Cómo citar este artículo: Dushkevych, A. (2025). Terms of the professional language of inclusive
education. RETOS XXI, 9, 1-19,
Terms of the professional language of Inclusive Education
Términos del lenguaje profesional de Educacn Inclusiva
PhD. Alina Dushkevych
1
Fecha de recepción: 29/06/2024; fecha de aceptación 17/08/2024
ABSTRACT
Inclusive education is a special system of
educational services that aims to ensure
equal access to education for every child,
regardless of their special abilities,
psychophysical development and
individual needs. The purpose of this study
is to clarify the main terms of the
professional language of inclusive
education. The research was conducted on
the basis of the use of general scientific
and special methods that are used in
modern science, as well as the method of
descriptive analysis with a review of
scientific literature. It is argued that
inclusive education emphasizes the value
1
PhD student, department of English, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University,
dushkevych.alina@chnu.edu.ua, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7838-9616
of each child's personality, thereby
guaranteeing equal treatment of all
children in educational institutions, but
creates special conditions for children with
special needs. The author singled out the
fundamental terms of inclusive education,
which should include: integration,
inclusion, mainstreaming, and carried out
a conceptual analysis of their content.
Keywords: inclusion, inclusive education,
terms, professional language.
RESUMEN
La educación inclusiva es un sistema
especial de servicios educativos que tiene
como objetivo garantizar la igualdad de
acceso a la educación para todos los niños,
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independientemente de sus capacidades
particulares, desarrollo psicofísico y
necesidades individuales. El propósito de
este estudio es aclarar los rminos
principales del lenguaje profesional de la
educación inclusiva. La investigación se
realizó sobre con el uso de métodos
científicos generales y especiales que se
utilizan en la ciencia moderna, así como el
método de análisis descriptivo con revisión
de la literatura científica. Se sostiene que la
educación inclusiva enfatiza el valor de la
personalidad de cada niño, garantizando
así un trato igualitario para todos los niños
en las instituciones educativas, pero crea
condiciones específicas para los niños con
necesidades especiales. El autor destacó
los términos fundamentales de la
educación inclusiva, que deben incluir:
integración, inclusión, y transversalidad.
Además, realizó un análisis conceptual de
su contenido.
Palabras clave: inclusión, educación
inclusiva, términos, lenguaje profesional.
INTRODUCTION
Today, educational transformation
processes integrate a large part of reforms
aimed at the implementation of inclusive
education. The direction chosen by the
Ukrainian state to create decent learning
conditions for children with disabilities is a
step towards the implementation of
European principles and living standards.
Inclusive education is one of the main
directions of reforming the education
system in many European countries, the
purpose of such training is aimed at
realizing the rights to education of persons
with special needs. At the UN International
Conference on Education, Science and
Culture "Inclusive Education: The Way to
the Future" it was noted:
Implementation of inclusion in
the educational sphere is not a
secondary, but a central issue for
ensuring high-quality education
and creating more inclusive
societies. Education is widely seen
as a means of developing human
capital, increasing economic
performance, strengthening
individual capacity, and
expanding the boundaries of
choice for exercising the
freedoms of citizenship.
Education contributes to the
development of the ability of a
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person or a group of persons to
make their own decisions and
create their own destiny. In
addition, education is an
important means of overcoming
marginalization for adults and
children, increasing their
potential to gain opportunities to
participate more fully in the life of
their communities (Vasilyeva,
2021, 23).
The priority of inclusive education
today lies in the transition to its
international legal obligations, which
provide for the obligation of the state to
provide inclusive education at all levels on
the basis of equality of opportunity. In the
paradigm of this transition, there is a
departure from the medical model of
human perception to a social one, which
will shift the emphasis from the limitations
of life activities, differences to the
adaptation of the socio-cultural
environment to human needs. That is, a
person who has barriers in functioning due
to health disorders, cultural or social
differences, may become a full-fledged
member of society under the condition of
proper support, which should compensate
for these barriers.
