https://doi.org/10.53656/str2022-6-1-org

2022/6, стр. 559 - 576

ORGANIZATION OF AN INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT FOR THE STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Резюме: The article analyzes the communicative activity of those students who have difficulties in mental development, as a condition for organizing an educational environment for children with special needs. It was concluded that the inability to communicate with school peers, teachers, and adults affects the organization of an inclusive educational environment (hereinafter – IES) for children with special educational needs (hereinafter – SEN). An example of creating an IES in an elementary school is offered. Specific difficulties that hinder the development of communication (communicative skills) among children aged 7 – 10 with limited health opportunities have been identified.The importance of game activities in the process of organizing an educational space for children with special needs is emphasized. An original author's method of formation of communication skills of students with SEN is proposed, which was based on the key provisions of the pedagogical system of the Italian scientist, doctor, teacher, civic activist, and organizer of educational institutions around the world M. Montessori. Creating an inclusive educational space for children with special needs, we programmed situations where students would develop self-care skills (dressing and undressing, changing shoes, cleaning, dusting, sweeping, taking care of flower pots, taking care of flower beds). Educational materials developed by M. Montessori were shown to the children. The teaching methods proposed by the scientist were also updated. The author's method of formation of communicative skills of students with SEN provided for various forms and methods of learning, both traditional and innovative (project activity, competitions, dramatization, discussion, public performances, didactic games, etc.). The peculiarities of the functioning of the IOP under the conditions of distance learning caused by the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic are characterized. It is emphasized the importance of organizing the game activities of students with SEN as one of the conditions for the successful functioning of IES in the school. The risks posed by online education for children with SEN are highlighted. It was concluded that the process of forming communication skills in students with SEN under the conditions of quarantine restrictions and online learning will become more effective if group work is established (if possible) in the learning process in the classroom and proper pedagogical assistance is provided to the student with SEN at home.

Ключови думи: inclusive education; children with special educational needs; communication skills; inclusive educational environment; forms and methods of inclusive education

Introduction

Ukraine's entry into the world educational space requires the pedagogical community to take a new look at the professional tasks of teaching and raising children with special needs and how to solve them. The project of the National strategy for the development of inclusive education for the period 2020 – 2030 defines new conceptual approaches to the education of children with developmental disabilities, the implementation into practice of the ideas for integrated education and education of disabled children with peers who develop normally (National strategy for the development of inclusive education). In this regard, ensuring the realization of the children’s with health disabilities right to education is considered one of the most important tasks of the state policy of Ukraine not only in the field of education, but also in the field of demographic and socio-economic development. The experience of foreign countries, as well as the development of inclusive education in Ukraine (Bilavych, Malona & Kostashchuk 2021) shows that the creation of accessible schools and joint education contributes to the social adaptation of children with developmental disabilities, their autonomy and independence, and most importantly, changes public opinion towards such a category of persons forms the attitude towards them as full-fledged children/people.

Based on the ideas of the authoritative scientist L.Vygotsky (1999) that the main condition for the development and upbringing of children is communication, we note that the key to successful activity, the resource of efficiency and wellbeing in the future life of a child with SEN is communicative competence, which is manifested in the ability personality to language communication and in the ability to listen, formed communication skills. Therefore, it is the younger school age that is extremely favorable for mastering communication skills due to children's special sensitivity to language phenomena, interest in understanding language experience, communication. Therefore, the development of communication skills of students with SEN is an urgent task of the educational process of primary school, it is about such mandatory skills that ensure the communication skills of a student with SEN, in particular, the ability to listen and hear the interlocutor, justify one's position, etc.

Ukrainian and foreign scientists have actively been researching various aspects of the organization and functioning of an inclusive educational environment (IES), the features of inclusive education, justifying the conceptual principles of teaching students with SEN in an inclusive school environment; scientists analyze the creation of various conceptual and structural models of IES; consider the problems of interaction of specialists of the psychological and pedagogical profile within IES, etc. (Borak 2015; Buslaeva 2016; Gavrilov 2009; Goshovska 2011; Groznaya 2011; Navrylov 2009; Hoshovska 2011; Inclusive education 2010; Lipakova 2007; Tomych 2010).

