This document provides an overview of the history and development of special education in Canada. It discusses how special education has progressed from segregating students with disabilities to increasingly inclusive education models. It also describes common special education practices and processes used in Canadian schools today, such as individualized education plans and collaboration between educators. Provincial support and funding available for students with special needs is also reviewed. The document concludes by noting ongoing challenges and the importance of teacher training and support to continue advancing inclusive education.

1. PhD 503 Special Education & Inclusive Education
SHAMIELYN C. ARZOLA – student
DR. FELY COLANSI - Professor
New Era University
IN
CANADA

2. History of Special Education
Historically (1700s–1800s), handicapped people were
excluded from general society and largely ignored.
The Eugenics movement (early 20th century)
influenced the field of intellectual disabilities, which
was associated with high levels of institutionalization,
and early history was much influenced by the use of
required intelligence testing which resulted in the
prevention of many students with disabilities from
moving into the regular education system.

3. 1. CONCEPTUALIZATION
In Canada, a variety of terms have been used interchangeably across the
provinces and territories when referring to exceptional students.
For example, Ontario and New Brunswick use the term “students with
exceptionalities,” while other provinces use the phrase “students with special
needs.”
From the 1950s to 1990s there was a progressive inclusion movement in
Canadian education (from segregation to categorization of students to
integration, mainstreaming, and inclusion of students).

4. Special Education
During the integration-mainstreaming period. Special
education usually followed a five step process,
beginning with the identification of students with
exceptional needs, and ending with individual
programming in special education classes or with
part-time individualized assistance and /or
accommodations in or outside of the regular
classroom (i.e. referral for testing, labeling,
placement, programming).

5. Many educators across Canada recognized the fundamental flaws inherent
in the special education approach (e.g., large and static organizational
structures and complicated professional deployment procedures, long
delays in application, conflicts between parents and educators regarding
identification of educational problems and placement decisions, overly
costly and labor intensive services, and problems associated with
eligibility for service requirements).
Due to these challenges school districts within the provinces and territories
across Canada have generally adopted inclusive education (the merger of
special education and regular education into a unified educational system)
as a framework for addressing all students learning needs including
students with exceptionalities.
2. CONTEXTUALIZATION

6. By law, all state schools in Canada must have a special education
programme. However, this is not possible in all schools and parents may
have to enrol their children in private special needs schools. This can be
difficult for some parents due to the cost, although some
provinces/territories provide 100% funding in order for children to attend
these schools.
Special needs schools are available for children with physical, mental,
behavioural and communication disorders, as well as for gifted children.
Schooling for Children with Special
Needs

7. 3. CATEGORIZATION
A. High Incidence Exceptional Students
The majority of exceptional students (e.g., approximately 80 to 90 %) and
are those students who have been identified as having exceptional gifts and
talents, as well as those with mild and moderate intellectual/developmental
disabilities, learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
behaviour disorders, emotional problems, and communication problems.
These students can usually benefit from differentiated instruction, and
collaborative learning experiences within well organized and structured
classroom environments.

8. B. Low Incidence Exceptional Students
Low incidence exceptional students represent a minority of exceptional
students (e.g., approximately 10 to 20%) and are typically those students who
have visual and hearing impairments, physical and health impairments,
pervasive developmental disorders (e.g., autism), traumatic brain injury, and/or
severe disabilities (e.g., moderate to severe intellectual/developmental
disabilities) who often require specialized assistance (e.g., specialists and
teaching assistants) as well as particular teaching accommodations and
modified interventions.
Yet it should also be recognized that the prevalence of some of these conditions
appear to be increasing (e.g., Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Autism
Spectrum Disorder) which frequently are associated with major behavioral
challenges.

9. 4. CONNECTION
Registering a Child as Having Special Needs in
school
The exact process of registering a child as having special needs depends
on the provincial regulations and policies. Most provinces and territories
have an Education Act which details their special needs educational policy.
School boards usually provide a programme that integrates children with
special needs into mainstream schools, along with a tailored individual
educational programme. It is therefore necessary to inform the school
board about the child's special needs requirements upon registration.
Staff are also trained to identify any special educational requirements
which will then be dealt with appropriately. Schools often apply directly to
the relevant educational authority for funding for a child with special
educational needs.

10. 5. COLLABORATION
Collaboration and consultation allow people involved in
the education of exceptional students (e.g., teachers,
parents, teaching assistants, counselors, psychologists,
occupational therapists, and speech therapists) to work
together, learn from one another, and support each other
in addressing the students’ needs.

