PROS Suzana Maria L.A.F.,Christiana Sidupa Teaching English To Special full text

TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPECIAL-NEEDS CHILDREN
Suzana Maria L.A.F., M. Hum.
Christiana Sidupa, M. Hum.
Abstract
Times have changed. Parents of children with special needs have realized that their
children have the same opportunities as other children. Children with special needs generally

benefit most from a highly structured environment and treatment. Tender care, patience and
continuous, correct therapies are very important for the proper development of special-needs
children. Their homes, which are their most immediate environment, must be organized in
such a way as not to "marginalize" them. A good and affordable inclusive school prepared to
help children with special needs, as a matter of fact, is hard to find since it does not have
adequate human resources, particularly teachers. We, therefore, consider that this study is
significance since it allows an access to our knowledge about teaching special-needs children.
The research question that we seek the answer is “What is the essential meaning of
teaching English to special-needs children?”. It can be answered through observations, in-

depth interviews, documents and interpretation of the result of text data. These texts are
analyzed using a qualitative progressive model. Moreover, since this is phenomenological
and hermeneutical study, the result will be the description and interpretation of teacher‟s
experience in teaching special-needs children. Our study takes place in SD Tumbuh,

Yogyakarta and involves three special education teachers as the participants.
The expected result is the description and interpretation of the participants‟ narrative.
Actually, the description of the life world of teaching English to special-needs children is
ultimately interpretation. There are two benefits of the study. First, for the scientific benefits,
it will help show the essential meaning of the life world of teaching English to special-needs
children as lived-experienced by the participants. For practical benefits, especially for the
teacher participants, us as the researchers, and audience in general, the study will improve our
understanding on effective English teaching of special-needs children.

Keywords: children with special needs, marginalize, inclusive

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INTRODUCTION

As teachers, we help our students understand engineering concepts and go beyond
the knowledge level to higher levels of thinking. We help them to apply, analyze, and
synthesize, to create new knowledge, and solve new problems. So, too, as teachers, we need

to recognize our challenge to go beyond knowledge about effective teaching. Then, the
quality of teaching and the relationship between teachers and students, as we know, is critical
in ensuring the effectiveness of the learning experience. Therefore, we should put them at the
centre of learning and teaching. Where effective learning and teaching is taking place this
will have a positive impact on raising their attainment and achievement.
In Indonesia, students with behavior differences are still among the most neglected
and undeserved population in our educational system. At both the national and local levels,
we are presented with chilling data that verify what many educators have suspected for some
time. In the Jakarta Post dated 28 March, 2009, Dursin as the Primary Years program
coordinator and English curriculum head of BINUS SCHOOL Simprug in Jakarta states that
children with special needs are not yet totally accepted by the society as they are considered
defective. It is proven by the fact that there is still a school that rejects a registration of a child
with ADHD.
More recently, however, there has been an increasing trend to include these students
in general classrooms along with their developing peers. Here, inclusion, as stated by
Loreman and Deppeler (2001), means full inclusion of children with diverse abilities in all
aspects of schooling that other children are able to access and enjoy. It involves regular
schools and classrooms genuinely adapting and changing to meet the needs of all children, as
well as celebrating and valuing differences. This definition of inclusion does not imply that
children with diverse abilities will not receive specialized assistance or teaching outside of

the classroom when required, but rather that this is just one of many options that are available
to, and in fact required of, all children.
In fact, the National Education Minister regulation (Permendiknas No.70/2009) states
that inclusive education is an educational system that provides opportunities for special needs
and talented students to pursue education at mainstream schools along with other neurotypical or "normal" students. Based on the regulation, inclusive education aims to give as
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many possible opportunities to students with physical, mental and social disabilities as well
as talented students to receive quality education that is suitable to their needs. This definition
on inclusive education is in line with the 2003 National Education System Law. Article 4 of
the law stipulates that education programs must be held based on the principle of democracy,
justice and non-discrimination while upholding human rights, religion, culture and pluralism.
Article 12 states that all students deserve education that is suited to their talents, interests and
abilities.
It is believed that the fundamental right to education will bring more pupils with
special educational needs (SEN) into ordinary schools, and that this will provide the impetus
for change. Inclusion, thus, is all about providing effective learning opportunities to all

