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Social impacts of inclusive education
Social impacts of inclusive education
Social impacts of inclusive education
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If every child has special needs, what are special needs children? Cade is a special needs child. Cade is also an energetic, loving, friendly, and helpful to his fellow students. The school that he attends has a program called “Getting Caught in the Act” whereby students are rewarded if they are caught in the act of doing something good. Cade plays with Legos, licks the frosting off of the cupcake, can beat just about any video game and regularly “gets caught in the act” at his school. He is like any other child except that Cade has Williams Syndrome (Gorton). Cade is also mainstreamed into general education classes and will someday be fully included with the rest of his peers where he belongs. While the terms mainstreaming and inclusion have been used interchangeably to describe the educational approach to teaching students with special needs, the philosophy of the two methodologies are vastly different. Educating students whose disabilities are well-suited to a traditional classroom setting is generally thought to help those students emerge from school better prepared for life, both educationally and socially. Inclusion supporters also note that not meeting the curricular needs of students will make it difficult for the student to learn and most likely, lead to behavior problems as well. In addition, familiarizing conventional students with students with disabilities in neutral, standard classrooms has helped bridge the misunderstanding gap. As more schools recognize the advantages of teaching special needs students in the “least restrictive environment,” the procedure of “inclusion” is becoming the preferred method to help these students reach their educational best. But that has not always been the school of ... ... middle of paper ... ... and Company, 1993. Sacks, Arlene. Special Education: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara: ABC CLIO, 2001. Sindelar, Paul T. "Full inclusion of students with learning disabilities and its implications for teacher education." Journal of Special Education 29.2 (1995): 234. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. Tom E.C. Smith, Edward A. Polloway, James R. Patton, Carol A. Dowdy. Teaching Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Settings. Pearson, 2008. Winifred Anderson, Stephen Chitwood, Diedre Hayden. Negotiating the Special Education Maze. Bethesda: Woodbine House, 1997. Winzer, Margret A. The History of Special Education. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press, 1993. Vandergriff, Jim. "EDUC 201 School and Society." 13 June 2002. Grinnell.EDU. 20 April 2011 .
middle of paper ... ... _ Education _ Inclusion.aspx Harchik, Alan. The. (2005). The 'Secondary' of the 'Second Inclusion of children with special needs in regular classrooms: Pros. & cons.
Bryant, D. P., Smith, D. D., & Bryant, B. R. (2008). Teaching Students with Special Needs in
Educators can have strong feelings on the subject because having special needs students in a regular classroom can have a large impact on the classroom community. Those who believe in inclusive classrooms realize that, to be successful, it requires allot of classroom management and differentiated instruction, but feel the benefits are worth the work involved. Those who do not believe in inclusion feel that it leads to “l...
What do we do with children with disabilities in the public school? Do we include them in the general education class with the “regular” learning population or do we separate them to learn in a special environment more suited to their needs? The problem is many people have argued what is most effective, full inclusion where students with all ranges of disabilities are included in regular education classes for the entire day, or partial inclusion where children spend part of their day in a regular education setting and the rest of the day in a special education or resource class for the opportunity to work in a smaller group setting on specific needs. The need for care for children with identified disabilities both physical and learning continues to grow and the controversy continues.
Downing, J. E., & Peckham-Hardin, K. D. (2007). Inclusive Education: What Makes It a Good Education for Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities?. Research and Practice for Persons With Severe Disabilities (RPSD), 32(1), 16-30.
Including these children in general education ultimately leads to their progress. Not too long ago, these people were segregated and labeled as incompetent. It was not until special education reform came about and showed the countless capabilities these exceptional learners have to offer. Teachers play a vital role in these entities’ lives. It is up to them to facilitate their learning as well as modify their measurable goals. Before inclusion, these people could not reach their potential, and not much could be said about how they learn or grasp concepts. Through inclusion, professionals can ascertain students level of performance and utilize strategies that work best for the child. Inclusion allows educators to take note on what type of learners these exceptional individuals are. Schoolteachers can reveal if the youth is a visual, auditory, tactical, or even a kinesthetic learner. Unquestionably, inclusion has brought about an age of progression for instructors and students’ in special education.