Methodology

During the research, a group of methods was used. It consisted of the theoretical (specific search) methods i.e. analysis, comparison and generalization of scientific literature on the problem of research to systematize and summarize the facts, information, materials on the problem under study and determine the essence of basic concepts; structural and functional methods i.e. analysis of the content of curricula, textbooks, manuals, dictionaries, directories, etc.) to substantiate the structure, content, principles of construction a program for the development of communication skills of students with SEN; scientific and pedagogical examination of educational materials, with the help of which the conceptual and terminological apparatus, content of organization of an inclusive educational environment for the students with special needs; experimental-empirical methods i.e. pedagogical observation, conversation, interviewing, questioning of students and teachers to determine the state of the problem and substantiation of methodological approaches for of formation of communicative skills of students with SEN; systematization and generalization of results of pedagogical experiment.

The author's method of formation of communicative skills of students with SEN provided for various forms and methods of learning, both traditional and innovative (project activity, competitions, dramatization, discussion, public performances, didactic games, etc.)

The objective of the article is to analyze the communicative activity of students who have difficulties in mental development, as a condition for the organization of IES, to propose an author's method of developing the communicative skills of students with SEN through the dimension of using M. Montessori's methodology, to single out the pedagogical conditions for ensuring the success of this process.

Research hypothesis. The formation of communication skills for students with SEN in primary secondary school will be as effective as possible under the following conditions: creation of a special IOS, which is characterized by partnership relations between all the participants of the educational process; the use of personally oriented and interactive pedagogical technologies in the educational process; application of team work in the learning process; provision of dosed assistance in the process of completing tasks in accordance with the individual capabilities of students; saturating lessons with emotional content, creating a situation of success, even from the smallest achievements; creation of a rich communicative space in the lessons using the author's program, which includes methods and forms of organization of the educational process, aimed at the formation of communication skills.

According to scientists (Borak 2015; Buslaeva 2016; Gavrilov 2009; Goshovska 2011; Groznaya 2011; Navrylov 2009; Hoshovska 2011; Lipakova 2007), an important feature of the communicative activity of children with special mental development is that , on the one hand, they strive to communicate with their close environment, on the other hand, they often do not show adequate initiative for this. We observed this in the process of pedagogical activity at school, in particular, we noticed that students prefer to establish communicative ties with parents, relatives or well-known people, and in the process of conversation they can behave in different ways: emotional, unrestrained, sometimes even inappropriately (Bgazhnokova 2007, 33).

The inability to communicate with the school team of peers, teachers, adults leads to violations of the self-perception of such schoolchildren, therefore the communicative sphere suffers, and this will cause difficulties in relations with other children, the teaching staff of the school, other workers who communicate with schoolchildren with SEN in the conditions of school education. Besides, it is difficult for these students to learn the educational material, they do not always have the motivation to communicate, and due to the impoverished lexical reserve, pronunciation defects, the structure of speech is disturbed, which is largely reflected in the communicative and cognitive abilities of students with SEN, and affects their readiness for schooling. However, it should be remembered that in the process of creating appropriate psychological and pedagogical conditions, it is possible to achieve certain dynamics in their cognitive, in particular, communicative development.

Therefore, we agree with the opinions of authoritative scientists (Buslaeva 2016; Navrylov 2009) that under the conditions of favorable development, the creation of appropriate prerequisites (established speech communication in preschool age, the creation of a communicatively rich environment at school, the pedagogical activities of the teacher and other specialists, which is aimed at the speech of a child with SEN, during emotional and positive contact with loved ones, communication with peers in the classroom at school, etc.) there is a need for communication and students' communication skills are formed. An important place in this process is occupied by the family environment, in particular, a favorable positive family atmosphere where spirituality, friendly relations, and moral values prevail; in this case, emotional favorability helps children with SEN to start the communication process and establish speech activity without difficulty (Lipakova 2007, 19).

The basis of our methodical work on the formation of communicative skills of students with SEN in the 3rd grade of Ivano-Frankivsk Lyceum No. 17 (209 children study in the inclusive form in schools and kindergartens of Frankivsk) were the key provisions of the pedagogical system of the Italian scientist, doctor, teacher, civic activist , M. Montessori, organizer of educational institutions around the world. To develop our method of working with student A, who has peculiarities in mental development, in terms of developing his speaking skills, we were guided by the pedagogical ideas of a world-famous scientist, whose surname, according to the decision of UNESCO (1988), belongs to the four teachers of the 20th century, who defined the way of pedagogical thinking (American John Dewey, German Georg Kershensteiner, Italian Maria Montessori and Soviet/Ukrainian pedagogue Anton Makarenko (Kramer 1976; Montessori 2005; Montessori 2007).