students. Intermediate school students with special needs in full inclusion settings are found
to have more frequent interactions with their peers, to provide and receive higher proportions
of social support (Kennedy, Shukla, & Fryxell, 1997).
The purpose of this study is to explore the essential meaning of the lived experiences
of special education teachers in teaching English to special-needs children (SNC) in inclusive
school. More specifically, the objective of this study is to describe the lived experiences of
special education teachers in teaching English to SNC and interpret it. By doing so, the
essential themes of the meaning of the lived experiences of the special education teachers of
teaching English to SNC will be obtained.
These description and interpretation of lived experiences will certainly contribute
practical and scientific benefits. The study provides scientific benefits for professional parties
who are concerned with English education. It helps show the essential meaning of the life
world of assisting SNC as lived experience by the participants. For them, the information can
generally increase understanding of English teaching to children with special needs in
inclusive school. This understanding is also valuable, especially for the government in

producing more appropriate education policies or giving a follow up toward the previous
policies in order to improve the quality of English education in the country. The information
in this research is also valuable for further research related to the English teaching in
educational inclusion for children with special needs. In other words, the result of this study

will give contribution to the improvement of English language studies, particularly in
Indonesian context.
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For practical benefits, it will improve the understanding on the English teaching,
particularly to SNC, for the participants, the researcher and audience. After joining the
research, it is expected that the participants as the educators will become the judge of their
own performance. In other words, Senior (2006) calls such educators as reflective
practitioners. Being reflective practitioners, it is hoped that they will commit to their work.
They will perform more efficiently and productively. The participants‟ joining the research is
also hoped to be meaningful experiences to them. It is hoped that the participants will become
more autonomous in making decisions toward effective teaching learning activities as main
duties. Through autonomy, the special educators will be able to do self-actualization in the
profession so that finally they can make more sustainable improvement in teaching. As a
result, it is hoped that the students will learn better.
To achieve it, we need a teacher. A teacher, in the broadest sense, is a person that has
left a mark in people‟s lives. He has been an example for them as they journey through the
stages of life from the moment they first opened their eyes to witness the world around them

until very last breath in their golden days. A teacher can be anyone who gives people
knowledge, experience and good advices.
In a narrow sense, a teacher is usually defined as the one whose job is to teach in a
school or college. Mohr (2007) states that teachers are “subjective insiders involved in
classroom instruction as they go about their daily routines of instructing students, grading
papers, taking attendance, evaluating their performance as well as looking at the curriculum.”
Tudor (1993) as quoted by Jeremy Harmer (2001:56) points out that the teacher is no longer
the giver of knowledge, the controller, and the authority, but rather a facilitator and a resource
for the students to draw on. According to the Law of the National Education System number
20, 2003, a teacher is included as an educator, whose duties are planning and implementing
teaching learning process, assessing or evaluating outcomes, and conducting guidance and

trainings.
The most current definition is probably the use of the term „teacher-researcher’. This
term is directed to the ideal profile of a teacher. Mohr (2007) explains that when teachers
become teacher-researcher, the “traditional descriptions” of both teachers and researchers
change. Teacher-researchers raise questions about what they think and observe about their
teaching and their students‟ learning. They collect student work in order to evaluate
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performance, but they also see student work as data to analyze in order to examine the
teaching and learning that they do in the classroom. Being teacher-researchers, they always
learn themselves from what they have been doing. They become autonomous learners of
teaching. They always do reflection on their teaching experiences. In short, they can be called
as reflective teachers. As reflective teachers, they are always ready to change their methods
or techniques of teaching for the sake of the students‟ learning in order to achieve the goal.
For us, teachers are professionals who take active role in modifying standard lessons
and creating own lessons to better meet students‟ needs and accomplish instructional goals.
Confidence in what they can do for their students who have different backgrounds, ability
levels, and needs, furthermore, is required. Therefore, as the teachers gain experience, they
will eventually be able to make decisions about routine situations and problems quickly and
efficiently giving them the time and energy to think creatively and flexibly about how best to
teach their students.
In inclusive setting, there should be special education teachers who assist the general
education teachers. Slavin (2009:397) uses the term „special educator‟ that refers to the expert
on the characteristics of a particular group of students with disabilities, the learning and
behavioral strengths and deficits of the mainstreamed student, and instructional techniques
for a particular kind of disability. Santrock (2007:24) employs another term that is „teacher of

exceptional children‟. Here, a teacher of exceptional children spends concentrated time with
individual children with individual children who have a disability or are gifted. Among the
children a teacher of exceptional children might work with children with learning disabilities,
ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), mental retardation, or a physical disability
such as cerebral palsy. Some of this work will usually be done outside of the student‟s regular
classroom, some of it will be carried out when the student is in the regular classroom. The
teacher of exceptional children works closely with the student‟s regular classroom teacher

and parents to create the best educational program for the students.
Shepherd (2010:209) identifies special education teachers to refer those who teach
students with emotional and behavior disorders. They often collaborate with, and provide
consultation to, general education teachers. Special education teachers provide support, assist
in problem-solving, provide information, and prescribe strategies to help general education
teachers meet the needs of students with disabilities in the general education setting. The
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special education teachers usually meet the classroom teachers to keep track of student
progress and to provide assistance.

