The Puppet Playground : Children With Disabilities

Schools most frequently use them for selected students with mild to severe special needs. Inclusive education differs from previously held notions of 'integration' and 'mainstreaming', which tended to be concerned principally with disability and 'special educational needs' and implied learners changing or becoming 'ready for' or deserving of accommodation by the mainstream. By contrast, inclusion is about

When I receive my bachelor’s degree in Special Education, I want to teach in elementary schools. I feel as though if you can start teaching the students in an inclusive classroom at a young age, everyone around will understand them more. I believe that if you can get the non-disabled kids to understand that the only thing that makes the disabled kids different from them is their disability, then they will start to associate with one another while their young. By them doing this, they are slowly becoming friends. Getting them to become friends at a young age is really important because it will limit the idea of the child that has a disability being bullied or teased by an individual that does not have a disability because he/she will understand them. While I

Americans with disabilities make up the largest minority group in the United States. Approximately fifty million people in the United States live with physical or mental handicaps. This minority group is unique in that it is made up of people from all socioeconomic classes, genders and races. Mental and physical impairments do not discriminate. As with other minorities, Americans with disabilities face unique challenges and discriminatory behaviors. For centuries, disabled people had to battle irrational fears and stereotypes due to the lack of medical understanding. The first demand for equal treatment for disabled people came in the 1960s. The struggle for disability rights has followed a similar pattern to many other civil rights movements – first negative stereotypes must be challenged, followed rallying for political and institutional change and lobbying for the self-determination of a minority community. As a result the examples of the African American civil rights and women’s rights movements encouraged the disability rights movement, and after decades of campaigning and lobbying, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990.

After viewing the videos of Samantha’s preschool inclusion and Peter’s classroom inclusion, I found that there are a few benefits of inclusion for children with special needs and their families. Inclusion classrooms can be very beneficial for children with special needs because it gives them a chance to be around typical developing peers to socialize with and learn from as well. In the video of Samantha’s situation, the typical developing children really enjoyed Samantha because despite her unique challenges, they were still able to play with her and they considered her to be a good friend. Another way inclusion classrooms are beneficial for special needs children is that, teachers of inclusion classrooms work closely with the family and team to develop the appropriate adaptations for children with special needs. When children with special

The history of the Americans with Disabilities Act began long before it was originally introduced to Congress in 1988. (Mayerson, 1992). There isn’t one person responsible for the ADA but rather thousands of Americans who have fought for the rights of people with disabilities and constantly worked to make their lives easier. People with disabilities for a long time were thought of as outsiders in society and were shunned by the majority. It wasn’t until the 1900’s when organizations by and for people with disabilities exploded in popularity and began to get attention and make real positives changes for people struggling with disabilities (Meldon). A profound and historic period for disability public policy occurred under

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.

There are some misconceptions with ADA and most people believe that ADA has become a history on the day it was signed on July 26, 1990 which it was not the case. It started by the people all over the United States in Urban and rural areas fighting for their rights in other word people started to notice the wrongdoing and determine to advocate to help push people with disability to conquer the barrier by speaking up for their rights. Before 1900’s people with disability were afraid to speak up because of public’s poor ideology toward people with disability. However it changed after World War I when veterans returned home from war most of them end up became disabled. Therefore Veterans expected to receive rehabilitation service from the government in exchange for their service to the country. Rehabilitation service improved moderately in the 1930’s such as providing service such as government assistance for people with disability. Also during this time period one very important person, Franklin D. Roosevelt who was U.S. President, served from 1933 to 1945, and was disabled; Roosevelt is one of the huge rehabilitation supporter advocate for people with disability. Ironically during Roosevelt’s presidency people’s attitude with disability remains the same-negative. As World War II begun in 1940’s and as predicted to World War I when World War II ended many Veterans returned home disabled and put on high demands on government to provide the rehabilitation and vocational services and make sure that their disability are shown in public to make the change. Meanwhile government assistance made some change but people with disability do not have a suffice access to public transpirations and lacks of gain a job due to their physical appearance. It was 1960’s when the civil rights movement began to notice in

Inclusive education is a move towards a learning environment where ‘special school’ learners are integrated into ‘mainstream’ education. According to Nind et al. (2005) ‘Education and educational provision is shared by both ‘normal’ pupils and those with a disability, at the expense of differences in the specific nature of each child or young person and her/his particular strengths and areas of weakness, and consequences that these differences have in terms of educational needs’. This means that the aim of inclusive practice is to create a neutral learning environment.

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?

Aspects of an appropriate Inclusion setting for which I found interesting were, the services and level of support, collaboration between educators, the benefits and barriers and the roles of educators and families of an inclusion setting. According to the IDEA 's LRE, school districts are required to educate students with disabilities in regular classrooms with their nondisabled peers, in the school they would attend if not disabled, to the maximum extent appropriate. There are still lots of controversial views in education as to how an inclusion setting is delivered, who is responsible, what makes this setting important and how to make it successful. When educator look at the definition of the work “Inclusion”, the laws clearly states

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.

Introduction: I came up with the idea of using puppets as a teaching tool while teaching Sunday school. Once I got bored of the same routine, I start thinking of other ways to be creative.

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.

Inclusive education is concerned with the education and accommodation of ALL children in society, regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, or linguistic deficits. Inclusion should also include children from disadvantaged groups, of all races and cultures as well as the gifted and the disabled (UNESCO, 2003). Inclusion tries to reduce exclusion within the education system by tackling, responding to and meeting the different needs of all learners (Booth, 1996). It involves changing the education system so that it can accommodate the unique styles and way of learning of each learner and ensure that there is quality education for all through the use of proper resources, suitable curricula, appropriate

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.)