The Salamanca Declaration (1994),
adopted by representatives of
governments and 25 international
organizations at the World Conference on
the Education of Persons with Disabilities
in 1994, is based on the universal right to
education to ensure this right for all,
regardless of individual differences, and
gives a broad understanding of the term
"persons with disabilities". Verovckina Ja.,
Liubarets V. (2020) opinion that іt applies
to all children and young people whose
needs depend on various physical or
mental limitations or learning difficulties
caused by cultural or social factors.
At the same time, despite the
constant development of international
understanding of the values and goals of
inclusive education, in particular in the
course of learning foreign languages, it
should be noted that attempts to fully
integrate it into the educational process
are still incomplete. In addition, today
there is a lack of clarity in the
interpretation of defining categories, in
particular "inclusive education", "inclusive
learning", "students with special needs",
"inclusive class", etc. In particular, in order
to understand the problems associated
with the adaptation to the educational
process of inclusive education, the main
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terms of the professional language of
inclusive education, which form its
foundation, should be researched. The
interpretation of these concepts in the
future should form a single dictionary of
terms, which is a confirmation of the
innovativeness of the problem under
study.
The purpose of the scientific article
is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of
scientific views on the terminology of the
professional language of inclusive
education, and to systematize them to
form a single terminology base.
METHODS
The methodology of the scientific article is
chosen taking into account the purpose
and tasks, object and subject of the
research. In order to reveal the main
issues, the authors used general scientific
and special methods that are used in
modern science. A comparative analysis of
the scientific literature revealed the
meaning of such basic concepts as
"inclusive education", "inclusive learning",
"students with special educational needs",
"special needs", and highlighted the
development of scientific views on certain
problems of their development and
formation. The method of comparative
analysis was used to identify similarities
and differences in the scientific
understanding of the terms of inclusive
education. The system-structural method
was used to systematize the obtained
results and formulate the main conclusions
of the scientific research.
RESULTS
Inclusive education in the study of foreign
languages involves the creation of
conditions that allow all students,
including those with special educational
needs, to effectively master language
skills. This process, in turn, requires
appropriate adaptation of teaching
methods, educational materials, and
assessment of learning outcomes,
depending on the educational needs of
such students, as well as providing the
necessary support for each student.
In addition, it is important today to
systematize the terminology of the
professional language of inclusive
education in order to increase the
effectiveness of the implementation of
inclusive education in the educational
environment, ensure unity and consistency
in the use of terms, and form a single
terminology dictionary. Systematization of
the relevant terminology will create a clear
and understandable terminology base,
which is the basis for quality
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communication between professionals
and effective implementation of inclusive
practices in education. To this end, a
comprehensive study of scientific works
related to the definition of the main
concepts of inclusive education should be
carried out to identify the main ones that
will form a single terminology base.
The analysis of international acts in
the field of inclusive education, as well as
scientific sources, shows the existence of a
number of approaches to providing
education to children with health
disabilities. At the same time, the terms
"inclusion", "inclusive education" and
"inclusive pedagogy" remain the subject of
disputes among scientists today, and there
is currently no unified approach to their
definition.
Thus, Peters (2007) considers
inclusive education both as a philosophy
and as a practice. According to the
scientist, the philosophy of inclusive
education is based on the right of all
people to quality education with equal
opportunities - one that develops their
potential and respects their human dignity.
Other scholars recognize inclusive
education as the right of all children to
access, attend, participate, and succeed in
their local mainstream school, shifting the
focus away from labels, diagnoses, and
special conditions for some students, with
the goal of providing them with a quality
education (Kielblock and Woodcock,
2023). In its general expression, inclusion is
a way to achieve general improvement of
education systems (Ainscow 2020).
The same concept is supported by
Spanish scientists Pérez-Pedregosa, A.
Belén (2023), which defines inclusive
education, in the context of a paradigm
whose task is fair and quality education for
all students, regardless of their individual
characteristics, and which eliminates any
forms of discrimination and harassment.
If we talk about the terminology of
the specialized language of inclusive
education, then in our opinion, its
terminology system contains both
interdisciplinary and branch terms.
Individual scientists, as N. Migai, T.
