Physiological and Hygienic Assessment of Education of Elementary School Students with Disabilities

Introduction: Over 1,500 establishments provide education to children with disabilities in the Russian Federation. According to sanitary legislation, learning of students with special educational needs can be both inclusive and special, i.e. provided in mainstream schools or separate classrooms, groups, and education facilities, respectively. Yet, priority models and forms of education for disabled children are still a matter of debate. Objective: To assess the compliance of the learning process with functional capabilities of schoolchildren with special educational needs in the context of the models of special and inclusive education. Materials and methods: The study was based on examining mental performance and emotional state of elementary school students with disabilities. Results and discussion: We established better and steady mental performance of disabled students taught in a special school department, which was largely attributed to health-preserving practices feasible to implement in this particular setting. Inclusive education, on the opposite, induced shifts in mental performance reflecting obvious and pronounced fatigue that increased significantly during the school week (from 58.0 ± 12.5 to 70.0 ± 14.5, р < 0.05). Indicators of the emotional state were relatively stable over the course of learning and did not differ significantly between the children receiving special and inclusive education. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate the importance of applying various models of teaching students with special educational needs taking into account hygienic optimization of weaknesses of the conditions and organization of the educational process, socialization and social adaptation of disabled students, all contributing to variability and parental opportunity to choose the most suitable model for the child.