EDUCATION Secretary Jesli Lapus yesterday called on school officials to accept for enrollment about 2.2 million children with disabilities as it is part of the DepEd’s Education for All (EFA) program.

"All children regardless of race, size, shape, color ability or disability should be accepted in schools. They have all the right to receive appropriate education within the regular or inclusive classroom setting," Lapus said.

To carry this out, DepEd has incorporated in its School Improvement Plan (SIP) a comprehensive education system that includes children with special needs.

Children with special needs are located through the family mapping survey, advocacy campaigns and networking with local health workers. These children are then visited by Special Education (SPED) teachers to convince the parents to enroll their children in SPED Centers or the nearest school.

The special children also go through an assessment process where their strengths and weaknesses are identified to determine their proper grade placement.

Regular schools are provided educational services to children with special needs. These schools access educational services from SPED centers or SPED trained teachers.

Lapus said three program options are available to the schools, which they may access for the special children. "The first is a self-contained class for children with similar disabilities. This can be mono-grade or multi-grade class handled by a trained SPED teacher."

Another option, he said, is the inclusion or placement of the child with disabilities in general education or regular class where they learn with their peers under a regular teacher and/or SPED trained teacher who addresses the children’s needs.

A third option is having the child report to a SPED teacher who provides small group, one-on-one instruction with appropriate interventions for the child.

The program also includes changes in the curriculum. This is in the form of adaptation and accommodation to foster optimum learning based on the individual’s needs and potentials. These involve new ways of thinking and developing teaching-learning practices. It also includes service delivery options like cooperative or team teaching and consulting teacher program.

An important feature of the program is the provision of support services from professionals and specialists, parents, volunteers, and peers to children with special needs.

Early this year, DepEd strengthened SPED education by upgrading 217 SPED centers across the country.

Mirla Olores, DepEd Special Education Division chief, said the DepEd has not yet met the requirement needs of the 13 percent to the population of special children (10 percent differently-able and 3 percent gifted).

Olores noted that one of the reasons the target has not been served is that parents tend to hide their children with disabilities out of embarrassment.

"Others do not send their differently-able children to school due to poverty. Parents prioritize to send their normal kids to school and the disabled ones are left home," she said.

"We need intensive advocacy programs to encourage parents of differently-able children to send them to special education classes," she said.