In our opinion, for teaching children with severe or mild cognitive, emotional, or
physical differences, a special teacher or educator is a professional who uses or modifies the
general education instruction to meet the child‟s individual needs. As schools become more
inclusive, special teachers and general education teachers can increasingly work together in
general education classrooms. Special teachers here help general educators adapt curriculum
materials and teaching techniques to meet the needs of students. Therefore, special educators
consult, collaborate, and co-teach with general education teachers and other service
providers.
For English definition, Mercer and Swann (1996) define it as a medium for education
in school, a setting which can have a powerful influence on intellectual, social and linguistic
development of older children. English is the medium of instruction, an important part of a
teacher‟s job is to help pupils learn and understand the specialized English of curriculum
subjects. Here, education refers only to those types of actions and interactions intentionally
(though not always deliberately or consciously) engaged in by an adult and a child, directed
toward the child‟s positive being and becoming (Van Manen, 1991:18 as quoted by Kohonen
et. al, 2001).
Moreover, in its development, according to Harmer (2007), English was already well
on its way to becoming a genuine „lingua franca‟, that is a language used widely for
communication between people who do not share the same first (or even second) language,
than as a native language the majority of competent English speakers are not native speakers

but second-language users. As a result, a consensus has emerged that instead of inner, outer
and expanding circle Englishes, we need to recognize „World Englishes‟ (Jenkins, 2006a:
159) or „Global English‟ (Graddol, 2006:106). World English belongs to everyone who

speaks it. Thus, nobody monopolizes English any more, in other words „native‟ and „nonnative‟ speakers own it together in a kind of international shareholders‟ democracy since
whatever English we speak, Indian English, British English or Malaysian English, we have,
or should have, equal rights as English users (Rajagopalan, 2004:113).
For English in Indonesia, Herrini (2007:40) mentions that English is the officially
designated primary foreign language of Indonesia and is widely taught throughout the
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country. It is mentioned furthermore that a working knowledge of English is required for
university-level study in many disciplines, for Indonesian government employees in certain
offices and programs, and for employees in commerce, banking and tourism industries.
To summarize, since English has become the lingua franca through globalization
where English is now the dominant or official language in over sixty countries, Indonesia as a
part of expanding circle countries is adjusting to the world trend of keeping pace with
technological, economic and social advances. The goals of English as subject/language

course are for academic or occupational use and for communicative resource. Then, in
English education, it is aimed to the acquisition to apply the language itself. Because of its
worldwide function, English Education in Indonesia becomes one required subject starting
from elementary level.
Children or young learners, according to Bailey (2008:381) in Europe, are often
applied to students in only the very earliest school years (ages 5-7) or before. In the USA,
where the introduction of foreign language teaching often does not take place until the
secondary grades, the notion of a „young learner‟ can continue through the entire preschool
and elementary years (ages 3-11). Obviously for second language learner, the onset of a
second language can start school years for those who emigrate as school-age language
learners.
McKay (2006:1) defines young language learner as those who are learning a foreign
or second language and who are doing so during the first six or seven years of formal
schooling. In the education systems of most countries, young learners are children who are in
primary or elementary school. In terms of age, young learners are between the ages of
approximately five and twelve. Many young language learners can be called bilingual.
Bilingual learners are those learners who learn two (or more) languages to some level of
proficiency (Bialystok, 2001:5).

