Special education and learning
disabilities –Humanities and Social
Science Lens
Jacqueline Amoah
IDS100
December 6,2020
Introduction
•The focus of this presentation is the topic of Special education and learning
disabilities.
•It has been critically explored through the lenses of humanities and social science.
•I have chosen the specific topic so that comprehensive support can be extended to
individuals with a disability so that their learning needs can be met.
•Since my sibling has special learning needs, I wanted to explore how support can be
extended to vulnerable individuals like him.
Special education and learning disabilities –
Humanities lens
•Special education is designed for the learners who have special needs or suffer from
some kind of health disability.
•According to the humanities lens, the individuals with special learning needs require
special education.
•The lens focuses on human relationships, society and culture.
•As per the lens, special education must be designed to suit their distinctive learning
needs or disabilities of the individuals.
•The lens focuses on how learners could express themselves as individuals and
successfully learn (IDS The Four General Education Lenses, 2019).
Special education and learning disabilities –
Social Science lens
•The Social science lens lays emphasis on the behaviour of human beings in
their social environmental setting.
•As per this liberal arts lens, while taking care of learning needs, there is a
need to establish a connection with the vulnerable individuals.
•The relationship that individuals with a disability have would influence how
they learn and grow.
•Proper instructional strategies need to be adopted that focus on
relationships, engagement and support diversity and inclusion.
Convergence
•Both the humanities lens, as well as the social science lens, has a vital
connection with the topic of Special education and learning disabilities.
•Both the lenses take into account society as well as human relationships in a
comprehensive manner.
•Such an outlook would help to extend holistic support to individuals with
special learning needs or learning disabilities.
Contd..
•The human factors involved in a situation are given
importance as per the social science lens as well as the
humanities lens
•Thus both the perspectives help to understand their
situation in a better manner.
Divergence
•The humanities lens and the social science lens have a number of differences which
must be taken into account while exploring the Special education and learning
disabilities topic.
•The social science lens explores the Special education and learning disabilities topic
in a scientific and methodical manner by giving high importance to relationships,
interaction and engagement (IDS The Four General Education Lenses, 2019).
•The humanities lens explores the Special education and learning disabilities topic in
a more analytical manner so that suitable interventions can be designed to support
the learning needs of the vulnerable individuals.
Both Lenses
•In order to get a comprehensive and integrated insight into the Special education and
learning disabilities topic, both the humanities lens as well as the social science lens has been
used.
•The exploration of the topic through both the lens shows that there is a need to extend
holistic assistance to individuals with special educational needs or with disability so that they
can get adequate opportunity to learn and grow (IDS The Four General Education Lenses,
2019).
•While devising suitable strategies to support their learning experience and learning outcome,
it is vital to lay emphasis on the relationships that they have (Condello et al., 2019).
•Thus the necessary support must also be extended to their families so that they can play a
proactive role to support the learning needs of the vulnerable individuals.
Further Exploration
•In order to explore the topic in more detail, I would like to understand the
awareness level of community members regarding disabled individuals, their life and
their learning needs.
•What kind of support can be extended to individuals with learning disabilities so
that special education can create value for them?
•Keywords: Special education, disabled individuals and disabled learners
•How can the society play a proactive role to support individuals with special
learning needs of disabled learners or individuals with special needs?
•Keywords: Special learning needs, disabled individuals and disabled learners
Conclusion
•The exploration of the topic through a diverse range of liberal arts lenses has been
very insightful.
•The use of humanities, as well as social science lens, has helped to get a holistic
insight into the learning needs and expectations of disabled individuals.
•In order to extend quality support, diversity and including in the education setting
must be given high priority.
•While devising suitable instructional strategies for learners with special needs, there
is a need to give importance to the relationships that they create in the learning
environment .
References
•Condello, G., Capranica, L., Doupona, M., Varga, K., & Burk, V. (2019).
Dual-career through the elite university student-athletes’ lenses: The
international FISU-EAS survey. PloS one,14(10), e0223278.
•IDS The Four General Education Lenses. (2019). Retrieved December 04,
2020, from
https://learn.snhu.edu/d2l/lor/viewer/viewFile.d2lfile/6606/26064/IDS%
20Four%20General%20Education%20Lenses.pdf