Kamyshov (2023) belong to its
composition:
“Оwn professional terms that
arose specifically within the scope
of inclusive education (for
example, tutoring support,
inclusive schooling); basic terms
that are borrowed from the
terminology that forms the
foundation of this field of
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knowledge (terms of special
pedagogy special education
teacher, sign language, early
intervention strategies); terms
from related fields (pedagogy
teacher training, child-centered
philology, pre-teaching
specialized vocabulary, medicine
disability, impairment, hard of
hearing, physical and mental
disabilities, psychology child-
centered psychology,
developmental psychology);
general scientific terms that have
the same meaning in different
fields of knowledge, but their
meaning is clarified and acquires
additional connotations in a
specific field (American sign
language, individual education
program (IEP Team), education
for all-together) (p. 10)”.
In our opinion, this systematization
of the terms of the professional language
of inclusive education is of interest and can
be taken as a basis for the formation of a
terminological base.
To begin with, we should consider
the basic terms of inclusive education,
which include: integration, inclusion, and
mainstreaming. At the same time, it should
be noted that against the background of
the general terminological expansion of
the English language, this terminological
vocabulary has been used quite widely in
Ukraine in recent years, however,
sometimes with rather contradictory
appropriateness and relevance. Referring
to the definitions given to this concept by
recognized American, Canadian and
European scientists in the field of
"Education for All" J. Andrews аnd J. Done
(2019), it is worth noting that these terms
are used in foreign practice as close in
terms of content and concept, but not
identical (Kolupaeva, 2009). In addition,
the term "segregation" should also be
added to such terminology. In order to
carry out their correlation, we will analyze
the definitions of these concepts
presented in scientific research and
reference literature.
Thus, the terms "integration" and
"inclusion", although they are somewhat
synonymous concepts, have a significant
difference in their definitions. From the
point of view of sociology, the integration
of a child into a regular educational space
means the preparation of the child himself
for life and work in a team, on the other
hand, inclusion involves the adaptation of
society, schools and their general
educational philosophy to coexistence and
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cooperation with children with special
needs (Boyko, 2012).
Thus, integration involves only the
adaptation of the surrounding physical
environment for children with special
educational needs. That is, it means
ensuring the availability of educational
facilities, the placement of such children in
classes, often with some adaptations or
special services. The negative is that within
the framework of integration, children
with special educational needs may remain
separated from the educational process,
due to the fact that their needs are not
fully taken into account.
In contrast to integration, inclusion
involves a more complex and in-depth
approach, which includes not only the
adaptation of the external environment for
children with special educational needs,
but also their complete, in particular,
socialized inclusion in all aspects of the
educational process. The term "inclusion"
literally means "inclusion" or "joining". The
advantage of inclusion is that it aims to
ensure the equal participation of all
students in the educational process,
regardless of their individual
characteristics, and to create an
environment where every student feels
accepted and valued.
Instead, the term "segregation" is
the opposite in meaning to the first two, as
a type of discrimination, in which there is a
separation of those social groups that
stand out from the general population on
various grounds. Such a policy, as
evidenced by the scientific investigations
of A. Kolupaeva (2013), was characteristic
of Soviet times. In this case, we are talking
about children with special educational
needs, who were brought up in special
educational institutions, which were
separated from social life and were closed
boarding schools. Today, this method of
teaching children with special educational
needs is absolutely unacceptable and can
be used in countries with totalitarian or
authoritarian regimes.
Another widely recognized term is
"mainstreaming", which means joint
extracurricular work, which is carried out
with children with special educational
needs and their peers, and promotes the
establishment of social contacts
(Davydenko, 2014). From the point of view
of Canadian and American scientists,
mainstreaming defines a whole stage in
the development of educational trends
regarding the education of children with
special needs in North America at the end
of the 20th century and is mainly
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associated with the spread of the
functioning of special classes in mass
schools, when social contacts, establishing
relationships of children with features of
development and their healthy peers took
place outside of school hours. However, it
is also pointed out that these relationships
were short-lived and limited (Kolupaeva,
2009).
