User:Spaul57

Hello! My name is Sachi, and I am currently a junior at Rice University in Houston, TX. I'm originally from Austin, TX, and I have much to love in both of these places. I am pursuing a B.A. in in Cognitive Sciences and a minor in Poverty, Justice, & Human Capabilities. I would definitely say that I'm interested in a variety of topics, but I think I want to be focusing in some combination of healthcare, linguistics, bilingualism, aphasia, cognitive neuropsychology, and education after graduation. Outside of my academic interests, I love being outside, going on runs/working out, trying new foods and coffee shops, reading novels, and most importantly, spending time with my friends and family. I volunteer in a refugee education program called PAIR, am involved in my residential college, and am in the process of training to become an ICF Certified Leadership Coach.

For my research this semester, I have two main ideas that I am very passionate about and will be choosing between. I have briefly discussed both below.

Special Needs Education in Tanzania

Wikipedia already has an “Education in Tanzania” page that addresses both private and public schooling, curriculum, national exams, primary and secondary education, and student life. This is the parent article, and it is brief but informative. However, I would either like to add a few sections to this article in the realm of Special Needs Education or create a new page about it. I’m really interested in global education as well as physical and cognitive impairments in children, and I’ve come across multiple articles regarding “developing countries” and their lack of education for children with these disabilities. Tanzania has made some progress, especially recently, and I’d like to research about what life is like for these children. I would most likely focus on speech deficits (I myself was born with an internal cleft palate, so I’m fascinated by and passionate about this), cognitive disorders, and physical impairment, and then the huge stigma that surrounds these impairments in some societies. Some references that I've found interesting are below:

Ferguson, Dianne L. “International Trends in Inclusive Education: the Continuing Challenge to Teach Each One and Everyone.” European Journal of Special Needs Education, vol. 23, no. 2, 2008, pp. 109–120., doi:10.1080/08856250801946236.

Kisanji, Joseph. “Attitudes and Beliefs about Disability in Tanzania.” University of Manchester, pp. 1–15.

Mgaya, Emiliana P. “Children with Language Impairment in Tanzania: A Qualitative Study about How Special Education Teachers Experience Working with Children with Language Impairment in Pre-Schools.” Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2017.

Opini, Bathseba. “EDUCATION FOR ALL AND STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN TANZANIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS: CHALLENGES AND SUCCESSES.” International Journal of Educational Studies, vol. 03, no. 02, 2016, pp. 65–76.

Polat, Filiz. “Inclusion in Education: A Step towards Social Justice.” International Journal of Educational Development, vol. 31, no. 1, 2011, pp. 50–58., doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2010.06.009.

Possi, Mwajabu K., and Joseph R. Milinga. “Special and Inclusive Education in Tanzania: Reminiscing the Past, Building the Future.” Educational Process: International Journal, vol. 6, no. 4, 2017, pp. 55–73., doi:10.22521/edupij.2017.64.4.

Stone-Macdonald, Angi. “Cultural Beliefs about Disability in Practice: Experiences at a Special School in Tanzania.” International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, vol. 59, no. 4, 2012, pp. 393–407., doi:10.1080/1034912x.2012.723947.

Sudfeld, Christopher R, et al. “Malnutrition and Its Determinants Are Associated with Suboptimal Cognitive, Communication, and Motor Development in Tanzanian Children.” The Journal of Nutrition, vol. 145, no. 12, 2015, pp. 2705–2714., doi:10.3945/jn.115.215996.

Tungaraza, F.D. “Accomplishments and challenges facing students with disabilities at the University of Dar es Salaam: Thirty Years of navigating the Hill.” Papers in Education and Development, 29, 134-155, 2010.

Tungaraza, F. D. “Sixty Years of Special Needs Education in Tanzania: Celebrating Audacity, Commitment and Resilience.” University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 2012.

“‘I Had a Dream to Finish School’ | Barriers to Secondary Education in Tanzania.” Human Rights Watch, 14 Feb. 2017.

I absolutely love people and hearing about new perspective, and I'm really excited to learn from fellow users! Feel free to reach out to me at sp57@rice.edu if you have questions or thoughts, or check out my sandbox User:Spaul57/sandbox for more info and progress on my project.