, including the Arab Gulf Region.
Taken together, inclusion and RTI could be valuable practices in countries like Saudi Arabia, putting
educational opportunity, environmental needs, and individualization together. Perhaps we in our
country have an advantage over the United States that we should consider: These two concepts could
emerge together in our region of the world, rather than being separated by disability type and by
historical time, as in the United States. Yet, there is much that needs to be done in the Arab Gulf Region,
where countries typically recognize the need for inclusion and RTI assessment and intervention services,
but lack formalized processes for simultaneously placing students and providing the necessary supports
and instruction for students with special needs to participate and succeed in general education
classrooms.
I will use Saudi Arabia as an illustrative case in this discussion of barriers faced in our region with respect
to implementing inclusion and RTI practices. Comparing the special education system in the United
States of America with that in Saudi Arabia, there are significant differences, the most obvious being
that there is no special education law in Saudi Arabia which supports an inclusion system, such as No
Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Moreover, in Saudi
Arabia, there is a lack of frequent cooperation between educators, legislators, and policymakers. This
negatively affects the efforts of educators to meet these students’ needs. Therefore, the integration of
special needs students in our country is still determined on a school-to-school basis as a local school
decision and not based on law or research.
An additional problem is that there currently is no standardized code or processes in Saudi Arabia for
effectively meeting the learning challenges faced by students with special needs when in general
education classes. When provided at all, supports are usually designed by special education or general
education teachers based on personal and subjective perspectives on the nature of a learning problem
and what it seems to require. Moreover, as previously noted, we lack formal assessment processes both
to assist in identifying needs and for progress monitoring.
Hardman and Dawson (2008) suggest that, in order for inclusive classrooms to be successful, teachers
need to acquire a core of knowledge and skills that facilitate their ability to teach and work
collaboratively with each other in meeting the needs of all of the students in the class. When teachers
know how to work together in an inclusive setting, students with special needs can receive their
education in general education classrooms with other students their age and grade level, which should
be their right as a citizen of our country. Yet, collaboration between general and special education
teachers is not valued as it should be in our country, and our teacher education practices do not stress
these skills enough when teachers are prepared for their roles as educators.
As described earlier, the way that students are evaluated is through informal testing done by teachers in
relation to what they think needs to be taught. With respect to academic skills, teachers take materials
from their curriculum and frame them as tests, with which students are then assessed. As a form of
curriculum-based instruction, this is not necessarily a bad idea. However, if a student does not perform
adequately, the teacher is unlikely to think about how to accommodate or modify the academic material
but rather is more likely to take material from an earlier grade level and frame that material as a test,
and so on until proficiency begins to emerge during the testing process. This process works against
inclusion, because it frames a student’s problem as not learning something that can no longer be taught
at his/her grade level, rather than framing the problem as one of support, so that learning of new
material can continue as the child grows and moves through the grades with his/her peers.
With respect to RTI, school systems in Saudi Arabia must become familiar with the operations and
procedures that make tiered systems of instruction effective. Fuchs (2003) indicated that certain
procedures must be established for the RTI model to work in the classroom. First, there needs to be
basic criteria applied consistently to all students, using formal assessments, with which to accurately
determine student needs. Second, if a student does not acquire the skills despite good instruction across
a specific timeline, the student may then be categorized as needing more intense services. Third and
lastly, the procedures must be specific and easy enough for professionals to implement in the classroom
with some reliability. As noted by Kavale, Kauffman, Bachmeier and LeFever (2008), RTI could actually
help reduce the amount of students failing in our general education classrooms by assisting more
students to succeed at their grade level. Hence, there are good reasons for RTI concepts to be adopted
by schools within our country.
As with inclusion, RTI cannot work without collaboration. General educators, special educators, and
parents must all collaborate in order for RTI to achieve its full potential. Baker (2007) wrote that general
educators must be willing to spend extra time to monitor all students and carefully observe progress or
difficulties with benchmarks. Likewise, special educators must also be willing to put forth more time in
order to help students who are not necessarily on their caseloads.
Conclusions and Implications
Countries in the Arab Gulf Region should begin to implement both inclusive practices and the
assessment and intervention processes associated with the RTI model. Although there are barriers that
may be difficult to overcome, the lessons learned in the United States about these ways of providing
services offer the impetus for us to develop educational systems that can excel in achieving desirable
student learning outcomes in our modern era of education.
At the very top of the list of barriers to overcome are those that impede the movement of our schools
toward the major strengths of inclusion and RTI: All students have differentiated access to our general
education curriculum, supported by both standardized and informal assessment processes, and by
collaboration between educators, policy makers, and parents. In order to successfully implement these
practices in schools within the Arab Gulf Region, teachers should receive ongoing training that does not
interrupt the processes of daily instruction. Since many teachers are reluctant to work with other
educators, parents, and policymakers there should be support and encouragement to improve
teamwork in the Arab Gulf Region.
Of special concern is the need for research, conducted using multiple quantitative and qualitative
procedures and conducted on our own soil and in our own schools. As do many countries around the
world, countries in the Arab Gulf Region often rely on conclusions drawn from research in western
countries such as the United States. When the concepts are right, as is the case with inclusion and RTI,
they represent great starting points for research in our region. But we must now do our own research,
showing how these ideas can be implemented in our schools, thereby educating all of our students in
accordance with the standards and cultural values that we hold dear. Hence, policymakers in the field of
special education in Saudi Arabia should encourage more research that will support the inclusive
education needs of students with special needs and assure the development of formal assessments that
can effectively guide RTI practices. With the support of policymakers, Saudi Arabia and other countries
in our region will be able to use this research to implement better education practices within its school
for all of its citizens, including those with special learning needs.
References
Alquraini, T. (2011). Special education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges, perspectives, future possibilities.
International Journal of Special Education, 26, ??-??
AlSuliman, M. (2012) The nature of implementing response to intervention in fourth grade. Doctoral
dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO.
AlSuliman, M., & Jackson, L. (2011, Nov.). Perceptions of elementary school administrators on Response
to Intervention: One district’s experiences. Austin, Texas: Annual Convention of the Teacher Education
Division of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Baker, E. E. (2007). State-level implementation of response to intervention: An evaluation of Arizona’s
Response to Intervention Pilot Project (Doctoral dissertation, Northern Arizona University, 2008).
Dissertation Abstracts International, 69, 123.
Charema, J. (2010). Inclusive education in developing countries in the Sub Saharan Africa: From theory
to practice. International Journal of Special Education, 25(1), 87-93.
Clark, C., Dyson, A., & Millward, A. (Eds.). (1997). Towards inclusive schools? New York: Teachers College
Press.
Copeland, S. R., & Cosbey, J. (2008-2009). Making progress in the general curriculum: Rethinking
effective instructional practices. Research and Practice for Persons With Severe Disabilities, 33(4)/ 34(1),
214-227.
Fuchs, L. S. (2003). Assessing intervention responsiveness: Conceptual and technical issues. Learning
Disabilities Research and Practice, 18, 172-186.
Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L., & Vaughn, S. (Eds.). (2008). Response to Intervention: A Framework for reading
educators. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Hale, J. B., Kaufman, A., Naglieri, J. A., & Kavale, K. A. (2006). Implementation of IDEA: integrating
response to intervention. Psychology in the Schools, 43(7), 753-770. doi: 10.1002/pits.20186
Hardman, M. L., & Dawson, S. (2008). The Impact of Federal Public Policy on Curriculum and Instruction
for Students With Disabilities in the General Classroom. Preventing School Failure, 52(2), 5-11. Retrieved
from Education database.
Hoover, J. J. (2013). Linking assessment to instruction in multi-tiered models: A teacher's guide to
selecting reading, writing, and mathematics interventions. Boston: Pearson.
Kavale, K. A., Kauffman, J. M., Bachmeier, R. J., & LeFever, G. B. (2008). Response to intervention:
Separating the rhetoric of self congratulation from the reality of specific learning disability identification.
Learning Disability Quarterly, 31(3), 135. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier.
McBrien, J. L., & Brandt, R. S. (1997). The definition of inclusion. In For the Success of each learner.
Retrieved May 6, 2008, from http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd
Moore, M. A. (2004). A reliability study of the Colorado student assessment program alternate 3rd grade
reading and writing assessment. Retrieved from ProQuest database. (AAT 3158421).
Ryndak, D., Jackson, L., & Billingsley, F. (1999-2000). Defining school inclusion for students with
moderate or severe disabilities: What do experts say? Exceptionality, 8(2), 101-116.
Sexual Abuse of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities in an Emergent Gulf Region
Country: A Preliminary Study of Issues and Points of View
Rehab Al-Zayer, PhD., Eastern Provence, Saudi Arabia
Overall, in Middle Eastern countries, the incidence of child sex abuse and neglect is alarming. There are
many factors contributing to this concern, such as the lack of adequate law enforcement, the lack of
community awareness, and the lack of child protection services and child maltreatment prevention
programs. Additionally, sexuality remains an unspoken topic in Arab culture. Due to this taboo,
students in K-12 education in many Arab countries often lack adequate knowledge of sexual
development and personal safety skills, making them vulnerable to sexual abuse (Mikton & Butchart,
2009).
Since sexuality of individuals with intellectual disability is a touchy subject in Arab society, little attention
is given to reported concerns and to the importance of teaching these individuals self-protection skills.
The refusal to acknowledge that individuals with intellectual disabilities have sexual desires and needs
has frequently resulted in a lack of information about sexuality and personal safety for this population.
In particular, individuals with moderate and severe intellectual disabilities are an at-risk population due
to characteristics of their disabilities that place them in harms way for sexual abuse. These individuals
are especially at risk because they are often unable to disclose sexual exploitation performed by people
around them. They may have limited ability to define their own sexual boundaries and to communicate
effectively with people other than their caregivers. According to Swango-Wilson (2009): “Studies suggest
that 39-60% females with DD/CD (developmental delay/cognitive disability) and 16-30% of males with
DD/CD are more likely to be victims of sexual abuse by age 18 years when compared to the ‘normal’
population” (p. 224).
In addition, individuals with moderate and severe intellectual disabilities predominantly live in highly
structured and protective communities, segregated from the society in which they reside (SwangoWilson, 2009). Within these communities, these individuals are given few opportunities to make
decisions regarding life-style or choosing relationships, denying them the chance of participating in
society as independent adults (Gougeon, 2009; Swango-Wilson, 2009).
Sheltering individuals with intellectual disabilities can lead to a lack of opportunity for them to practice
making authentic decisions about their own lives. Thus, they frequently lack the decision-making skills
that are required to communicate their needs and goals within a social context (Gougeon, 2009).
Swango-Wilson, (2009) stated that individuals with intellectual disability consider themselves able to
make decisions for themselves, given appropriate practice and support. “Education has been identified
as a key to empower individuals with decision-making skills to identify, report, and prevent sexual
assault and abuse” (pg. 255). Clearly, in order to reduce their risk of sexual abuse and to enhance their
true integration into adulthood, this population needs opportunities to build knowledge about personal
safety as well as decision-making skills.
Currently, in the Arab Gulf Region there are no published research studies about the topic of sexuality in
individuals with intellectual disabilities, nor are there available statistics about the sexual abuse of this
population. The preliminary research reported here explores these issues from the perspective of
educators from one Gulf Region Arab country, Saudi Arabia, with respect to recognition and
implementation of child protection processes and services for individuals with intellectual disabilities. It
emphasizes the importance of developing evidence-based, but culturally sensitive, practices for
addressing child maltreatment and sexual abuse concerns. In addition, this paper touches on the
readiness of countries like Saudi Arabia to take action on child sexual abuse, and it describes the
challenges that face professionals in implementing these types of programs.
Research Method
This research was conducted using two focus groups of Saudi Arabian professionals who have worked
with, or who are presently working with, students with intellectual disability in the Saudi school system.
The purpose of this investigation was to begin exploring (a) issues and attitudes around sexual abuse of
students with intellectual disabilities in Arab society; and (b) perspectives that might be helpful in
guiding our society toward finding ways of addressing and preventing these problems. A qualitative
research approach was used in this research. Specifically, the study used open-ended questions
implemented within a focus group approach (Creswell, 2012).
This IRB-approved study was fully reported by Alzayer, Jackson, and Rue (2012) at the TASH Convention
in Long Beach. Hence, this paper will only briefly address methods and will then summarize some key
findings. The long-term goal of this researcher is to develop programs of instruction addressing personal
safety skills for students with intellectual disabilities in the K-12 education system in Saudi Arabia.
Hence, this study was viewed as a first effort to define the nature and breadth of this problem in our
region.
Participants
This project included two focus groups from the country of Saudi Arabia. The first focus group consisted
of 6 female special education educators working in self-contained classrooms and institutions for
individuals with intellectual disability. The participants in this convenience sample were all volunteers,
known to the researcher, with between 6 and 10 years of experience in working with individuals with
intellectual disabilities. An approximately two hour single session was the duration of this focus group,
and it was held in Saudi Arabia.
The second focus group included 6 female Saudi Arabian graduate students currently studying special
education at a university in a Rocky Mountain state in the United States. Again, this was a convenience
sample of participants, all known to the researcher. These individuals all had backgrounds in special
education, they came from a variety of geographical regions in Saudi Arabia, and they collectively
represented both progressive and traditional views with regard to child rearing, family, and cultural
values. An approximately two hour single session was the duration of this focus group, and it was held in
the United States.