11. Provincial/territorial Programmes and
Benefits
The majority of support and services available for children with
special needs or a disability is managed by provincial or
territorial governments. Although the responsibility for the
provision of special needs education is managed locally, there are
many similarities in approach between provinces.
Some examples of provincial support and assistance for children
with special needs are outlined below.

12. Support and Assistance for
children
ONTARIO
 1. In Ontario there is a large
amount of support available. For
example, the "Assistance for
Children with Severe Disabilities
Programme" awards parents up to
C$440 a month for help with
medical costs, clothes, drugs,
necessary equipment for the child
and so on. The amount depends on
parental income and the type of
disability.
ONTARIO
 2. There are also programmes
in place to provide
rehabilitation assistance, and
special assistance at home; as
well as some dealing with
specific disabilities such as
autism.

13. Support and Assistance for
children
ONTARIO
 3. The majority of children
with special needs attend
mainstream school where
possible. These children are
offered different classes or a
modified programme which
is specially designed by
school boards.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
 1. In British Columbia the Ministry
of Children and Family
Development (MCFD) is
responsible for programmes and
services for children with special
needs. Family support includes
respite services, parental support,
child and youth worker assistance,
behavioural support programmes,
rehabilitation services and early
childhood intervention schemes.

14. Support and Assistance for
children
BRITISH COLUMBIA
 2. There are nearly 59,000
children with special needs
enrolled in B.C public
schools. They are assisted by
classroom assistants,
modified programmes and
Individual Education Plans
(IEPs) designed to cater to
their needs.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
2. There are nearly 59,000
children with special needs
enrolled in B.C public schools.
They are assisted by classroom
assistants, modified programmes
and Individual Education Plans
(IEPs) designed to cater to their
needs.

15. Support and Assistance for
children
BRITISH COLUMBIA
 3. There is also 100 %
funding available for
children with special needs
to attend special independent
schools.
ALBERTA
1. Most students with special
needs are placed in mainstream
schools where they are given
extra assistance with a special
education programme.
2. Funding is available directly
to schools to assist with children
with special education needs.

16. Support and Assistance for
children
NOVA SCOTIA
1. Nova Scotia has a Supported Child
Care for Children with Special Needs
programme. This provides funding to
full and part-time childcare centres
which offer care and specific
programmes tailored to meet the
requirements of the children.
ALBERTA
3. Alberta offers a Family
Support for Children with
Disabilities (FSCD) programme,
where funding for services such
as, rehabilitation, counselling,
home support and medical
support is offered.

17. Support and Assistance for
children
NOVA SCOTIA
2. The Early Intervention
Programme (EIP) also offers
support and services to those
children who are identified as
having special needs.
QUEBEC
Individualised Education Plans
(IEP) are established for children
with special needs, who are very
often integrated into mainstream
schools. To enrol in an IEP, parents
and students meet with the teachers,
the principal and a guidance
counsellor before registering with a
school. Students with disabilities
are entitled to attend school up to
the age of 21 years. In Quebec a
special needs education allowance
is available for parents of children
with major disabilities.

18. Special Needs Associations in Canada
Many of the associations listed below provide contact
details for local support groups.
• Learning Disabilities Association of Canada
• Canadian Dyslexia Association
• Children and Adults with Attention Deficit
Disorders
• Geneva Centre for Autism

19. 6. CONTENTS
PLANNING & DELIVERING INSTRUCTION
Exceptional students with major challenges (emotional, cognitive or physical)
require educational procedures that are responsive to their learning needs,
which may require specialized supports and services. Currently, the processes
and procedures most utilized in today’s schools are
(1) Universal Design for Learning,
(2) Differentiated Instruction,
(3) Participant Model,
(4) Collaboration and Consultation, and
(5) Response to Intervention.