Thus, in contrast to mainstreaming,
in which the main emphasis is placed on
the inclusion of children with special
educational needs in joint lessons in
general education classes with other
children, using minimal adaptation of the
environment and an individual approach,
inclusion involves the full inclusion of
children with special educational needs in
general education process, to ensure equal
opportunities in education and social
adaptation.
The following defining terms in
inclusive education are the interpretation
of "special educational needs", "persons
with special educational needs", without
establishing which it is impossible to
determine the categories of persons who
need to create appropriate conditions for
obtaining education in the conditions of
inclusive education and language, methods
and ways of communication and training of
such persons.
The most common and acceptable
standard definition of "special needs", in
particular in the countries of the European
Community, is presented in the
International Standard Classification of
Education (2013), persons whose
education requires additional resources
have special educational needs. Additional
resources, at the same time, can be: staff
(to provide assistance in the training
process); materials (various teaching aids,
including auxiliary and corrective ones);
financial (budget allocations for obtaining
additional special services).
As for the definition of the concept
of "persons with special educational
needs", in this case it will vary depending
on the socio-political system of each
individual state. For example, the concept
of "cripple" is one of the earliest terms that
appeared in the English language in the
middle of the 13th century to describe a
person with disabilities. Over time, other
equivalents appear, such as "invalid"
(1630), "disabled" (1630), "valetudinarian"
(1703), "handicapped" (1915). With the
development in the world of democracy
and the popularization of the rights and
freedoms of citizens, there is a tendency to
replace words that indicate the immediate
physical shortcomings of a person (thereby
focusing attention on his physical
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problems) with descriptive phrases in
which the emphasis is on the individual,
and not on physical disabilities:
"challenged person" (a person with
physical or mental problems) (1985),
"person with disabilities" (a person with
physical disabilities) (from the beginning of
the 20th century) (Andriychuk, 2016). It
should be noted that the last two English
counterparts are considered the most
tolerant today and are used in mass media
and modern scientific literature.
In addition, the International
Standard Classification of Education (2013)
offers the following definition of persons
with special educational needs, persons
with special educational needs are defined
by the need to provide additional public
and/or private resources for education.
This resource-based approach to defining
SEN addresses students with a range of
learning difficulties.
In modern scientific theory, there is
a trend in which the term "children with
special educational needs" designates only
the category of children with disorders of
psychophysical development. This proves
that the meaning of this concept is
incompletely revealed.
In the opinion of A. Kolupaeva,
L. Savchuk (2011) special needs is a term
used in relation to persons whose social,
physical or emotional characteristics
require special attention and services in
order to develop their potential. Among
them, the scientist included people who
have exceptional abilities or talents, as well
as children with physical, mental, and
social differences. A similar position is also
expressed by M. Chaikovsky (2016), who
notes that youth with special educational
needs are a group of persons with physical
limitations who have specific social and
psychological traits.
Thus, the term "special educational
needs" covers not only the category of
children with physical or mental
disabilities, but also gifted children and
children who have learning difficulties
caused by social, economic, political
factors, etc. The education of such
students also requires a special
organization of the educational process in
order to reveal their potential and creative
self-realization.
When forming the definition of
"special educational needs", the following
main aspects should be taken into account:
description of features, which should be
understood as concrete physical,
intellectual, sensory or mental features
that affect children's ability to learn in the
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conditions of a traditional educational
program; individual needs that should be
taken into account when forming
educational programs (can be temporary
or permanent, should be subject to
adjustment); the need to adapt curricula,
teaching methods, materials, environment
or provide additional resources to ensure
effective education of children with such
needs; expanded interpretation, i.e. the
concept of "special educational needs"
should also cover social, emotional,
communicative and behavioral aspects
that can affect the child's learning and
development; determine their goal -
ensuring equal access to education and full
participation in the educational process on
a level with other students.
In addition, since we are talking
about children with special educational
needs who may have certain psycho-
physiological defects, forming a single
system of terms in the professional
language of inclusive education, the origin
and content of concepts denoting disease
syndromes of children with disabilities
should also be investigated.
