#4

Maylene L. Baquiran February 26, 2011

Sped 512

WRITTEN REPORT

Title:

What do we mean by Inclusion?

Inclusion in education is an approach to educating students with special educational

needs. Under the inclusion model, students with special needs spend most or all of
their time with non-disabled students.

An Overview of the Inclusive Classroom

*The teacher plays a vital role:

• He/she understands the learning, social and physical needs of

the students

• It is her/his role to create a welcoming environment and

provide students with ongoing opportunities to learn, share and
engage in all classroom activities.

• Should determine what alternate assessment needs to occur is

another area where the educator needs to make changes to
specifically support the student in the regular classroom.

How it is different from mainstreaming?

Mainstream Inclusion
• Generally, mainstreaming has been • Inclusion is a term which
used to refer to the selective expresses commitment to educate
placement of special education each child, to the maximum
 students in one or more "regular" extent appropriate, in the school
education classes. and classroom he or she would
• Proponents of mainstreaming otherwise attend.
generally assume that a student • It involves bringing the support
must "earn" his or her opportunity services to the child (rather than
to be placed in regular classes by moving the child to the services)
demonstrating an ability to "keep and requires only that the child
up" with the work assigned by the will benefit from being in the
regular classroom teacher. class (rather than having to keep
up with the other students).
• This concept is closely linked to
traditional forms of special • Proponents of inclusion generally
education service delivery. favor newer forms of education
service delivery.

Classification

• regular inclusion or partial inclusion

o Whenever possible, the students receive any additional help or special
instruction in the general classroom, and the student is treated like a
full member of the class. However, most specialized services are
provided outside a regular classroom, particularly if these services
require special equipment or might be disruptive to the rest of the
class (such as speech therapy), and students are pulled out of the
regular classroom for these services.
o the student occasionally leaves the regular classroom to attend
smaller, more intensive instructional sessions in a resource room, or to
receive other related services, such as speech and language therapy,
occupational and/or physical therapy, and social work.

• full inclusion
o Full inclusion means that all students, regardless of handicapping
condition or severity, will be in a regular classroom/program full time.
All services must be taken to the child in that setting.
o In addition to problems related to definition, it also should be
understood that there often is a philosophical or conceptual
distinction made between mainstreaming and inclusion. Those who
 support the idea of mainstreaming believe that a child with disabilities
first belongs in the special education environment and that the child
must earn his/her way into the regular education environment.
o In contrast, those who support inclusion believe that the child always
should begin in the regular environment and be removed only when
appropriate services cannot be provided in the regular classroom.

Necessary resources

Although once hailed as a way to increase achievement while decreasing costs, full
inclusion does not save money, reduce students' needs, or improve academic
outcomes; in most cases, it merely moves the special education professionals out of
their own classrooms and into a corner of the general classroom. To avoid harm to
the academic education of students with disabilities, full panoply of services and
resources is required, including:

• Adequate supports and services for the student

• Well-designed individualized education programs
• Professional development for all teachers involved, general and special
educators alike
• Time for teachers to plan, meet, create, and evaluate the students together
• Reduced class size based on the severity of the student needs
• Professional skill development in the areas of cooperative learning, peer
tutoring, adaptive curriculum
• Collaboration between parents, teachers and administrators
• Sufficient funding so that schools will be able to develop programs for
students based on student need instead of the availability of funding.

In principle, several factors can determine the success of inclusive classrooms:

• Family-school partnerships
• Collaboration between general and special educators
• Well-constructed plans that identify specific accommodations,
modifications, and goals for each student
• Coordinated planning and communication between "general" and "special
needs" staff
• Integrated service delivery
• Ongoing training and staff development
Common practices

Students in an inclusive classroom are generally placed with their chronological

age-mates, regardless of whether the students are working above or below the
typical academic level for their age. Also, to encourage a sense of belonging,
emphasis is placed on the value of friendships. Teachers often nurture a
relationship between a student with special needs and a same-age student without
a special educational need. Another common practice is the assignment of a buddy
to accompany a student with special needs at all times (for example in the
cafeteria, on the playground, on the bus and so on). This is used to show students
that a diverse group of people make up a community, that no one type of student is
better than another, and to remove any barriers to a friendship that may occur if
a student is viewed as "helpless." Such practices reduce the chance for elitism
among students in later grades and encourage cooperation among groups.

Teachers use a number of techniques to help build classroom communities:

• Games designed to build community

• Involving students in solving problems
• Songs and books that teach community
• Openly dealing with individual differences by discussion
• Assigning classroom jobs that build community
• Teaching students to look for ways to help each other
• Utilizing physical therapy equipment such as standing frames, so students
who typically use wheelchairs can stand when the other students are
standing and more actively participate in activities
• Encouraging students to take the role of teacher and deliver instruction (e.g.
read a portion of a book to a student with severe disabilities)
• Focus on the strength of a student with special needs

Selection of students for inclusion

Educators generally say that some students with special needs are not good
candidates for inclusion. Many schools expect a fully included student to be
working at or near grade level, but more fundamental requirements exist: First,
being included requires that the student is able to attend school. Students that
are entirely excluded from school (for example, due to long-term hospitalization),
or who are educated outside of schools (for example, due to enrollment in a
distance education program) cannot attempt inclusion.

Additionally, some students with special needs are poor candidates for inclusion
because of their effect on other students. For example, students with severe
behavioral problems, such that they represent a serious physical danger to others,
are poor candidates for inclusion, because the school has a duty to provide a safe
environment to all students and staff.

Finally, some students are not good candidates for inclusion because the normal
activities in a general education classroom will prevent them from learning. For
example, a student with severe attention difficulties or extreme sensory
processing disorders might be highly distracted or distressed by the presence of
other students working at their desks. Inclusion needs to be appropriate to the
child's unique needs.

Most students with special needs do not fall into these extreme categories, as
most students do attend school, are not violent, do not have severe sensory
processing disorders, etc.

The students that are most commonly included are those with physical disabilities
that have no or little effect on their academic work (diabetes mellitus, epilepsy,
food allergies, paralysis), students with all types of mild disabilities, and students
whose disabilities require relatively few specialized services.

Bowe says that regular inclusion, but not full inclusion, is a reasonable approach for
a significant majority of students with special needs. He also says that for some
students, notably those with severe autism spectrum disorders or mental
retardation, as well as many who are deaf or have multiple disabilities, even regular
inclusion may not offer an appropriate education. Teachers of students with autism
spectrum disorders sometimes use antecedent procedures, delayed contingencies,
self-management strategies, peer-mediated interventions, pivotal response training
and naturalistic teaching strategies.

Positive effects

There are many positive effects of inclusions where both the students with special
needs along with the other students in the classroom both benefit. Research has
shown positive effects for children with disabilities in areas such as reading
individualized education program (IEP) goal, improving communication and social
skills, increasing positive peer interactions, many educational outcomes, and post
school adjustments. Positive effects on children without disabilities include the
development of positive attitudes and perceptions of persons with disabilities and
the enhancement of social status with nondisabled peers.
Several studies have been done on the effects of inclusion of children with
disabilities in general education classrooms. A study on inclusion compared
integrated and segregated (special education only) preschool students. The study
determined that children in the integrated sites progressed in social skills
development while the segregated children actually regressed.
Another study shows the effect on inclusion in grades 2 to 5. The study
determined that students with specific learning disabilities made some academic
and affective gains at a pace comparable to that of normal achieving students.
Specific learning disabilities students also showed an improvement in self-esteem
and in some cases improved motivation.