Data Collection and Analysis
The first focus group was the one held in Saudi Arabia. It was the one involving 6 female special
education teachers working in self-contained classrooms and institutions. The participants were invited
to respond to a sequence of probe questions, which addressed their roles as teachers, contacts with
families, sexual behaviors and concerns observed or suspected, and their perceptions of causes and
recommendations for prevention.
The second focus group was that held in the United States with 6 female university graduate students
with backgrounds in special education. Among other questions, the participants were asked about their
perspectives regarding the stories of sexual abuse reported by the first focus group, and they were
encouraged to provide recommendations regarding prevention and self-protection programs for schools
in Saudi Arabia.
As described by Alzayer et al. (2012), the data from both of these focus group sessions were collected by
means of digital recording, and they were translated and transcribed into English by the first researcher.
The data were then qualitatively analyzed to identify common themes addressed in these discussions by
members of the research team working together.
Findings
As described in the previous section, the first focus group in this investigation reported stories regarding
the occurrence of sexual abuse and their perspectives regarding prevention and developing selfprotection programs for individuals with disabilities in schools. The participants in the second focus
group reviewed some of the stories from the first focus group, discussed these findings in relation to
their own experiences, and offered their own recommendations regarding policy and curriculum for
addressing these concerns. This section provides a summary of selected findings that emerged from this
investigation (Alzayer et al., 2012). The focus of this discussion of findings will be on the themes that
emerged regarding sexual abuse in Arab Gulf Region countries. The issue of prevention and selfprotection programs then will be briefly addressed in the discussion section.
Four themes emerged in this study: (a) vulnerability, (b) ableism, (c) permissibility, and (d) violation
denied, to protect dignity. Descriptions of the four themes and examples of participant responses are
presented below. As a reminder, the stories related to each theme that are reported here are from
English transcriptions, translated from the Arabic by the researcher.
Vulnerability
Vulnerability of children with disabilities is defined here as the inability to prevent or withstand sexual
advances that are unwanted, abusive, and/or harmful (Nosek, Foley, Hughes & Howland, 2001). The
study participants in both focus groups reported that the occurrence of inappropriate sexual advances
toward children with intellectual disability was a disturbing phenomenon.
One example of this was offered by one of the focus group participants in the first focus group. It was
reported that there was a situation in which a girl, who was 14 years old and had an intellectual
disability, was repeatedly taken advantage of by another girl who was 13 years old without a disability.
She used to take her to the school bathroom and molest her, then threaten her to not tell anybody. The
student without a disability was sure that the girl with an intellectual disability would not tell anybody
and if she did, nobody would believe her. Another related finding in relation to the theme of
vulnerability was reports by focus group participants of the occurrence of situations in which sexual
abuse was suspected, but the absence in the child with a disability of spoken language or other means of
communication made it difficult if not impossible to discover from him/her whether it was really
happening and how frequently.
Ableism
Ableism in this context was defined as a value system that stereotypes individuals with disabilities as
helpless, atypical, dependent, and unintelligent individuals. The concept of Ableism sets individuals with
disabilities in a position where their skills and capabilities are underestimated by their families and
society, they may be viewed as less human, and they may be treated as if they are invisible. Because of
Ableism, individuals with disabilities become targets for sexual acts and abuse (Smith & Harrell, 2013).
An example of ableism was reported by a participant in the first focus group. There was a 4-year old boy
who used to like and want to be inappropriately close to other children, especially those with skin
darker than his own. The reporter of this story watched him carefully one day with another child who
had darker skin, noticing him through a window at his school. He began to come near the other child
and tried to open the child’s shirt buttons but couldn't. He then raised the other child's clothes and
swept his face on his back. In talking with the child’s mother about the incident, it was learned that the
child slept with the parents each night. The mother said, “He sleeps with me and his father.” In the
mother’s opinion, the child did not understand and could not tell others about what happened sexually
between his parents. The mother noted that her husband, the child’s father, had notably darker skin
than hers.
Permissibility
Within the framework of this investigation, permissibility is a form of negligence in which caregivers or
other responsible adults permit sexual abuse to occur and sometimes even provide access to it. It
involves failure to protect a child in relation to sexual advances made by others who are close to the
child. Focus group participants noted that normally inappropriate sexual contact between a child with a
disability and another person within a family was perceived in some cases as allowable, because it was
between family members (Kapp, 2003).
The study participants in both groups described situations and concerns that reflected incidences of sexrelated misconduct associated with permissibility. As an example of this theme, a participant reported
having a student who was routinely sexually abused by her brothers, which was treated as “family
knowledge." The mother of the student had told this participant that it was better that her daughter be
sexually abused by her brothers rather than by persons outside of the family.
Violation Denied, to Protect Dignity
This theme is defined as not reporting sexual abuse to protect the honor of the family. A family in this
situation perceives the consequences of reporting sexual abuse as more detrimental than
acknowledging it for the purpose of preventing it in the future.
Focus group participants identified situations that fit within this theme, and expressed their concern for
such events in Arab culture. The situation described in the previous section has elements that make it a
prime example of this theme. The abuse of the sister by her brothers was viewed as a “family secret”
that should not be shared outside of the home.
Discussion
This focus group investigation, more fully reported by Alzayer et al. (2012), is best described as a
preliminary and very tentative effort to explore an issue that has social and cultural taboos associated
with it, and remains largely unaddressed in much of Arab society. Despite study limitations, it serves to
draw our attention to a critical concern in the Arab Gulf Region today; that is, the potential for sexual
abuse and neglect of persons with intellectual disability by family members or others who are closely
affiliated with them.
It is important to assert that the themes that emerged when examining the stories and comments of the
study participants -- vulnerability, ableism, permissibility, and violation denied to protect dignity –
incorporate attitudes and practices within families and social groups that are certainly not unique to
Arab culture. In fact, it is likely that one could readily apply these themes within any state or principality
in the world, or for that matter with any population of human beings, and one would likely find evidence
for concern. Yet, the fact of its existence in other countries, both developing and “advanced,” does not
make it any less of a problem for those of us in the Arab Gulf Region. We, of course, must address it in a
manner that fits within the ethical and legal principles of our culture and religion.
Presently, in the Arab Gulf Region, there are limited efforts toward preventing sexual abuse of at-risk
populations, and sexual abuse victims are not receiving services to support their need for healing or
seeking justice. As noted already, the first researcher in this study is especially interested in developing
self-protection and coping strategies curriculum for persons with intellectual disability in our region.
When we examined the data for ideas about how families presently dealt with these issues, it became
clear that many families are at a loss as to how to protect their children, how to teach their children to
self-protect, and/or how or why to advocate for services. A strategy reported by a participant in the first
focus groups was one in which a mother frequently isolated her child with an intellectual disability to
protect him from sexual abuse by certain members of the family. Importantly, for some families, the
larger concern was not the problem itself but rather keeping information about the problem from
spreading outside the family.
The focus group participants expressed the view that many persons in Arab culture do not favor
teaching self-protection strategies, believing that such instruction might make the children with
disabilities more sexually active. The educators in the Saudi-held focus group believed that some form of
program should be developed and implemented to stop or prevent sexual abuse toward individuals with
disabilities in schools. Nevertheless, they emphasized that minimum information regarding personal
safety skills should be directly provided to the individuals themselves, as this topic is taboo, and talking
about in certain ways is in violation to the religion and the cultural values of Saudi Arabia. It is also
noteworthy that these individuals expressed personal hesitancy about either reporting or taking action
in relation to possible incidences of sexual abuse heard about or witnessed in schools.
The Saudi citizens studying in the United States presented similar views about the nature and extent of
the problem; however, unlike their counterparts back in Saudi Arabia, they all expressed support for the
idea of creating personal safety programs for all students including students with disabilities. The
differences in the responses between the participants living in Saudi Arabia and those studying in the
United States might be explained by the fact that Saudi citizens studying abroad may have felt more
freedom in-the-moment to express personal opinions without reservation. Alternatively, they may have
been exposed to ideas and points-of-view that they have now endorsed that differ from those presently
more pervasive in Saudi culture, and they wish to see these ideas become part of the discourse within
their own country.
In conclusion, there are good reasons for developing policies of protection and prevention of sexual
abuse of persons with disabilities in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, and for discovering ways to
assist members of this vulnerable population in protecting themselves. Much can be learned by having
careful discussions of this topic within and by educators, parents, and other Arab citizens, and by
acquiring new ideas from countries that have different points of view on these topics. At the same time,
implementing a personal safety curriculum that includes education about sexuality would need to be
accomplished with great care within Arab communities. If it is to be effective, it has to be applied with a
high level of respect and sensitivity to the cultural values and ethics of the countries within our region.
Further, it must respect the socio-economic status and beliefs of families of individuals with disabilities.
Also, in Saudi Arabia specifically, it must be aligned with our Constitution, which is based on Sharia
(Islamic) law.
References
Alzayer, R., Jackson, L. B., & Rue, L. (2012, Dec.). Preventing sexual abuse in third world countries for
persons with intellectual disabilities. Long Beach, CA: Annual Conference of The Association for Persons
with Severe Handicaps.
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and
qualitative research. Boston: Pearson.
Gougeon, N. A. (2009). Sexuality education for students with intellectual disabilities, a critical
pedagogical approach: outing the ignored curriculum. Sex Education, 9(3), 277-291.
Kapp, M. B. (2003). Family caregivers' legal concerns. Generations, 27(4), 49-55. Retrieved from http://0search.proquest.com.source.unco.edu/docview/61326602?accountid=12832
Mikton, C., & Butchart, A. (2009). Child maltreatment prevention: a systematic review of reviews.
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 87(5), 353-361.
Nosek, M. A., Foley, C. C., Hughes, R. B., & Howland, C. A. (2001). Vulnerabilities for abuse among
women with disabilities. Sexuality and Disability, 19(3), 177-189.
Smith, N., & Harrell, S. (2013, March). Sexual Abuse of Children with Disabilities: A National Snapshot.
Washington, DC: Vera Institute of Justice.
Swango-Wilson, A. (2009). Perception of sex education for individuals with developmental and cognitive
disability: A four cohort study. Sexuality and Disability, 27(4), 223-228. doi:10.1007/s11195-009-9140-1
Mothers’ Perceptions of the Service and Adulthood Needs of Their Adolescent Children with
Intellectual Disability: A Pilot Study
Reem Al-Rusaiyes, Ph. D., King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
For many students, graduation from high school is a happy event, representing transition to greater
independence, continuing and advanced educational opportunities, and/or employment. However, for
students with intellectual disability, the transition from life as a youth to life as an adult can present
many challenges. Typically, these students need more support during this period of life than those
without disabilities. Therefore, it is important to prepare people with disabilities while they are still in
the school system for their entry into adult life.
According to Waintrup and Unruh (2008), common expectations for all adults are to: (a) live
independently, (b) establish a career path, (c) secure competitive employment, (d) continue to seek
educational opportunities, and (e) participate in social activities. The provision of effective transition
services for people with intellectual disabilities can help them to become successful and independent in
these expectations. McDonnell and Hardman (2010) offer a concise representation of what needs to be
accomplished in transition programming to best help these young people realize the foregoing
expectations: (a) the establishment of a network of friends and social contacts; (b) the development of
the requisite skills to use community resources as components of daily living; (c) the development of
skills to obtain and sustain paid employment that supports the use of community resources and the
establishment of relationships with friends; and (d) the establishment of independence and selfdetermination in order to make lifestyle decisions.
In the United States, transition services are available to help young adults and adolescents with
intellectual disability. The research indicates that the provision of transition services can provide these
individuals with opportunities to build relationships with others; develop a sense of independence,
productivity, and positive self-esteem; learn to utilize community resources; obtain paid employment;
and attain a degree of self-advocacy (Cooney, 2002; Lysaght, Kuntz, & Morrison, 2009; McDonnell,
Buckner, & Ferguson, 1996). Transition services can also address the concerns and needs of parents of
adult youth with intellectual disability. Thorin, Yavanoff, and Irvin (1996) employed focus groups with
parents of adults with intellectual disability, finding that the members of these families experienced
many common dilemmas, such as a need to generate a separate social life for the young adult and the
need to be less involved in their lives. Family well-being is a concept that has been used to describe the
positive effect of successful transition services on the parents of young people with intellectual
disability. Neece, Kraemer, and Blacher (2009) investigated the relationship between family well-being
and satisfaction with their children’s transition. The results showed that the majority of families
reporting high well-being were in the transition satisfaction group, and the majority of families who
reporting low well-being were in the unsatisfied group.
Developing countries in Asia and the Arabian Gulf Region are at various stages in their awareness of the
need for special education services, including transition services, and in the development of such
services for youth with intellectual disability. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has previously
developed special education services but it is in the process of expanding these services as part of its
efforts to modernize its entire educational system. In 2001, the leaders of KSA established regulations to
provide services for students with disabilities, called the Regulation of Special Education Programs and
Institutes (RSEPI). These rules were designed after review of the special education policies in the United
States of America (Alquraini, 2010). The RSEPI regulations have been in place for nearly 10 years now,
and they include definitions for all of the categories of special education as well as the procedures to
assess them. Use of the RSEPI regulations are required to identify students with disabilities and to
provide a free and appropriate education, including: (a) individual education plans (IEPs), (b) early
intervention, and (c) transition services. At the present time, many of these services are still emerging,
and they are not always being implemented consistently. Therefore, there are large gaps between the
regulations and their applications.