20. Universal Design for Learning involves a set of principles for ensuring that
students are provided equal opportunities to learn by creating
environments, materials and systems that allow options — such as multi-
modal (e.g., visual, verbal, tactile) and multifaceted learning environments
— to maximize students’ learning.
Differentiated instruction acknowledges that students vary according to
learning styles and abilities, strengths, weaknesses, interests, and
modalities. Moreover, differentiated instruction adapts and accommodates
to student learning and developmental variance by providing direct and
mediated instruction (e.g., modeling, guided practice, feedback, student
control,) or cognitive instruction (e.g., activation of prior learning,
organizing content, development of conceptual awareness (e.g., imaging
the outcome and forward planning), facilitation of memory, problem
solving, and collaborative learning).
Planning and Delivering Instruction

21. Planning and Delivering Instruction
The participation model focuses on increasing both the academic and social
participation of students and their levels of independence by evaluating their
augmentative and alternative communication abilities and developing
interventions to better meet their needs.
Collaboration and consultation allow people involved in the education of
exceptional students (e.g., teachers, parents, teaching assistants, counselors,
psychologists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists) to work together,
learn from one another, and support each other in addressing the students’
needs.
The monitoring of students’ learning progress is required to determine whether
or not they may require more specialized and intensive teaching approaches or
more individualized therapeutic treatment.

22. Assessment of Exceptional Children
Assessment of exceptional students involves the process of collecting and
interpreting information from various sources to inform students and
parents/guardians about the progress the students are making relative to their
attainment of knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes, and behaviors, and to inform
those who make educational decisions (e.g., instructional, diagnostic,
placement, promotion, curriculum planning, program development, policy).
Intelligence tests are still used, although on a much more limited basis, for
identifying specific areas of difficulty.

23. Assessment of Exceptional Children
Assessment of exceptional students typically includes formal assessment, such
as standardized testing, and informal assessment, such as classroom assessment
techniques that gauge students’ learning progress, which can indicate the need
for instructional modifications, and suggest directions for further assessment
with respect to their educational setting.
Informal assessments include skilled and structured observations of students’
behavior and work; interviews with students to determine approaches they are
using to solve problems; classroom quizzes; criterion-referenced tests (to
compare students’ performance relative to the curriculum); checklists and rating
scales; portfolio assessment (assessment of students work overtime relative to
the instructional goals for the students); curriculum based assessment
(assessment of students’ specific skills taught in the classroom); dynamic
assessment (assessment of students’ thinking processes); and authentic
assessment (performance-based assessment to determine how students are
interpreting and applying their knowledge to real life activities).

24. Universal Benefits
Child Disability Benefit (CDB) is a tax free benefit available to
parents looking after a severely disabled child under the age of 18.
It is calculated according to income and can total as much as
$2,395 a year.
Applications for benefit can be made online at the Canada
Revenue Agency website or in person at a local Ministry or
Department of Social Services.
Benefits are also available to severely disabled people over 18
years old.

25. CHARTING NEW DIRECTIONS
Over time, those considered falling within the domain of special education has
widened significantly. Initially, special education pertained to a relatively small
number of individuals within society (i.e. those with the most obvious and
encompassing disabilities); now there are more children identified as
exceptional within schools and regular classroom settings (e.g., students with
more mild to moderate disabilities such as children and youth with learning
disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder)
than at any time within our history.

26. CHARTING NEW DIRECTIONS
As a result of the increasing numbers of exceptional children as well as the
growing number of children across Canada with English as a second language,
and the increasing variance of children and youth in todays’ schools with
respect to gender, religion, social class, race, culture and ethnicity, teachers are
faced with providing appropriate instruction that addresses all of their students’
individual and collective needs. Within this structure the use of the internet and
web plus a variety of other assistive devices are proving to be of considerable
value. From this perspective, the evolution of special education has gone from
exclusion to inclusion to diversity education (i.e. teaching and learning that
addresses all student diversity).

27. CHARTING NEW DIRECTION
Educational system in Canada has gone through major pedagogical paradigm
shifts and school reorganization and restructuring with respect to our view and
educational treatment of diverse students wherein student diversity is no longer
thought of as exceptional and a burden to schools and teachers but as a
normality within the Canadian educational scene and as an enrichment to
schools and the broader society.
Special Education in Canada moved from excluding, separating, and
accommodating particular groups of children to the view and practice of
recognizing the need and value of better understanding, appreciating,
respecting, and addressing student diversity within Canadian schools and
classrooms.

28. Summary & Conclusion
Challenges remain, however. Many teachers recognize the need for more
support in often large classes.
The role of teacher aides and their professional education is critically important.
The importance of diverse education involving the fine arts (e.g., music, drama)
become increasingly important as effective special education requires making
use of children’s particular talents despite their disabilities.
As these children grow and develop further education and support is required to
enter an inclusive adult world.
Finally, special education can learn much from holistic quality of life
approaches within the context of lifespan education, which is developing in
many areas of disability in a variety of contexts internationally.