In the terminological system, a
group of terms originating from the English
language and related to the designation of
disease syndromes of children with
disabilities and their testing is generally
recognized, among which the following
should be highlighted:
1. Down's syndrome (John Langdon Down,
an English physician, 1866) is a genetic
condition caused by the presence of an
extra chromosome in a person's DNA;
2. Angelman syndrome (Dr. Harry
Angelman, an English pediatrician, 1965) is
a chromosomal (neuro-genetic) disorder
caused by the absence of a gene. People
with Angelman syndrome will have
developmental delay, little or no speech,
seizures, and walking and balance
disorders;
3. Sotos syndrome (Professor Juan Sotos,
an American pediatric endocrinologist,
1964) is a genetic disorder characterized by
excessive physical growth during the first
few years of a child's life;
4. Andersen syndrome (Dr. Dorothy
Andersen, an American pathologist, 1938)
is an inherited disease. It affects the lungs
and digestive system by clogging them
with thick, sticky mucus, which makes it
difficult to breathe and digest food;
5. Martin-Bell syndrome (R. Martin, J. Bell,
American doctors, 1943) is the most
common known cause of inherited
learning disabilities;
6. Asperger's Syndrome (Hans Asperger, a
Viennese psychiatrist, 1940) is a form of
autism. People with Asperger syndrome
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may have difficulties in social relationships
and communicating;
7. Tourette's syndrome (Dr. Georges Gilles
de la Tourette, a pioneering French
neurologist, 1885) is an inherited
neurological (brain) condition that results
in involuntary and uncontrollable sounds
and movements;
8. Apert syndrome (Eugene Apert, a French
physician, 1906) is a genetic disease in
which the seams between the skull bones
close earlier than normal during prenatal
development, affecting the shape of the
head and face;
9. Turner syndrome (Henry H. Turner, MD,
an American pioneer endocrinologist,
1938) is a chromosomal condition caused
by complete or partial absence of the
second sex chromosome. Girls born with
Turner syndrome typically have short
stature and may have a high palate, low-
set ears, low hairline, webbed-neck,
droopy eyes, broad chest, scoliosis, or flat
feet (Hammeken, 2008).
Analyzing the structure of such
terms in this way, it should be stated that
they consist of two components: first, it is
the lexeme "syndrome", which has a
general meaning, and the proper name,
which denotes surnames or male names
(in particular, scientists who obviously
invented these diseases and started their
names). At the same time, the key
component of the specified term
combination is the lexeme "syndrome",
which is common to all, and its meaning is
clarified precisely with the help of its own
name.
Thus, we can talk about the
existence of English-language terminology
and the formation of an English-language
terminology system in the field of inclusive
education, which includes not only purely
specialized units for the designation of
specialized concepts of inclusive
education, but also basic terms borrowed
from special pedagogy, related fields,
general scientific terms.
In addition, the analysis of the
positions of foreign scientists and
practitioners testifies to the relationship
between the ideas of inclusive education
and socio-cultural activities. Thus, J. Corbet
points out that in the case when the
educational environment of the school
claims to become inclusive, there is a need
to study certain sociocultural groups. As
noted by scientist J. Corbet (1999): firstly,
the personal beliefs, insecurities and fears
of education workers regarding the
abilities and characteristics of students
with SEN; secondly, the prejudice of
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children with normalized psychophysical
development in relation to peers with SEN;
thirdly, tolerance for the unification of
those groups of students who are a socio-
cultural minority. Each of the aspects
identified by J. Corbet (1999) represents a
problem, the solution of which provides
the socio-cultural environment of inclusive
education.
In the writings of a number of
foreign researchers, it is noted that
inclusion contributes to the development
of sociocultural competence of students
with special educational needs (Parsons,
Fitzsimons, Schoon 2022), accommodate
children with disabilities in regular schools
(Wendelborg, 2010), while students in
grups (classes) formation of a tolerant
attitude towards individuals with various
differences in development (Bond,
Castagnera, 2006; Kam Pun Wong, 2008).
