Prospect
Special education seems to have grown rapidly during the last five years. When
we considered the data from 1986, the Ministry of Education classified special education
into four types: Visual impairment, hearing impairment, mental limitation and physical
disabilities. In 1999, the National Education Act specified nine types of special needs:
visual-impairment, hearing-impairment, intellectual limitation, physical limitation,
learning disability, speech impairment, behavioral or emotional disorder, autistic and
multiply- handicapped.
The Education Act in Thailand now covers a wider range of special needs than in
the past fifteen (15) years. It indicates the development of a world view towards special
education by the government. The strategic plan of the Ministry of Education coincides
with the general practice as described by Ainscow, Booth, and Dyson (2006) that “efforts
to foster inclusive school development are more likely to be effective when they are part of
a wider systematic strategy”.
However, as mentioned earlier, a decade after the strategic plan was implemented,
the outcome seems not to have moved as target. The inclusive classroom is an innovation
for special education, involves factors such as the role of school leadership, staff culture,
staff knowledge and understanding, community awareness and impact on students.