Country: Philippines                          
Title:    Expanding Special Education Program for the Hearing
          Impaired and the Visually Impaired at the Secondary School
          Level
Author:            Lourdes R.. Quisumbing, Secretary, DECS.  
Institution:       Department of Education, Culture and Sports
Citations:         DECS Memo. No. 105, s. 1987.  
Descriptors:       Special education; Blind; Deaf; Secondary schools.
Full text: 1.      The need to provide access to secondary education
  for children with special needs is urgent.  Ststistics show an
  accelerating enrollment of children with special needs at the
  elementary level but majority of them fail to reach high school and
  acquire a high school diploma.  One of the constraints is the lack
  of educational programs and services, including trained teachers in
  special education at this level.

  2.       Integration or mainstreaming of handicapped students which
  involve their placement in regular classrooms for part or all of
  their school day is a practical and economical practice of serving
  the needs of the hearing and the visually impaired children in the
  secondary level.  It has been found viable in certain school
  divisions with a large concentration of hearing and visually
  impaired children with learning potential.

  3.       In view thereof, superintendents and school administrators
  are hereby urged to organize integrated clases for the hearing
  impaired and the visually impaired children at the secondary level.
   Since there are more teachers in the elementary level than
  teachers in the secondary level who have had training in teaching
  the hearing impaired and the visually impaired, the services of
  trained elementary school teachers can be utilized.

  4.       Inclosed are guidelines designed to assist school
  administrators in integrating hearing impaired and visually
  impaired children in regular classrooms at the secondary level.

        GUIDELINES IN THE INTEGRATION OR MAINSTREAMING OF HEARING
  IMPAIRED AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS AT THE SECONDARY SCHOOL
  LEVEL

       1.  Division with classes for the hearing impaired and the
  visually impaired at the elementary level will identify schools in
  the secondary level, public or private where hearing impaired and
  visually impaired children can be integrated.

       2.  The organization of classes will be preceded by a careful
  selection of prospective enrollees on the basis of the child's
  interest, attitude and his intettlectual capacity for learning.

       3.  Integration shall either be full or partial.  In full
  integration, the hearing impaired or the visually impaired child
  attends the regular class the whole day that is, in all subjects,
  academic and non-academic.  The special education teacher serves as
  sign language interpreter in the class where the hearing impaired
  student is integrated or as resource room tutor and consultant in
  the case or the visually impaired.  In partial integration, the
  child attends the regular class for part of the school day in
  non-academic subjects like Practical Arts-Home Economics, P.E.,
  Scounting, etc., without the aid of the special education teacher. 
  The child, however, receives instruction in the academic subjects
  in a special class from the SPED teacher perhaps, for one to three
  hours per day.

       4.  In exceptional cases, a maximum of two (2) students can be
  fully integrated without instruction from a SPED teacher.  For
  partially sighted students, they can be fully integrated with
  provision of large print materials.

       5.  As much as possible, the special education teacher for the
  hearing impaired must have facility in the use of the sign
  language, and for the visually impaired, braille transcription.

            In the absence of trained teachers in the divisions,
  demonstrated commitment and interest in handling children with
  special needs shall be considered for appointment.  The teacher
  assigned should have the right attitude and zeal for work with
  special learners.

       6. The assignment of trained elementary SPED teachers in the
  integrated secondary program, shall entail no additional
  compensation.

      7. Teachers involved in the education of children with special
  needs in the secondary level shall be given priority in the
  selection of scholarship programs, here and abroad.

       8. Promotion of the children shall follow the promotion policy
  of the regular grades.

       9. Administrative supervision will be provided by the
  supervisor-principal where the class is organized.

       10. Further supervision will be done by the Division
  Supervisor In-Charge of Special Education.

      11. Organized classes will be closely monitored and evaluated
  by the Bureau of Elementary Education.