The advantages of education and transition services for young adults with intellectual disability are
recognized by professionals in KSA (e.g., Alquraini, 2010). And, a small number of individuals with mild
intellectual disability presently attend vocational institutions/workshops that focus on teaching
handicrafts or completing other simple jobs, which usually do not contribute significantly to greater
independence or to a richer adult life. However, for the most part, there simply are no educational
services provided to students with intellectual disability after high school nor are there transition plans
to enhance movement into community life. Many of these students will stay at home and be dependent
on their parents for the duration of their adult lives.
An understanding of the perspectives of parents about how they perceive the lives and needs of their
adult children with intellectual disability could help decision-makers in KSA develop services. Hence, the
purpose of the qualitative research study briefly reported here is to: (a) explore concerns of mothers
about their adolescent’s future; (b) determine parents’ perspectives toward available services for
adolescents with intellectual disability; and (c) identify the services needed in the KSA to help
adolescents with intellectual disability successfully transition from childhood to adulthood. Internal
Review Board (IRB) approval was sought and received at the University of Northern Colorado, where the
researcher was a doctoral student at the time of the study. Participants were provided with a permission
form, and they had the right to refuse to participate, as would be the case for research conducted in the
United States of America.
Research Method
The objectives of this study were to better understand (a) how parents in Saudi Arabia viewed and
interpreted the lives of their adolescent children with intellectual disability, (b) parent perspectives on
what future outcomes were likely and/or were possible for their children, and (c) parent opinions about
services that could be helpful for their children as they moved into adulthood. Based on the nature of
the researcher’s interests, a qualitative research approach was selected. According to Merriam (2009),
qualitative researchers are “interested in understanding how people interpret their experiences, how
they construct their world, and what meaning they attribute to their experiences” (p. 5). Specifically, the
study was an interview-based research study, using open-ended interview questions, to “describe the
meaning for several individuals of their lived experiences of a concept or phenomenon” (Creswell, 2007,
p. 57).
Participants
Three mothers of girls with intellectual disability from a large city in KSA participated in this study. The
participants were selected via convenience sampling; that is, based on who was available to the
researcher at the time of the study. The first mother had a daughter who was 16 years old, and who had
received her elementary education in a public school for students with intellectual disability. Then, she
transferred to a public middle school, in which “inclusion” was espoused but which was really a selfcontained program in a public school. At the time of this study, she had again transferred, now to a
segregated school to receive her secondary education.
The second mother had a 16 year-old daughter, who studied in a private center for students with Down
Syndrome. The third mother had a daughter who was 17 years old, and who had received her preschool
and elementary school education in a public special school for students with intellectual disability, and
who was at the time of this study was in a special class in a public middle school.
Data Collection and Analysis
After the participants responded to the initial contact by telephone, the author scheduled appointments
to meet with them individually in their homes. Each interview took approximately 30-45 minutes and
was conducted in Arabic, which was the native language of these participants. At the beginning of the
interview, the purpose of the study was explained verbally to the participants. Then they were asked to
read and sign the research consent form. The participants were asked 10 semi-structured, open-ended
interview questions, which were also provided to them in writing. Along with basic demographic and
descriptive questions, the interview questions addressed: (a) the past and current educational
experiences of their daughters with intellectual disability; (b) perceptions of what their daughters
learned or are learning from their educational experiences; (c) their visions/dreams for their daughters’
futures as adults; (d) whether the reported educational experiences contributed to realizing their
visions/dreams for their daughters’ futures; and finally (e) what services do their daughters need now.
The interviews were digitally recorded, and field notes were taken during the interviews. Also, for the
purpose of reflection, the questions were provided in written form so they could read them while the
interview was being conducted. An English translation of the questions used in the interview is shown in
the Appendix.
The verbal data were collected by means of digital recording, and were then transcribed into written
computer files. The data were qualitatively assessed by reading and re-reading the data to look for
themes and similarities among the participants’ responses, with respect to their perspectives about
past, present, and future services and service needs in relation to the futures of their daughters.
Emerging themes, and the data used to develop them, were then reviewed with a second professional
familiar with transition processes and adult services, who lived in the United States, and the theme titles
and definitions were re-worked as needed to better represent the underlying interview data.
Findings
The mothers provided in their response to the interview questions their perspectives about educational
and other services available to these adolescents with intellectual disability, their vision for their
daughters, and their views of additional services that could be helpful for their daughters’ futures. When
analyzing the data, three categories emerged: (a) school experiences, (b) concerns about the future, and
(c) societal attitudes. For each category, subcategories were formed based on the data. The specific
results are discussed below. Note that, whenever quotations are used, these are translations from the
Arabic spoken by these mothers.
School Experiences
The “school experiences” theme represented perceptions of the mothers about their respective
daughters past and ongoing experiences at school. Three subcategories emerged: (a) educational
placement, (b) learning skills, and (c) services provided. Responses about and within each sub-category
reflected diversity in how these mothers understood and perceived the educational experiences of their
daughters.
Educational placement. In the examination of the educational placement data, all three mothers
reported that they preferred that their daughters be educated in “full inclusion”; i.e., they expressed the
view that the best learning placements for their daughters was in classes with typical peers. However,
the two mothers who had had experiences with both segregated school placement and “inclusive
school” placement emphasized that their daughters were psychologically more comfortable in the
segregated school because of harassment from typical students and from general education teachers in
the “inclusive” school. (Note, again, that “inclusive school” in these cases refers to a program in which
the students are served in the regular public school but are in separate, self-contained classes.)
The latter two mothers also spoke to their dissatisfaction about the way “inclusion” was implemented in
the regular schools that their daughters had attended, which was physical presence in the school but
not in classes with students who were without disabilities. For example, one of the mothers said that
“she preferred full inclusion” so that her daughter could “contact and observe typical students” rather
than just students with intellectual disabilities. Nevertheless, even though contacts were limited by the
special placements, one mother commented on how even that provided some benefit. She believed that
her daughter had been “dragging her feet” when she walked, but that being around typical students
provided her with the models that she needed to walk in a more typical fashion. Moreover, not only did
her daughter “learn how to walk” but she also became interested in “wearing earrings and using nail
polish as do typical students.”
Learning skills. The two participants who had had experiences both with segregated schools and special
classes in regular schools expressed the view that their daughters had learned very little in any of the
educational settings across their educational careers, noting that the most evident learning occurred
with coloring, some numbers, and a few independent living skills, such as sewing and simple cooking. In
regards to one setting compared to the other, one mother expressed the view that there were no
differences, observing that she felt that none of the special education teachers of her daughter took
their teaching seriously. The other mother noted some improvements in skill learning when her
daughter was in the regular public school,
My daughter studied for 6 years in the segregated public school and she did not learn anything except
coloring, sports, and math skills without meaning . . . but when she transferred to the “inclusive” middle
school, she learned a little bit better, including the Quran and her number skills.
When these two mothers were asked about whether their daughters’ instruction addressed suitable
skills, one mother wished that the teachers had taught her daughter religion, how to pray, cooking, and
how to face society. One of these two mothers also commented on the need for her daughter to learn in
school how to be more appropriate as a woman in society,
if the teachers teach students how to wear appropriate clothes, cook, and greet guests, this will
help, because these students learned from the teachers more than the family.
In comparison to these two mothers, the mother whose daughter attended a private school for children
with Down Syndrome was very proud of her daughter’s skill learning accomplishments. She noted that
her daughter was now able to: (a) take care of herself during menstruation, (b) take a shower, and (c)
use the computer. She attributed these skills to the provision of school services and the efforts of her
teachers. She noted that her daughter’s school offered training based in the community for independent
living, including shopping at the supermarket and visiting places of amusement
Services provided. All three mothers agreed that support services for students with intellectual disability
were limited and inadequate regardless of setting. Services that they identified as missing or inadequate
included (a) transportation, (b) speech therapy, (c) psychological services, (d) counseling, and (e)
physical therapy. One mother noted, for example, that her daughter had failed the Quran class,
believing this to be because she could not pronounce words clearly, and that the needed services were
not provided by the school to solve this problem and help her daughter be successful. Another of the
mothers reported that transportation was available for her daughter when she attended the segregated
setting but no transportation was provided when she attended the “inclusive” school.
There were differences in experiences between the two mothers with daughters in the public school
settings and the one mother whose daughter was in the private special school. These differences were
especially associated with services to families. When the two mothers whose daughters had attended
public schools were asked whether the school staff contacted the family to discuss their daughters’
performance and problems, the mothers replied that there was no contact between school and families.
In contrast, the mother with a daughter in the private segregated school said that her daughter’s school
provided valuable services that families needed, such as: (a) home visits to evaluate the family
environment, (b) the training of mothers, and (c) regular meetings. Also, she noted that her daughter’s
school developed an IEP and discussed the plan with her. Furthermore, teachers sent materials and
activities home, which helped her daughter generalize the skills learned at school.
The Future
The “future” theme represented what these mothers perceived as the desirable futures for their
daughters as adults and their perceptions of what society needed to do to support their children as
adults. In the analysis of the participants’ responses, two general subcategories were identified. The first
dealt with specific concerns that they identified about the futures for their children as adults, and the
second was their recommendations for services to address these concerns.
Concerns. The first and most frequent concern was that the mothers wanted their daughters with
intellectual disability to have the opportunity to be married. Two participants explicitly identified getting
married as a wish for their daughters in the future. This led one mother to wish that “her daughter
would become normal and married like her sisters.” She described this issue as “the biggest issue; I
think about it when I put my head on the pillow.” She also expressed the hope that her daughter would
marry “a normal man,” saying that her daughter “looks normal.”
Two of the mothers presented the issue of employment as a concern for their daughters’ future. One of
these mothers, a mother whose daughter had attended public schools, commented that the absence of
employment opportunities could be attributed directly to the poor outcomes of the educational
process. She also noted that financial self-sufficiency was her primary reason for being concerned with
employment. The other mother with an employment concern was the mother whose daughter had
been in a private segregated school. She expressed a different motivation for her concern with
employment: She wanted her daughter to be included in the community, even to work as a volunteer.
Lastly, one mother expressed a deep concern for the safety of her daughter after parent death,
wondering about who would protect her daughter when she was gone,
For now, I recommend my older son, who married my cousin, to take care of his sister after I
die. And do not allow his sister to live in his other brothers’ homes because I fear exploitation by
their wives. Also, I do not allow her to live in her sisters’ home because their spouses are
strangers to her.
Demands. When the participants talked about their concerns in regard to their daughters’ futures, they
also presented demands to address these concerns. In regard to the first concern, marriage in society,
one of the mothers of a daughter who had attended a public school wanted school staff to do a better
job preparing and teaching students with intellectual disability their roles to be successful adults. She
also advocated for schools to provide awareness training about disabilities in order to change societal
attitudes.
All three mothers also stated that the government should offer an institution as a second home for
individuals with intellectual disabilities, so that persons with intellectual disabilities could receive
training and vocational opportunities and community opportunities, and would have somebody to care
of their needs once parents were no longer able to do so. One mother was concerned that her daughter
had not received sufficient learning from her school to meet labor market demands, thus requiring
institutional opportunities that could support her given her skill limitations.
Attitudes of Society
The “attitudes of society” theme represented what these mothers perceived as the perceptions of
society about disability and how these perceptions impacted the lives of their daughters. Based on the
analysis of the data for this category, two subcategories were identified.
These were: (a) low expectations and (b) misperceptions.
Low expectations. All three mothers commented that people in society often have low expectations for
persons who have an intellectual disability. One mother spoke about experts with low expectations for
individuals with intellectual disabilities. Specifically, she described an experience with a medical doctor
who told her that her daughter would achieve only the intellectual ability of a 5 year old. She also noted
that a general education teacher had once said to her, “they are not able to learn enough to flush the
toilet.” One mother talked about how it should be in society,
If people in society encourage individuals with disabilities, they can forget their disabilities. For
example, I am a normal person, but if someone stigmatizes me as having a disability, this will
affect me negatively in my abilities.
Misperceptions. One participant directly addressed the issue of societal misperceptions about how to
address the presumed limitations of individuals with intellectual disability, noting that professionals
most empowered to provide assistance and services to these individuals can also hold such
misperceptions. Rather than provide supports for a person to participate in a societal role, removal and
isolation are often viewed as the appropriate responses to disability, even by those who are given
responsibility for assisting, serving, and empowering these individuals. She noted that some special
education teachers have misperceptions about what should occur when a student with an intellectual
disability is struggling with academic content. As an example, she described a special education teacher
removing her daughter from a class studying the Quran when the provision of assistance or an
accommodation would have been all that was needed for her daughter to be successful.
Discussion
It is important to note that each of these mothers, and their respective daughters, have had unique
experiences with the school systems in which the daughters were enrolled. Additionally, each family
presents a unique configuration of family members with differing attitudes about disability and the
expectations of life, and these also contributed to the particular responses of the mothers to the
interview questions. Hence, as in qualitative inquiry in general, the responses of the participants must
be viewed as glimpses into their specific lives and those of their daughters. That being said, in
conclusion, I will offer three observations that struck me as especially noteworthy.
