Africa Virtual University - AVU

Mode of Delivery:

1. Rationale

For a long time in many African countries persons with disabilities have been marginalized. In some cases, parents regard having such children as a curse (Rukuni 2000). Therefore, one finds that these persons are discriminated against on the job market, in the provision of facilities and programmes meant to uplift their welfare and in educational opportunities. In fact, in some African countries, such as Uganda, derogatory labels are used to describe these people. For example in southwestern Uganda the word used to describe a person with physical disability is
“ekirema” which means “a thing which became disabled”. Obviously persons with physical disability resent this dehumanizing label and use the word “omurema” which means a person with a physical disability. In the past, persons with physical disabilities were referred to as things not people. Nowadays the perception has changed somewhat, but still a lot needs to be done to improve interaction patterns and relationships between persons with physical disability and the “normal” people. This module is essentially about educational needs of persons with disabilities and strategies that can be used to empower them in their learning. The ultimate aim when teaching them is to put them on an equal footing as other persons who do not have disabilities. Therefore after reading through this module you should be in a better position to improve on the educational needs of persons with disabilities.

2. Prerequisite or knowledge

This module should be studied alongside the following other modules: Educational Psychology, General Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Learning Psychology, Guidance and Counseling and Educational Testing and Evaluation. The module is an introductory course for teacher education trainees. It is advisable before studying this module for the student to acquaint himself or herself with principles in general psychology because many concepts in the area of special needs education are based on psychological principles. Therefore, the student needs to understand the contribution of psychology to the theory and practice of education, to be conversant with self assessment procedures, to have good knowledge in his or her subjects and to know about the personality of learners. It is also important to know about learners’ individual differences, moral, social, and cognitive development, theories of learning, guidance and counseling and educational testing and evaluation.

3. General objectives

The general objectives of the module are to:

4. Time

The module is divided up into three units. To cover this module, it will require about 120 hours distributed as follows:

Unit I 20 hours
Unit II 60 hours
Unit III 40 hours

5. Materials

To study this module better, you need the following: