The distribution of the studies on a time scale and according to the study type has been summarized in Table 27.4.
Table 27.4
DISTRIBUTION OF STUDIES ON EDUCATION OF ORTHO-PAEDICALLY
HANDICAPPED CHILDREN
Period Nature Survey Tr. Tests & Inter- Others Total
Ph.D. Inst. Trg. Materi- vention
al Dev.
1965-69
1970-74 2 2 2
1978-79 1 1 1
1980-84 1 4 4 1 5
1985-87 3 3 3
Total 7 4 10 1 11
The spread of studies over different aspects of education of OH children as well as over a period of time is very sketchy. Most of the studies have been done by doctoral scholars. Only four studies have been done at the institutional level. All the studies, including the lone study relating to setting as an intervention, have followed a survey methodology.
Education of the Hearing Impaired Only six studies could be located in this area. Banerjee et al. (1970) investigated the nature of deaf children in comparison to normal-hearing children in the age group of 14-18 years. The study revealed that, even under similar environmental conditions, interests differed. Four studies covered hearing impaired as a subsample (NCERT,1968; William, 1981; Bala, 1985 and Goel, 1986). These are the studies comparing hearing-impaired children with non-hearing-impaired children on selected variables. Jangira (1987) studied the socio- metric choices of hearing-impaired children in an integrated setting as well as their academic achievement as reflected in ranking in respective classes. It was discovered that hearing-impaired children also received choices from non-hearing-impaired children for the se- lected tasks and most of them were near average or above average in academic achievement.
Education of the Learning Disabled Five studies on learning disabled children have been reported since 1974, when the first study was conducted for a doctoral degree in a department of psychology. Bar? (1974) investigated auditory perceptual disorders in children with reference to language learning and tried to focus on the listening experience as the foundation of language acquisition. Syntactical complexities rather than auditory memory per se was found to be the critical factor in correct sentence repetition. Bhattacharya (1977) and Bhattacharya (1982) studied learning disabilities in algebra and arithmetic respectively. Rama (1984) studied diagnosis and remediation of dyslexia. An attempt was made to identify dyslexic children among Kannada readers, carry out error analysis, develop a remedial programme and study its effectiveness. Desai (1985), the only funded study, purported to in- vestigate learning disabilities in primary schools in Ahmedabad. Learning disabilities being language-based, it calls for research among different language groups. Considering the magnitude of the task, the limited research so for is insignificant.
RESEARCH IN SPECIAL EDUCATION-A TREND REPORT 1323
Education of Mentally Retarded Nineteen studies have been reported in this area. it represents almost one-third of the research studies reported in special education. One reason for the larger number of studies in this area is that cognitive development forms a component of psychology courses. The distribution of studies period-wise and in different types is given in Table 27.5.
Table 27.5
DISTRIBUTION OF STUDIES IN MENTAL RETARDATION
Period Nature Survey Tr. Tests & Inter- Others Total
Ph.D. Inst. Trg. Materi- vention
al Dev.
1965-69 1 1 2 2
1970-74 2 2 2
1975-79 7 1 3 5 8
1980-84 3 3 3
1985-87 4 1 3 4
Total 17 2 11 5 3 19
It is evident that the maximum, number of researches appeared during 1975-79. The trend, just as in other areas of disability, is towards surveys. Eleven studies involved a survey of one kind or another. St Xavier's (1969) attempted to estimate the number of mentally subnormal children in Greater Bombay and services available to them. The survey detected 4,031 subnormal children. Out of these, only 17.1 per cent were in special schools. Ankolve's (1980) survey covered Maharashtra. It revealed that-the maximum number of schools (31) were located in Maharashtra out of a total of 81 in the whole country. Out of 31 in Maharashtra, 22 were located in Bombay alone. Shortage of trained teachers was also highlighted in the survey as only 35 per cent of the teachers in special schools for MR were trained.
In studies comparing the family background of MRs and other children revealed that more mentally retarded children came from poor family background (Biswas, 1975); Ghatak, 1980; and Ishtiaq, 1973). The studies were correlational and did not establish a causeeffect relationship.
Socio-emotional and learning problems and personality patterns were studied by Empar (1973), Varma (1968), Ishtiaq (1973), Jaiswal (1978), Singh (1982) and Savitri (1986). Most of these studies used standardized tests and compared the results with those with children in the normal range of intelligence. Singh (1982) compared the gifted with MR children on selected variables.
Curriculum design and intervention studies have appeared in this area. Shukla (1979) designed a curriculum covering all subject areas for Gujarati and Marathi medium students with IQ ranging between 50 and 70. Its effectiveness was also studied in the three schools of Greater Bombay. Sharma (1978) studied language retardation in Hindi- speaking MR children with IQ in the range 50-60 and compared it with children having average and above average IQ. The phonology in educable MR children was found to be normal but on other measures, like discordance of number and gender, lexical elements and basic vocabulary, they were found to be at a disadvantage. Goel (1978) investigated the Von Restraff phenomenon in serial learning among MR. It has implications for working out instructional strategies. Azad (1986) and Dutta (1986) studied the adaptation and effectiveness of the Portage home-based training programme for cognitive and motor development of young children. Both studied followed a quasi- experimental time-series design. Both studies report improvement in MR children on different measures accompanied by improvement in parents' attitude. Pandit (1987) carried out an experiment of training parents of MR children for educating and managing them. Only 67 per cent of the parents accepted the programme, but they were reluctant to assume the role of a teacher.
Omnibus Studies There are four studies dealing with special education for disabled persons which have considered disabled persons as a group. Lata (1985) studied the impact of parental attitude on social, emotional and educational assessment of handicapped and non-handicapped students. Parental attitudes did not differ significantly, but the attitude of parents of the MR girls correlated significantly with adjustment of handicapped girls. Mallaya (1982), in study of children with special needs during play sessions, observed that acceptance of the child and a permissive atmosphere during play were found to be helpful. The study also came out with guidelines for teachers to organize play sessions.
Rane (1983) and Cawasji (1985) studied the implementation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Inte-
1324 N. K. JANGIRA AND S. MUKHOPADHYAY
grated Education for Disabled Children. Rane (1983) evaluated IED programme implementation in Maharashtra. The study brought out several deficiencies. Inadequate assessment procedure, lack of training of general teachers, heads of institutions and educational administrators, inadequate adaptive learningteaching aids, and inadequate monitoring and evaluation were highlighted. The Maharashtra Government has considerably improved implementation of the scheme since then (Jangira, 1988). Cawasji (1985) studied the effectiveness of the orientation course for teachers in improving the quality of the IED programme.
The Reasons for Low Yield Studies in special education for the disabled are very few indeed. Jangira and Mukhopadhyay (1986) summarized the reasons for low yield of research in this area. Special education, particularly education of the disabled, born as a social welfare activity, continued to be considered so far too long. Even teacher training activities continued to be out of the ambit of the universities. So university departments and apex organizations like the NCERT, NIEPA and UGC remained alienated from special education. The organizations working under the umbrella of welfare activities lacked capabilities for research. Some research did emerge in rehabilitation centres, but the focus of such research has been on diagnosis and medical aspects, not on special education. With the IEDC scheme being transferred to the Department of Education in the MHRD and the consequent involvement of the NCERT, UGC, NIEPA and universities in development and training activities, research activities in special education are expected to improve in range and quality.
The continuance of special education as a welfare service also creates there impression that it does not require serious research. This misplaced notion becomes conspicuous by the absence of allocation for research in special education. Even where allocations were made, research efforts continued to be elusive because of the lack of trained personnel to design and conduct practice-oriented research. With the establishment of the National Institutes for the Handicapped, the situation should improve.
Another misconception which has impeded research in special education is that the problems of education of disabled persone do not transcend the boundaries of psychology. Even now a psychologist's role is equated with that of a special. educator. This misconception daterred educational researchers from investigatory effort in the area of special education.
Lastly, culturally we are tuned to ad hoc decision making for planning and implementing development programmes rather than to decision making based on data-based research. As a result, the demand for research, particularly in social planning, remains rather low. The conspicuous absence of policy research in education supports this contention. This cultural conditioning has resulted in lack of concern for research in special education too.
The inclusion of special education for disabled persons in the NPE under the section. on equal education opportunity for all, the concern voiced about research in special education in the NPE Programme of Action, the increased involvement of agencies of educational research in special education, the emergence of National Institutes for the Handicapped, and improved funding augurs well for a quantitative growth of research in special education for disabled persons.
Education of the Gifted Twelve studies were identified in this area. Research in this area also is a recent phenomenon as the first study appeared only in the second half of the sixties, while educational research activity started only in 1980. This may be due to the fact that the basic educational need in these years was improvement of the qualitative range of educational provision to meet the demands of universalization of education. Special areas receive attention only after achieving a certain level of general educational development. Qualitative domains receive attention at an appropriate moment or receive a thrust from a researcher with an initiative in an area.