First, I would note that there is a universal quality to the responses of these mothers; i.e., mothers from
all over the world would likely express similar perceptions and points-of-view about their daughters’
struggles, configured of course to the values of their particular cultures and societies of origin.
Specifically, there was a concern that their adult children be part of the mainstream of society, often
expressed as both having the skills needed and occasions provided to do what other adults do, including
marriage, religious life, independence, and jobs. Although these mothers differed in what they chose to
emphasize in their responses, all three noted that issues included skill proficiency and its apparent
absence in their daughters, the role of education in the preparation of young people with intellectual
disabilities for adult life, and the role of opportunity and its absence in adult society.
Second, there was a contrast between what was expressed by two of the mothers whose daughters had
been in the public school system and the one mother whose daughter was in a private, segregated
school. I note that all of the mothers favored a true inclusive placement, which none of these individuals
had ever experienced. But I also note that the more satisfied of the mothers was the mother whose
child had been in the exclusive but fully segregated placement. Especially in countries where services for
children and youth with disabilities are still emerging, and are not necessarily supported by laws such as
those of the United States of America, there is the possibility that family perceptions of value are more
likely to be fulfilled by agencies that cater to their needs because of financial association. Inversely, such
attention may not occur in public educational settings because there is a lack of consequence for the
service providers in relation to accountability to families, coupled with societal attitudes that do not see
value in the work that these service providers offer.
Third and finally, when families see no viable solution to solving adult life problems for their children
with an intellectual disability, they speak of the creation of an “institution” as a solution for living,
working, and meeting care needs. There is little doubt that these mothers want first a life for their child
in the community, but the basic needs for care weigh on them when they view the present lives of their
children in relation to society. If we as social reformers wish to make a real difference in the lives of
persons with intellectual disability and their families, this fact must not be forgotten as we forge ahead
with creating a world in which people with disability have full membership and support in societies
across the world.
References
Alquraini, T. (2010). Special education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges, perspectives, future possibilities.
International Journal of Special Education, 25(3), 139-147. Retrieved from
http://www.internationaljournalofspecialeducation.com/.cfm?y=2010&v=25&n=3
Cooney, B. F. (2002). Exploring perspectives on transition of youth with disabilities: Voices of young
adults, parents, and professionals. Mental Retardation, 40(6), 425-435.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Kraemer, B. R., & Jan Blacher. (2001). Transition for young adults with severe mental retardation: School
preparation, parent expectations, and family involvement. Mental Retardation, 39(6), 423-435.
Lysaght, R., Kuntz, H. O., & Morrison, C. (2009, December). Meaning and value of productivity to adults
with intellectual disabilities. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 47(6), 413-424.
doi:10.1352/.6.413
McDonnell, J., Buckner, C. M., & Ferguson, B. (1996). Transition programs for students with
moderate/severe disabilities. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks.
McDonnell, J., & Hardman, M. L. (2010). Successful transition programs: Pathways for students with
intellectual developmental disabilities (2nd. ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (2nd ed.). San
Francisco,CA: Jossey-Bass.
Neece, C. L., Kraemer, B. R., & Blacher, J. (2009). Transition satisfaction and family well being among
parents of young adults with severe intellectual disability. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities,
47(1), 31-43.
Thorin, E., Yovanoff, P., & Irvin, L. (1996). Dilemmas faced by families during their young adults'
transitions to adulthood: A brief report. Mental Retardation, 34, 117-120.
Waintrup, M. G., & Unruh, D. K. (2008). Career development programming strategies for transitioning
incarcerated adolescents to the world of work. Journal of Correctional Education, 59(2), 127-144.
Appendix
English Translation, from the Arabic, of the Interview Questions
Interview Questions
1How old is your daughter?
2Did she receive any education? If yes, where. If no, why?
3What did she learn?
4What do you think about what she learned?
5Does she receive any education now? If no, why? If yes, where?
6What does she learn?
7Do you think that what she is learning is appropriate for her age and ability?
8What is your dream for your daughter’s future?
9Do you think that what she learned or is learning for her education contributes to your
dream for her?
10What kinds of services should be provided now for your daughter
Transition Services for Students with Intellectual Disabilities in Saudi Arabia: Available
Supports and Future Directions
Reema Alabdulwahab
Abstract
A critical juncture in becoming individuals who contribute to society is the time when students exit high
school and enter adulthood. Transition from secondary education to adulthood for students involves
tremendous changes in their lives. This issue is particularly critical for students with disabilities, and
especially for students with intellectual disabilities who attend the Saudi education system. This paper
aims to provide an overview of laws and regulations pertaining to transition services in Saudi Arabia, as
well as portraying current transition initiatives and public programs provided for students with
intellectual disabilities. A discussion is also provided of recommendations, future directions, and
suggestions for the improvement of transition services for students with intellectual disabilities in Saudi
Arabia. It is noted that the issues faced in Saudi Arabia are similar to those faced in other developing
countries in the Arabian Gulf region.
Globally, the ultimate goal of education is to prepare individuals to be productive citizens in their
societies. A critical juncture to becoming individuals who contribute to society is the time when students
exit high school and enter adulthood. Once students graduate from high school, there is pressure on
them to be independent and to start a specific path or career in their lives. The transition process from
high school to adulthood presents challenging demands on all students, but in particular students with
disabilities (Leake & Cholymay, 2004).
This shift from a school-based environment to the world of adulthood is a complicated process,
involving many changes for the individual with a disability. These changes can include moving to
independent or assisted living, enrolling in postsecondary education such as universities or other
technical institutions, becoming integrated in adult community life, managing financial and healthcare
issues, and developing social skills to function interpersonally and to pursue a career. Making all of this
happen requires a concerted and systematic opportunity-building and training process on the part of
secondary schools and vocational services (Wehmeyer & Webb, 2012).
Actually achieving these adult outcomes is presently difficult for students with disabilities who study
under the Saudi educational system due to the unavailability of adequate transition services in public
secondary schools. The main purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of special education laws
and regulations in Saudi Arabia (SA) as related to transition services, as well as portraying current
transition initiatives provided for students with intellectual disability. Also, an overview of the programs
that public agencies provide to individuals with disabilities will be discussed. Finally, this paper also
discusses recommendations and future directions about policies and practices that are currently
implemented and some suggestions that might contribute to improving the quality of transition services
for students with significant needs in SA.
Overview of Special Education Policies in SA as Related to Transition Services
The development of special education policies in SA has passed through several stages until it reached
its current status. Special education services began in 1987, when the Legislation of Disability was
created to ensure that individuals with disabilities received equal rights to those of other citizens. This
legislation also mandates public agencies to provide rehabilitation services and support independent
living by providing training programs (Ministry of Health Care, 2010). In 2000, the Saudi government
passed the Disability Code to further explain services and agencies, the main provisions aimed to
guarantee that individuals with disabilities had access to appropriate and public services provided by
medical, psychological, social, educational, and rehabilitation agencies. Similar to the Legislation of
Disability, the Disability Code focused more on community life and services and less on education for
individuals with disabilities (Prince Salman Center for Disability Research, 2004).
In the early 21st century, a group of professionals, who obtained their masters and doctoral degrees in
the United States, gathered with a group of representatives from the Directorate General of Special
Education in the Ministry of Education to review the United States’ special education laws and
regulations, including the Education for all Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142) in 1975 and Individual
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990 (Al-Quraini, 2011). A result of this review was the
Regulations of Special Education Programs and Institutes (RSEPI) that was modeled after U.S. special
education policies. The RSEPI consisted of rights and regulations that guarantee providing education to
students with disabilities. It recognizes now familiar disability categories, such as: mental retardation,
learning disabilities, deafness, blindness, and multiple disabilities. The RSEPI clearly defined roles and
responsibilities of special education professionals and implied that these professionals were accountable
for their services to people with disabilities (Ministry of Education of Saudi Arabia, 2002).
The overarching goal of RSEPI is to prepare students with disabilities for community integration to be
productive citizens in their society and to be self-sufficient (Al-Mosa, 1999). A cornerstone to achieve
this goal is how special education services prepare youth with disabilities for adulthood demands. It has
defined transition services as “a set of coordinated activities designed to prepare students with
disabilities to move from one environment to another, from school life to public activities, and to be
independent after God Almighty” (Ministry of Education of Saudi Arabia, 2002). To specify what are
transition programs, the RSEPI defined different types of transition programs after high school that meet
various adulthood demands. The main focus of these programs revolved around community integration
and employment support. For supporting students’ community integration, the RSEPI stressed providing
programs for students who are capable of completing academic and vocational programs after high
school. These programs focused on preparing students for daily living skills within their communities,
decision-making skills to choose appropriate programs for themselves, promoting their fellowship with
others, and social interaction skills. The regulation also outlines employment programs in workplaces.
These programs aim to prepare students with disabilities for internships to expose them to various jobs
to recognize their abilities, select the appropriate job, provide training to develop appropriate work skills
to work with regular employees, and to train them in how to deal with workplace situations.
Although the RSEPI policy contains detailed descriptions of services and programs that are needed to
support community integration and employment supports, it still lacks procedural steps to inform
professionals how to implement these programs, which raises concerns regarding current transition
services initiatives that are provided in secondary public schools in SA for students with disabilities.
Secondary Education for Students with Intellectual Disability
The focus in formal education for students with disabilities has been on students with learning
disabilities, blindness, and hearing impairments. Many limitations continue to exist in special education
services for these students in secondary schools; yet, they all can continue their education through high
school, and many do enter postsecondary education. However, students with intellectual disability
continue to encounter more dissatisfying conditions, and the development of special education for
these students with remains challenging. In 2007, the Ministry of Education passed a regulation ending
the students’ with intellectual disability education to middle school and depriving them from entering
high schools. The Director General of the Department of Special Education in the Ministry of Education,
at that time, claimed that these students do not exceed the level of fourth grade. And, he stated that
vocational rehabilitation centers, which the Ministry of Social Affairs authorizes, are more appropriate
to meet their needs. He justified the Ministry’s decision by stressing that the Ministry of Education is
limited in its capability to prepare these students to be active members in the society and to gain decent
and independent lives (Al-Othman, 2010).
This decision created a massive debate and discussions among stakeholders in the Ministry of Education,
the Ministry of Social Affairs, and families about the appropriateness of this decision. Many students
with intellectual disability were affected by this decision, staying at home for three years and without
proper services to meet their adulthood needs.
In 2010 and after continuing debates, the Ministry of Education re-addressed its responsibility to
facilitate the transition of students with intellectual disability. It launched a new program addressing the
needs of employment preparation for students with intellectual disability and other disabilities, a full
description of the program is provided below.
The Educational Rehabilitative Program for Students with Intellectual Disability
The Ministry of Education defines the program as “a rehabilitative program for students with mild
intellectual disability, the program lasts three years after the students finish middle school program. The
program mission is to provide services and programs to prepare students for independence, social
competence, and to transition to the practical life” (Ministry of Education, 2010). Services are provided
in self-contained classrooms in public schools and institutions for students who have mild intellectual
disability, multiple disabilities with mobility challenges and intellectual disability with autism.
The enrollment criterion specifies that students should: a) complete middle school, b) no services
provided after the age of 25, and c) receive approval from the acceptance and classifying committee,
which uses the intelligence quotient (IQ) model to determine eligibility for services. Institutions and
schools are responsible for designing the appropriate instructional content complying with the
educational goals and standards: a) education (Islamic education, math, reading, and writing), b) daily
skills (personal and social skills, arts and crafts, and physical education), c) vocational education
(vocational awareness, vocational skills), and d) workplace preparation (internships). Special education
teachers are accountable for providing instruction. The Ministry of Education coordinates with
governmental and private companies for these students’ internships to practice vocational and social
skills in real settings.
Initiatives of Other Agencies
Before the Ministry of Education established the educational rehabilitative program for students with
intellectual disability, other agencies provided programs that were solely focused on employment
supports. Government and private agencies initiated different programs to help youth with various
disabilities because a structured roadmap to guide supports and services for different goals for
individuals with disabilities was missing. These governmental agencies included the Ministry of Social
Affairs and the Ministry of Labor. The following sections will highlight services and programs of these
agencies.
Government Sector. The Ministry of Social Affairs is the only governmental agency that provides
vocational evaluation and plans for individuals with intellectual, sensory and physical disabilities. Two
vocational rehabilitation centers for males are located in Riyadh and Dammam, central and eastern
regions (Ministry of Social Affairs, 2014). The Ministry of Labor (undated) follows more procedural steps
when supporting the employment of individuals with disabilities. They recruit job applicants with
disabilities, interview, and help them choose the most suitable job for them. They also coordinate the
search for an appropriate facility that matches the applicant’s unique conditions and conduct follow up
visits.
Private Sector. The initiatives of the private sector include two non-profit organizations, Disabled
Children Association (DCA) and Al-Nahdah organization. DCA is a non-profit organization that pioneered
providing education along with related services such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, and
speech therapy, which are not provided in public schools. DCA has a leading role in promoting
individuals with disabilities’ employments by organizing annual job fairs to exclusively recruit individuals
with disabilities. An employment recruiting committee manages these job fairs, the committee consists
of: the Ministry of Social affairs, Ministry of Labor, General Organization for Technical, Vocational
Training, Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Human Resources Development Fund
(Disabled Children Association, 2013).
