Abstract:

At the international policy level (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006, Council of Europe Strategic Challenges for the Implementation of Justice in Education, etc.), provisions and targets for the development of inclusive education are being implemented to improve educational policies and practices for students with special educational needs.

The research problem is based on the situation of education in Lithuania, when implementing the amendments to the Law on Education, students with special needs, like everyone else, will be able to attend the school of their choice since 2024. It is, therefore, important for schools of general education to be properly prepared in order to create appropriate educational conditions for all children.

The research methodology. The qualitative case study method was chosen for the research. The study was carried out during the period from September 2021 to March 2022. In the first phase of the study, the content analysis of 10 cases of Special Pedagogy and Speech Therapy Study Programme students on the assessment of reading skills of general or special education Grade 1-4 students with special educational needs was performed. The content analysis method was used for the analysis of the research data. The qualitative data were organized into groups and sets with MAXQDA2022. The analysis has been conducted by consistently analysing the content of a text, dividing the content under investigation into analytical units, i. e. categories, and sub-categories. The latter are coded according to the order of reflections presented by the surveyed, aiming at the anonymity of the research participants (cases). In the second phase of the study, a content analysis of 28 students' reflections was carried out.

The research results revealed that students, in the context of the analysed cases, face various difficulties in reading words, fluent reading, and understanding the text, respectively and / or with complete inability to read. The main emphasis is on insufficient phonetic and phonemic perception, poor vocal synthesis skills, inconsistent text comprehension and a slow pace of performance of tasks. Reading difficulties often occur through an emotional prism, i.e. fatigue, anxiety, tension, distance from group / class activities, or a complete reluctance to read. In order to ensure the inclusion of students with different language skills, appropriate educational methods must be applied and an appropriate educational environment must be created.

Teachers must have extensive knowledge about an individual’s difficulties and expectations, distinctive teaching strategies, adaptable to each person and dependent upon what constitutes the learning difficulties. The networking of educational support specialists, subject teachers and parents create preconditions for the more effective development of the basics of a child’s native culture, the formation of essential practical communication, language etiquette, reading and writing skills.

Keywords:

Inclusive education, students with special educational needs, reading skills, linguistic development, case study.