At the same time, sociocultural
competence is understood by the authors
in many ways - as social, emotional,
cognitive and behavioral skills, which are
necessary for a student for successful
social adaptation.
Sociocultural competence in
inclusive education is an important aspect
that contributes to the creation of equal
opportunities for all participants in the
educational process, regardless of their
sociocultural background, nationality,
language, religion or other differences. Its
main principles should be based on the
following key points: knowledge and
understanding of diversity; empathy and
tolerance; intercultural communication;
adaptation of educational materials;
involvement of the community in the
educational process.
English pedagogues Bond and
Castagnera (2006) note that the
effectiveness of inclusive education is
achieved thanks to the use of diverse
methodical support for students with SEN.
This support involves in the educational
process not only students with normal
psychophysical development of the
teacher, but also a tutor ("Class-Wide Peer
Tutoring" (CWPT) and "cross-age
Tutoring"). "Tutoring over the class"
assumes that any student can become a
tutor for a while. Educational workers
describe four types of relationships that
will contribute to effective support and
interaction in the classroom: demand,
acceptance, refusal and assistance. In turn,
"cross-age Tutoring" consists in the fact
that the role of an accompanying person is
given to an older student (Kam Pun Wong,
2008).
Developing the idea of the need for
various methods of support and different
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strategies for organizing inclusive
education, American researchers V.
Volonino, N. Zigmond (2014) offer several
options for joint education. These authors
believe that the success of inclusion is
ensured due to:
Provision of a specially
trained teacher and, if necessary,
an assistant teacher of inclusive
education accompanying these
students; "distributive learning
space", in which students with
special education can move from
one teacher to another in order to
master different educational
programs; "parallel learning",
which requires pedagogical
workers to jointly draw up a plan
of educational activities;
"alternative training", which
provides for the possibility of
intensive training of students with
SEN in conditions of a smaller
number of them per one
pedagogical worker, while
another works with a large group;
"team teaching", in which
teaching staff take turns in
conducting individual classes (р.
292).
Some Spanish scholars also add to
inclusive education the efficient and
effective implementation of the most
avant-garde new technologies, such as the
introduction of robotics in educational
centers (Rodríguez, 2018).
In addition, we believe that another
important element is the creation of
special "adaptive classes", where children
with special educational needs can receive
additional support and specialized
assistance from qualified specialists.
An interesting approach of the
French scientist S. Gilman (2007), who
believes that inclusive education is aimed
at integrating students with special needs
into the educational environment of the
classroom with the possibility of using
project-oriented learning "Reggio Emilia".
The aughtor points out that:
Іnclusive education should
be based on the following
principles: a child is a person, and
any person deserves respect;
every child learns: to move, listen,
see, communicate, and he cannot
be limited in this; it is necessary to
allow development to occur due
to active interaction with others in
the socio-cultural environment.
The use of the project as the main
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method of learning within the
framework of this approach
allows for the formulation of tasks
based on the interests and
characteristics of the child, and
also provides the opportunity to
implement individual and group
learning, the involvement of
various employees of the
educational environment, and the
inclusion of parents in this
process. It is important to take
into account individual ways of
achieving the same learning goals
for all students, that is, taking into
account the specifics of each
child's development (р. 25).
Thus, the analysis of the main
scientific positions on inclusion and
inclusive education shows the presence of
various approaches to the definition of
inclusion, some approaches focus on
creating equal opportunities for all
students (Peters, 2007), others on the
integration of children with special
educational needs in general educational
institutions (Gilman, 2007).
At the same time, it should be
noted that there are discrepancies in the
terminology of the specialized language of
inclusive education, in particular the
definition of such terms as "inclusion",
"integration", "special educational needs"
and others. This indicates the need to
systematize and standardize the specified
terminology, search for unity of opinions in
determining their content.
As for the systematization of the
terms of the professional language of
inclusive education, it is possible according
to the following criteria: functional
purpose (basic terms describing the
fundamental concepts of inclusive
education; specialized terms referring to
specific aspects of the educational process,
methods or approaches); terms describing
functional roles in an inclusive
environment (terms related to students
(e.g., "students with special educational
needs"), terms related to teaching staff
(e.g., "teaching assistant," "tutor"), terms
indicating the types of needs (physical (e.g.