The second organization is Al-Nahdah, which is a non-profit organization with a mission to empower
women socially and economically through financial and social support, training, and employment (AlNahda, 2013). It is considered the first institution to provide employment services only for females and
was the driving force behind opening factories for female employment including females with
disabilities. Moreover, it provides educational services and rehabilitation for children with Down
syndrome from birth to the age of 21.
Recommendations and Future Directions
This section will discuss recommendations and future directions concerning policies and regulations,
current transition programs, and initiatives of public agencies. The RSEPI attends to the critical need for
individuals with disabilities to be productive citizens in their societies by defining transition programs
and outlining different transition programs that attend to employment, independent living and
community integration. These transition service regulations were modeled after U.S. special education
laws and regulations. Although the process of modeling our policies after the U.S. demonstrates positive
intentions placed upon qualified stakeholders, there are shortcomings. There is no doubt that the
transition policies and practices within the U.S. can be effective; nevertheless, critical questions are
looming. These questions revolve around the effectiveness of implementing laws and regulations from
another country without conducting proper investigations about their appropriateness in real settings.
Another issue arises regarding how these policies guide the implementation of the Educational
Rehabilitative Program for Students with intellectual disability; it can be asked whether the regulations
appropriately guide services to prepare Saudi individuals with intellectual disability in a practical way for
postsecondary demands. In addition, the regulations still miss addressing the transition needs of
individuals with significant disabilities, which could be attributed to the restrictive criteria the Ministry
of Education uses to determine service eligibility for students with disabilities.
Policy makers in the Ministry of Education must become more accountable to follow-up the impact of
the regulations that they have created. Follow-up efforts must evaluate the implementation of these
regulations in real settings and assess whether professionals who work in current transition programs in
the Saudi public schools implement effective transition practices that are researched-based. Up to now,
program evaluation studies are not included in the agenda of the Ministry of Education to evaluate
current initiatives to implement transition programs that will provide a clear picture of the effectiveness
of such programs and will determine areas of improvements. Longitudinal studies present a strong
approach to explore postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities that will inform policy
makers about needed reforms in the educational policy and practice (Al-Hoshan, 2009).
Furthermore, determining the effectiveness of transition programs creates crucial queries about the
framework that guides current transition programs. Current special education teachers who work in
middle and high schools have not received prior preparation to implement transition services; for
example, they have not received courses that address transition implementation and planning in Saudi
universities (Al-Nahdi, 2012). In addition, the Ministry of Education has not developed a systematic
framework that guides the work of special education teachers in current transition programs. This
limitation calls for a model to guide the development and implementation of transition services in public
schools.
Because current transition practices in the Saudi schools do not rely on a solid conceptual framework,
the Taxonomy for Transition Programming (Kohler, 1996), which is a well-recognized comprehensive
framework used in the U.S., presents a good conceptual model to guide transition services in SA (Figure
1). Kohler conducted an intensive review of the literature in transition services and identified five major
components that should be included in transition programs and guide transition specialists. These are
shown in the visual model below.
Figure 1: Taxonomy for Transition Programming (modeled after Kohler, 1996, p. 115)
Moreover, when reviewing the initiatives of the Ministry of Education and public agencies, a specific
limitation emerged: A lack of coordination and collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the
public agencies that perform the real work, mostly in isolation. This limitation calls for interagency
collaboration, which is represented in the foregoing Taxonomy for Transition Programming model. This
component is promising in that it can link the efforts of public agencies to provide employment supports
with the work of the Educational Rehabilitative Program for Students with intellectual disability.
Summary
The field of special education in SA is facing rapid changes in today’s fast paced world. The Saudi
education system is still in its preliminary stages with respect to developing transition programs for
students with disabilities in general. The bright side of the initiatives discussed earlier is that the Saudi
community represented by the educational system and public agencies are attending to the need to
develop programs to prepare individuals with disabilities after high school graduation. However, no one
can guarantee the success of these programs without implementing well-designed research studies to
investigate the effectiveness of these programs.
Equally critical, inspecting the transition programs and services that were discussed above, none include
individuals with significant needs. There is a persistent need to extend the transition services provided
by the Ministry of Education to students with significant needs. This will ensure this population’s equal
rights to access similar services that are provided to other disability categories. In order to accomplish
this need, policy makers in the Ministry of Education need, as a first step, to revise the eligibility criteria
that are used to enroll students in their transition services. Using high IQ scores (75-55) as a criterion for
eligibility does not allow students with significant needs to have access to the transition services that are
currently available.
In addition, because the Ministry of Education used the special education laws and regulations in U.S. as
a model for its services, this calls for the need to adopt the American infrastructure system that
supports transition programs in secondary schools. Although this process requires thoughtful
consideration regarding differing cultural values and beliefs between the two countries, at least it will
provide a starting point for implementing a well-developed transition program in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia.
Finally, other countries in the Arab Gulf region have similar values, and they face similar issues that we
must address in our country with respect to assisting individuals with intellectual disability to achieve
successful and contributing lives in our society. It is recommended that we begin sharing some of our
solutions with each other, so that transition services unique to the needs of our respective nations can
be developed.
Reference
Al-Hoshan, H. (2009). Postsecondary outcomes of students with visual and auditory impairments in
Saudi Arabia: Implications for special education policy. (Published doctoral dissertation). Columbia
University. NY.
Al-Mosa, N. A. (1999). Development process of special education in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh: Directorate
General of Special Education in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Nahda (2013). The mission of Al-Nahda organization. Retrieved from
http://www.nakhweh.org/ar/organizations/479-Al-Nahda
Al-Nahdi, G. H. (2012). Teachers' attitudes and perceptions toward transition services from school to
work for students with mild intellectual disabilities in Saudi Arabia. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation).
Ohio University. Athens.
Al-Othman, S. (2010, July 21). Ministry of Education provides services for 10 out 16 categories of
disabilities. Alriyadh Newspaper. Retrieved from
http://www.alriyadh.com/2010/07/21/article545405.html
Al-Quraini, T. (2011). Special education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges, perspectives, future possibilities.
International Journal of Special Education, 26(2), 149-159.
Disabled Children Association (2013). The employment of individuals with special needs. Retrieved from
http://www.dca.org.sa/dcapages/41
Kohler, P. D. (1996). A taxonomy for transition programming: Linking research and practice. Champaign,
IL.
Leake, D., & Cholymay, M. (2004, February). Addressing the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse
students with disabilities in postsecondary education. NCSET Information Brief: Addressing Trends and
Developments in Secondary Education and Transition, 3(1). Retrieved from http://www.ncset.org/
publications/viewdesc.asp?id=1411
Ministry of Education of Saudi Arabia (2010). The educational rehabilitative program for students with
ID. Retrieved from http://portal.moe.gov.sa/Dep_special/Pages/mantel.aspx
Ministry of Education of Saudi Arabia. (2002). Regulations of special education programs and institutes
of Saudi Arabia. Retrieved from http:// www.se.gov.sa/rules/se_rules/index.htm
Ministry of Health Care (2010). Care of people with disabilities. Retrieved from
http://mosa.gov.sa/portal/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=11
Ministry of Labor (undated). The management and employment of individuals with special needs.
Retrieved from http://portal.mol.gov.sa/ar/AboutMinistry/Organizations/Pages/org13.aspx
Ministry of Social Affairs (2014). General administration for the care and rehabilitation of people with
disabilities. Retrieved from http://mosa.gov.sa/portal/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=24
Prince Salman Center for Disability Research. (2004). Kingdom of Saudi Arabia provision code for
persons with disabilities. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Prince Salman Center for Disability Research.
Wehmeyer, M. L., & Webb, K. W. (2012). An introduction to adolescent transition education. In
Wehmeyer M. L. & Webb K. W. (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent transition education for youth with
disabilities (pp. 3-10). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.
Guide to Including Children with Disabilities in Community Settings in the Arab Gulf Region
Effat Shugdar, University of Northern Colorado
Abstract
Many parents in the Arab Gulf Region avoid integrating their children with disabilities into their local
community due to negative cultural beliefs about disabilities and general unfamiliarity with disabilities.
Using information from research conducted in the United States, successful strategies for inclusion in
community settings have been identified that may be useful to parents of children with disabilities in
this region of the world. Strategies which can be successful include locating accessible activities when
they exist, increasing familiarity with specific community settings and activities, finding opportunities for
children to communicate, managing child behavior in public, and creating parent-to-parent networks.
The goal of the application of successful strategies for community inclusion is to enable Arab Gulf
parents to understand, plan, and develop ways to include their children with disabilities in real activities
taking place in their own communities.
Families who have children with disabilities face numerous obstacles for successful inclusion of their
children into different community settings. Some of the consequences of not participating in society
include children with disabilities being denied the right to live their lives as others do, such as
segregation of these children from others and prohibitions or limitations for these children to go outside
and see different places and people. This exclusion from normal community life can lead to increased
behavioral and emotional problems for these children. Such unfairness seriously hinders children with
disabilities’ awareness and experience to engage with others and to explore the environment around
them.
The social and emotional development of children with disabilities is affected by the number of different
settings and various kinds of interactions, such as with peers without disabilities, and people outside of
school settings. Including these students with significant needs in the community will help the child
engage in interactions with other people more easily (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Children with disabilities
feel more comfortable when they are familiar with a variety of community settings (Souza & Kennedy,
2003).
Families within societies where disability awareness and disability rights are still emerging as publicized
and discussed issues are often hesitant about including their children with severe disabilities in the
social milieu and activities of their culture. Their hesitation may involve fear of disapproval or
embarrassment. Yet, this hesitation may also have origins in uncertainty as to how to make such an
experience successful for themselves and their children. As professionals in the field of special
education, we have a responsibility to guide families in finding ways to include their children with severe
disabilities in the larger community around them. This involves identifying and communicating to them
strategies for successful community inclusion. This paper will explore first the experience of being a
parent of a child with a severe disability in the Arab Gulf Region. Next, it will describe what is meant by
an effective strategy for community inclusion. Lastly, it will examine specific strategies that can help
parents provide opportunities for their children with severe disabilities to experience life in the
community.
An Arab Gulf Region Perspective on Having a Child with a Disability
From previous experiences working with parents who have children with severe disabilities in the Arab
Gulf Region, I have found that there is only a small minority of parents who are willing to include their
children with disabilities in community settings. On the one hand, Arab Gulf society is more
understanding and accepting of children with hearing or vision disabilities. The parents of these children
often do not feel devalued by including their children in the community. On the other hand, parents of
children having disabilities with very evident effects on their intellectual, physical, communication, or
emotional expression often avoid engaging their child in different community settings, such as going to
restaurants, shopping, traveling, or parties because the stigma and lack of knowledge about these
disabilities creates more discrimination, guilt, and rejection.
There are three major reasons that reinforce Arab Gulf parents’ decisions to avoid including their
children with disabilities in a variety of community settings. The first reason is that parents who have
children with disabilities may feel ashamed to be accompanied by their children with disabilities in the
community or public areas because of negative cultural judgments about what can be expressed in
public versus what is private; i.e., what should be permitted versus what should not be disclosed in the
relationship between family and the wider society. Further complicating the picture are feelings that
some Arab parents may have that they are being viewed by their neighbors and others as having done
something corrupt, and are therefore being punished by having a child with disabilities. These parents
then feel even more ashamed and guilty to walk with their children with disabilities in public view (Arab
Gulf Network for People with Disabilities, 2009). Yet, at the same time, many of these parents are also
attempting to cope with perceptions that their children should have the right to live life as other
individuals in Arab society. This mixture of emotions regarding keeping what is in the family in the
family, shame over how others may view them, and yet knowing that their children deserve more than
the sheltered life that they are providing impacts not just the opportunities their child with a severe
disability will have over his/her lifetime but also the interactions of these parents with each other and
with other members of the community.
In Arab Gulf society, it is the mother who is primarily involved with her child and who plans and carries
out activities for her children. This puts increased pressure on mothers who have a child with a
disability, particularly when the child has severe disabilities. Even in countries where disability is more
widely understood and accepted, a mother’s anxiety of stigma regarding her child may have a negative
effect on her relationship with her child, which further encourages the mother to isolate her child from
the community (Groce, 1985). Mothers of children with disabilities often feel devalued and
discriminated against from others who do not have children with disabilities in the community. Since
communities tend to respond to these mothers differently when contrasted with their responses to
children who have typically developing children; this encourages the mother of child with a disability to
sometime feel jealousy and anger toward the mother of a child without disability (Geenen, Powers, &
Lopez-Vasquez, 2001). Because of longstanding cultural patterns, these effects are even more
pronounced in the Arab Gulf Region than in the United States and other countries where disability issues
are more out in the open.
A second reason Arab Gulf parents may avoid including their children with disabilities in community
settings is because of limitations in community activities that are actually accessible to children with
disabilities in the Arab Gulf Region. There is a lack of available and accommodated facilities for these
children to go to and enjoy, such as public libraries, family clubs, restaurants, and commercial shops. AlTuraiki and Joseph (2004) recommended that more physical adaptations be constructed in public places
to enhance their accessibility for people with disabilities, thereby helping encourage them to go places
more easily and spend enjoyable times with their families.
The third and final reason for limited participation in community settings, and the one to be examined in
detail here, is that parents are not educated about how they can include their children with disabilities
in community settings. Ehrmann, Aeschleman, and Svanum (1995) reported that parents who have
children with disabilities need support in including their children in community settings. Thus, parents
who have children with disabilities need instruction and coaching which is vital to improve their
knowledge about how to integrate their children with disabilities in different community settings (Day,
2000).
