Development of Inclusive Education for Children with Special Needs
Based on Social-Economic Family
Rury Muslifar
1
, Erwiantoro Erwiantoro
1
, Erwan Sulistianto
1
, Itsar Bolo Rangka
2
and Ifdil Ifdil
3
1
Universitas Mulawarman, Jl. Kuaro, Samarinda, Indonesia
2
Universitas Indraprasta PGRI, Jakarta, Indonesia
3
Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, Indonesia
Keywords: Children with Special Needs, Inclusive Education, Coastal Communities.
Abstract: Inclusive education is an effort in providing services and equity in education, especially for children with
special needs so as to obtain a decent and quality education. The purpose of this study was to analyze
comprehensively the education of children with special needs and the supporting factors that improve
children with special needs education. The subjects of this study were 20 people. The research procedure
includes the stage of the description stage or the orientation stage, reduction stage and selection stage. Data
analysis used descriptive analysis. The results showed that parents and family outcomes are important
factors in developing the capability of children with special needs in the future, where not only formal
education, but also continued to help children with special needs to be better to adapt to the social
environment.
1 INTRODUCTION
Inclusive education for children with special needs
has not developed as expected in the realization of
service and equitable education for all (Braaten et
al., 1988; Carlton and Winsler, 1999; Graham and
Jahnukainen, 2011; Idol, 2006; Morley et al., 2005).
The main factor in the implementation of inclusive
education is the availability of facilities and
infrastructure, human resources and socio-economic
conditions of the (Chimombo, 2005; Kanagawa and
Nakata, 2008). Socio-economic conditions of society
become the biggest obstacle factor in inclusive
education that is family of shame to have children
with special needs so that they hide their child. some
people think that inclusive education requires a lot
of money, it also causes many people are reluctant to
send their children with special needs to inclusive
schools (Mitchell and Desai, 2005; Onsomu et al.,
2006; Shevlin et al., 2004).
In 2015, the number of children with special
According to Director General of Primary Education
Kemendikbud, the total number of crew in Indonesia
in November 2015 reached 1.6 million children.
However, there are still a few children with special
needs who want to study, only about 10-11 percent
of crew who get educational services. This is due to
a variety of factors, including children who do not
want to go to school, parents who are less supportive
of education for their children, as well as access to
schools far enough away from the residence of
children with special needs.
In 2015, the number of children with special
needs in East Kalimantan who attended school (SLB
& Inclusion) amounted to 1700 children (Caring for
Children with Special Needs Forum, 2015). The data
did not include children who were in special services
or therapy. The level of inclusive education carried
out by each city/regency was also diverse. The level
of inclusive education should start from the
kindergarten, elementary, junior high & high school
level. It could be covered only for junior level only
(in certain areas) including Bontang City. East
Kalimantan Province (2015), inclusive schools in
Bontang city were 3 schools, namely: 1) SDN 010
South Bontang, that consisted of 47 students, 2)
SDN 003 North Bontang, that consisted of 6
students, 3) SMPN 2 Bontang, Tanjung Laut that
consisted of 11 students (Central Bureau of Statistics
Bontang City, 2016).
The emergence of various disorders or
developmental obstacles to children with special
needs is a phenomenon that needs to be addressed
268
Muslifar, R., Erwiantoro, E., Sulistianto, E., Rangka, I. and Ifdil, I.
Development of Inclusive Education for Children with Special Needs Based on Social-Economic Family.
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences (ICES 2017) - Volume 2, pages 268-273
ISBN: 978-989-758-314-8
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

further so that children can still live the better life
and optimize no matter how small their potentials
(Belfer, 2008; Glascoe and Dworkin, 1995). This is
important because regardless of their limitations,
every human being has the same right to grow, to
develop, to accept and to perform certain roles in
society (Bowlby, 2008; Eisner, 1985; Erikson, 1993;
Rogoff, 2003; Vygotsky, 1980). The effort to
optimize the development of children with special
needs is none other than to provide the necessary
education and training, whether related to the ability
of daily living, academic, and job skill (Fukuyama,
2001; Konopka, 1973; Maslow et al., 1998; Mead,
1934).
Inclusive education program for children with
special needs are generally aimed to prepare them
for the “real life” (Fuchs and Fuchs, 1994; Salvia et
al., 2012; Smith, 2001) after they are released from
the school environment (Hunt and Marshall, 2005).