M. Montessori, who was the first female doctor in Italy, often observed the treatment of children with mental disabilities. These children were isolated from the world. M. Montessori drew attention to how important the environment was for the development of young patients, and understood that the problems of mentally retarded children were not only medical problems, but primarily pedagogical ones. She claimed that it is necessary to learn to work with such children not in a hospital, but in a school. These innovative ideas were absolutely revolutionary at the time, and soon led to a restructuring of public consciousness regarding children with special needs, a change in the way of life of any traditional school. M. Montessori was the first educator who had created a special developmental environment for children with disabilities, provided pedagogical conditions for the free development and upbringing of children with special needs and their scientific observations, created a calm, friendly atmosphere for the development of children, used special natural materials for children to acquire knowledge about the world, development of motor skills, developed educational materials, textbooks for children with special needs, etc. M. Montessori, with the help of numerous scientific observations, created a special educational environment, that was organized in such a way that the child could work with various developmental materials created specifically for his age and needs. M. Montessori considered the problem of education and upbringing of children with mental development features inseparably (in parallel, in organic unity) from the problem of training teachers to work with them.

Building a program for the development of communication skills of students with SEN, we took some ideas from the pedagogical experience of an Italian doctor and teacher, which we creatively adapted to the realities of present times. For example, the situations were created where students formed self-care skills (dressing and undressing, changing shoes, cleaning, dusting, sweeping, taking care of flower pots, taking care of flower beds. Children were shown educational materials developed by M. Montessori.

The teaching methods proposed by the scientist were also updated, for example, the accent and concentration of children’s attention, multiple repetitions of actions, sensitivity to the order in the place of stay, free choice of classes, practical classes, educational materials, the ability to spontaneous manifestations of self-discipline, gymnastics, movement exercises, preparation food, pet care.

Result and Discussion

Analysis of theoretical developments and own observations of schoolchildren with SEN and their speech gave rise to separate conclusions: the organic influence of adverse factors (usually genetic, congenital or acquired) on brain structures in the prenatal, natal and postnatal periods are the causes of children's intellectual disorders. Speech formation of children with intellectual disabilities (intellectual disabilities) is directly related to the degree of severity and form of disabilities, which have a significant impact on the development of students' communication skills. Communicative activity of pupils with SEN, their readiness for learning requires a number of conditions: first of all, the formation of the so-called motivational need in the process of communication, positive and emotional motivation, and the development of all norms of speech (at the level of phonetics, orthography, vocabulary, grammar, syntax, etc.) are also important). If this activity is formed without a certain direction, it radically complicates the disclosure of inner qualities and the realization of oneself in education, in the environment of peers and in society in general. It is important to start forming communication skills in primary school for successful development and conscious mastery at the next stages of personality development.

By communicative skills, we understand understand the ability to establish and maintain contacts with other people on the basis of internal resources necessary for building an effective communicative action in situations of interpersonal communication. Most scientists working on the problem of communication of children with intellectual disabilities (Borak 2015; Buslaeva 2016; Groznaya 2011; Navrylov 2009; Hoshovska 2011; Lipakova 2007; Omarova 2009; Tomych 2010) note that the roots this problem should be sought in the early childhood period of the individual, when children are deprived of the opportunity to communicate with close people. A decisive condition for the development of children's communicative activity is the child's interaction with adults and peers. The system of interpersonal relationships of students with intellectual disabilities includes their relationship to each other; these relationships are specially organized by teachers in the classroom or a group. Children with intellectual disabilities experience significant difficulties in communicating with those around them, as they have a reduced ability to understand the emotional state of other people. They are more critical of other people's actions than they are of critically evaluating their anxieties, fears, and express their grievances in a rude, aggressive manner. Adults' assessments, as well as situational factors and individual personality traits characteristic of a particular child, play a major role in shaping children's attitudes towards each other during this period.

Based on the results of the scientific literature studying and our own observations of children with intellectual disabilities, we identify specific difficulties that inhibit the development of communication (communicative skills) in children aged 7 – 10 with limited health opportunities: the lack of formation of age-related forms of communication, as well as the general lack of development of structural components communication in children; insufficient attention from parents to the formation of social and communicative skills in children; the predominance among teachers of educational institutions of an authoritarian style of communication with pupils; insufficient game activity; not enough language situations; insufficient use of art tools and visual and artistic activities in lessons.