In addition, McKay (2006:5) suggests special characteristics of young language
learners that make them different from older learners in three (3) broad areas, and these will
be discussed in relation to assessment. First difference is related to growth factors which
includes cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical issues. Growth factors are especially
important, because children are developing, day by day. Children differ greatly in their
individual rates of development, as well as their general development at particular ages
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within particular skill areas. A test that focused only on a child‟s linguistic development and
not social development might cause undue alarm for a teacher or parents.
Cognitive issues at young ages include shorter attention spans, understanding the
connection between a cause and its effect, understanding how parts can relate to a whole,
organizing information in their minds for short-term and long-term memory recall. With a
shorter attention span, a testing environment which required a child to pay close attention for
more than 15 or 20 minutes would elicit boredom or fatigue. Children tend to learn best
through direct experience, where they can see and relate an object within its environment.
Hypothesizing about some situation, imagining possible effects, requires an ability to abstract
that is developmentally unavailable at younger ages. This becomes almost impossible when
the imagined object is beyond the child‟s range of experience (ie. answering questions on a
story involving playing outside in winter, when the child has never seen snow). Using a metalanguage (ie grammatical terms) to identify parts of a sentence, (a test item often employed
for vocabulary or grammar tests in middle school), would not be appropriate for young
language learners (YLLs).
Socio-emotional issues arise due to the fact that the child is still learning how cope
with increasing detachment from the family unit (for example, the mother as primary caregiver), and how to relate to others who are not family, or even not familiar. This can create
some anxiety and dependency in children. In a testing situation that involved cooperating
with other children, the degree of familiarity with the social setting would need to be
considered, and the child‟s needs for recognition and secure affirmation attended to. As well,
the child would probably be very sensitive to negative feedback. Montessori (1912) has
talked about the fact that children generally experience failure for the first time in the
classroom.
With physical issues, developmental variation is quite common. Children‟s bodies are

still growing, and they are still developing both fine and large motor skills. Tests that require
students to write their answers or draw pictures might be simply measuring fine motor skills
rather than underlying linguistic abilities. Brain researchers have found that physical
movement is correlated with neuronal connections (Center on the Developing Child at
Harvard University, 2007). Allowing a student some opportunities for movement while
testing, rather than sitting still, would be a more natural accommodation.
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Second vital dimension of difference for young learners, compared with most older
learners, is that they are learning literacy skills and understanding at the same time as they are
learning their target language. Of course, literacy experiences vary greatly from child to
child. Some children enter the class having been read to often by the parents, where other
children may not yet have developed the association from sound to symbol (Dyson and
Genishi, 1993:127). In an increasingly audio-visual wired world, the TV can play a large role
in determining and limiting exposure to written materials (Puckett and Black, 2002:481).
First language children have the advantage of more or less developed oracy. When
approaching a second language, however, developing L2 oracy parallels L2 literacy. Yet, at
the same time, the assessment tradition often relies heavily on a written format as noted by
Maley (Ioannou-Georgio and Pavlou, 2003:iii). Children from an EFL environment have the
added difficulty of using language that has no connection to their worlds of experience.
The last difference is that young learners have a particular vulnerability that requires
careful attention. It is only when learning an unfamiliar topic in the school setting that
children first become vulnerable to a sense of their own inadequacy (i.e. EFL). An extended
quote from Montessori (1912:237) can help illustrate the point:
A widespread prejudice [is]… the belief that the child left to
himself gives absolute repose to his mind. If this were so he would
remain a stranger to the world, and, instead, we see him, little by
little, spontaneously conquer various ideas and words. He is a
traveler through life, who observes the new things among which he
journeys, and who tries to understand the unknown tongues spoken
by those around him. Indeed, he makes a great and voluntary effort
to understand and to imitate.
From these exchanges, the child develops a sense of worth and value, which is

affirmed constantly in the home setting, and this quality of family interactions and
communication patterns has profound downstream effects upon later achievement in the
school setting (Amatea, Smith-Adcock, and Villares, 2006). In the classroom setting,
suddenly the child may be thrust into an experience of receiving negative feedback (for the
first time) from her new primary caregiver (for the first time). This makes the child especially
vulnerable to testing situations which provide feedback and achievement scores, and may
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slant a teacher‟s perspective toward that child‟s achievement and progress. This kind of
testing can become important way stations for making crucial administrative and pedagogical
decisions for later schooling, even though standardized tests for young children can often be
hampered by validity and reliability problems (such as in the USA, as described by Goodwin
and Goodwin, 1993:456). They found, for example, that many content areas that should be
measured in young children (for example, motivational competence) are ignored; what
measures are used often don‟t correspond to actual performance (for example, language
readiness); and finally, the end-users of such testing are not trained or competent in their
interpretation or application. A very important point they raise is the issue of what children
should be tested for: what they can do, rather than what they cannot, and this fits in well for
language education to be stress-free and to engender positive attitudes and a sense of success.
As stated by Cameron (2001), children are often more enthusiastic and lively as
learners. They want to please their teachers rather than their peer group. In teaching English
to children, knowledge about children‟s learning is seen as central to effective teaching.
Learner-centered teaching places the child at the centre of teacher thinking and curriculum
planning. Children actively try to „make sense‟, i.e. to find and construct a meaning and
purpose for what adults say to them and ask them to do. They can only make sense in terms
of their world knowledge. Teacher, thus, need to examine classroom activities from the
child‟s point of view in order to assess whether pupils will understand what to do or will be
able to make sense of new language.
Van Geert (1995) as quoted by Cameron (2001:21) reveals that classroom tasks and
activities are seen as „environment‟ or „ecosystem‟ in which the growth of skills in the
foreign language takes place. Analyzing the environment created by an activity in terms of
demand on learners and support for learning .One way in which the construct „task‟ entered
language teaching is through work with adults, who needed to use the second language