Strategies for Successful Community Inclusion
Strategies for successful community inclusion are steps and procedures that can help Arab parents with
children who have severe disabilities provide opportunities for these children to do as their peers do and
to engage in community life. Such strategies should give direction and guidance to these parents by
providing explicit steps for them that can result in more inclusion of their children in community life and
with fewer cultural barriers. As a result, parents’ inclusion of their children with disabilities in the
community can become both more successful for the children and enjoyable for all family members.
Five specific strategies will be examined here: (a) locating accessible activities, (b) increasing familiarity
with specific community settings and activities; (c) providing opportunities for children to communicate;
(d) managing children’s behavior in public; and (e) creating parent-to-parent networks.
Locating Accessible Activities
Especially when children have disabilities that impact their movement and awareness of space, universal
design in buildings can help them experience full inclusion in their communities (Turnbull, Turnbull, &
Wehmeyer, 2007). The concept of universal design was created to make buildings accessible to all
people. Examples of universal design include buildings provided with curb cuts, electronic and wide
doors, and clear aisles. All of these accessibilities allow children with disabilities to move more easily
and safely in the physical environment.
Parents who have children with physical disabilities need to consider locating and selecting places that
are designed to be accessible for their children so that all can fully enjoy the opportunities offered by
particular community settings. In the Arab Gulf Region, new constructions are more likely to include
features of universal design, such as some contemporary shopping malls, large grocery store chains,
modern restaurants located in malls, and newly-designed mosques. Special education professionals can
help parents be aware that such places exist, and assist them in locating such settings that are near their
home.
Increasing Familiarity With Specific Community Settings And Activities
Many community settings in Arab society are not presently accessible through universal design
applications. Nor is universal design accessibility always a concern when a family has a child with a
severe disability. Sometimes, fear may be associated with simply how best to navigate an area of the
community most efficiently, concerns for pedestrian safety, or concerns with how to ensure partial
participation of a child in an activity. A family can overcome some of their concerns by analyzing the
environment to determine its expectations, the skills that could be useful, the assistance that the family
members will need to give the child to make the experience enjoyable and successful, and what parts of
an activity a child can do with and without assistance.
Referred to in the United States as ecological analysis (Falvey, 1989), this process offers a way to begin
being in the community safely and enjoyably. For example, the parents may want to take the family,
including the child with a severe intellectual disability, to a local shopping mall for a day excursion. An
advance trip to the mall by the parents can identify best entrances; family-friendly restaurants; places
for resting and watching; and a specific store or stores that can offer particular activities that the child
may enjoy for short times. The trip is then planned by the family from start to finish, including the roles
played by the various family members in different locations and activities.
During an activity, the parents can also bring along a familiar item that the child enjoys, such as a toy or
candy. A familiar item can help the child feel comfortable in new situations. Also, parents can do a “trial
run” by going to the location of a special event with the child at a time when it is less crowded. The next
time they all go to this place, it will be a familiar to the child. Such strategies can help children with
disabilities to be more familiar with people and places and to interact positively in the larger community.
Providing Opportunities For Children To Communicate
Communication is a natural skill that all children need to develop and learn from their daily activities
(Turnbull et al., 2007). Children with communication difficulties are often unable to let others know
their physical needs, to interact with others in a sustained and satisfactory ways; or let others know
what they are feeling and thinking. To help, parents can structure opportunities for their children to
interact and communicate with others by encouraging their children to introduce themselves, talk about
incidents that happened, and discuss achievements at their school or events with their family members.
Many children who have difficulty expressing themselves with words are responsive to questions, which
can be strategically asked to offer opportunities for children to construct a story or describe an incident
that happened at some point in the day or week. Parents can model these strategies when they are in
social events at home, visiting with neighbors, or in community settings, so that other people can
become more comfortable interacting with the child who has difficulty communicating.
Children in the United States are often provided with sophisticated communication devices that allow
them to construct with pictures, words, or symbols messages that others can see or hear. These devices
often may not be available to families in the Arab Gulf Region, but simple graphic representations can be
provided the child to identify important tools, activities, or people in a child’s life. Note cards, for
example, may include words and pictures to present the most commonly used expressions in
communication (Downing, 2000; Turnbull et al., 2007). When children have pictorial or written word
representations that they can use to communicate, it is important that parents keep these accessible,
encourage their use when appropriate, and to use the pictures and words themselves when they are
communicating with the child.
Simply because a child does not speak does not mean that he or she has nothing to say (Fisher & Fisher,
1996). It is important to honor all of a child’s efforts to let others know what he/she wants and needs
and to include them in ongoing discussions and activities among family members whether or not they
add to a discussion with spoken words. We can, of course explain something, or say something in a
different way, when a child needs help understanding what is being said. However, it is best to believe
that a child can comprehend much that occurs and is said in his/her environment rather than to assume
that little or nothing is comprehended by the child. Often, when we assume understanding, we learn
that more is actually comprehended than we might have at first guessed, and greater understanding will
emerge when the child feels that the adults believe in him or her.
Managing Children’s Behavior in Public
For better or for worse, people form impressions of others based on what they see them do in public
places. If they see a child behave in a manner that matches expectations of a setting, than onlookers
either don’t notice at all or they notice the child in a favorable way. If a child’s behavior is unexpected or
disorderly, then disapproval may be felt or expressed, and the impression formed may be long lasting.
Parents of children who have behavior problems can encourage their children to do tasks in the
community. For example, they can ask the children to select their food from the menu in the
restaurant, let them push the grocery cart, give them the opportunity to pay the money to the cashier,
or think through and make alternative choices when what is wanted is not available, such as a
restaurant not having a desired menu item.
Another approach to addressing discipline concerns is to develop a system of nonverbal signals to be
used by the parent with the child, which mean when they are delivered that the child is to observe what
certain others are doing (parent, particular sibling) and to do the same. Such signals could be gestures or
facial expressions. The parent can then focus on the way home on what the child did that was right,
reviewing the positive accomplishments and the moments when the child was paying attention to the
parent’s signals.
Sometimes it is helpful to review in advance with the child two or three things for the child to
remember. For example, one might include: (a) stay with the family; (b) keep your voice down; and (c)
keep your hands by your side unless given permission to touch something. The reminders could be
reviewed at home or in the car, right before entering a community context.
Other more complicated systems for assisting with discipline include preparing and reading a social story
(Sutton, 2011); using pictures to prepare a child in advance for an upcoming event; or providing a visual
schedule to indicate the structure of the day and event, and to identify the place and activities (Souza &
Kennedy, 2003). Special educators need to develop the skills to do these more advanced procedures,
and to be ready to assist families in implementing these strategies so that their children can access
community environments safely and without worrisome incidences.
Creating Parent-To-Parent Networks
As a Saudi Arabian writer and citizen, and from my experience, people in our region develop their beliefs
regarding disabilities from their cultures, traditional background, and also from misinterpretation of
religious beliefs. They may believe having children with disabilities means God is punishing them for
something evil they did in their lives. Or they may believe that children with disabilities are something
caused by mysticism or demons. They may not see that disability might be the result of health or
medical outcomes, or an event of birth that should be treated as a possible and natural outcome of life.
Therefore, they avoid including their children with disabilities in the community because of the stigma.
Arab Gulf parents can include their children with disabilities in spite of cultural belief barriers and can
face society with a greater sense of their own personal power. However, initially, parents may want to
begin by working together, creating networks within communities for parents of children with
disabilities to meet and talk with each other. In this network, the parents can work collaboratively
together in taking their children with disabilities out in the community. The parents can discuss their
concerns regarding their children; for example, the places they can go with their children, activities they
can do with their children, and appropriate strategies that works with each child of each family. Most
importantly, they can provide each other with increased support for initiating more inclusion.
These parents may want to have weekly meetings or plan parties that have activities and exercises for
their children in their homes. When these parents become familiar with each other, they can go into
the community as a group, and thereby, be stronger and more confident in facing society.
Conclusion
I have presented a number of strategies for successful community inclusion that I believe can be useful
for Arab Gulf Region parents to include their children with disabilities in a variety of community settings.
These strategies are based on research and practices I have observed or have read about in the United
States, and they are adapted here to be a guide to Arab Gulf parents. The strategies for successful
community inclusion are particularly discussed in conjunction with the impact of cultural issues on
including the children with disabilities in the community, such as stigma, guilt, discrimination and fear.
Special educators, including myself, have an obligation to assist families in becoming part of our culture
and the communities of our region. It is not enough just to train children with severe disabilities in
schools to perform the adaptive skills required to survive and be functional in the community. If we are
to make a difference, we must directly work with families, assisting them to open doors for their
children, so that community life becomes a real possibility for them.
References
Al-Turaiki, M. & Joseph, G. (2004). Ambalavavanan: Environmental and vehicle adaptations for
handicapped- JCRPO experience. Proceedings from the 32nd Annual National Conference of Indian
Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Calcutta, India.
Arab Gulf Network for People with Disabilities. (2009). Our disabled children. Retrieved from
http://m3aq.net/inf/articles-action-show-id-37.htm.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and human
design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Day, M. (2000). Supporting inclusion of young children with disabilities in community settings. (Order
No. 9967889, University of Maryland College Park). ProQuest Dissertations and
Theses, 237. Retrieved from http://0search.proquest.com.source.unco.edu/docview/304605427?accountid=12832. (304605427).
Downing, J. (2000). Augmentative communication devices: A critical aspect of assistive technology.
Journal of Special Education Technology. 15, 3-11.
Ehrmann, L., Aeschleman, S., & Svanum, S. (1995). Parental reports of community activity
patterns: A comparison between young children with disabilities and their nondisabled peers. Research
in Developmental Disabilities. 16(4), 331-343.
Falvey, M. A. (1989). Community-based curriculum: Instructional strategies for students with severe
handicaps (2nd ed.). Baltimore: Brookes.
Fisher, D. (Producer), & Fisher, J. (Director) (1996). Unforgotten: Twenty-five years after Willowbrook.
United States of America: City Lights Productions
Geenen, S., Powers, L. E., & Lopez-Vasquez, A. (2001). Multicultural aspects of parent involvement in
transition planning. Exceptional Children. 67, 265-282.
Groce, N. E. (1985). Everyone here spoke sign language: Hereditary deafness on Martha’s Vineyard.
Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.
Souza, G., & Kennedy, C. H. (2003). Facilitating social interactions in the community for a transition-age
student with severe disabilities. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 5(3), 179-179. Retrieved from
http://0-search.proquest.com.source.unco.edu /docview/218792784?accountid=12832.
Sutton, B. (2011). Social stories. Educating young children: Learning & teaching in the early childhood
years, 17(1), 35-36.
Turnbull, A., Turnbull, R., & Wehmeyer, M. L. (2007). Exceptional lives: Special education in today’s
schools (5th ed.). Columbus, OH: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Perceptions of a Panel of International Doctoral Candidates Toward Special Education
Services and Needs in Their Respective Countries
Reema Alabdulwahab, Reem Alrusaiyes, Raveema Mongkolrat, Abdulaziz Alqahtani, Effat Shugdar, Haya
Eshaq, Rehab Alzayer, Shehana Alqafari, Weeramol Locharoenrat
Increasingly, countries around the world are committed to promoting equal educational opportunities
for their citizens. For many countries, this commitment includes paying more attention to the services
that they provide to individuals with disabilities. The purpose of this paper was to gather the
perceptions of a panel of international doctoral candidates who study at a special education department
regarding their original plans before pursuing their PhD studies in special education, their perceptions
toward new special education trends and issues in the United States of America, and their professional
plans and recommendations as shaped by their ongoing studies. Emerged themes as well as specific
elements of the panel’s discussion are provided.
Many countries around the world are now committed to promoting equal educational opportunities for
their citizens (Richardson & Powell, 2011). For many countries, this commitment involves paying more
attention to the services that they provide to individuals with disabilities. Contributing to this picture is
the fact that political and economic agreements are being made between countries across the world,
which are influencing the exchange of knowledge and innovations across cultures (Phillips &
Schweisfurth, 2014).
One result of the foregoing processes is that many countries are sending professionals who serve
individuals with disabilities to other countries such as the United States of America (USA) to learn about
innovative, evidence-based special education practices, so that they can develop similar practices when
they return home. As a consequence, many emerging, international scholars will return to their
countries with new knowledge and skills, and highly motivated to begin implementing what they have
learned. However, concerns can be raised regarding how newly acquired practices will fit within
different cultural contexts; whether certain practices should be more attended to than others for a
better match with cultural conditions; and what must be accomplished to actually achieve
implementation of specific practices within countries that may have different experiential, policy, and
legal backgrounds when compared to the USA.
The aforementioned concerns served as the foundation and rationale for exploring the experiences of
nine international PhD student candidates who were pursuing their studies in the USA, concentrating in
special education. The first two authors of this paper convened an afternoon panel with these
individuals, and we explored together what we were learning and how we plan to utilize our learning
when we return home to our countries of origin. We were especially interested in whether our
colleagues approached their studies from the standpoint of previous commitments or whether their
plans were changing as they learned about new special education trends and issues; what parts of their
learning were especially important to them from the standpoint of their country’s needs; what parts of
their learning did not fit with what was happening back home; and, their future professional plans
following graduation. The purpose of this paper is to report about what we learned from these
conversations, not excluding our own voices as part of that learning.
