The Inclusion Debate

As I was reading and reviewing the materials in this module I continued to come back to one word that sticks in my mind when discussing students, all types of students, and that word is individual.  The many layers that exist in educating students seem to continue to cover the idea that we are dealing with an individual.  Each case, scenario, each student has individual needs so reading in the text about least restricted environment where it stated, "General education is presumed to be the least restricted environment", I paused to think about that.  Again, I feel that for some students I agree that general education may be the LRE but for some I do not.

My mind was drawn to all the students in the class at what may be best for them.  I taught fourth grade last year and had a student that received reading and math services in the resource room but was included in my general education class for the remainder of the day (science, social studies, specials).  He was a CD coded student that also had a problem with urinating and deficating himself.  He struggled academically with so many areas from reading to physically holding a pencil.  In the first month of school I request an IEP review where I continued to hear that he had been in inclusion years prior, that the special education teacher wanted him to stay in my class and so did his parents.  He had a younger sibling that was MD and his parents did not even want to explore an ETR review for a change to his coding.  Needless to say  he stayed in my class even though I did not find that he was benefiting from academically or socially.  All reading had to be adjusted, accommodations on assessments and testing, not to mention that no student wanted to ever be paired, partnered, or seated next to him.  He was a large distraction to the other students and we all did our best not to draw attention to his restroom issues but the students were well aware of the problem.  I find this to be an example were according to our text that, "constant yet contradictory pressure to avoid labeling and segregated placements" won out over what may have been best from this student.

In my same fourth grade class I had an ED student that came to my class for math and science.  He had a para with him and had the ability if needed to go to a resource room for a cooling off period or a rest if needed.  He was an excellent math student and had his behavior under control.  He loved attending class, working with peers, and never had the violent out bursts in my general education class that he had in the resource room.  Being in my class was a success for him and he felt proud of his work and his ability to be included.

When reading about services verse placement I was struck by the idea that the text explored that normalizing disabilities by eliminating the division between special and general education.  My initial thought has harsh as this reality may be is that disabilities can not be normalized, unfortunately.  I can say that as a parent I feel the desire for my children to have success and to be a part of the greater whole with their peers.  I feel for their fight to gain equal rights for their children and for services they are entitled to.  Witnessing the plight of parents who are reminded daily that their child is different and may not have the life they had always hoped for for them is heart breaking.  I think that is why this debate is so heavily charged.  For every success their is a failure and for every failure their is a success story.  I had both occur in the same classroom in the same year.  The debate will continue to live on and I think it keeps coming back to the idea that when we are dealing with students we are dealing with individuals and no one option can always be the best as hard as it may be to except that at times.