Let’s start the discussion with the definition of “child with special needs”. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, any child with conditions like intellectual/learning disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, sensory/speech disabilities, physical/diverse disabilities, or disabilities related to acquired brain injury, etc. is considered a child with special needs.
When I was studying online materials for this article, I found a few statistics published based on data from 1998 and 2018 (better if there were data from recent years).
Data source:
Year | 1998 | 2018 |
Total no.of disability children (Age group: 0-14) | 296,400 (7.6%) | 357,000 (7.7%) |
Children with severe or profound core activity restriction | 144,300 | 211,200 |
As mentioned on the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare website, any child who always needs help with the core activities in their daily life – such as self-care, mobility, communication, etc. is considered a child with Profound core activity restriction. From 1998 to 2018, there was an increase of nearly 10% of children who fall into this group (among children with disability).
Another important fact I noticed was in 1998, boys were almost twice as likely as girls to have a disability, with 192,800 boys (9.6% of boys) compared to 103,600 girls (5.4% of girls) reported to have a disability.
Similarly, in 2018, the data indicates that boys are more likely than girls to have a profound or severe disability, with 3.3% of boys aged 0–4 and 7.5% of boys aged 5–14 affected, compared to 1.5% and 3.7% of girls in the same age groups, respectively.
However, according to a study published by Sabrina Nowak and Sébastien Jacquemont in 2020, it is not clear the extent to which this sex difference reflects a social bias leading to increased likelihood of boys being diagnosed, or if there are sex-based differences in genetic susceptibility to neurodevelopmental disorders.
When considering the common types of disability among school children, learning difficulties (48.7%) come first, followed by fitting in socially (38.8%) and communication difficulties (around 30.2%). Other difficulties, including intellectual difficulties, difficulty in sports participation and difficulty sitting are also experienced by many students with disabilities. By the way, these stats are from a survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2018.
According to the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), Australia implemented an inclusive curriculum for all students and the goal of inclusion is to develop processes of personalised learning and support so that students with disabilities can engage in learning and schooling in the same way as their age-peers.
I found the following video from the AITSL website, which gives perfect knowledge about “Creating an inclusive school culture”.
The government is committed to providing inclusive education for children with disabilities, ensuring that they receive tailored support within mainstream schools as well as special education settings.
Initiatives like the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are the results of this commitment. This also includes creating personalised learning plans, offering specialised teacher training, and providing assistive technologies. In sum, the aim is to foster an educational environment where every child, regardless of their abilities, can bloom and participate fully.
Within the Australian education system, various therapies support children with disabilities. And, all are focusing on the overall development of children with disabilities. Following are a few types of therapies that support these children.
Helps to develop the skills needed to do the daily activities independently. It focuses on improving sensory processing, fine motor skills, self-care (dressing, eating), and play skills. Occupational therapists also help children to interact positively with their environment and peers by developing their social skills.
Supports the children who have difficulties with communication, like speech production, understanding and using language, social communication, and swallowing. These therapists help the children to improve their ability to express themselves, thereby, improving the children’s participation in social situations.
Designed to improve a child’s motor skills, balance, coordination, strength, and endurance. So, children with mobility issues, physical disabilities, or developmental delays are benefited from this and they can participate fully in play activities.
Improve behavioural and social skills in children with special needs, like those with autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, etc. These interventions teach coping strategies, emotional regulation, social interaction skills, and positive behaviour reinforcement.
This uses a wide range of tools, devices, and software that support children with special needs in their learning and daily activities. Communication devices for non-verbal children, software that supports learning for children with dyslexia, or mobility aids are a few examples of the tools.
In sum, we can list the skills developed by these types of therapies below.
I mentioned that “Assistive Technologies” are used by therapists and teachers when they are working with children with special needs. In fact, assistive technologies are not limited to high-tech devices; they also include any item, toy, or product system that supports the skill development of children with special needs.
NDIS-approved toys are also included in this category. These toys enhance children’s educational goals, communication, motor skills, sensory processing, and social interaction.
When educating a child with special needs, educators need to follow exceptional teaching techniques; Robotic education and robotic toys are one of such techniques.
I found several studies conducted in Australia as well as internationally, which studied the impact of robotic education and robotic toys on the development of children with special needs.
According to a study done in Italy around 2020, robotic toys significantly improve the inhibition skills of children with special needs. More importantly, robotics toys would be most suitable for developing the motor response skills of children with attentional impairment. However, according to the study, these will not much beneficial for children with language deficits (in terms of developing motor-response skills).
In addition to that, the researchers noticed students played and engaged in the activities as small groups; they communicated and provided feedback to each other. So, as per their observation, these robotic toys encourage social inclusion and more efficient learning.
At the end of this study, the researchers concluded that these robotic toys and activities may favour both cognitive learning and social inclusion.
