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 movement toward full inclusion of special education students in general education setting has brought special education to a crossroad and stirred considerable debate on its future direction. Proponents of full inclusion argue that the needs of students in general education. Full inclusion is "an approach on which students who are disabled or at risk
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The teacher needs to prepare students to be accepting of the special needs students by being honest about the nature of the child's disability and/or behavior difficulty. Although inclusion seems like a great idea that should be of some form of benefit for all involved, if not handled properly it can become a very stressful situation
I believe that inclusion is a good idea when all the proper facilities, services, aids and proper disciplinary strategies are present. However, if the teacher/classroom/school, are not well equipped to handle inclusion, it can become a very stressful hardship for all involved. The regular students will become distracted by the constant disruptions, they can even resort to acting out themselves because they are seeing the inclusion student is not being disciplined. The teacher can become frustrated with the chaos in his/her classroom and feel unable to regain control or not able to effectively teach the class with constant disruptions occurring.
Inclusion is not a program that a school system should consider as a way to save money. To do it right will cost more money. However, the pay off for all students is likely to be worth the extra cost. Research has found that in most cases' students with special needs who are included are achieving at far higher levels than they did in segregated classrooms. It was
Firstly, Mrs. Creech discusses meaningful inclusion. Students with disabilities will learn and a slower pace, and therefore they need follow a curriculum that meets their needs. When students are part of general education classes, it is important to evaluate the material that will be taught to the child during inclusion. Valuable lessons include: skills in self-care, communication and vocational goals. It is important to see the big picture for these children. We need to teach skills that are going to contribute to their independence as adults.
Inclusion is the act of having students with disabilities and abled body students in the same classroom. In concept this has many benefits not only for the students but it also saves time and money for the school, however in practice I do not think inclusion works the way it was hoped to. Inclusion in theory will put light strain on the classroom because of safe guards such as helper teachers are in place to help out. In my experience these teachers are in the way most of the time when students are trying to learn, and students feel cheated when the special needs students are handed a supplemented test making the students feel bad. Lastly that the pros of inclusion in the classroom are set in perfect conditions with good teachers on both sides special education and general education, however most of the time that is not the case.
In a perfect world, everyone would be accepted just because we are all human beings, but, that is not the case. Children with special needs have been subjected to everything from separate classes and schools to institutions and facilities for years. With the passing of laws children with special needs were taken into consideration and the need for inclusion was brought forth. Inclusion is when all students learn, participate, and contribute to all aspects of the learning process.
I also believe that a key element of inclusion is maintaining a close relationship between me and the special education teachers and paraprofessionals that I will be working with. If it is at all possible to work together in one classroom, I believe that this will benefit all my students.
In my opinion the education departments are not doing enough to encourage schools and explain to the teachers the benefits of inclusion to both the children with disabilities and the rest of the students (Ashman & Elkins, 2009). Children are our future and it is important that through inclusion they learn to understand that differences make us who we are. I think it also further teachers the message to booth the children and the rest of the community that of social justice which says just because your different doesn’t mean you don’t deserve fair treatment (Ashman & Elkins, 2009).
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.
Another upside of Inclusion would be the development of friendships. If disabled children were in separated classroom, or schools, they would not have a wide variety of peers to bond with. In inclusive classrooms, children with disabilities can learn from children without disabilities, or vice versa. They will have more opportunities to open up and accept each other and learn to appreciate diversity. With these benefits, there are also downfalls. Inclusion can cause, not only for the non-disabled children to fail, but also for the disabled. For instance, some students who are disabled need extra help, but “…it can be difficult for a teacher to provide these accommodations without distracting the rest of the students” (Jessica Cook). Students with special needs will need extra attention, and while the teacher is helping the special needs student, he will be neglecting the other non-special needs students that also need help. Even the other way around, the teacher would help the non-special needs students, and would start neglecting the special needs students. This could possibly cause students to slowly, or maybe even drastically, start failing. Another example would be that regular teachers are not as “…fully trained as a special education teacher when it comes to providing for the educational, behavioral and physical needs of students with special needs” (Jessica Cook). Some people may say that they can always pair a regular teacher with another
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.
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.
The teacher can encourage this inclusion by teaching the students, parents, and other community members about negative stereotypical attitudes about students with disabilities by avoiding negative words, such as “disabled”, or “crippled”, or “handicapped” and to promote positive ideas about disabilities into class work, the student’s play time and other activities. To further ensure that the classroom is promoting equality for the child with the disability, the teacher should incorporate an inclusive curriculum mindset, by adapting the lessons, learning materials and classroom to suit the needs of all the different types of learners including the child with the disability within the classroom.
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
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.
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.
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.)
Orr (2009) conducted interviews with special education teachers and the attitudes they have seen in their schools since inclusion was implemented in their schools. Orr (2009) chose fifteen teachers, which included fourteen female and one male teacher who agreed to participate in the study so it was a purposive criterion sample. Twelve of the fifteen teachers taught in a suburban area, two in a rural area, and one in an urban area; but they varied in the age they taught and school. Seven of the fifteen teachers taught in a self-contained classroom while the remaining eight taught in a resource room, where they only saw a student for less than an hour or two a day. Another pattern that showed was that many teachers found that they did not receive any classes that focused on differentiation or inclusion while completing their undergraduate work (Orr 2009). These results are important when considering the implementation of inclusion because it may mean that there is a need to reteach teachers. It is important to consider professional development classes district-wide before implementing inclusion in the classroom.