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Essay on Special Education Schools in Malaysia for Special Children

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1. Introduction
Malaysian government's formal involvement in special education began in 1948 with the opening of Princess Elizabeth School for the Blind. Education for children with special educational needs (SEN) was undertaken by community groups and religious-based institutions. Besides that, education for these children was further enhanced by the establishment of the Federated School for the Deaf in 1954. It offers both academic as well as vocational training.
During the early years of Independence, the government's primary educational concern was to provide educational services and facilities for mainstream children without neglecting the educational needs of children with SEN. In 1961, The Education Act acknowledged that these …show more content…

Special education programs are made available from Pre-school age, primary school level and secondary education level in normal academic and vocational stream.

2. Special Education Programmes.
There are three types of special education programmes available for children with SEN under the Ministry of Education Malaysia, special schools, integrated and inclusion programmes.

2.1 Special Education Schools.
The Special Education Department is responsible for the administration of all special education schools. Matters such as funding for the development of schools, teachers placement and transfer, teachers’ salaries, appointment and promotion of schools heads and monitoring of school management and accounts are being managed by the Department. Previously, these educational facilities are only available to children with hearing and visual impairment.
Hearing impairment isn’t severe enough for a child to be classified as ‘deaf’ but rather ‘hard of hearing’ the child with a hearing impairment is at a distinct disadvantage in virtually all aspects of language development (Martha Sheridan’s, 2001). It is now been extended to intellectually challenged children at both primary and secondary level of schooling. Implementing inclusive approaches is difficult in special education schools because all of the schools‟ populations are children with SEN.

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