To achieve maximum result, every education
process always requires the cooperation between the
school and parents (Delgado-Gaitan, 1991; Driessen
et al., 2005; Lezotte, 1993). Between parents and
other family members with educational institutions
should work well together (Epstein, 1995; Hoover-
Dempsey and Sandler, 1997). This is consistent with
various literatures, that the effectiveness of various
programs for handling and enhancing the ability of
children with special needs will depend heavily on
the participation and full support from their families
and communities (Carling, 1995; Hallahan and
Kauffman, 1988; Hunt and Marshall, 2005; Lewis
and Sugai, 1999; McGregor and Vogelsberg, 1998;
Seitzinger, 2004; Whittaker, 1979).
Based on the explanation, it could be understood
that parental participation in inclusive education
program for children with special needs was
important and should always be pursued. But now,
there was no data indicating that all parents of
children with special needs in East Kalimantan,
especially in Bontang city had understood it and
tried to fulfill it. In fact, not all parents of children
with special needs were aware about the importance
of their involvements in the education of their
children. This study aims to reveal and analyse
comprehensively about education for children with
special needs and analyse the supporting factors that
affects the improvement of education service for
children with special needs.
2 METHODS
This research was using qualitative method. This
research design using qualitative descriptive because
descriptive research qualitative is intended to
describe and describe phenomena that exist, both
natural and engineering human beings, who pay
more attention to the characteristics, qualities,
interconnection between activities (Sukmadinata,
2011).
The research procedure includes 1) Description
stage or orientation stage that describes what is seen,
heard and perceived, 2) Reduction stage i.e. reduces
all information obtained in the first stage to focus on
a particular problem, 3) Selection stage that is
describes the focus that has been set to in more
detail then do an in-depth analysis of the focus of the
problem (Sugiyono, 2009). The subjects taken in this
research activity is the community (parents) who
have children with special needs in the coastal area
of North Bontang City as many as 20 people.
Society (parents) have children with special needs,
such as: mentally disabled (Down Syndrome),
ADD/ADHD, Slow Learner, and Autism. Sampling
is done by purposive sampling, that is parents who
have children with special needs
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1 Profile of Respondents
Parents of children with special needs in Bontang
City who sent their children to school generally
work in all sectors, such as employees of companies,
entrepreneurs, and civil servants. This indicated that
parents were aware of the importance of education
for children with special needs, who were not
influenced by the background of
occupation/livelihood.
Based on the results of interview conducted on
respondents in Bontang City, the amount of income
obtained by various respondents. The income earned
per month is between Rp1.000.000,00–
Rp13,000,000.00. While the expenditure made by
respondents are based on the following categories (i)
consumption, (ii) education, (iii) health, (iv) the
needs of children with special needs, and (v)
savings, having different percentages.
The expenditures for consumption were 43%,
education 18%, health 15%, 15% children with
special needs requirements and 10% savings. The
portion of consumption for expenditure was still at
the top position, this was due to several factors,
Development of Inclusive Education for Children with Special Needs Based on Social-Economic Family
269

necessities related to basic needs (clothing, food,
boards) that were closely related to the number of
family dependents. The expenditures specifically for
the needs of special needs children was 15%, which
was likely to increase in size if coupled with
educational expenditure (share with normal
children). For more details, see the figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Distribution of Parents’ Income of Children with
Special Needs.
3.2 Parent Involvement in the
Development of Children with
Special Needs
Not all parents in this study had full involvement in
the education of children with special needs. Among
the 10 subjects, subject 1, subject 2, subject 3
(parents of children with autism) and 4 (parents of
hyperactive children & mild autism) had the most
active involvement in children's education. While
the other 6 subjects showed different behaviour,
which were in some activities precisely delivered
more mentoring to the learning process of the
children to others, such as teachers in school or
therapist. One of the basic distinctions of this
category of involvement is that the expected
involvement of parents is not only limited to the
selection of appropriate educational institutions and
monitoring of educational outcomes, but also by
monitoring the entire learning process of children
and actively taking part in it time to time (Hardman
et al., 2002; Heward, 2003; Hunt and Marshall,
2005). In Table 2 below presents a summary of the
ten subjects involvement of education of children
with special needs:
Table 1: Subject involvement on education of children with special needs.
Information:
 S1, S2, S3: parents of children with autism;
 S4: parents of hyperactive and mild autism
children;
 S5: parents of deaf children;
 S6, S7, S8, S9 and S10: parents of children
with Down Syndrome.