Ten out of 12 studies reviewed under this head have been conducted in pursuit of a doctoral degree. Only two funded studies were identified during the last two decades. One cannot say whether the trend is due to lack of concern for the area, or absence of demand for funding, or non-availability of funds. Maybe it is all three. Nevertheless, it is a matter of serious concern. Another disturbing trend is the absence of intervention studies. There is an evidence that most of the gifted in the educational system, particularly those who are at the developing stage, are underachievers. With the huge investment in education and the demand for talent and excellence for securing a reasonable quality of life, this condition cannot be allowed to continue. The NPE, 1986, itself has stressed this aspect. It cannot be accom-
RESEARCH IN SPECIAL EDUCATION-A TREND REPORT 1325
plished without adequate research support. The policy formulators, funding agencies and educational researchers will have to be made conscious of this need.
In terms of the range of variables covered, Bhatt (1966) and Deo (1969) attempted to develop criteria for measuring giftedness. Shah (1969), Walia (1973) and Arya (1984) studied the characteristics of the gifted. Wallia studied self-concept and found that gifted females have higher ideal self than gifted males. Arya studied emotional maturity and values of superior children in the family. Pandit (1973) studied adjustment problems of gifted children and frustration reactions. Singh (1983) studied need patterns, need achievement and adjustment of gifted children in five areas, namely, social, emotional, health, education and home. The study reports a positive relationship between need patterns and need achievement. Maitra (1985) studied affective correlates like self-concept, self-esteem, self-image of achievement of the gifted following a case study approach.
QUALITATIVE TRENDS Qualitative trends refer to the range of operational areas of research in special education, methodology followed, tools used, analyses carried out and utilization of research results. This section presents trends in these areas.
Coverage Across the disabilities, learning disability is the least researched area, followed by hearing impaired. Low yield of research in special education is understandable because of reasons catalogued elsewhere in this report, but imbalance in research developments across disabilities is disturbing. Although there is need for research in all areas of disability, these two areas need special attention. Within disabilities also there is an imbalance in research developments. Most of the studies are surveys of characteristics of disabled and non-disabled children or facilities and programmes for their education. There is very little work on development of tools for identification and assessment, intervention strategies; develop- ment of instructional materials; effectiveness of technologies in improving access of disabled persons to curriculum and training personnel, and transfer of training effects and management of special education. Intervention strategies require resources, material and learning aids, and a lot of human effort. Lack of support to institutional research and lack of direction in selecting problems of research for a doctoral degree may be the reasons for this situation. There is a need for coordinated effort to identify areas, prioritize them, and fund research projects, both at individual and institutional level, cooperative master projects with farmed-out studies to individuals and institutions backed by an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism, can result in a coordinated research programme in this area. The NCERT, National Institutes for the Handicapped, ICSSR, UGC and NIEPA can develop a cooperative action design.
Methodology Although all abstracts do not provide sufficient information about the design and procedure of studies, some trends are conspicuously discernible. Most of the studies have followed a survey methodology. In surveys, sampling is an important component. In most of the studies, the population and sampling selection procedures are not satisfactory. For example, stratified random sampling does not precisely define the strata nor is the random procedure specified. Only one study has adopted the case study approach which is so important in this area. Even experimental methodology has been used in only a couple of studies. Single-subject research designs have not yet been attempted. Qualitative analysis in research in special education is very important. Ethnographic research methodology coupled with single subject designs and case studies should increase with increase in intervention studies to improve the range and quality of education. Comparative studies of children in special schools and schools with integrated programme do not adequately define the conditions. Even disability conditions are not defined adequately. These methodological inadequacies make it difficult to compare findings of similar studies and sometimes raise doubt about the fidelity of inferences. Designing of studies matched to objectives needs systematic effort taking into consideration the nature of special education.
Tools There is dearth of tools of research in special education. Tools developed in alien culture, which have been used in a number of studies reviewed in this chapter, are far from relevant, particularly with disabled children.
1326 N. K. JANGIRA AND S. MUKHOPADHYAY
Some adapted tools have been used, but very little technical information is available regarding these tools. The reliability and validity measures are not available even for non-adapted tools. Technical information is still less available about the tools developed by the investigators. Some tools are reported to be administered to sensory impaired children, but the mediums through which these tools have been administered are not available. Besides, there is dearth of research tools in several areas. For example, diagnostic educational tools are needed in several areas and in different media of instruction. Language development tests, articula- tion tests, visual discriminatory skills tests, etc. are not available. An ecological assessment inventory needs to be developed not only as a tool but as a technology for assessment. The need for tests for the assessment of disabled children in different areas should be identified and a coordinated programme for their development should be supported by the funding agencies. This is a basic need in building educational programmes for disabled children.