The Essence of Student Diversity

THE ESSENCE OF STUDENT DIVERSITY Inclusive Education is an educational service system that regulates that the disabled can be served in the nearest school, in regular classes with their peers. Without having to be in a special class, students can learn together with accessibility that supports all students without exception for the disabled. The diversity of students in learning is divided into 8 (eight) types, including linguistic intelligence, logical mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, and naturalist intelligence (Gardner, 1983). In everyday life in society, the term extraordinary children who are now referred to as children with special needs are still misinterpreted, namely extraordinary children are always interpreted as children with superior abilities or who have extraordinary achievements. In fact, the definition of extraordinary children also refers to the definition of children who experience abnormalities or disabilities. Children with special needs are children with special characteristics that are different from children in general without always showing mental, emotional or physical disabilities. However, the public is still mistaken in interpreting the concept of children with special needs, the factors that cause children to become children with special needs and the characteristics of each type of child who experiences special needs. In the world of education, extraordinary children are defined as children outside when they need special attention and special education services by special educators or tutors who have a background in the discipline of special education or other relevant disciplines and have certification of authority in teaching, educating, guiding and training extraordinary children. Therefore, we will discuss the diversity of students and children with special needs including the understanding of the two things, characteristics, types and essence. It is hoped that this paper can be useful for many people, especially those who still do not understand the two things. A. Understanding Student Diversity Diversity is diverse, many types, various and so on. While what is meant by Students are students in an institution called a school. So it can be concluded that student diversity is a variety of students formed by individuals and the school environment. The diversity in question is the characteristics inherent in a particular group or individual. This grouping can be reviewed from the aspects of gender, physical, socio-economic status, ethnicity-race, culture, language, religion, mental condition, behavior, intellectuality, and so on. For example, there are differences between groups of male students and groups of female students or groups of students from low socio-economic status with higher socio-economic status. On the other hand, there are variations between individuals where each student has differences called individual differences. B. Understanding Children with Special Needs Children with special needs are children with special characteristics that are different from children in general without always showing mental, emotional or physical disabilities. Those included in ABK include: blind, deaf, mentally retarded, physically disabled, emotionally retarded, learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, gifted children, children with health disorders, and difficulties in socializing. Other terms for children with special needs are extraordinary children and disabled children. Due to the characteristics and obstacles they have, ABK requires a form of special education service that is adjusted to their abilities and potential, for example for the blind they need modification of reading texts into Braille (raised writing) and the deaf communicate using sign language (body language).