Game activity is best suited for the development of communication skills in this category of children, helps them master the means of communication. It is important for the time in classes to be partly devoted to the formation of children's personal qualities, their feelings, emotions, which is extremely relevant at the current stage of the development of society. The peculiarities of primary school age as the most valuable and favorable for the development of communication skills, as well as the insufficient development of scientifically based methods for the formation of communication skills of children 7 – 10 years old with limited health opportunities, determine the relevance of the problem raised by us.

The author's method of formation of communicative skills of students with SEN provided for various forms and methods of learning, both traditional and innovative (project activity, competitions, dramatization, discussion, public performances, didactic games, etc.). During the remote form of education caused by the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, we visited student A at home, organized education according to the model described by M. Montessori (Table 1), adapting the scientist's recommendations to the conditions of the development of the National Academy of Sciences and Education under the conditions of the pandemic.

So, the “Montessori method” made it possible to emphasize the development of the child's own initiative and natural abilities, mainly by means of practical exercises and games, enabled student A to develop at his own pace, and us – a new understanding of the development of a child with SEN. The person learns through activities that include exploration, manipulation, ordering, repetition, abstraction, and communication. We encouraged student A to express his thoughts and emotions during classes openly, to develop his imagination and creative abilities, and encouraged constant communication. “Help me do it myself” – one of the mottos of our program, the implementation of which involved the inclusion of a wide range of employees (volunteers from among school students, librarians, employees of the ATCs, etc.) in the educational process. However, the spread of the coronavirus pandemic caused distance learning mode and quarantine conditions made it impossible to implement the program involving a wide range of participants in the educational process of student A fully. Under such conditions, the emphasis

was placed on parental education, book therapy arranged in cooperation with the school librarian. For the purpose of the speech development of student A, he was invited to participate in the “Skillful hands” group, which was conducted online for students of the 3rd grade, and also with student A, they developed the conditions of the festive game “Secret Friend” and held it for St. Nicholas Day, in other words, they sought to create a favorable communicative environment not only in classes, but also outside of classes. Student A was involved in online Christmas and New Year greetings, Easter egg making, drawing competition “Design my Easter basket” and other promotions.

Our author's program, besides other things, contributed to a friendly atmosphere both for the whole class and for student A, provided the possibility of a flexible schedule of classes, including periods for independent studies, provided for cooperation with parents, given that its methodological basis was the ideas of M. Montessori, combined practical activity with learning, unlike the key provisions of the world-famous doctor and teacher, we used game activities more widely, the conditions of the pandemic, however, made it impossible to use the help of a practical psychologist, social pedagogue, volunteers, other workers and, most importantly, the method of mutual learning as widely as possible peers (peer-tutoring), however, we managed to ensure a positive attitude of the class and school team to an inclusive approach in primary education, to cultivate an atmosphere of support and respect for the individual differences of student A in the school and class, tried to modify the curriculum, helped the class teacher, school staff in establishing friendly relations between students with SEN and common students, using a team approach in promoting inclusion in the school, establishing the position: parents of a student with SEN are partners in the school's activities. In the course of the pedagogical experiment, lessons were held on various subjects, the content of which included various types of tasks that contributed to the development of communication skills of students with special needs.

Work in groups was organized to confirm that students' communication skills are dynamic and their development takes place more effectively in the process of organizing group work in the lesson, because when working in a group with their classmates, students with SEN communicate better. It was concluded that the process of forming the communication skills of junior high school students will be effective during group work, but only if a number of conditions are met i.e. mastering the rules of working in a group; accounting of students' interpersonal relationships; organization of student cooperation; creation of communicative situations; inclusion of a “strong” student in such a group. Before organizing the group work, we suggested establishing the rules relevant to the work of the group and form them visually on a poster. Thus, the children used it and remembered the rules every time before starting to work in a group. Thus, group forms of work were used in the lesson of literary reading (extracurricular reading) from Alan Milne's book “Winnie the Pooh”. The children were divided into 4 groups in advance according to their wishes, each of the groups, by mutual agreement, chose an “Adventure” (there are twenty of them in the work) (Milne 2001), prepared a project (staging, dramatization, book presentation, etc.). The formation of groups on the basis of mutual sympathies contributed to the positive experiences of students in the lesson, developed motivation for joint activities. In addition, such distribution contributed to greater mutual understanding, role interaction between students, inclusion of student A in joint collective activities.

