The educational road of every child with learning disabilities is difficult, but possible. Based on the documented road of Peter-a child who has Down's syndrome, it can be concluded that the academic needs of Peter include basic skills such as reading and writing and learning motor skills. Peter's needs are different from the needs of other children whose IQ is average. On the other hand, the social needs of Peter are similar with the needs of other children. They want to be accepted by their peers, but the downfall is that their path of acceptation is much more difficult due to the limitations that Peter has. In the course of the some of the most common needs of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the acceptance from the surrounding and the individual work need to be mentioned.
Based on Peter's example, at the beginning of his educational road, it was very hard for his peers to accept his different social behavior. The change of the approach was needed, and when his third grade peer said, "He changed because we changed" (Educating Peter) then it is a clear sign that acceptance of the differences and tolerance is a halfway passed to inclusion. The most important thing that needs to be applied when dealing with children with intellectual and learning disabilities is socialization, routine and being part of the community. This involves engagement of everyone: parents, teachers, peer and psychologist. In order to skill a child with learning and intellectual disabilities, and to teach him functional skills, the community needs to be involved. During the education of Peter, he had changed many different jobs, and finally found a job (manager of soccer team) that gave him a sense of accomplishment. Every parent wants the best for his child, so do parents of children with learning and intellectual disabilities. Based on the limited learning capabilities, Peter's mother says, "I don’t want Peter to be taken care of, I want him to be able to take care about himself" (Graduating Peter, Part 1). Therefore, the job of the schools that have children of learning and intellectual disability is to skill them to be independent and help them learn skills that will facilitate their future independent life such as behaving properly, social skills, counting and dealing with money, etc.
Every link in the chain of support of a child with learning and intellectual disabilities is important and meaningful for the inclusion functioning. Without mutual cooperation at the relation school-parent, the results may be minimal. Counseling and mutual cooperation, including the education of peers on how be behave in interaction with a peer with learning and intellectual development are of significant importance.
References:
Educating Peter. (1992). Retrieved from: https://www.cloudy.ec/v/be02376fc9d7b
Graduating Peter. Part 1. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XbvNuCy6-o
Graduating Peter, Part 2. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXqd4UA7L0