outside the classroom (Breen, 1984; Nunan, 1989, 1993 as quoted by Cameron, 2001:29).
However, many children do not use the foreign language much outside the classroom.
Cameron, therefore, clarifies that the best thing the teachers can do is aim for dynamic
congruence. Here, the teachers choose activities and content that are appropriate for the
children‟s age and socio-cultural experience, and language that will grow with children, in
that, although some vocabulary will no longer be needed, most of the language will provide a
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useful base for more grown-up purpose. Cameron (2001), furthermore, proposes classroom
tasks for children learning a foreign language.
For summary, instead of children development, there are also characteristics of young
learners that should be considered as well. Growth, literacy skills, and vulnerability factors
are covered here that make them different from older learners. They are developing literacy
knowledge, skills, and understandings that may or may not be transferred from their first
language. Young children take some time to develop in this way and most are still doing so as
they begin to learn the new language at school.
In one sense, every child is special. Some children are energetic, distractible, or
impulsive. Others are quiet and withdrawn. Some are funny, while others are serious. Some
have language skills, and some do not. Some have cognitive, sensory, physical or mobility
limitations. Some have fears and anxieties, while others have no fears whatsoever. Some
children have special needs, while others have special talents. Each child has own individual
personality and set of personal characteristics that will influence all aspects of life.
In fact, every school has children with special needs who can do well in school when
they are given the support they need to learn. Children with autism or attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are some examples categorized as special-needs children.
Special needs term is not a legally defined term. It is generally used to refer to the needs
which may be experienced by pupils from particular social groups whose circumstances or
background are different from most of the school population (Frederickson and Cline,
2002:34). Slavin (2009:365) uses the term „learners with exceptionalities‟ used to describe
any individuals whose physical, mental, or behavioral performance is so different from the
norm, either higher or lower, that additional services are needed to meet the individual‟s
needs. Sadker & Sadker (1997:105) mention that typically exceptional learners are
categorized as students with mental retardation, students with learning disabilities, students

with emotional disturbance or behavior disorders, students with health and physical
impairments, students with severe and multiple disabilities, and also gifted and talented
students.
To sum up, we all know that each child is unique who brings different strengths and
weaknesses to the classrooms. No two children are exactly alike in their ways of learning and
behaving, in their activities and preferences, in their skills and motivation. Eventually some
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students are different from other normal students who have mental retardation, emotional or
behavioral differences, or learning problems that make it difficult for them to learn.
One of them is mental retardation. Mental retardation (MR) is a genetic disorder
mainfested in significantly below average overall intellectual functioning and deficits in
adaptive behaviour. Bregman (1991) as quoted by Armatas (2009:114) points out that mental
retardation is a particular state of functioning that begins in childhood and is characterized by
decreased intelligence and adaptive skills and also is the most common developmental
disorder. MR retardation in young children is often missed by clinicians.
Next, Armatas (2009:114) mentions that an accurate and consistent definition of
mental retardation is critical because of its impact on the prevalence, or count, of those with
MR. However, despite the importance of consistency, MR is not always defined in the same
way across research studies or service agencies, even within the same state (Koller et al.,
1984; Borthwick-Duffy, 1994). While some definitions rely on IQ scores alone to classify
individuals with MR, some only use adaptive behaviours for classification, and others include
both IQ scores and measures of adaptive skills (Whitman et al., 1990; Borthwick-Duffy,
1994).
To sum up, mental retardation is a genetic disorder mainfested in significantly below
average overall intellectual functioning and deficits in adaptive behaviour. A number of
environmental, genetic or multiple factors can cause mental retardation. In at least 30 to 50
percent of cases, physicians are unable to determine etiology despite thorough evaluation.
Another category of SNC is students with physical impairments. One of physical
impairment is hearing impaired (HI). Davis and Florian (2004) explain that hearing
impairment is a broad term that encompasses varying degrees of hearing loss from hard-ofhearing to total deafness. Due to the fact that so much of learning is acquired aurally, many
students may have experiential as well as language deficiencies. To communicate, they use