Procedures and Panelists
The recruitment of panelists was handled by convenience, as all of the potential participants were
studying in doctoral programs at the University of Northern Colorado. Potential panelists received an
email from the first author and leader of the panel, explaining the process, inviting them to participate
and be authors on the paper, and setting up a time for the discussion.
Nine doctoral candidates from three different Southeast Asian and Arab Gulf Region countries
participated in the panel. The panelists varied as to their academic status in their doctoral studies: Two
panelists were in the second semester of their first year and one panelist was in her second year of the
program. Three panelists were in the third year at their doctoral program, and the three remaining
panelists were at the dissertation phase of their programs.
Two of the panelists represented Thailand; both having minimal schooling in special education prior to
their studies in the USA. These individuals had worked at the same school in their home country, where
they planned to return after earning their PhD degrees in special education. Another participant was
from the State of Kuwait; she was majoring in music education with a minor in special education. Her
previous work involved working as a music teacher for kindergarten students in her home country. The
other six participants represented different regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. All of the Saudi
participants had special education backgrounds prior to their studies in the USA. Five of these
individuals earned their Bachelor degrees from the same Saudi university. It is noteworthy that the
participants varied in their previous working experiences in relation to special education, some with
minimal experiences, one with experience in deaf education, some with experiences mostly with
students who had Learning Disabilities (LD) and reading problems, and others mostly with students who
had intellectual disabilities.
The panel discussion was held on the university campus, it lasted three hours, and it was audio-taped
with participant agreement so that a manuscript could be constructed reporting the results of the
conversation. The panelists were guided in their discussion by three questions, which were generated in
advance by the first two authors of this paper:
1.
2.
3.
Are your professional goals (e.g., your “Statement of Purpose” for earning a doctorate) the
same now as when you first started studying in special education? If not, what were your
previous goals, what are your objectives now, and why did you change them?
Describe your first reactions when you learned about new special education concepts such
as inclusion, transition, and Response to Intervention (RtI).
What is your plan for the future and what recommendations do you have for achieving your
plan?
Synthesis
The process of sifting through panelist responses and developing a content synthesis of the
panelist conversation occurred in three steps. First, the two lead authors listened to the audiotape of
the panel discussion over a twelve hour period, collaboratively considering what central ideas and
themes were being expressed by the panelists, and how they were the same or different from each
other. The discussion between these two panel members resulted in a consensus about the major points
expressed by the panelists in relation to the panel questions, and these formed the basis for manuscript
preparation as a draft. Second, all of the panel members were sent the manuscript, and they were asked
to communicate whether their voices were well represented or not, and if not, what changes were
needed to the manuscript to achieve this result. Third and finally, these changes, when they were
received, were then incorporated into the manuscript, and a final review by panelists was instigated.
The order of authors on this manuscript reflects the degree to which different panelists contributed to
manuscript preparation.
Results and Discussion
The three questions provided the framework for presenting a synthesis of the results of the panel
discussion. These were: (a) professional goals, (b) first reactions to new concepts, and (c) future plans.
The following sections report on each of these questions, noting some of the common themes and some
of the reported differences in responding.
Professional Goals
Professional goals refer to the plans that a student has for studying particular content or emphasis areas
in special education, and/or what they plan to achieve when they return home. Original intentions or
goals are often described in a Statement of Purpose document when a person first applies for the
special education doctoral program in the USA. Goals also reflect what they felt that they needed to
learn, which led them to study in the USA in the first place, and they likely reflect consideration of what
knowledge and skills will transfer to their countries of origin. With time and exposure to different and
changing ideas and content, it was anticipated that panelist goals might stay the same, they might be
minimally modified to fit changing interests or understandings of the concepts, or they might change
dramatically, reflecting the impact of new ideas acquired during their studies.
Throughout the panel discussion, it was clear that these panelists were basing their professional goals
and areas of interest in special education in relation to their perceptions of the needs of individuals with
disabilities in their countries and the gaps that they saw that needed to be addressed to fulfill quality of
life issues for these individuals in their home countries. It was also clear that, regardless of whether
panelists maintained or changed their professional goals, they were paying close attention to evolving
special education policies and practices in the USA to better understand how reforms should be
considered in relation to their own country’s situations.
Most of the panelists “stayed the course” with respect to their learning goals for studying in the USA. A
second somewhat smaller group had made some modifications in their focus because they were
learning and experiencing things that helped them refine what they hoped to achieve and take back
with them. Finally, there were a few panelists who were profoundly influenced by new concepts, trends
or issues that are occurring in special education in the USA. This group made dramatic changes to their
professional goals and their plans of study based on their new knowledge and awareness of ideas and
issues.
The first group, as previously described, maintained their professional plans and did not change them.
An example of this group was one panelist who was mostly interested in literacy for students with
learning disabilities and students with attention deficit disorders; a year into her studies and she was still
committed to this focus. We learned through the course of the discussion that, for most of these
doctoral candidates, their type of scholarship was largely responsible for their steadfast focus. They
were sent to the USA to study and bring back information on particular topics in special education.
As noted, some panelists stayed with their original plans, but made modifications based on their
exposure to new trends and issues in special education. For instance, one panelist was certain that
students with reading difficulties in her country suffered because diagnostic tools related to disability
diagnosis (e.g., learning disabilities) were desperately needed. She believed that accurate identification
tools were critical in order to design appropriate educational goals and intervention for these students.
Now, as a result of exposure to RtI, she is now determined to transfer to her country tools and
procedures that fit the multi-tiered model concept for intervening when students have chronic learning
difficulties. Another panelist expressed that her initial focus had been to bring teaching tools and
methods for preparing general music teachers back to her country. After she was exposed to the
inclusion of students with disabilities in music classes in the USA, she realized that a number of her
former students had had disabilities, and she did not have at that time the tools she needed to engage
them in her music classroom. Hence, she added teaching methods for music teachers to teach students
with disabilities to her professional plan.
Finally, some participants were more affected by new concepts and knowledge in the field of special
education, which led them to re-think their professional goals. Several of these panelists had profound
experiences while working with persons with disabilities that helped shape their changing professional
goals toward new conceptions of disability and disability services. One panelist, for example, acquired
new insights while directly working with people who were deaf in the USA, which changed the direction
of his studies. His original interest was in teaching practices for school-based instruction of students who
are deaf; then, while doing volunteer work as an interpreter, he discovered the disconnection between
individuals who are deaf and their families, related to language and communication needs. When
coupled with his background knowledge about the struggle of families who have deaf children back in
his home country, his exposure to these issues was eye opening for him, and he realized the need to
work with hearing families who have children who are deaf and need to be able to communicate with
their children.
The second and the third groups were similar in one respect. None of the members of these groups
were constrained by a scholarship agenda that prevented them from changing their professional plans.
Instead, the expectations of their home countries were more open, allowing them to modify and even
change direction in their initial professional goals. By having less directive scholarship programs, they
were able to more freely adopt new trends, issues, and educational practices that are part of special
education in the USA.
Regardless of their backgrounds and countries of origin, all of the panelists were acutely aware of, and
willing to be influenced by, the larger picture: The needs of individuals with disabilities are global, and
ideas such as transition, inclusion, and accountability-based assessment are important to consider in
relation to the conditions within their own countries. Differences in points of view that were connected
with their professional goals certainly emerged among the participants as they discussed the newer
trends in the USA. Nevertheless, the one clear commonality was that their past experiences working
with people with disabilities in the context of both their respective cultures and their personal thoughts
and values were critical factors in how they conceptualized what they needed to learn, how they
interpreted current trends in the USA, and in what they hoped to achieve when they returned home.
First Reactions to New Concepts
When people decide to live and learn in another country, they will definitely experience fundamental
differences in ideas, beliefs, and practices. As a consequence, these individuals will react to these new
concepts and phenomenon and may develop new perspectives that they did not have before. It is this
reality that was the purpose for exploring the panelists’ perceptions toward new trends, issues, and new
special education practices that they were learning about during their study in the USA. Four special
education concepts impacted the panelists’ perceptions and reactions, including inclusion, RtI,
transition, and self-determination.
Inclusion. A concept that came up repeatedly during the discussion was inclusion. When defined as full
participation in all aspects of society, all panelists saw it as an ultimate outcome, and they all saw their
roles in their own countries as promoting inclusive practices. However, their views of what needed to be
done to achieve inclusion were not necessarily those typically identified in education in the USA. For
example, one panelist explained that she planned to focus on building communication skills in
individuals with severe disabilities, thereby promoting their access to educational and other
opportunities in their home communities, when she returned to her home country.
Panelists often came to the USA with some background knowledge of inclusion, but they were most
familiar with the idea of including student with mild disabilities. Moreover, some panelists spoke of
“inclusion” for individuals with severe intellectual disabilities as placement in self-contained classrooms
in public schools where they could interact with their typically developing peers during nonacademic
activities such as recess and art classes. These conceptualizations of inclusion reveal that inclusion as a
special education practice is likely perceived and implemented differently in different countries. When
they learned as a result of their studies that inclusion could be academic integration for students with
severe disabilities, some reacted to this by questioning whether it was possible in their home countries;
others began to consider how inclusion could be extended to these students through practice reform in
their countries.
RtI. The second concept that was new knowledge for all of the panelists was RtI. The panelists had
similar understandings of the concept, defining it as a multi-tired system that has three levels of
intensity, and in which students who are at risk are placed to receive evidence-based interventions to
overcome their academic struggles. Based on the students’ responses to these interventions, a decision
can be made as to whether to refer them to special education services. All panelists shared this common
understanding of what RtI entails, because this is how it is presented to them in ongoing discussions in
their classes.
The RtI model fascinated all of the panelists, as it reflected a paradigm shift from how they had been
trained in the past: a student’s academic challenges were less about disability and more about teaching,
and failure to learn led to changing the instruction and not necessarily considering a diagnosis.
Moreover, several panelists stressed the accountability that is inherent to the RtI model, in which
teachers are responsible for their teaching and whether their practices promote all students’ academic
growth. One panelist went further, describing the use of RtI as an inclusive practice in which academic
instruction begins in general education classrooms for all individuals regardless of disability. Several
panelists expressed the view that the RtI model was something that they would like to take back and
implement in their home countries.
Secondary Transition. The third concept, secondary transition for students with disabilities, was also a
new trend for all of the panelists, and it specifically attracted the attention of two panelists. Secondary
transition services were understood by all of the panelists as services to prepare students with
disabilities for adulthood after high school and to help them pursue different paths such as employment,
college, and independent living.
The two panelists who were planning to take these ideas back to their home countries stated that, in
their previous work with students with disabilities, they were passionately concerned about their former
students’ futures and how they were going to survive as adults. As a result, they were fascinated by
secondary transition services as existing practices already implemented in many American schools,
offering the promise of a seamless transition from one setting to another and independent living in the
community. One of these panelists spoke specifically about how the transition concept influenced her
vision for the people with disabilities that she had worked with in her country, when she had worked in
a vocational rehabilitation center connected with a medical facility. She stated that her previous work
had addressed the unique needs of youth with disabilities through systematic programs and services to
prepare them for education, employment, and independent living. Hence, her knowledge of the need
for secondary transition was not new, but the idea of moving seamlessly from public schools into the
community through the use of transition tools opened her eyes to new ways to foster the quality of life
for individuals with disabilities.
Self-determination. The fourth concept, and one that elicited an especially powerful reaction among the
panelists, was self-determination. Self-determination was understood by the panelist to refer to skills,
knowledge, and beliefs that promote one’s ability to be independent, to set goals for oneself, to selfregulate, and to understand ones’ own strengths and limitations. The discussion about selfdetermination indicated that the concept was a completely new idea to all participants regardless of
their cultural backgrounds and educational repertories. One panelist expressed her surprise to learn that
special educators could address building the capacity of students to direct their own lives and to selfadvocate. She stated that curriculum in her country for individuals approaching adulthood was primarily
focused on building adaptive skills for assisted living, and that the notion of preparing students for selfdirection was not what she expected to learn about when she came to this country.
Other panelists echoed the foregoing, expressing difficulty even grasping the self-determination concept
as it is practiced and understood in the USA, and they all agreed that this was due to fundamental
cultural differences. Some countries do not consider individual independence as important, as it is not
emphasized at home nor is it embedded in the educational curriculum. The values expressed in these
countries were those of interdependence and the success of the group or family, and the individualism
that seemed expressed in the self-determination concept was not held to have the same value in these
cultures. Panel participants expressed that coming from “collectiveness cultures” created a challenge to
fully comprehending personal independence concepts. As a result, although there was a consensus
among the panelists in regard to the importance of building self-determination skills, they struggled to
relate to self-determination as an essential educational outcome for students with disabilities.
In a related discussion, one panelist expressed a strong reaction toward fostering self-independence of
individuals with disabilities, as is often seen in the United States, versus providing sympathy, compassion
and offering help to people in need in her home country. She described her struggle with what she
perceived to be a conflict between the cultural value of giving help to others and the self-independence
principle of letting a person with a disability do for themselves. She indicated that “kindness” in her
culture required being charitable and giving support to others, and she had difficulty assimilating the
value of allowing others to act without support, given the value of kindness. At the same time, she
noted that she was resolving this conflict as she continued her studies, now understanding how giving
freedom to others has value as well. Nevertheless, she also cautioned that this understanding does not
come easily for people in some Southeast Asian cultures.