From Table 1, it appeared that subjects 1, 2, 3
and 4 met the nine forms of involvement that arose
from research data. Subjects 5, 6, 7 and 8 fulfilled
five of the nine forms of engagement, subject 9 only
ICES 2017 - 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences
270

fulfilled three of the nine forms of engagement.
Subject 10 was with two forms of involvement.
There are four factors that influence parents'
decisions about their involvement in the education of
children with special needs, namely:
 Perception of inclusive schools for children
with special needs;
 Perception of children's limitation;
 Expectation of children with special needs;
 Understanding of the importance of parent's
role for children’s education.
In the first factor, subject 10 had the view that
school/formal education was not important and
decisive for one's success in life, especially for
children with special needs. Inclusive school is only
an educational institution that is formality for
children with special needs, because the diploma
given to their students is not really based on their
abilities, but the wisdom of the school. In this case,
parents doubted that education in inclusive schools
could improve the ability of children to equal the
ability of normal children. This was in contrast to
subjects 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 who believed in
the importance of the role of formal education to
help children improved their ability optimally,
especially parents and other family members were
common in handling the children with special needs.
In the second factor, subjects 1, 2, 3 and 4
perceived limitations, not as a barrier for children to
go ahead, to develop themselves and to achieve
success. Therefore, parents never tried to hide or just
block the interaction of children in their
environment. For them, children with special needs
could still do things normally as normal people do,
including talking, and basically no human being was
abnormal, because if it is seriously pursued, those
with some limitations would remain alive and do
things normally as normal people do.
Subjects 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 viewed that children
with disability still had other capabilities that could
be highlighted. While subject 10 argued that the
limitation of ability possessed by children with
special needs would be difficult to improve even if
children follow formal education at some levels. The
differences in perception occurring among the ten
subjects arose because special limitation/needs are
essentially a social description that was perceived
differently by each family (Hunt and Marshall,
2005).
In the third factor, there were nine subjects who
expressed their hope for children with needs, i.e.
subjects 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Subjects 1, 2, 3, 4
had hopes that their autistic children and subject 5
(parents of deaf children) could live independently
and had the capability that was not inferior to normal
children. Subjects 6, 7, 8 and 9 had the hope that
their Down Syndrome children were also able to
take care of themselves and not bother others.
In the fourth factor, the understanding of the
importance of parents’ roles in children development
was indicated by subjects 1, 2, 3 and 4. The four
subjects recognized that family support was central
to the development and success of the lives of
children with special needs. It meant that not only
parents, but also other relatives. While for subject
10, parents emphasized more about resignation to
their children’s condition. This attitude was related
to their belief that the ability of children with special
needs will be difficult to develop in some way.
As a summary of the results, the scheme shown
in Figure 2 below shows the flow of parental
involvement in the education of children with
special needs formulated based on the research data
obtained.
Figure 2: Groove of Parental Care for Inclusive Education
for Children with Special Needs.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Parents of children with special needs in Bontang
City who deliver children working in all sectors,
such as company employees, employers, and civil
servants. This can be done by parents to solve the
problem of education for children with special
needs, which cannot be done by behind the
occupation / livelihood. This can be seen from the
percentage of disbursed income for education by
18% and the needs of children with special needs of
15%. From the 10 subjects observed based on the
group of children with special needs, forms of
parental involvement of children with special needs
for the factors influencing them have been seen. In
Development of Inclusive Education for Children with Special Needs Based on Social-Economic Family
271

the first factor, only 10 subjects who considered the
school were not critical of the success of children
with special needs in the future.
In the second factor, subjects 1 to 4 considered
that limitation was not a children's barrier to
develop, subjects 5 to 9 assumed that there were
other abilities for children with special needs could
be developed. While subject 10 assumed that the
ability of children with special needs would be
difficult to develop both with formal and informal
educators. In the third factor, only 10 subjects who
did not have hope for the future of children with
special needs to be able to live independently. The
fourth factor was that only 1 to 4 subjects were
aware that parent and family support was central for
the development of children with special needs.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank to Directorate General of
Research and Development Strengthening, Ministry
of Research, Technology and Higher Education of
the Republic of Indonesia for research grant. The
appreciation to Universitas Mulawarman,
Universitas Indraprasta PGRI, and Universitas
Negeri Padang for the assistant and collaborating
under the Research.
We also express our great appreciation to all of
parent in Bontang City who participated and their
friendly cooperation, and we give the highest
appreciation to Ms. Freddy Maryanto, Rudy Hadi
Kusuma, Annisa Fadillah Rahmadita, and Cahyo
Hafi Wichaksono for technical help in this
manuscript.
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