Special Education Students: Inclusion vs Reality Essay

(“Special Education”). In addition, this makes children feel superior to their peers. In other words, it leads them to feel disconnected from the other students, like an outsider that does not belong. Because of this, students get easily frustrated with themselves and are apt to give up or even worse believe it is their fault they are different from others. In reality, the minds of these already low-level learners have the confusion of their surrounding peers to add on top of the mental stress they already exhibit. Lastly, these children are mocked, singled out, and verbally abused. In contrast to the belief that inclusion “breaks down social barriers,” it in fact only contributes to the building of them. Because of this, children feel depressed and withdrawn from the social activities that all their “normal” peers are able to participate in. In other words, special needs children learn less, feel perplexed, and become depressed due to mainstreaming. (“Intellectual Disabilities”). Clearly, this is not what any parent wants for their child, so why do they continue to support it?

Over the years, there has been a continuous debate over how effective inclusion classes really are for students in school. The whole idea of inclusion classes is to place students in the kind of environment where they can work with other peers who do not need special education and in a sense, not be secluded to just one classroom setting. There are those who feel that students who are in inclusion classes perform better academically and then there are those who feel that inclusion is not beneficial to those who need special education. This debate has left many people wondering, “Is inclusion really best for all students?”

When inclusion was proposed, educators’ primary concern was how learning-disabled students would benefit academically. Academic concern is important; studies on the success of inclusion have determined that there are social issues that need more attention. A study on inclusion conducted by (B. Dixon) in New Hampshire found that Even when students were first included in regular classes, teams did not focus on the students peer relations unless parents pushed the issue or students looked conspicuously isolated. Many studies have been done; interviewing parents of special needs children, teachers in inclusive classrooms and non-learning disabled students. According to (Jayne Pivik, Joan Mccomas and Marc

The inclusion movement is a full inclusion of special education students into regular classrooms. The inclusion movement suggests that inclusion should be one of several alternatives to meeting the educational needs. Inclusion advocates typically support the argument that the segregation of a child by diagnosis or handicap is not in the best interest of the child (CDC,2016). The impact of this movement forces the teachers to look beyond the situation and focus on the educational need of the student. It also forces the requirement that special needs students be educated in the "Least restrictive environment.

As a student, the way you learn is important to you and the classroom environment hugely affects the way you learn. Although there is a variety of learning styles, tactile, visual, and auditory, there is also a variety of environment types, one of them being Inclusion. Inclusion is when children with or without disabilities are taught in the same classroom. Many argue that kids with disabilities disturb other kids learning process or prohibit some of their learning opportunities. But it turns out, both kids with or without disabilities benefit from Inclusion. Inclusion teaches to kids how to interact with everyone, students with special needs thrive academically, and socially, and kids make more friends and become more accepting of each other.

In this study, inclusion was not solely about the inclusion of a single child or children with disabilities or SEN. Rather it was built on the belief that all should benefit from access to the same educational experience. An experience as this teacher says should enrich their lives,

Many times, as we discussed in class, inclusion has been not implemented well in classrooms. In some cases, as conveyed by the teacher candidates who were at Al Raby, that there was a clear segregation among students with special needs and those who didn’t. In addition, in the book, it mentioned how sometimes the paraprofessional staff are the “teachers” for the special needs students while the actual teacher just teaches those without special needs. In both of these situations, inclusion is not being implemented correctly. As a future educator, my vision of an inclusive classroom would be to integrate the class where there is a reciprocal learning experience among students with and without special needs and also that both parties are mutually benefiting from inclusion. Structurally, I would create this inclusion by ensuring that there is an even distribution of those with and without special needs in the classroom. In other words, I would create clusters or groups of 4 students where there is at least one special needs student at each cluster. My hope is that those without special needs would be a student mentor and helper and to also learn about those who may be different from them. My hope is not to ostracize the students with special needs, but rather to help others understand that differences aren’t bad and that everybody has unique and special abilities and talents. I would also foster inclusion by allowing the paraprofessionals to not just help the students with special needs, but I, as a teacher to also give attention and support for those with special

Inclusion is very important in early childhood education. The definition of an inclusion classroom defined by Sue Watson (2016) is, “Settings where students with disabilities and typically developing students share a classroom and teacher.” Every student deserves to have the same education as one another and deserves to be in a mainstreamed classroom instead of isolated in a classroom for children with disabilities or English Language Learners. Being included in mainstreamed classrooms can help student’s social skills and students can learn from each other. Inclusion teaches children about diversity, which shows students that not everyone is the same and that their peers may learn differently. The teacher plays a huge role in student’s achievement and will need to meet the needs of all students

