There are pros and cons to inclusion education. Those who support inclusion education point to the benefits which result from putting students with disabilities into general classrooms with other children who do not have a disability. To begin, integrating students with disabilities into the classroom forces some teachers to leave their comfort zones and learn new techniques to become better instructors. Another big benefit for students of all levels of ability is the increase in social areas such as peer modeling. Children from both aspects of the discussion learn social norms from their peers exhibiting acceptable academic and social behaviors. Relationship building as well as allowing children to understand diversity are also great pros.
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
In some general classrooms, teachers tend to give more time and attention to children with disabilities, leaving general education students who may be struggling with little to no help. Socialization is another whole ballpark, inclusion could lead to children developing negative attitudes about peers with disabilities, especially if they feel they are receiving more attention from the teacher and other students in the classroom. Teachers of general education classes may have a fear of teaching students with disabilities. They feel they do not know them well enough and that they will make a mistake. This can then in return allow the teacher to push the student with a disability away and not give them the best education piece they can. These teachers feel like they should not have to change their classroom for a student that is coming to them. It also shows that these teachers are not trained properly in special education.
Inclusion is beneficial for all students in a general education classroom, not just the students with disabilities. Inclusion teaches all students understanding, compassion, respect, and acceptance of others. Students with disabilities are able to learn from peers and teachers alike. Inclusion also boosts a student’s confidence because they feel accepted within the classroom, the school, and the community. Inclusion leads to more success in achieving the goals set forth in the IEP. The Common Core State Standards go hand in hand with inclusion because they address the knowledge and skills
Inclusive practice in education moves us away from ‘integration’ and ‘mainstreaming’ of learners, which was mainly concerned with separating those with a disability or ‘special educational needs’ until they had reached the required standard for mainstream education. Inclusion is about the learner’s right to participate and the teacher/ institutions duty to accept the learner as an individual. Inclusion rejects the separation of learners with disabilities from learners without disabilities; instead it promotes equality and respect for their social, civil, human and educational rights. From what I can see there are few totally inclusive schools but those that are, restructure their curriculum so all can learn
Inclusion implies that students are more alike than different, and that all students should be welcomed members of their learning communities. Therefore I believe inclusion has been successful for Thomas. Thomas did not need to be in special education all day. Being in a general education setting helped Thomas branch out with his peers. He had Ms. Meyer that could assist him with any problems he might encounter. There are several factors that show how students with disabilities can be successful with typically achieving peers. Successful factors include characteristics of students being educated, and preparation of skills and their teachers. Also the amount of administrative support available is important as well. Factors that would prevent students being successful would be parent perceptions.
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
According to the foundations of Inclusion video the three key elements to the best inclusive practice are: access, participation and support. Access is allowing the student to get the education they deserve and making it easier on them. Students with disabilities should be allowed to have recess and go on fieldtrips with other students and teachers should help them accomplish that. Teachers are also encouraged to modify lesson plans so everyone in the classroom understands. Participation helps to make sure the student engages and fully understands what is being taught. Teachers can help with participation by interacting with the student and helping them to understand in different ways other than just speaking with them. Lastly, is support
Inclusion, in the world of education, is an approach or teaching strategy that focuses on including students with disabilities in the general education setting. The goal of inclusion is to educate students who may struggle with a variety of disabilities. The views on inclusion differ. Some educators are very receptive to the ideals of inclusion and all that it in tells. “The teachers (a) had favorable views of the concept of inclusion; (b) differed in their efficacy in achieving successful inclusion, and (c) faced challenges in their inclusive practices” (Hodge, Ammah, Casebolt, LaMaster, Hersman, Samalot-Rivera, & Sato 2009, 402). Some educators believe that it takes away from student learning for the non-disabled student. Jana Kratochvílová states: teacher have to address the fundamental question: how to most effectively organize the learning process for a diverse community of pupils within the class and therefore he needs to think through the possibilities of internal differentiation in the organizational aspect” (Kratochvílová 2015, 640). It is true, not all students with disabilities can be included in a general education classroom successfully. The student’s placement may require reevaluation in order to help provide the student with the best opportunity to succeed. Reevaluating the staff and their level of understanding and education concerning inclusion may increase the changes for a student to be successful. The staff should not
When asking the question, is the inclusive classroom model working, the answer is yes. Inclusion is the right direction to go; however, the model that is in place is not the most effective for education. The Education Law for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 mandate that schools provide free public education to all students with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 ended the idea that a free public education meant segregating students with special needs in separate classrooms or wings of the school, and thus began the “inclusive classroom” movement. What does the law actually mean in regards to “inclusion”? All learners between the ages of 3 to 21 with handicaps, defined as students with hearing impairment, visual impaired, physically disabled, emotionally disturbed, or having special learning disabilities, will be provided a free public education. Furthermore, each of these students will have in place an Individualized Educational Plan where the educator and parent decide on the least restrictive environment possible (which in most cases is the regular classroom) as well as set educational, behavioral, or social-emotional goals for the student.
Before coming into this class, I didn’t have a clear understanding of what inclusion was, what inclusive practices were, and I didn’t quite understand the point of inclusion. “IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) ensures students with disabilities have access to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE), just like all other children. Schools are required to provide special education in the least restrictive environment. That means schools must teach students with disabilities in general education classroom whenever possible.” According to the Overview of Inclusive Practices webinar power point, “inclusive practices are academic and behavioral supports and strategies provided to students with disabilities in general education settings.” Also according to the power point, the goal of inclusive practices is to,
The more knowledge educators and administrators gain on the topic of inclusion, the greater benefit it is for all actors involved, teachers, administrators, students, parents and the community. Studying and exploring the many, different aspects of inclusion will provide the foundation to make educated and informed instruction. The goal being to assist teachers, administrators and parents to gain a good working knowledge of what inclusion means for a student with a disability. Along with knowledge about inclusion, studying inclusion will provide information about the different disabilities along with the characteristics and behaviors of each. Information on inclusion is imperative for teachers and administrators who teach students with disabilities in order to protect the rights of all involved.
Are all children created equal? Are they all the same? Do they all need the same things? Can they all excel at the same pace? These and many more questions come up when we discuss the topic of inclusion. Inclusion is the term many educational professionals use to explain the integration of students with special needs into regular education classes. The terms mainstreaming, deinstitutionized, normalization, as well as the least restrictive environment all have been used to in the past to refer to inclusion. Is inclusion what is best for all students with disabilities? What steps need to be taken in order to achieve this goal?
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 as a word does not just mean to include but also demands certain rights and responsibilities. Inclusion is not just limited to disability but extends beyond it. For example, in a classroom of twenty kids, 3 kids may have some sort of disability which requires special attention, however the same class may also have another four students that come from immigrant or refugee families. These students may experience challenges in learning because of their past experiences and the new environment. Although they are included in the same class, if they are not supported to responsibility by the school professionals they may lack behind and the whole model of inclusion may get defeated. On the other note, these kids should have all the rights as any other student in the class. The biggest challenge that I feel in the public school system is the misconception of the philosophy of inclusion and the model build around it. It is affected by many factors that include people, resources and funding. Inclusion is also perceived differently by people and the understanding is affected by their own experiences whether heard or lived. It becomes a big challenge to view inclusion in the same
Uniquely, in inclusive classrooms, students with special needs have access to the mainstream curriculum, thus giving them more opportunities for academic growth. (Is Integrating Children with special needs in mainstream classrooms beneficial?) Students with disabilities do better when in a setting where expectations are higher and more is asked of them. The students will flourish academically because in regular