Abstract:

The past decade for the Russian educational system has been marked by substantial change. The new Federal Law on Education in Russia and related regulations coming into effect have prompted a new stage in the development of the education system. The improvement of education of children and adults with limited health capacities gained new momentum following humanistic ideas of social development. Thus, the law granted equal access to education for every child irrespective of not only his ethnic, social and religious background but also of the individual aspects of their physical and intellectual development. In accordance with the law, a large number of children with severe and multiple developmental disorders now have the opportunity to receive general education that takes into account individual educational needs. Because of that, the educational system has to resolve issues of organizing, creating the curriculum and providing the environment for such children. These issues were addressed in part by the new Federal State Educational Standard for Students with Mental Retardation (Intellectual Disability), which defines the requirements for the contents, environment and results of education. Certain issues in methods are covered in the development of recommended general education programs. Nevertheless a number of issues stay unresolved.

Being one of the biggest urban centers in Russia, Saint-Petersburg has a professional community with a lot of educational experience in a school setting with children with severe and multiple developmental disorders that have followed a special curriculum. Drawing from that experience it is possible to outline several problems to be solved in the future that teachers are facing today at work. For that reason, we have conducted an anonymous survey of 97 teachers of variable (ranging from half a year to 36 years) experience working with students with mild to profound mental retardation (intellectual disability) or severe and multiple developmental disorders. The responses were used to determine, whether their needs are met by the existing teaching materials and other facilities, resources and infrastructure; what is most urgently needed to improve the educational results; is there a correlation between their satisfaction with the work environment in their educational organization and their work experience. The interpretation of the responses allows not only to determine the major issues in the organization of education of children with severe and multiple developmental disorders, but also find ways and methods to resolve the discovered issues.

Keywords:

Education, general education programs, severe and multiple developmental disorders, teaching.