Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation

5-16

Authors: Viviana LANGER, Goran AJDINSKI, Roza FERI, Risto PETROV

Participating in an international conference is often a ritual. It happens very frequently that the participants, although coming from different contexts and sharing the same field of interests, although discussing about the works presented in the conference, actually save the same opinions that they had before, and the effect of the exchanges fades with the last conversation during the conference dinner. The international conference for the ten years of the Institute of Special Education and Rehabilitation, University “Ss Cyril and Methodius”, held in Ohrid on September 2003, was not a mere ritual. During that conference, a small group of researchers and experts coming from Macedonia and Italy gave start to something new, spontaneously beginning to talk about the two different educational systems for people with special needs, the one practiced in Italy and the one practiced in Macedonia. Few months after that encounter, that small group of people (the writers of the present article were among them) gave birth to an inter-university co-operation project between “Ss Cyril and Methodius” and “La Sapienza” Universities, that has been lasting for two years and still going on.

23-30

Authors: Marinka GROBLER

The objective of this study is the research of specific language impairments as manifested in Slovene language. The research focuses on language processing in order to determine syntactic, deficit. It has been predicted, that SLI children will meet with difficulties in the language of all elements that mark syntatic dependency. The research has been carried out on a sample of 71 children with SLI and of 71 children with normal language development, all pupils from first to fourth grade of primary school. The children from both groups were matched by sex, socio-economic status and school environment. This study presents an analysis of repetitions of ten sentences designed in such way that some syntactic elements have been varied. The variables of language processing and those of morpho syntactic command were obtained from the elicited repetition task (including different syntactically complex structures). The results show, that SLI children use certain structure less frequently than age controls and that there are not only statistically important differences in the majority of the sentences with different syntactic complexity, but also that the tasks applied can differentiate specific language impairments as well. The research has put up some syntactic deficit of SLI in Slovene language as they can be identified by means of targeted sentences. In syntax, children with SLI have problems with depended relations, with language processing and structuring of coordinate and subordinate clauses and also in the simple sentences. Furthermore, they have problems with subject-predicate agreement and, when they repeate sentences, with coordinate elements. Kay words: specific language impairment, syntax, syntactic deficit, compound sentences, complex sentences

41-48

Authors: Magdalena DIMKOVA, Risto PETROV

Employment, i.e. the right of people with disabili­ties to work, is the last phase of an extended and complex process of their rehabilitation. The em­ployment is the last phase of the integration of these people in the social environment. In all developed counties, the right to work presents one of the fundamental human rights. The question regarding employment of people with mental retar­dation is a current issue at present, especially be­cause a lot of people with disability who are able to work have met resistance by the employers. Key words: Employment, rehabilitation, integra­tion, mentally retarded people, protective compa­nies, legislation

59-64

Authors: Suzana KRAJNC JOLDIKJ

Children with special needs have a right to equal educational opportunities and consequently to an inclusive education. With a placement of a motor-disabled child in a primary school, a mobile special educator and a mobile-service have an important role. Additional special assistance for children with special needs means suppressing, correcting and compensating children’s impediments and deficiencies. It includes assessing the level of child’s functionality, assessing child’s needs from a special pedagogical viewpoint, assessing integral stimulation of child's potentials and assessing influences on the development of expertise, strategies and skills required for learning and work. The integrated approach considers the child as a bio-psycho-social being in to child’s social environment. Therefore, it does not involve only a direct work with a child but also counselling. Every child should be included in a programme that is appropriate for its aptitude and capabilities. Therefore, the mobile-special educator (mobile special educator-teacher for children with special needs who operate on field) has an important role to emphasise to the parents the negative factors that occur and together with them try to find what is best for their child. Key words: motor-disabled children, mobile special educator*, teacher for children with special needs, mobile-service, regular primary school