Future Plans
All of the panel members had plans regarding what they intended to accomplish once they graduated
and returned home. Future plans included what panel members planned to transfer to their countries
and how they intended to achieve their desired outcomes. Their future plans incorporated their career
expectations, their professional areas of interest and focus, and what obstacles they anticipated could
hinder them from achieving their goals.
In the panel discussion about future plans, two concerns emerged as critically impacting the panelists’
future professional plans. Both of these concerns revolved around the lack of proper services for
individuals with disabilities in their home countries. The first concern was that some families who had
children with disabilities sought adequate services in foreign countries rather than at home. Although
the absence of services in their home countries was certainly a factor, feelings of shame and social
stigma associated with cultural perceptions of disability were the driving force for some families to send
their children with disabilities to live and receive services abroad. The second concern was how their
countries tended to import international professionals, rather than using local expertise, when there
was a need to evaluate special education programs or to provide workshops on innovative practices.
The aforementioned issues served as motivators for the panelists to enact their future plans. All of the
panelists desired to become knowledge experts for their own countries, provide disability rights
awareness, promote collaboration between different agencies and organizations already existing in their
countries, conduct research, develop curriculum and teaching strategies, and build trust with families
and supporting their needs. The responses of the participants in relation to how they would accomplish
their plans tended to fall into two themes: implementing new practices and conducting innovative
research. These are discussed in turn below.
First, with respect to the implementation of new practices, most of the panelists were consistent
regarding the importance of disseminating the knowledge that they had acquired during their PhD
training regarding evidence-based practices in special education. Regardless of whether they saw
themselves as future university professors or involved in direct services, they all agreed that changing
current practices in their respective countries required breaking things down into baby steps and
presenting things in ways that account for the cultural and systemic resistance they expected to face.
For example, one panelist stated that, in order to convince teachers at her school to implement new
practices from the USA, she will start with instructing teachers who are her close friends, and other
teachers can then observe the practical nature of her new knowledge through their implementation of
the ideas. Another panelist emphasized working with families and their children with severe disabilities
as a key toward spreading new knowledge.
Another panelist shared a unique perspective on how to lead others to using new practices in special
education. He stressed that linking theoretical practices with application in schools was essential, and
first it had to be done through dialogue. One should begin, he said, not with implementation but with
ongoing and open discussions with stakeholders. He noted that knowledge is often constrained by
limited perception; hence, listening and being collaborative rather than directing others was needed to
realize the common ground that first fosters meaningful conversations about, then eventually
implementation of, innovative ideas.
Second and finally, with respect to conducting innovative research, as PhD candidates, panelists saw
research as an essential part of their future careers. Most panelists said that they were from countries
that did not put an adequate emphasis on conducting research. This fact influenced how they reacted to
and planned for future research. Panelists stressed that positive change in their countries required that
they take some risks, such as conducting research on sensitive topics, such as sexual harassment with
adolescents with disabilities. One panelist shared her experience when she conducted a research study
regarding sexual abuse of individuals with disabilities in a culture that refuses to address this kind of
topic. Based on her experiences, she explained that she and other researchers would encounter cultural
resistance when concepts and practices interfered with the more conservative viewpoints of their
societies.
Panelists also asserted that some innovative practices do presently exist in the special education fields
of their respective countries. However, these practices exist without a research base in their home
countries, and their application tends to be constrained by competing opinions and practices of others
who do not share the same knowledge base. One panelist, for example, stated that there were many
educational practices available online to persons in her country regarding promoting sexual protection
for students with disabilities but that none of these practices were grounded in research studies
conducted in her home country. Hence, panelists agreed that what is critically needed in special
education is innovative research that comes from determined, courageous, and devoted researchers
working within the context of their own cultures.
Conclusion
When examining panelist responses regarding developing special education in their home countries,
taking into account the history of our field in the USA, it was apparent that all of the respective countries
were interested in developing services following paths that were similar to those in the USA. Throughout
the panel discussion, it was also evident that, regardless of cultural background, type of training, or the
presently existing educational system of a particular country, these professionals shared a common goal
of promoting the quality of life of individuals with disabilities. There was also evidence that participant
visions, unique experiences with different types of disabilities, and professional needs collectively
provided the rationale behind focusing on particular special education concepts and not others, and
provided the framework for planning a professional future that would benefit the citizens in their home
countries.
References
Phillips, D., & Schweisfurth, M. (2014). Comparative and international education: An introduction to
theory, method, and practice. London: A&C Black.
Richardson, J., & Powell, J. (2011). Comparing special education: Origins to contemporary paradoxes.
Redwood City: Stanford University Press.
Association News
2015 TASH Conference | Call For Proposals Open
TASH is now seeking proposal submissions for the 2015 TASH Conference, December 2-4, 2015 in
Portland, Oregon. This year’s conference theme, “Celebrating 40 Years of Progressive Leadership,”
acknowledges TASH’s 40 years of generating change within the disability community and anticipates a
brighter, more inclusive future for people with disabilities in all aspects of life.
The Call for Proposals (CFP) for the 2015 TASH Conference is open now through Tuesday, June 2nd
at 11:59 PM PT.
To submit a proposal, visit www.tash.org/2015-cfp/
TASH Visits Marlborough, Massachusetts!
On Tuesday, May 12th, TASH will visit Marlborough, MA for Inclusive School and Community
Engagement Across the Lifespan: An Ethical Imperative. Hosted by TASH New England, this full-day
conference will highlight evidence-based practices and why it's imperative for people with significant
disabilities to be included in their communities.
Inclusive School and Community Engagement | Across the Lifespan: An Ethical Imperative
May 12, 2015
Marlborough, MA
www.tash.org/newenglandconf
TASH Visits Greensboro, North Carolina!
Join TASH in Greensboro, North Carolina for Inclusive Education as a Results-Driven Imperative:
Preparing Students with Significant Disabilities for College and Careers.
This two-day regional conference, held May 15-16th on the beautiful UNC Greensboro campus, will
open attendee's eyes to the many reasons why students with disabilities are best served as full
members of their school communities and of regular education classrooms!
Inclusive Education as a Results-Driven Imperative: Preparing Students with Significant
Disabilities for College and Careers
May 15-16, 2015
Greensboro, NC
www.tash.org/northcarolinaconf
Scholarships Available for TASH Regional Conferences
Thanks to the support of the New England Chapter and the North Carolina Council on Developmental
Disabilities, TASH has a limited number of regional conference scholarships available. Conference
scholarships are only available to self-advocates and family members who reside in either New England
states or North Carolina. Preference is given to individuals who are unable to attend the regional
conferences without financial assistance.
For more information regarding scholarships, visit:
www.tash.org/newenglandconf
www.tash.org/northcarolinaconf
TASH Releases Connections Issue on SWIFT Center!
TASH is happy to announce the release of Connections Volume 40 Issue 2, All Means All:
Ending Segregation in Schools and Achieving Education Equity and Excellence for All. Guest
editor, Mary Schuh, offers readers the opportunity to learn about the research driving the
work of the SWIFT Center and about schools who are effectively implementing practices
that are improving outcomes for all students.
To access the latest issue of Connections, log-in to your member account and visit the
Connections tab on www.tash.org.
TASH Joins AmazonSmile
Donating just got easier! TASH has officially joined AmazonSmile, creating a simple and automatic way
for you to support TASH every time you shop on Amazon. At no cost to you, the AmazonSmile
Foundation donates 0.5% of eligible purchases to TASH. This is a quick and easy way to continue
supporting and promoting equity, opportunity, and inclusion for people with disabilities!
To get started, visit: www.tash.org/smile
Call for Papers | TASH 40th Anniversary Book
In celebration of TASH’s 40th Anniversary, a book will be published. The book will feature
celebratory memories and reflections written by various individuals associated with TASH and the
disabilities community (e.g., founders, researchers, federal representatives). The book will also
include brief stories and personal narratives from parents, self-advocates, and TASH members. If
you are interested in sharing a “TASH” memory with us (something funny, touching, or lifechanging)—for example, how TASH impacted your life or that of your child, a friend, or a student—
you are cordially invited to submit such a testimonial. Such reflections need to be brief and should
be from 1 to 2 paragraphs long.
As we anticipate that we will receive a large number of papers, we cannot guarantee that all papers
submitted will be accepted. All of us involved with TASH have had our lives affected in some way
by it and we hope you take advantage of this opportunity to share how it has affected your life.
TASH has achieved so much in the last 40 years and it’s time now to celebrate and recognize its
achievements. If you have any questions about this paper, please contact Martin Agran at
magran@uwyo.edu.
All papers must be submitted by March 1, 2015. Testimonials can be submitted online at:
www.tash.org/40thbook
#FlashBackFriday
Time to get social! If you currently follow TASH on Facebook and/or Twitter, you may have noticed
our ongoing #FlashBackFriday campaign. In celebration of #TASH40th Anniversary, we’ve created
an online campaign where individuals share photos of their experiences with TASH.
An internationally used hashtag, #FlashBackFriday, was created so that social media users could
share a personal story via photos and take their followers on a walk down memory lane. Using this
hashtag along with #TASH40th, WE can do the same for TASH followers!
Please post your photos with a short description and both hashtags on every Friday throughout
2015! Questions? Contact Bethany Alvare at balvare@tash.org
Thank You to Our Donors!
TASH relies on the generosity of our members to accomplish our work. Because of your support, we are
able to continue to work for equity, opportunity, and inclusion for people with significant disabilities.
We are grateful for the support we have received from the following people and organizations:














Ari Ne’emen
Arizona TASH
Barbara Trader
Dawn Brown
Denise Gould
Gail Fanjoy
George Singer
Heather Lytle
Joanne Singer
Leslie Kolkmeier
Mary Morningstar
Mathew McCollough
Natalie Holdren
Norah Carroll







Peggy Welker
Ralph W Edwards
Stacey Goodwin
The Minneapolis Foundation
United Way California Capital
Region
Vicky Davidson
If you would like to consider making a gift to TASH, contact Dawn Brown at 202-509-9596 or
at dbrown@tash.org.
Thank you, donors!
About TASH
TASH is an international leader in disability advocacy. Founded in 1975, TASH advocates for human
rights and inclusion for people with significant disabilities and support needs – those most vulnerable to
segregation, abuse, neglect and institutionalization.
TASH works to advance inclusive communities through advocacy, research, professional development,
policy, and information and resources for parents, families and self-advocates. The inclusive practices
TASH validates through research have been shown to improve outcomes for all people.
Policy Statement
It is TASH’s mission to eliminate physical and social obstacles that prevent equity, diversity and quality of
life for children and adults with disabilities. Items in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect attitudes
held by individual members of the Association as a whole. TASH reserves the right to exercise editorial
judgment in selection of materials. All contributors and advertisers are asked to abide by the TASH
policy on the use of people-first language that emphasizes the humanity of people with disabilities.
Terms such as “the mentally retarded,” “autistic children,” and “disabled individuals” refer to
characteristics of individuals, not to individuals themselves. Terms such as “people with mental
retardation,” “children with autism,” and “individuals who have disabilities” should be used. The
appearance of an advertisement for a product or service does not imply TASH endorsement. For a copy
of TASH’s publishing and advertising policy, please visit www.tash.org.
TASH Mission & Vision
As a leader in disability advocacy for more than 35 years, the mission of TASH is to promote the full
inclusion and participation of children and adults with significant disabilities in every aspect of their
community, and to eliminate the social injustices that diminish human rights. These things are
accomplished through collaboration among self-advocates, families, professionals, policy-makers,
advocates and many others who seek to promote equity, opportunity and inclusion. Together, this
mission is realized through:

Advocacy for equity, opportunities, social justice and human rights




Education of the public, government officials, community leaders and service providers
Research that translates excellence to practice
Individualized, quality supports in place of congregate and segregated settings and services
Legislation, litigation and public policy consistent with the
The focus of TASH is supporting those people with significant disabilities and support needs who are
most at risk for being excluded from society; perceived by traditional service systems as most
challenging; most likely to have their rights abridged; most likely to be at risk for living, working, playing
and learning in segregated environments; least likely to have the tools and opportunities necessary to
advocate on their behalf; and are most likely to need ongoing, individualized supports to participate in
inclusive communities and enjoy a quality of life similar to that available to all people.
TASH has a vision of a world in which people with disabilities are included and fully participating
members of their communities, with no obstacles preventing equity, diversity and quality of life. TASH
envisions communities in which no one is segregated and everyone belongs. This vision will be realized
when:










All individuals have a home, recreation, learning and employment opportunities
All children and youth are fully included in their neighborhood schools
There are no institutions
Higher education is accessible for all
Policy makers and administrators understand the struggles of people with disabilities and plan –
through laws, policies and regulations – for their active participation in all aspects of life
All individuals have a way to communicate and theircommunities are flexible in communicating
in alternate waysthat support full participation
Injustices and inequities in private and public sectors are eradicated
Practices for teaching, supporting and providing services topeople with disabilities are based on
current, evidence-based strategies that promote high quality and full participation in all aspects
of life
All individuals with disabilities enjoy individualized supports and a quality of life similar to that
available to all people
All individuals with disabilities have the tools and opportunities to advocate on their behalf