sign language. However, these are not the only types of communication available to deaf
students. They can also use sign and oral language interpreters. These are professionals who
assist deaf students understand communication. They also assist hearing persons with
understanding messages communicated by hearing impaired student. Interpreters also voice
when requested what the student says, as well as interpret all information in a given situation
including teacher‟s comments, class discussion, and environmental sounds.
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To enhance the learning experience of students with HI, the teacher should make
certain to have their attention when speaking to them. A light touch of the shoulder, a wave,
or other visual signal may help. Then, because visual information is a deaf student‟s primary
means of receiving information, films, overheads, diagrams, and other visual aids are useful
instructional tools. Besides that, strategies emphasizing the importance of providing
opportunity for developing skills of social interaction and access to the child‟s local
environment are needed.
In teaching students with special needs, Rosenberg et al. (2004:359) utters that
sometimes overlooked in the zeal to develop and implement successful management
programs for students engaging in high rates of inappropriate behaviors is the need to provide
effective instruction in the many content areas of the academic curriculum. It is easy to
understand why this happens. First, these students‟ behavior problems tend to be more
pronounced than their academic deficiencies. Second, most teachers at the beginning of their
careers are apprehensive about classroom management. For example, in a review of studies
concerned with the perceived problems of beginning elementary and secondary teachers,
Veenman (1984) as quoted by Rosenberg et al. (2004:360) finds that classroom discipline and
student motivation are by far the most serious of perceived problems. Instructional concerns
such as lesson planning and effective use of different teaching methods do not even enter the
list of top ten concerns.
Actually the ability to effectively organize an instructional environment before
teaching gives teachers of students with special needs confidence, security, and direction
(Rosenberg et al., 2004:362). Here, efficient use of instructional time is especially critical for
teachers of students with special needs if these students‟ opportunities to learn are to be
maximized. In order to do this, the teachers should allocate more time to academic activities.
Next thing that can be done is that teachers can structure their classroom routine so that

attendance and punctuality are expected, valued, and rewarded on a regular basis. Besides
that, teachers should teach more and test less, increase the number of opportunities to respond
during demonstrations, use signals to prompt attention and responses, and teach with
animation and enthusiasm. And the last is to minimize classroom interruption by planning
specific times for non-instructional interruptions.

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After that, group size consideration is also required in organizing for successful
instruction. Although some data suggest that teacher-led group instruction may be more
effective and efficient instructional arrangement for students with mild disabilities, smallgroup instruction is recommended to provide students with increased chance for incidental or
observational learning and appropriate peer interaction (quoted by Rosenberg, 2004:366 from
Polloway et al., 1986). For students with behavior problems, small-group instruction allows
for the teaching and practicing of appropriate classroom behaviors, such as turn taking and
listening to others.
Subsequently, climate setting plays a significant role in the organization of the
instruction. The term „climate‟ refers to the tone, character, or ambiance of an environment.
A comfortable classroom environment will lead to higher student motivation and
achievement. To build such an environment, the teachers should plan for and secure for
student cooperation. Then, to build students‟ self-esteem and increasing academic
performance, the teachers should have well-planned and well-organized teaching. Selecting
instructional objectives and giving clear instructions for task completion are included here.
The teachers should communicate academic expectations from their students as well.
Generally, teacher behaviors that are associated with effective teaching for students
with disabilities in the general education classroom are essentially the same as those that
improve achievement for all students (Slavin, 2009:393). Nevertheless, some adaptations in
instructional strategies will help teachers to better meet the needs of students. When students
have difficulty with instruction or materials in learning situations, the recommendation is
frequently to adapt or modify the instruction or the materials.
In some instances, students might require an adaptation in the content being
presented, such as so much new information is presented that the student cannot process it
quickly or when the student lacks a prerequisite skill or concept necessary to complete a task.

One way to adapt the amount of content being presented is to isolate each concept and require
mastery of each concept as a separate unit before teaching the next concept.
Some students require adaptations in either the way in which they receive information
or the way in which they demonstrate their knowledge of specific information. Many students
cannot learn information when their only means of getting it is through reading but can learn

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if the information is made available in other forms. Being creative is necessary, indeed. The
teachers might have students watch a demonstration, play, computer program, and so on.
The following table identifies some specific learning difficulties and suggests a
number of possible classroom strategies, adapted from a variety of sources in the literature.

