Audiobooks: Improving Access to and Use of Learning and Teaching Materials for the Print-Disabled

Equal access to books and other educational materials presents equal opportunities for all to acquire education, develop skills, and realise their full potential. Drawing on data gathered through focus group discussions and interviews, our study discusses access and use of books in braille by the print-disabled in special schools/education in Ghana. The study found the supply and access to books in braille by students and teachers inadequate to support teaching and learning, mainly due to the challenges with production. Given the poor access teachers and students have to publications in braille, we argue that audiobooks be adopted as a supplementary reading format for the print-disabled in Ghana so they can have access to equal educational opportunities as their non-disabled colleagues.

PENINGKATAN KETERAMPILAN BERHITUNG SISWA MELALUI PENERAPAN MEDIA BRAILLE BAPER DI SLB CURUP

Getting proper education is the right of every citizen, both normal students and students with special needs (disabilities). In this case, the tools and learning media needed are very important to support teaching and learning activities. However, there are more learning tools and media available for normal students than students with special needs. The results of the observations that the author saw in SLB Rejang Lebong were still lacking in learning tools in special schools, especially learning tools for counting, especially blind children. Thus encouraging the author to be able to create a learning aid, especially in numeracy skills for children with disabilities, especially blind children in SLB Rejang Lebong Bengkulu. Starting from the problem above, the writer tries to deal with this problem by creating learning media, especially for blind children, namely "Braile Baper" which is simultaneously used as a research on the principle of usefulness of the tool in SLB Rejang Lebong which is a tool used. to practice multiplication counting skills in a simple and fast and not boring way so that it is expected to be useful to help improve understanding of blind children in learning media for numeracy skills in mathematics, especially in arithmetic operations material. The results of the application of the Braille Baper learning media that the student activities observed during the learning process were good, seen in the student activity observation sheets as well as interviews with students applying the Braille Baper learning media were responded positively and effectively applied in learning, especially for blind children.

Disability Awareness in Teacher Education in Singapore

As the sole teacher education body in Singapore, the National Institute of Education (NIE), plays a pivotal role in equipping Singaporean teachers with the knowledge and skills to work with and support students with disabilities for both mainstream and special schools through its teacher education programs. In addition to the learning of strategies and skills to work with students with disabilities, it is also imperative for teacher education to promote positive attitudinal change among teachers towards persons with disabilities. This chapter describes the disability-awareness approach adopted by the NIE for its preservice teachers and the rationale behind adopting such an approach to foster inclusive attitudes that is grounded within relevant literature and situates disability within Singapore's socio-historical context.

Stress and coping strategies in parents of children with special needs (SN)

Objectives: To identify the stress level and commonly used coping strategies of parents of children with SN (SN)Methodology: The sample for the study was 150 parents of children with SN selected from three different special schools of Lahore, by using convenient sampling technique from January 2019 to April 2019. The parents were required to fill Perceived Stress Scale and Coping Strategies Inventory.Results: The results revealed that 20.6% parents face high level of stress when managing their children with SN. While, problem-solving (14.66), cognitive restructuring (14.64) and social contact (14.38) were more frequently used coping strategies. Correlation analysis showed a significant negative correlation of stress with cognitive restructuring (r=-.26, p<0.01), problem focused engagement (r=-.237, p<.05) and positive correlation with self-criticism (r=.455, p<.001), social withdrawal (r= .27, p=<.01), and emotion focused disengagements (r=-.431, p<.001). Further, high level of stress was positively associated with high level of disengagement.Conclusion: The currents study concludes that parents use more positive and practical coping strategies to cope with stress induced by taking care of children with SN. Therefore, there is great need of introducing management mechanisms and intervention programs based on these coping strategies Continuous...