Environmental factors within the social model of understanding special needs

Abstract

At the current stage, progressive changes in education are taking place in Ukraine, in particular, new
approaches have been developed to define categories (typologies) of educational difficulties in children with special educational needs and criteria for levels of support in educational institutions. It is time
to abandon reliance on categories of violations, instead, first of all, take into account the individual
characteristics of development, the needs of each child and its potential, as well as “environmental
factors” that affect the entire course of the child’s development. The relevance of the problem determines
the purpose of the research - to present modern ideas about special needs, to characterize environmental
factors in education, their impact on the development and learning of children with hearing impairments,
to determine important changes in the organization of the educational process for children with hearing
impairments in wartime conditions. The methods of theoretical analysis of modern research presented
in scientific publications included in the scientometric databases Index Copernicus, Ulrich’s Periodicals,
Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, etc. were used; a survey of directors and teachers of special
institutions in which children with hearing impairments study was conducted (Google forms). The essence
of the concept of “environmental factors” has been clarified as factors that create the physical and social
environment of a person, can relate to attitudes and values, normative documents, the service system, the
use of technologies, educational methods and materials, etc. Two groups of environmental factors in the
education of children with hearing impairment have been identified, namely: factors affecting the entire
course of the child’s development (early diagnosis of the disorder, early intervention, optimal hearing
aids, support of an interdisciplinary team of specialists, etc.); factors arising at the moment (how exactly
the environment in which the child will or already studies is arranged, to what extent his needs are taken
into account). According to the results of the survey of pedagogical workers, changes in the organization
of the educational process were revealed, which are important in the conditions of martial law.