Classroom Strategies for Learning Difficulty
(Education Ministry, 2000:71)

Learning Difficulty

Classroom Strategies

Academic difficulties
1. usually has average to above-average 1. Do not assume that the student has
intelligence
2. has good recall of factual information

understood simply because she or he can restate the information

3. has areas of difficulty in problem 2. Be as concrete as possible in presenting new

solving, comprehension, and abstract

concepts and abstract material
3. Use activity-based learning where possible

concepts

4. often be strong in work recognition and 4. Use graphic organizers such as semantic
may learn to read very early, but has
difficulty with comprehension
5. may do well at math facts, but not
problem solving

maps, webs
5. Break tasks down into smaller steps or
present in another way
6. Provide direct instruction as well as
modelling
7. Show examples of what is required

8. Use outlines to help student take notes and
organize and categorize information
9. Avoid verbal overload
10. Capitalize on strengths (e.g., memory)
11. Do not assume that student has understood
what he or she has read—check for
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comprehension, supplement instruction, and
use visual supports
Sensory sensitivities
1. has most common sensitivities (sound 1. Be aware that normal levels of auditory and
and touch), but may also include taste,

visual input can be perceived by the student

light intensity, colours, and aromas

as too much or too little

2. has sensitivities to types of noise that 2. Keep the level of stimulation within the
may be perceived as extremely intense:

student‟s ability to cope

a. sudden, unexpected noises such as a 3. Avoid sounds that are distressing, when
telephone ringing, or fire alarm

possible

b. high-pitched continuous noise
c.

confusing,

complex,

or

4. Use music to camouflage certain sounds
multiple 5. Minimize background noise

sounds, such as in shopping centres

6. Use ear plugs if noise or reaction is very
extreme
7. Teach and model relaxation strategies and
use of diversions to reduce anxiety

8. Provide opportunities and space for quiet
time
9. Arrange for independent work space that is
free of sensory stimuli that bother the
student

Slavin (1990:396), after that, adds that providing the students with special needs with
assistance from nondisabled classmates, using either a buddy system for non-instructional
needs or peer tutoring to help with learning problems can help meet the needs of special

children. A student who volunteers to be a special-need student‟s buddy can help the student
cope with the routine tasks of classroom life. Teachers who use peers to tutor in their
classroom should ensure that these tutors are carefully trained. This means that the peer tutor
must be taught how to provide assistance by modeling and explaining, how to give specific
positive and corrective feedback, and when to allow the students to work alone.

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We can sum up, therefore, that generally, it is necessary to accommodate students‟
unique needs within the context of general classroom practices and activities, especially
students with special needs. They require specially adapted instructional materials or
practices in general education classroom, a practice called inclusion. The practice of
integrating all students with special needs into the overall community and “life” of
neighborhood school embodies the spirit of the inclusion movement.

THE STUDY
Participants surely become sources of the text. In this study, there were three
participants who shared their stories. The first participant was Mrs. Heny who helps SNC in
first grade. Next, Mr. Eko was in second grade and the last is Mr. Totok in third grade. They
were all special education teachers who deal with special-need children in English class of
SD Tumbuh, Yogyakarta. The number of participants was restricted in order to go deeper in
searching the meaning of lived experience of teaching the special-needs children. These
participants were hoped to provide complete and various data needed in the research.
Specifically, the research was conducted in SD Tumbuh at Jalan A.M. Sangaji No. 48,
Yogyakarta. It is in elementary school that applies National Curriculum developed based on
the children‟s needs. The development itself covers material, methods, approaches and
competency. Special-needs children will be accepted if they are willing to follow the school
procedures. The school cannot accept the SNC supposing they are not capable to fulfill the
necessary needs of the children.
This is the phenomenological and hermeneutical study. It is phenomenology because
it is the descriptive study of lived experience (phenomena) in the attempt to enrich lived
experience by mining its meaning. It is also hermeneutic because it is the interpretive study of

the expressions and texts of lived experience (Manen, 1990:38). Here, the studied
phenomenon, the English teaching of the children with special needs, is explored through
whatever information from interviews, classroom observation and field notes, document
checks, and re-interviews. This information is used to find out the special education teachers‟
lived experience of teaching the special-needs children by knowing how they perceive,
describe, feel about, judge, remember, make sense of, and talk about it. Using sources of text
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data, we then can triangulate the data, so that valid data can be obtained and trustworthiness
of the result of the study can be increased.
This research method adopts the progressive qualitative research. It is qualitative
since knowledge claims made is based primarily on the constructivist perspective, i.e. the
multiple meanings of individual experiences (Cresswell, 2002:18). In addition, in utilizing a
qualitative research methodology, the narrative stories and experiences of special education
teachers talking about their lived experience and of teaching special-needs children emerge.
The knowledge and pre-understandings of the participants and our pre-understandings
provide clearer insights and understanding that will contribute to the overall thematic analysis
and the identification essential themes. It is progressive because the researcher portrays
people as constructing the social world and the researcher as „„him/her constructing the social
world through their interpretations of it” (Hammersley and Atkinson, 1995 in Holliday,
2002).

