Essay On Embracing Inclusion

Inclusive practice is a process of identifying, understanding and breaking down barriers to participation and belonging. Inclusion is about ensuring that children and young people, whatever their background or situation, are able to participate fully in all aspects of the life of the school. Inclusive practices will ensure that everyone feels valued and has a sense of belonging. Inclusion is not about viewing everyone as the same or providing the same work, but about providing the same opportunities and access to a

Inclusion is the act of placing students with disabilities into the general education classroom. Students are given the tools, time, and resources necessary to actively participate in all aspects of the general education classroom. Inclusion is not just adding a student with disabilities into the classroom, but genuinely including them as valued members of the classroom. Inclusion is not an easy system to put into practice because it requires a great deal of teamwork and cooperation between teachers, administrators, and parents. Positive Inclusion programs closely supervise the social and academic progress to ensure the students are thriving. When inclusion is done correctly, the teacher finds a way to meet the student’s needs in a way that is natural and unobtrusive. The resources and supports in an inclusion classroom benefit all students, not just the students with disabilities.

In elementary school, my classroom had students with and without disabilities, and we all shared the same space while working towards a common goal, but over time this diverse community diminished. This phenomenon of tracking and hierarchy of opportunity in education that I notice today is also responsible for creating an environment in which secondary special education is often a segregated locale, physically and socially removed from mainstream public schooling. I've witnessed Syracuse University push against this norm and challenge these boundaries time and time again, and I feel that before entering my own my classroom I want to address these issues of homogeneity and continue to build my tool box of inclusionary practices that extend past my current

The notion of inclusion is progressively being accepted as a vital method of learning in our growing school systems. I believe that every student, those with and without exceptionalities, have the right to be included in a general education classroom. Students with learning, social and behavioral exceptionalities or varied abilities deserve the right to be provided with the same opportunities as any other students in the regular general education classroom. The information that I have acquired through my own experiences (in my observations and my classes) have molded my goals as a future teacher. I believe that teaching and education are fundamental in getting students to grow, learn, and flourish;

Inclusion can be defined as the act of being present at regular education classes with the support and services needed to successfully achieve educational goals. Inclusion in the scholastic environment benefits both the disabled student and the non-disabled student in obtaining better life skills. By including all students as much as possible in general or regular education classes all students can learn to work cooperatively, learn to work with different kinds of people, and learn how to help people in tasks. “As Stainback, Stainback, East, and Sapon-Shevin (1994) have noted, ‘...the goal of inclusion in schools is to create a world in which all people are knowledgeable about and supportive of all other

Students with special needs need deserve the same education general education students are presented with. The philosophy of “ Disability Inclusion” concentrates on creating a safe, loving, and effective learning environment for students who suffer from physical, learning, and behavioral disabilities. When a student with disabilities is placed in the same environment as a non-disabled student, the results show wonderful improvement. When we are able to discover the strength of the student we are able to see just how much the student can improve in an inclusion classroom. Disability Inclusion not only sets a new beginning for an equal education of special education students, but it allows for more interaction with the child, and a more hands-on assessment.

Within the past decades and a big discussion has occurred regarding the most appropriate setting within which to provide education for students in special education. Although the change in the educational environment is significant for handicapped student the concepts of inclusion also bring up new issues for the regular education classroom teachers.

The idea of children with disabilities, whether they be mild or severe has been a very controversial and misunderstood topic. In the past inclusion has brought about huge changes for not only the students, but also the parents and families of these children, and staff at schools. Teachers and education professionals were the first to really feel the wrath and intimidation of this dramatic shift in education. There were several different factors that were coming about that made it very difficult for schools and teachers, the unorganized mandates were strict and didn’t allow much time for change. “President Gerald Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) into law in 1975. Since the original passage of the EAHCA, the law has been amended four times and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)” (Conroy, Yell, Katsiyannis, & Collins, 2010, para.1).

Inclusion in classrooms can further benefit the communication skills and sense of community among students with and without disabilities. “Children that learn together, learn to live together” (Bronson, 1999). For students with special needs, inclusive classrooms provide them with a sense of self-belonging. The classrooms provide diverse environments with which the students will evolve feelings of being a member of a diverse community (Bronson, 1999). For students without disabilities, they learn to develop appreciation of the diversity. The classrooms provide many opportunities for the students to experience diversity and realize that everyone has different abilities that are unique and acceptable. From this realization, the students will learn to be respectful for others with different characteristics (Bronson, 1999). Inclusion in classrooms is beneficial to all students’ individual and community growth.

Through my theoretical and small practical understanding of inclusive education I will be embracing the concept and practice of inclusion through the use of the term Curriculum Differentiation, which is all about arranging the classroom learning environment to be more suitable for students of all types, abilities and learning capacities to have the chance to reach their own individual maximum potentials (Carpenter, 2010). Through researching and learning about inclusion I have come to believe and agree with the statement of “Diversity not Deficit” when teaching in an inclusive school or classroom (Queensland Government, 2005). This statement reflects my own personal philosophy of inclusive education, as it pushes my strong belief that education is about not seeing any of the students, their families or the

Many children have had learning disabilities for many years. Each year more and more of these children are being helped. Schools are working to improve their special education programs and to have all kinds of students work together in the same classroom. The practice of inclusion was started because educators felt that special needs students would achieve more in traditional classrooms with non-learning disabled students than they would in special education classes. However, research findings suggest that there really is no difference in academic achievement levels for special needs students when they are placed in regular classrooms.

For years children with special needs were ushered off to separate classes and schools. Children with special needs have the right to attend classes with their same aged peers in the same classroom with support. Students with special needs deserve the same opportunities they would have if circumstances were different. Inclusion gives those students with special needs the chance to be part of the community; able to form relationships outside of the family unit. All students benefit from inclusion; students with disabilities develop social skills and develop friendships while non-disabled students learn tolerance and acceptance.

One of the most controversial issues facing educators today is the topic of educating students with disabilities, specifically through the concept of inclusion. Inclusion is defined as having every student be a part of the classroom all working together no matter if the child has a learning disability or not (Farmer) (Inclusion: Where We’ve Been.., 2005, para. 5). The mentally retarded population has both a low IQ and the inability to perform everyday functions. Activities such as eating, dressing, walking, and in some cases, talking can be hopeless for a child with mental retardation.

Over the past twenty years, there has been a strong movement within schools around the United States to integrate students with disabilities in to general education classrooms. Schools have been making more efforts to increase educational opportunities for students with disabilities, and while there are many benefits to inclusion, there are also many challenges. Inclusion of special education students in a regular education classroom continues to be the center of debate amongst administrators and teachers. Everyone has their own ideas and attitudes towards inclusion, and research studies have revealed that there are many things that contribute to those positive or negative attitudes.

Every child has the ability to learn, but the way a child learns and processes knowledge can be very different, especially for a child with special needs. (Mainstreaming Special Education in the Classroom) As a society we owe all children the chance to reach their full potential, thus we must set up an environment where this accessible. Integrated education unarguably allows the must vulnerable and excluded children this chance. According to Inclusiveschools.org, “Inclusion” does not simply mean placing students with physical or mental disability in general mainstream classrooms, but rather offers fundamental change to school community and how children learn altogether. Effective models of inclusive education according to various sources, is the right model of education for special needs students because it allows greater access to mainstream curriculum, preparation for integration in an inclusive society, and promotes a tolerant and inclusive society. (Full inclusion: Has its time arrived?, The Benefits of inclusive Education.)