Educating Learners With Disabilities in Palestine

Abstract

With the adoption of the Right of Education for All (1994), the Palestinian Ministry of Education has indicated the necessity to address the needs of students with disabilities. Although the growth of services has increased to meet the needs of this population, there are still concerns with providing best instructional practices to these students in this novel educational system. This column presents a brief historical background on services provided to students with disabilities, as well as discussing current identification, diagnostic, and placement practices in the Palestinian territories. Future directions are suggested and discussed in regard to the use and availability of evidence-based practices.

Educating Students With Learning Difficulties in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“…While similarities exist across cultures (e.g., comparable labels, procedures, and services), the global community must continue to rectify differences and ensure that adequate research supports comparable procedures across cultures and educational units. Indeed, the sheer size of the population of learners with learning difficulties demands attention, and special educators in the KSA will “need more resources, more training, and more opportunities to empower themselves to effectively educate students” with learning difficulties (Nasir-Tucktuck et al, 2017, p. 186). This includes advanced opportunities to learn about the needs of learners with learning difficulties within effective teacher preparation programs (Keller et al, 2016).…”

“…Tracking the prevalence of disabilities on a global scale, however, is difficult due to differences in definition, diagnosis, resources, and governmental support (despite similarities in the name). For example, in Palestine, procedures for identifying students with learning difficulties remain in development (Nasir-Tucktuck et al, 2017). In Jordan, an investigation into the prevalence of learning difficulties among primary school students was high, with high comorbidity rates among all learning difficulty conditions (Abu-Hamour & Al Hmiuz, 2017).…”