The children who benefit from the Special Education program are learning disabled. The National Center for Learning Disabilities states that children with learning disabilities have a “neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to receive process, store and respond to information.” There has been a long running debate on the best way to educate children with learning disabilities or LD. Some feel inclusion is the most beneficial method for educating children with LD. As defined by Jean B. Crockett and James M. Kauffman in The Least Restrictive Environment, inclusion is where children with disabilities are placed in regular education classes for the entire school day and are accompanied by special education teachers or aides for subjects where they need extra help (1). Others feel mainstreaming is the best option for students with LD.
The true purpose of school is to prepare children for their future in becoming lifelong learners and global citizens. For children with special needs, special education services prepare and provide support for them in dealing with the challenges they face daily. Laws such as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has enforced schools to provide education to all children and reinforces the purpose of the school, which is to provide children the Least Restrictive Environment to help them develop to their optimal potential. There are myriad of concerns regarding inclusion’s effect on typical developing students, yet a research done by Bui, Quirk, Almazan, and Valenti shows that “[p]resence of students with disabilities results in greater number of typical students making reading and math progress compared to non-inclusive general education classes” (p. 3). Therefore, inclusion not only benefits children with disabilities, but it also benefits typical developing student’s academic skills and allows them to learn acceptance and respect for students with disabilities.
Jorgensen, C. M. (1997 July). Curriculum and Its Impact on Inclusion and the Achievement of Students with Disabilities. Retrieved October 8, 2002 from http://www.asri.edu/CFSP/brochure/curricib.htm
Those who support an inclusion model for all students take the stand that students with disabilities should be placed in and inclusion setting with the idea that all special education students will benefit from an inclusion setting with their general education peers. An inclusion setting will provide academic growth and social growth. The placement of special education students in a general education classroom would also benefit students to respect and accept those students who are different. Students should be placed in an inclusion setting whenever possible (Noll, 2013).
The idea of inclusion within a classroom tends to breed controversy from many people. Currently there is no clear consensus on a definition of inclusion (Heward, 2006). There are many different views on how students with disabilities should be handled. Those views ranged from students being fully included, partially included, or not included at all in mainstream schooling. Different descriptions of inclusion tend to reflect the person's own opinions towards it. People who feel students should not be included in the classroom focus on the negative characteristics of inclusion, such as the challenges of developing plans for students as well as the hard work it requires to incorporate those plans. However, studies show that full inclusion has many benefits to the students, for both students with disabilities as well as students without them. Inclusion has shown to improve the student's social skills, encourage communication, inspire laws and regulations, and improve the overall schooling experience (Gargiulo, 2012). Although it will take longer then some would like or have the patience for, full inclusion can be done in the classroom, with its benefits outweighing the hard work that it requires.
Special education has undergone immense changes through the years. Research and studies on the debate of whether or not inclusion is appropriate for special education students is just beginning to cultivate. The question has always been, what is best for these students? Schools and teachers are becoming leaders in the exploration of new paths, in search of new teaching styles and techniques. Mainstreaming or inclusion at the middle school and high school level, which is educating students with special needs in regular classes with their non-disabled peers, has proven to be beneficial for the special education students cognitive and social developmental needs. It can not only benefit the handicapped student but all students in the classroom.
To be truly inclusive teachers, we need to first know the student and identify the real reasons for any individual to be classified as having a learning disability.
Inclusion has become increasingly important in education in recent years, with the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act being passed in 2004 to ensure equality in our system. In summary, inclusion is the idea of there being no child...
The philosophy of inclusive education has “brought about teams of general education and special education teachers working collaboratively or cooperatively to combine their professional knowledge, perspectives, and skills” (Ripley, 1997). Many approaches have been developed and researched over the years to determine best practices for inclusive education in public schools, which include mainstreaming and specialized schools. The challenge for educators and school systems is deciding which approach and strategies meets the individual needs all students in classrooms.