To begin with, the children were asked to remember the rules of working together in groups, using a pre-made poster that hangs on the board. Before the presentation of our group projects, we arranged a “Warm-up by the author A. Milne” for the students: we offered to solve a riddle, which was made based on the content of the work; arrange individual parts/paragraphs/lines of the work in the correct order to produce a text with content; the game “Guess who I am?” (according to the description of the appearance of the hero, his behavior, guess which hero of the work it is about); the game “Who is my friend?” (put the heroes of the work in pairs, who is friends with whom); “Winnie the Pooh” contest in the original language: children were offered to watch individual episodes of the feature film/cartoon about Winnie the Pooh in English and were asked to voice the lines of the characters; competition of group captains “I am a rhetorician”: justify the thesis “Christopher Robin is the best friend because...”, choosing 3 – 4 arguments. Or refuting this thesis, proposing another hero for it; drawing competition “I am an illustrator of a book about Winnie the Pooh”; the competition “I am a designer” included a drawing/production of a model/using computer graphics to create a design for the home of one of the heroes of the work; mini-story contest “I am the author”: in advance, the group collectively composes its own ending to the work about Winnie the Pooh.

Then there is a presentation of all four projects (from each group). Points are added up, the winner is determined. Such an extracurricular reading lesson, conducted with the help of innovative methods, tools and educational forms, was interdisciplinary in nature, took into account the developed competencies of children and their abilities, created a communicatively rich environment, formed a team spirit and an atmosphere of healthy rivalry, such work on a literary work is a world bestseller for children – not only helped the whole class to actively participate in the discussion of the work that was presented for the extracurricular reading lesson, to remember its content and characters better, but also to form public speaking skills, to overcome the fear of speaking in front of an audience, to create mininarratives, to choose arguments, as well as working in a team, agreeing, working on a joint project, establishing friendly relations, helping each other. A. Milne's work “Winnie-the-Pooh” was chosen not by chance, since the leading theme in it is friendship, mutual help, caring for the smaller, those who feel lonely, afraid, etc. Similar interactive classes were held in the lessons of the course “I explore the world”, “Mathematics”, “Art”. A “strong” student has the opportunity to offer his help to a student with SEN, learn to provide the support that a student with SEN needs, and interact not only with those with whom it is easy to negotiate and get a general successful result, but also the so-called awkward communicators. Before joint work, children repeated the rules of working in a group with the help of a poster and began the tasks. The necessary equipment for the lesson was laid out on the students' desks in advance. It is important to note that the groups changed their qualitative composition, which made it possible to form friendly relations of the student with SEN with all classmates.

Discussion

Unlike M. Montessori's methodical system, our method was focused on the use of a didactic game as a factor of learning and personal development, in our case, the development of the communicative skills of student A. As it is known, the game is a type of communicative activity, thanks to which the first knowledge, skills and the child's skills, the foundations of sociability and morality are laid, the first life experience is gained, etc. The game teaches the child to observe objects and phenomena, to compare them, to identify the connection between them, to reason, to justify one's own answer; develops the ability to generalize, analyze, abstract; trains attention, memory, thinking; develops the habit of concentrating, working creatively, independently, inspiredly (Bondar 2006; Lyashenko 2008).

Game activities have a special value for children who have intellectual or physical problems. Individual characteristics, intellectual capabilities, inclinations, and abilities of children are most fully manifested in the game. When choosing a game, remember that it is important to combine two elements - cognitive and game, and to create a game situation in accordance with the content of the curriculum, clearly plan children's game activities, direct them to achieve the set goal, conduct systematically and purposefully in each lesson, starting with elementary rules of situations, gradually complicating and diversifying them as students accumulate knowledge, develop skills and memory development skills. Given the fact that students with SEN quickly tire in class, their attention is dulled, monotony is boring, so the game should enter the teacher's practice as one of the most effective methods for developing children's ideas. The requirements for conducting the game were followed: it should not take a lot of time (5 – 10 minutes); students must be ready to participate in the game, learn its game rules, clearly understand the goal, final result, sequence of actions; control, timely direct, evaluate students' actions; it is unacceptable to humiliate a child with SEN (offensive comparisons, a bad grade for losing a game, mocking, etc.), to monitor compliance with the norms of communication etiquette, the use of speech formulas, etc.

