Sri Lanka works towards the welfare and empowerment of Persons with Disabilities through a gamut of institutions in different sectors, to ensure the targeted provision of services and compliance with the laws and policies related to PwDs. These include Ministry of Social Welfare: National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD); National Secretariat for Persons with Disabilities (NSPD); Department of Social Services (DSS); Ministry of Health, Nutrition & Indigenous Medicine: Directorate for Youth, Elderly & Persons with Disabilities; Ministry of Education: Non-formal and Special Education Branch; Ministry of Skills Development & Vocational Training; Ministry of Home Affairs: Divisional Secretariats – Social Services desk; Provincial Councils: Provincial Social Service Departments. Sri Lanka has a history of addressing the needs of Children with disabilities, dating back to 1912, when the first school for the deaf and blind was established.
A disability is a condition—typically a mental, physical, or emotional limitation—that affects a person’s ability to perform a particular activity like walking, communicating, or learning. Examples of disabilities include ADHD, autism, brain injuries, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, epilepsy, hearing impairment, mental illness or mental health conditions, and neurological disorders. Some medical professionals categorise disabilities according to type, including distinctions like physical disabilities (which affect a person’s body), intellectual disabilities (which affect a person’s thinking or learning), developmental disabilities (which arise during childhood or adolescence), congenital disabilities (which exist from birth), and invisible disabilities (which aren’t obvious to others).
Special needs and inclusion are two important concepts to know and understand when it comes to early childhood education.
Special needs in early childhood education
Special needs cover a variety of differences in early childhood education. When discussing special needs, it is important to remember that they are culturally and socially constructed phenomena. This means that the child them self is not special, 
but the ‘special’ aspect is constructed in relation to the environment and culture the child is in. The barriers that children with special needs face may or may not cause limitations and disability depending on how educators approach their needs.
There are three board categories of special needs:
lPhysical and sensory impairment needs: This can include limb disabilities, blindness or visual impairments, deafness or hearing impairment and epilepsy.
lNeurodevelopmental needs: Learning disabilities, ADHD, autism and Down syndrome fall under this category.
lSocial-emotional/behavioral needs: This encompasses behavioral and emotional challenges caused by trauma, poor living conditions or neglect/abuse.
However, the different conditions listed above are often interconnected, which is why it is important to take a holistic approach to supporting children with special educational needs. In this article, we focus on the second and third categories.
Neurodevelopmental needs
This category of special needs relates to cognitive functions. Learning disabilities fall under this umbrella, and they include a wide range of learning-related differences. Children with such disabilities can have problems with reading and writing skills (typically dyslexia), mathematics, listening, speaking, visual perception and motor skills. These challenges need to be constant and severe in order to be classified as a disorder. Most are diagnosed in the primary school years, but early signs may already appear in early childhood.
Other examples of neurodevelopmental needs are ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and ADD, or Attention Deficit Disorder. Both often appear in children before the age of seven and can lead to an inability to stop spontaneous responses like lots of movement. They manifest in a variety of ways. For example, a child with ADHD can be hyperactive and impulsive while still paying attention, while a child with ADD can appear inattentive without being hyperactive or impulsive.
Children with these disorder might also struggle to stay focused, get easily distracted, act without thinking, talk excessively, or interrupt other children. A child’s ADHD or ADD does not relate to their intelligence and talent. It might affect their learning when they are excluded from certain activities, but children with this disorder are typically creative, flexible, enthusiastic and energetic.
Because of these differences, it’s important to give special support to children with such a disorder. Some helpful pedagogical practices include visual aids, short and clear instructions, time and support during transitions and good behavior modelling. “Stress toys” like weighted or balancing pillows can help calm a child’s physical movement during situations where they need to be still for a while and concentrate too. Limiting visual and audio distractions also helps, and this is emphasised in the HEI design. In addition, it’s important to adapt challenges to an achievable level for a child with ADHD or ADD. Most of all, one should concentrate on giving feedback in situations where children do behave well.
Socio-emotional and behavioural needs
Children who struggle to develop socio-emotional competences may have special needs, and the type of support they require can vary greatly.
In Finland, the term ‘special needs’ is not found anywhere in official legislation. It was phased out in recent years because the educational system emphasizes inclusion above all else. In practice, inclusion in early childhood education means providing for each individual in the early education setting so that all children can participate. According to the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children should be brought up in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity. Therefore, children with special needs should also enjoy the human rights and freedoms granted to other children.
When talking about inclusion and inclusive practices, we actually talk about access, participation and support.
An example of a government institution addressing difficulties of persons is the Department of Social Services
The primary objective of the Department of Social Services is to make marginalised and disadvantaged communities active stakeholders of national development by addressing the problems faced by them while enabling them to be self-reliant. They have several focusses.
Community Base Rehabilitation Programme-The main objective of this program is to rehabilitate persons with disabilities domestically and integrate them into society providing relevant services.
Vocational Training-if you are a young person between 16 to 35 years of age with any impairment of hearing, speech, visually handicapped, intellectually or physically challenged, their objective is to help you in integrating in to the society as a dignified citizen.
Early Childhood Development-If your child is having a disorder or retardation in his/her growth or having any disability identified at birth or in childhood, they are ready to welcome them into their fold.
Care for mentally retarded children-One of the core areas of the services of the Department is to provide care and shelter for intellectually impaired and vulnerable children who are without parents or guardians.
Jeevan Thiagarajah