Discussion
At that time, what became the English subject for the students in the first grade was
kinds of jobs. In previous meeting, all students had learnt them. Therefore, it was just kind of
material review. To review it, the English teacher gave clues and asked the students to guess
what kinds of jobs she had just described. After that, for in-class assignment, the teacher
asked them to draw a picture of job and write the name of the job. As usual, everytime they
got exercises in the class, Mrs. Heni would immediately approach the MR students by sitting
between them. At first, two of them started looking at the exercise sheets but none of them
looked enthusiastic. It was not wondering since they might be confused with what they had to
do with the sheets they got.

Mrs. Heni, then, explained it patiently. Then, with her guidance, they could finish
their drawings. However, beforehand Mrs. Heni asked each of them what kind of job they
wanted to draw. One of MR student drew a teacher while another drew a policeman. Without
Mrs. Heni‟s helps, they could not do or even finish all of their in-class assignments. She,
then, patiently would read each question and ask them to write their answers. If they gave
wrong answers, she would ask them again whether they were sure with their wrong answers
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or not. Often, to help them remember the English teacher‟s explanation, she would repeat and
repeat. After they could finish their task, she would praise them.
They, in fact, really needed Mrs. Heni in the class. As soon as the teacher entered the
class, Mrs. Heni would start to look for students with MR. She would hold their hands and
put them to sit next to her because it would give her an access to repeat the teacher‟s
explanation to MR students.
For her, it was easier to help the MR students who had high motivation. It reminded
her with one of MR students who at first could not do anything in the class gradually change.
At first, every time he got exercises, he would cry. However, his motivation had improved a
lot. Now, he could complete the task. Even his parents were confused to see that significant
change.
In the second grade classroom, the English lesson started with watching movie about
a girl who wanted to take a moon. The students really enjoyed it. After that, they were
introduced with the topic on jobs and places by watching movie again. After watching movie,
the teacher asked questions about jobs and places. During the watching, Mr. Eko sat next to
MR students and explained kinds of jobs and places shown.
When time to do the exercise came, one of MR students liked daydreaming. When
Mr. Eko read the questions for him, he would answer, “I don‟t know”. Another MR student
seemed to be busy with himself. He just played his pencil and did not do his task. They would
stop doing the exercise as soon as they got bored or tired with it. Mr. Eko, of course, would
not force them to finish the exercise because he thought that it would be useless.
The MR students involved in group discussions. When the topic of the lesson at that
time was profession, the students were asked to make posters. They had to choose the
pictures of tools and match them with appropriate profession. After that, they needed to cut
and stick it on the paper. One of MR student just looked at what his friends did. When he was

asked to throw the rubbish into the bin, he refused to do that. He said that he was tired.
However, his friend could understand that. What happened to another MR student was he cut
the picture of the ladder into two parts. However, his friends in the group were not angry to
him. They put masking tape to the picture of ladder.
In the third grade classroom, Mr. Totok just monitored the HI student from his seat.
He wanted to do his exercise by himself. When he got certain problems with his assignment,
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he would ask Mr. Totok directly. Eventually, he was a smart student. He just had difficulties
to speak. Even he could not hear, he could read lips well and understand what we said to him.
During the lesson on ordinal numbers, the HI student said „Komsopai‟ that meant
„kampungan‟ in Bahasa Indonesia to his friend. Then, Mr. Totok approached him and
explained to him that it was not good to say that. However, the HI student insisted that it was
not a big problem. Mr. Totok patiently explained that it still was not good to say like that to
others. Finally, the HI student could understand and promise not to do it anymore.
As special-education teachers, first of all, they need to possess empathy. Here, they
should accept all students, identify their individual educational needs, and develop mutual
understanding and acceptance among students. Therefore, it is important to recognize and
accommodate individual differences in establishing an inclusive community. In dealing with
special-needs children, the teachers should do their best in understanding their characteristics.
Their students‟ strengths and weaknesses are acknowledged.
Secondly, all students should be treated equally, including special-needs children.
Then, the teachers agree that the special-needs children are same as their other peers. They
deserve education, facilities, attention and even friends. Take for example, for their good
works, the teachers will definitely praise or even show their love to them.
The teach