The organization of game activities of students with SEN is a simulation of future life situations, gaining experience, obtaining more and more information, which will ultimately be necessary in the future. If we gradually complicate the conditions of the game, introduce new actors, expand the information space by increasing the number of concepts necessary for the game, then this will certainly stimulate the development of intelligence. Knowledge of surrounding subjects, concepts, situations, purposeful preparation of children to master the volume of basic education should be embedded in the conditions of the game. The second, no less important condition is the constant "immersion" of the child in new informational situations. Even when the child does not directly participate in the game, he receives certain information (Bondar 2006; Lyashenko 2008).

The corrective and developmental program for children with special educational needs includes three stages: a friendly psychological microclimate; implementation of directions of psychocorrective influences; independence, which are closely intertwined. The main goal facing the teacher, psychologist, and parents of a child with special educational needs is his socialization, independence, and development of adaptation skills in society. Game activities with a student with SEN can be carried out both individually (correcting memory, thinking, speech) and in groups, aimed at the child's socialization.

One of the conditions for organizing an educational environment for children with special needs is the active communicative activity of students who have difficulties in mental development. To improve the quality of education and mental development of students with SEN, it is necessary to form communicative competence, the organic structural component of which is speech skills. They do not arise without efforts, but are formed in the process of a long and complex communicative activity. Like any other competence, it cannot be formed outside of activity. The basis of its formation is the experience of children's communication.

The author's method of forming the communication skills of 3rd grade students, in particular the student Awith SEN, provided for various forms and methods of learning, both traditional and innovative (project activities, competitions, dramatization, discussion, public performances, didactic games, etc.). It is also necessary to create conditions when schoolchildren express their point of view and understand the studied material. It is advisable to form in students the rules of communicative norms within which communicative activity takes place. Analyzing various approaches to the problem of organizing an inclusive educational environment, we came to the conclusion that academic success represents an integration of subjective (level of educational motivation, sociometric status of a child with SEN in the group, level of self-esteem of students, level of anxiety) and objective (success with educational subject; emotional attitude to the surrounding world, personal achievements of students in mastering the learning content) indicators, etc. Group interaction of students involved the formation of groups of permanent and nonpermanent composition; the application of special tasks of a problem-searching, creative nature, related to the actualization of students' experience of interacting with each other; inclusion in the structure of the lesson of special techniques aimed at creating a favorable emotional atmosphere; an integrated approach to learning; use of the latest teaching methods; the presence of a “strong student” in the group; creating a communicatively rich environment; permanent communicative activity. According to the results of the author's methodology implementation, it was established that only the purposeful and systematic work of a teacher's assistant, class teacher, parents, a practical psychologist, a social pedagogue, a librarian, and other pedagogical workers can lead to the creation of an effective educational inclusive environment that will ensure the formation of communicative knowledge necessary for successful socialization, abilities and skills, otherwise, under the conditions of distance learning, the student's communicative activity with SEN significantly decreases, therefore, under such conditions, it is necessary to establish offline training at the student's home. The process of forming communication skills in students with special needs under the conditions of quarantine restrictions and online learning will proceed effectively if group work is established (if possible) in the process of learning in the classroom and dosed help is provided to the student with special needs in a proper manner.

Conclusions

Every school, according to its philosophy, should be inclusive. Such a philosophy suggests the readiness of the educational institution to accept every child with special needs at any time, the desire to create the most favorable educational environment for him, which will serve to develop his potential. The creation of conditions for the full-fledged upbringing and education of children with special needs, adequate to their state of health. This is defined as a priority of the social and educational policy of Ukraine. Inclusive education emphasizes the personalization of the learning process, the development of an individual educational program.

Inclusive education is a long-term strategy, which is considered not as a local area of work, but as a systemic approach in organizing the activities of the general education system in all directions as a result. It applies to all subjects of the educational process: children with special educational needs and their parents, teachers and other specialists in the educational space, administration, structures of additional education, etc. Therefore, the activities of a general educational institution should be aimed not only at creating special conditions for the education and upbringing of a child with SEN, but also at ensuring the interaction of understanding both among teachers (specialists in the field of correctional and general pedagogy) and among students with SEN and their healthy peers etc.