"disability"); intellectual (e.g. "intellectual
disability"); sensory needs (e.g. "adapted
materials", "sign language"); psychosocial
needs (e.g. "psychological support", "social
adaptation"); terms related to teaching
methods (pedagogical methods
("individualized teaching", "special
educational programs", "inclusive
programs", "inclusive classes"), evaluation
and monitoring ("diagnostic evaluation",
"periodic evaluation progress").
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15
CONCLUSIONS
So, on the basis of the analysis of scientific
sources, we traced the evolution of the
development of the basic terminology of
the specialized language of inclusive
education, which is used in modern
humanitarian science as one that
demonstrates the basic terms of inclusive
education.
This analysis allows us to conclude
that inclusive education should be
considered an innovative system of
educational services and a kind of strategy
for expanding access to educational
services for all children, including children
with special needs. In a broader sense,
inclusive education can be interpreted as
an educational trajectory that includes an
anti-discrimination position, the struggle
for equal rights and equality, expanding
access to education for all, as well as
improving the quality of education, the
main goal of which is to help the child
adapt in society. At the same time,
knowledge and understanding of the terms
of the specialized language of inclusive
education are key to the effective
organization of the educational process
and the creation of a favorable
environment for all students, which in turn
contributes to equal opportunities in
education and the formation of an
inclusive society.
Based on our research, the key terms used
in inclusive education should be
considered:
1) inclusion is the process of integrating
children with special educational needs
into general education classes, adapting
the educational process, environment and
teaching methods (Fitzsimons, 2022;
Wendelborg, 2010; Bond et al., 2006);
2) special educational needs are needs that
arise in children with disabilities of physical
or mental development, and other
children who have difficulties in learning,
caused by social, economic, political or
other factors, which require special
methods and means of education to
ensure their successful study (Kolupaeva &
Savchuk, 2011);
3) an individual educational program is a
specially developed learning strategy for a
child with special educational needs that
takes into account his individual
capabilities, needs and potential (Corbett,
1999);
4) adaptation of the educational
environment is a process of transformation
of the surrounding physical, social and
educational environment, aimed at
ensuring the availability of education for
TERMS OF THE PROFESSIONAL LANGUAGE OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
RETOS XXI, AÑO 2025, VOLUMEN 9
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children with special educational needs
(Volonino & Zigmond, 2014);
5) the support team is a group of
specialists, including teachers,
psychologists, speech therapists, social
workers and other specialists, whose task
is to develop and implement individual
educational programs for children with
special educational needs, (Kam Pun
Wong, 2008);
6) an adaptive class is a special functionally
equipped class in a general educational
institution, in which children with special
educational needs will be able to receive
additional support and specialized
assistance from competent specialists,
according to the method of Volonino &
Zigmond (2014).
It should be summarized that today
one of the most important sources of the
terms of the professional language of
inclusive education are specialized
dictionaries, the importance of the
development of which is determined by
the need to reflect the changes taking
place in the field of education as a result of
the introduction of new reforms. At the
same time, there is no unity of opinion in
the scientific literature regarding the
definition of the content of the main terms
of the specialized language of inclusive
education, which in turn requires further
comprehensive scientific research.
The introduction of a single
terminological base of the professional
language of inclusive education is
important for:
1) classification of terms into
different categories depending on their
meaning and functions in the context of
inclusive education;
2) standardization of terms, i.e.
establishment of uniform definitions and
rules for the use of terms, which helps to
avoid disagreements, ensuring a unified
approach to inclusive education;
3) definition of key terms for
inclusive education and their detailed
interpretation;
4) analysis of relationships
between terms, creation of terminological
schemes and models reflecting these
relationships, to form the structure of the
professional language of inclusive
education;
5) unification and systematization
of interdisciplinary terms used in the
professional language of inclusive
education;
6) updating terminology, updating
the terminological apparatus taking into
account the development of new
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approaches, technologies and practices in
inclusive education.
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