Special Education and English Language Learning

Bartosz Gruszka
Akademia Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna w Łodzi, 2022

Special Education and English Language Learning

Special education assists the improvement of education as it has made many contributions
to the broad context of education. Not only has it provoked shifts in thinking but also it has revealed
the problems of identification and classification of disability, different treatment based on social
class, or different learning outcomes. Special education is learning that is fitted to the needs
of a child with unique needs. Thus, the needs of students are fulfilled through the development
of individual educational and therapeutic plans. It is difficult to give specific terminology for
special needs education as each case is considered individually. Special educational needs may
concern pupils with mental or physical disabilities, health problems, social maladjustment,
or an exceptionally gifted pupil. Special needs education may be defined as:

‘educational intervention and support designed to address special educational needs,

wherever that intervention takes place. Whether the term special education, special

needs education or something else is used, there is a common understanding that involves
something ‘different from’ or ‘additional to’ that which is generally available to others of
similar age in schools’ (Florian 2016:44).

Farrell (2009) determines special education as:

‘…distinctive provision, including education, for pupils with disability/disorder. It is
informed by a range of foundational disciplines, and encourages academic progress and
personal and social development. Special education has identifiable aims and methods’ (p.
1).

It is also important to identify what special educational needs are. According to Frederickson,
special educational needs are the result of the interaction between the individual characteristics of
students and the learning environments in which they learn. To understand what learning problems
students face, it is necessary to analyze the curriculum and the learning environment (Frederickson
2002:26). There are many theoretical approaches to SEN depending on the country, the field
of study, or perspective. As researchers often focus on different aspects, it is difficult to come up
with one consistent definition explaining the SEN phenomenon. Understanding this as the
difficulties experienced in school, SEN refers to children who are

‘…mentally challenged - children whose development is considerably delayed and who have
difficulties with all aspects of learning, autistic - children whose development is delayed but
who also have specific difficulties in communicating and relating to people, mild learning
difficulties - children often referred to as slow learners who have delayed development
as well as difficulties ...