School Support Services Model for Students With Disabilities in General Education Classrooms： Using Data From the Special Needs Education Longitudinal Study in Taiwan

The purposes of this study were to establish a school support service model for students with disabilities in general classroom, and to explore the current status of school support services provided for students with disabilities in preschools, primary, and junior high schools. Therefore, this study used data from the Special Needs Education Longitudinal Study in Taiwan, collected in the 2007-2008 academic year. There were 2,924 students with disabilities selected in the study who were placed in general classrooms; 855 were in preschool, 1,079 were in primary school and 990 were in junior high school. The questionnaires in the database were answered by their teachers. The results of this study are listed, as follows： In terms of the school support service model for students with disabilities in the three stages of education, adjustment in teaching accounts for 1-15% of the explanatory power regarding the overall model, while support services account for 63-85%, which peak in junior high schools. Secondly, itinerant teachers are found to be the most important human resource in preschools. For primary and junior high schools, parents and special education teachers are the more prevalent influences. The more common school support services are tuition refunds, itinerant services, adjustments in examinations, and scholarships.

Italian Case: The Role of Learning Processes in University Inclusion

This proposal is focused on the first outputs of the doctoral thesis“Universitabile”based,specifically,on the relationship between educational inclusion(Ainscow&Miles,2009)and ICT(Information and Communications Technology).Starting from a review of the literature on the role of universities as places of inclusion and confrontation with diversity(Bolt&Penketh,2016;Moriña&Gavira,2015),the proposal analyses the inclusion strategies by three main universities in Rome:La Sapienza,Tor Vergata and Roma Tre through a mixed method approach.We will show the answers to interviews administered to operators of dedicated services.In this context,ICT,during the Covid-19 emergency,acted as a facilitator allowing people with disabilities to benefit from distance learning,but also as a barrier,since the evidence shows that technology,if conceived as a facilitator but designed only on the basis of the characteristics of able-bodied users,can represent an obstacle factor.In this sense,as found by Tsatsou(2020),the inclusion of people with disabilities can be facilitated by the use of digital technologies.This view is also found in Valentini(2008),who emphasises how the use of digital technologies is a prerequisite for the development of concrete solutions.To conclude,it would be appropriate to rethink technology on the basis of Universal Design,i.e.“an approach to the design of technologies that pays more attention to the concept of universal usability:buildings and tools should be conceived,designed and constructed in a way to be usable by all”(Fiocco&Martinati,2002,p.232).