Analyzing the degree of development of inclusive education in its historical and global dimensions, it is worth bearing in mind that in Ukraine and the world there are a number of original scientific developments in the field of defectology, special psychology, and inclusive education, which are logically related to the process of teaching children with SEN. First of all, the work of scientists of the Mykola Yarmachenko Institute of Special Pedagogy and Psychology (E. Danilavichyute, V. Zasenko, L. Koval, A. Kolupaeva, O. Taranchenko, O. Fedorenko, etc.) deserves a deep comprehensive study, whose theoretical ideas and practical studies laid the foundations of inclusive education in Ukraine at the beginning of the 21st century.

In the Ukrainian education system, the pedagogical ideas of M. Montessori are actively borrowed, preschool and primary educational institutions are created, while forgetting that the scientist built her author's pedagogical system based on the provisions of the development of children with intellectual and mental development disabilities. We believe that this experience is not very relevant both in pedagogical science (theoretical dimension) and in educational practice, it seems appropriate to study the course in institutions of higher education under the option “Pedagogical system of M. Montessori in working with children with special educational needs”).

In addition, it is necessary not only to promote the professional training of teachers to work with students with SEN, but also to improve the qualifications and retraining of specialists, to create a system of training the pedagogical and parental community, other children to accept children with SEN, the formation of tolerance (positive partnership courses, a training system for teachers); to intensify the training of highly professional multidisciplinary specialists (defectologists, speech therapists, social educators, rehabilitators, etc.) to work with children with disabilities, as well as the activities of resource centers for inclusive education at united territorial communities, to involve the potential of correctional school specialists more widely, to establish interaction between specialists of ordinary and correctional institutions, which would contribute to the best possible understanding of the problems on deviations in children's development; it is necessary to involve the methodological potential of consultants of psychological-medical-pedagogical commissions, employees of inclusive resource centers more, etc.

Violations of the intellect, peculiarities of the development of the emotionalvolitional sphere and the development of the higher mental functions of a child with SEN pose urgent tasks for teachers in the organization of a high-quality process of forming communicative skills and the need for its special organization, creation of a rich speech environment. Despite the fact that these violations are stable, their development, however, can be corrected. Based on the analysis of scientific literature and own observations of children with intellectual disabilities, specific difficulties were identified that inhibit the development of communication skills of elementary school students with limited health opportunities, among which the lack of formation of age-related forms of communication and the general underdevelopment of the structural components of communication in children; insufficient attention from parents to the speech development of children with SEN; not enough time is devoted to game activities; there is a lack of language situations in the lessons; etc.

Therefore, it is important to continue the development of blocks of educational programs for the tasks of different levels of children's education according to their capabilities, for the preparatory group of SEN at the stages of primary and secondary school. Similar programs should make it possible to conduct face-to-face training of children at different levels of depth of material mastery. The number of different levels of complexity of educational programs should be at least 5 – 7, as is envisaged in the systems of inclusive education (integrated education) abroad. It is important to develop a system of objective assessment (attestation) of the level of knowledge, abilities and skills of the child's educational trajectory and development in accordance with different levels of complexity of the program material, as well as differentiated programs for the tasks of specialized (professional) training and development of labor skills of high school children in accordance with their intellectual and physical capabilities. It is necessary to create a variety of typical individualized training and education plans for students with SEN within different level educational programs. The high academic requirements offered by the Ukrainian educational system cause problems with the adaptation of the secondary school program to the needs of a child with developmental disabilities; it also greatly hinders the implementation of foreign experience in Ukrainian secondary schools (for example, basic education in Great Britain is more oriented towards practical knowledge of the world, there is a high status of professional training in colleges, which optimizes the task of inclusion).

And finally, there is a need to create a model of an institution that carries out the comprehensive development of children with SEN, which includes educational, psychological, emotional and social support for the family, provides an opportunity for parents to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities for a full-fledged education of their child in the family while being protected by parents social activity, ensures the continuity of preschool and general education for children with special needs by including them in the general educational space, summarizes the world experience of working with children with special needs, provides advisory assistance to specialists of the education, health care and social protection systems in the field of adaptation to Ukrainian educational conditions of the latest foreign technologies and methods of rehabilitation of children with disabilities, coordinates the cooperation of highly professional specialists of various fields (defectologists, speech therapists, social pedagogues, rehabilitators, etc.), activities of resource centers of inclusive education for working with children with disabilities, etc. The analysis of organizational and pedagogical conditions for the creation of such a model will be the subject of our further scientific research.

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