Magistra Iadertina, Vol. 3 No. 1, 2008.
Stručni rad
SPECIFIC FEATURES OF WORKING WITH A BLIND CHILD IN KINDERGARTEN AND SCHOOL WITH EMPHASIS ON AUDIAL PERCEPTION
Smiljana Zrilić
; Odjel za izobrazbu učitelja i odgojitelja Sveučilišta u Zadru
Tomislav Košta
; Odjel za izobrazbu učitelja i odgojitelja Sveučilišta u Zadru
Sažetak
Education of children with impaired vision who do not have any other developmental problems is guaranteed in kindergartens and elementary schools in Croatia and regulated by the Act of Preschool Education, Act of Elementary Education, and other regulations related to those acts. However, the media often treat successful integration of a blind child as an unusual occurrence. However, there is nothing unusual in the fact that blind people attend school. A blind child, just like any other child, wants to play with other children in the kindergarten, and at school age he/she wants to learn, have his/her own class, his/her own teacher, and wants to live with his/her family. In order to ensure successful integration of a blind child into regular kindergarten and elementary school, all participants in this process have to act as a team, constantly improve their competences by observing other people's experiences, keep up with latest research and literature, and use their present experiences of working with blind children. Besides professional competences that are related to specific methods of working with blind children and include detailed and systematic oral explanation about the perceived object, there is also a strong need for social competences. If teachers create positive atmosphere in kindergarten or classroom toward accepting each child, including a blind one, the other children will be prepared to respect the differences and help the child with special needs. If a blind child has positive social experiences with his/her peers, he/she will not react negatively to his/her own blindness, neither will he/she withdraw from its peers and feel different from others, particularly if the teacher observes and emphasizes his/her activities. Blind children do not necessarily have particular talent for music, but they do experience it. In order to ensure equal activity opportunities for all children in kindergarten or school, teachers often use games and other activities that are based on audial sense. Sometimes teachers are reluctant to accept the integration of a blind child into their class. This often happens because teachers feel less competent to work with blind children, mostly because they cannot help the children to read Braille, or they are afraid that working with blind children will reflect negatively on their work with other children, or that blind children will have some other difficulties in interacting with their peers. This paper presents two cases of successful integration of blind children into kindergarten and school. Particular emphasis is on music games that are useful for teachers that have a blind child in their class/group. Additionally, the authors elaborate specific features of working in schools which are regulated by Croatian National Educational Standard.
Ključne riječi
Croatian National Educational Standard; teachers' competences; blind child in kindergarten and elementary school; audial perception; specific teaching aid
Hrčak ID:
35626
URI
Datum izdavanja:
13.12.2008.
Posjeta: 10.682 *