Along with academic benefits, inclusion enables the child to model critical social skills and gain lasting relationships with their peers that will aid them in understanding real-world relations (lecture). Having the opportunity to be appropriately educated in a regular classroom gives the child, for perhaps the first time, the chance to feel "like other kids." Having the opportunity to interact and succeed, as well as fail, like the other children can really do a lot for a child's sense of self-worth (lecture). Exclusion from classrooms only segregates the children, teaching the general education kids to breed prejudice, and be ignorant and fearful of those who are not like them. Schwartz states that, “Without knowledge (and education) that people with disabilities are more similar to nondisabled people than different, a double standard is created.” (Schwartz,4). The more the child is included, the less likely they will face prejudice, and the less likely it is that he/she will miss out on the important social events going on in and out of the classroom. As a result, the child will have a better chance of being socially competent and socially integrated throughout their

In modern society, everything is always rapidly changing. Numerous things around the world are becoming more common and accepted. Inclusion is all around us and it is commonly unnoticed. From an educational perspective, inclusion refers to the idea of placing students with disabilities in general education classes or other school activities (Hallahan, Kauffman, & Pullen, 2015). Early childhood education has been trying to incorporate inclusion in numerous ways, along with all other education. Integrated classrooms are very popular and has changed education drastically. Just like everything, inclusion in education has its flaws, but no the less, is making progress.

With the issue of inclusion, there are both pros and cons to each side. There are many different factors that influence the views of inclusion to different groups of people. There are four main groups of people that inclusion have an effect on including: the students with disabilities, regular education students, teachers of regular education students, and the parents of students with disabilities. With each group of people, there are many who are for inclusion and many who are against inclusion. Everyone has their own thoughts and opinions and it’s important to hear what each side has to say to help all students in education.

At some point in their lives, nearly all people have interacted, whether it be an extended conversation or a brief nod, with an individual who has a disability. This is likely due to the fact that over one billion people, or 15% of the world’s population, have mild to severe disabilities with 93 to 150 million of them being children ranging from ages zero to eighteen (Lansdown 11). Many people who attended grades K-12 in an American public school system during the 1990s can recall similar memories of their schools’ methods of educating those with physical disabilities, mental disabilities, or both. Prior to 1997, “services for individuals with disabilities were still primarily provided through a pull-out or resource-room model in which students were provided services outside of the general education classroom, either by being pulled from their general education classroom or by attending a separate, segregated class often called a resource room” (Provenzo 746). However, individuals who attend public schools in the 21st century are able to recognize that segregated classes are no longer the predominant method of educating those with disabilities. This is partially due to the reauthorization of IDEA, or the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, in 1997 which mandates that schools provide education in a way that is not restrictive and designs a way for schools to transform their primary models for special education services from a segregated model to an inclusionary model

Inclusion classrooms are growing and strengthening the education of children with disabilities in the state of California. Inclusion is a philosophy of bringing together a diverse group of students, including those with special needs, to learn and grow in the same environment. Inclusion aims to cater to all students in a supportive manner, knowing that each child brings forth their different skill sets and learning styles. Students, educators, parents and administrators all working together to build a cohesive classroom that is focused on acceptance and belonging. The state of California has joined the national movement and made it a priority to move to this model of education to close the achievement gap in students with disabilities. This could be special materials, teaching techniques, or equipment and / or facilities. Finding and utilizing the abilities of the exceptional student is the most important goal in special education. Students with disabilities benefit from inclusion because they are exposed to age-appropriate curricula and work with and learn from typical peers.

Inclusion is the integration of the students with special educational needs into the regular education setting. This idea has been spreading across the country where children are no longer being separated due to their needs. But how does this make the teachers feel? One might think that popular opinion would be that it makes it less difficult for them to teach and they do now get to spend the time that they would want to with the “normal” students, and some do. But for the most part, while inclusion has many negative opinions by some teachers, most agree that when inclusion is done properly it is tremendously beneficial to all students.

In a classroom we come across student diversity in terms of ability, ethnicity and learning needs. Ensuring student participation is a matter of importance, since children are at times deprived of equal right to use inclusive education from early childhood through to adulthood. Inclusive education means eliminating the distinction between special and regular education and giving equal opportunities despite their level of disability. It implies that providing educational facilities to students with additional educational needs which are used by most other students. The word inclusion is based on the idea that schools should satisfy the needs of the children in their communities, whatever the level of their ability,