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themselves. The implication of learning, a teacher
must be able to explore the potential that exists in
the students, both strength and weakness, so that the
implementation of learning in accordance with the
needs of students, especially students with
intellectual disabilities.
To explore students' potentials, both strengths,
weaknesses, and student learning needs, teachers
must perform activities known as assessments.
Essentially, assessment is an activity to explore
information about the ability, constraints, and
learning needs faced by individuals as a foundation
in the preparation of learning programs for the
individual concerned. Three questions that are
essential when the teacher conducts the assessment
are: 1) what are the student difficulties / obstacles?
2) why the hardship happened? 3) in what ways did
they complete their tasks? Thus, in preparing the
adaptive learning programs for children with
intellectual disabilities in inclusive elementary
school’s teachers should start with the results of
assessment analysis in the form of student learning
needs. The learning needs of students is what will
underlie the determination of learning objectives,
learning materials, strategies and evaluation tools
used to determine whether the established goals are
achieved or not. This explains that the position of
the students becomes very central, because each
component of the adaptation of the learning program
is focused on the progress and needs of the students.
The adaptive learning program is not solely based on
learning objectives but is based on the results of the
assessment. The adaptive learning program does not
work for students but works with students.
Therefore, each student must know what goals will
be achieved, what tasks will be done, and how to do
them (Payne and Polloway, 2001). Assessment as a
comprehensive assessment, then teachers need
information from various sources from family,
community, or from other related professions such
as doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and so forth.
This is consistent with that suggested by Beirne
(2002). that "with the diversity of problems children
experience with intellectual disabilities ... they need
systematic education and service treatments and
multidisciplinary services". This opinion is
reinforced by Handoyo (2010) who argues that:
"Given that children with intellectual disabilities are
children with complex and highly varied disorders,
they require multidisciplinary and integrated
treatment". It is realized that no man is perfect,
everything knows, and everything can do it on his
own. Bertolino and O'Hanlon (2002) points out “Not
one to be confined by purist thinking”, so the teacher
is not the only source of problem solving. The
source of the solution exists and is in the community
and is in the social network created by the teacher.
This means that learning needs to be considered as a
collaborative effort between teachers, students and
related experts, sharing along with their expertise
and validity. Therefore, a teacher needs co creating
solvable problems together with other related
parties. This is important because teachers play a
role in formation and coaching within the context of
learning. Kirk and Gallagher (1986) argues that
"classroom teachers cannot do everything. They
need the help and support of personnel, both from
psychologists, school counsellors, and parents. "
Payne and Polloway (2001) argues that parental
involvement is an essential and mutual support as a
substitute for previous systems often found in
special education, where there is a separation
between family and school settings. Thus, it is
reasonable that in the adaptive preparation of
learning programs for children with intellectual
disabilities in primary school is through a team
approach. This team will work in collaboration from
the assessment to the planning of the learning
program.
Preliminary study results show that the
implementation of learning for students with
intellectual disabilities in inclusive primary schools
has not been optimal. Some of the causes, among
others, are the unavailability of special education
teachers in schools, the low level of teacher
understanding in student learning (Rahardja, 2017),
the absence of optimal cooperation between schools
with parents with intellectual disabilities (Aprilia,
2017). While the teachers at the elementary school
at this time have not understood what the
appropriate learning program to overcome the
difficulties students with this intelligence defect. The
condition of teachers in elementary school is very
reasonable because they do not have special
education background (Rahardja, 2017).
Many teachers in regular classes and special
classes ask how they can accommodate the learning
needs of students with intellectual disabilities. While
at the same time teachers help all students meet the
standards set by the government's curriculum
(Mastropieri and Scruggs, 1997). Students with
intellectual disabilities present in primary schools
need appropriate educational services tailored to
their level of difficulty and need to obtain
appropriate educational achievement.
The results of preliminary studies conducted by
researchers on some elementary schools in the city
of West Java Province Cimahi show both teachers of
Adaptive Reading Learning Program for Children with Intellectual Disabilities in Inclusive Elementary School
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