77-82

Authors: Jelle REYNAERT

We all live in a world that is becoming more and more global. For that reason disability policies are not a matter of national interest only. Governments and non-governmental organisations need to take an active part in international activities as well. 2006 was an important year with regard to international initiatives in the disability field. In August, the United Nations have completed a successful process in order to finalise a new Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. The in-depth and profound dialogue between the governments and non-governmental organizations was an example for all (supranational) authorities in Europe. The slogan “nothing about us without us” finally became a reality. In September, the Council of Europe officially launched its Action Plan to promote the rights and full participation of people with disabilities in society. Both documents will have an huge impact on the future of the sector in the future both in Europe and in the world. The Council of Europe Action Plan to promote the rights and full participation of people with disabilities in society: improving the quality of life of people with disabilities in Europe 2006-2015 1 The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted in April 2006 a new Action Plan to promote the rights and full participation of people with disabilities in Europe 2006-2015. The Plan is based on the Malaga Ministerial Declaration “Progressing towards full participation as citizens”, which was adopted in 2003. The key objective of the Disability Action Plan is to serve as a practical tool for developing and implementing national strategies in order to bring about full participation of persons with disabilities and combat discrimination. A better quality of life of persons with disabilities in Europe can be achieved by awareness raising campaigns, providing accessible and high-quality services and support and by mainstreaming disability throughout all policy areas. Member States have the primary responsibility for implementing disability policies at national level. The first step is to carry out a national stocktaking exercise. In Finland for example the Government has already evaluated the present disability policy against the blueprint of the Disability Action Plan as well as other relevant global disability documents. They identified ten key areas in which progress has to be made. These areas concern amongst others human rights and non-discrimination, employment, education, cultural rights, independent living and information technology. The relevant ministries are in charge of carrying out the actions and including the necessary resources in their budgets. Secondly it is needed to build up knowledge and know-how at national level. A multidisciplinary, holistic approach towards disability based on different scientific methods and perspectives needs to be developed. Member States should collect appropriate information, including statistics and research data, to get a clear picture of the present situation of persons with disabilities. Also national seminars and conferences which highlight experiences and best practices and promote the dialogue between users and planners could form a good base for obtaining a common understanding of what should be the next steps. Statistics and research will also help to assess the effects of present policies and strategies and put up new goals for the future. Research findings should be transformed into good policies and practices. The third prerequisite for carrying out a successful policy for persons with disabilities is to ensure effective structures for cooperation and consultation. Governments should work side by side with non-governmental organisations when implementing and assessing national disability policies and strategies. One cannot stress the importance of cooperation enough. Mainstreaming means that also the cooperation between different administrative sectors needs to be understood and emphasized. A focal point is necessary to bear the ultimate responsibility for coordinating disability policies at national level. Follow up and reporting back to the Council of Europe on the implementation of the Action Plan complete the process. It is of utmost importance to have a forum for follow up and cooperation encompassing all 46 member States of the Council as well as the NGO’s (such as EASPD) and other relevant stakeholders. A body for concerted action on disability policies is a must at European level. Cooperation at international level also gives concrete content and meaning to abstract disability concepts.

85-101

Authors: Manuel F. CASANOVA, Aly FARAG, Ayman EL-BAZ, Meghan MOTT, Hossam HASSAN,Rachid FAHMI, Andrew E. SWITALA

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social interaction, language, and range of interests. Recent studies suggest that the brains of autistic patients have an increased number of minicolumns. This finding helps explain the presence of macroencephaly or increased brain size in a significant proportion of autistic patients. Changes in brain size and gyrification are usually concurrent. In this study we have implemented an algorithm that measured the gyrification window in the brains of 23 postmortem autistic and 16 postmortem control brains. At the 85% confidence level the algorithm correctly classified 22/23 autistics, a 0.96 accuracy rate, and 15/16 controls, a 0.94 accuracy rate. Previous structural neuroimaging studies in autism have emphasized volumetric measures. These methodologies are very sensitive to segmentation artifacts, being compromised by image noise, lack of strong edges, and sharing of color/texture among different structures. The present study offers a new approach to the classification of autism based on structural MRI. The finding bears relevance to the clinical presentation of autism as increased gyrification reduces the gyral window and constrains connectivity in favor of short corticocortical fibers. Key words: Autism, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), neocortex, minicolumns