Inclusion/ A Contemporary Challenge. What is Your Perspective?

            I work very closely with teachers all day long and hear the many arguments they have both for and against inclusion in the classroom.  Inclusion can help foster friendships with same age peers which can also extend to the community.  These same age peers can act as mentors and serve as role models for both behavioral and academic skills.  The previous school I was at had a cross age peer mentoring program.  This was beneficial to both the mentor and mentee, and the program had a lot of very positive feedback from parents, teachers, and students involved in the program.  Inclusion can also help eliminate labeling. According to Will, (1986), the act of labeling can frequently lower expectations and self-esteem.  Once the label of “special needs” is placed on a student it is hard to remove.  Inclusion can also “normalize” a student’s disability by eliminating the divide between general education and special education classes.  This can change how we as a culture view and interpret those having disabilities (Jimenez and Graf, 2008).  On the flip side, one kindergarten teacher at my school argues that sometimes inclusion can make a student with a disability feel more different depending on the disability.  The previous year she had a disabled student who refused to interact with the other students in the classroom, no matter how much the students tried to include him in classroom activities.  Her lessons were constantly interrupted by this student’s behavioral outbursts.  Some may argue that inclusion is a cost saving measure for school districts.  However, if done correctly, with the appropriate supports in the classroom, the cost should be the same.  Parents of special education students also argue for and against inclusion.  Some may feel that their child may be ridiculed if placed in a general education classroom.  Others push for their children to be among same age typical students where they feel they can be accepted as valuable members of the classroom.  The video of Samuel illustrates the many positives that inclusion can provide with the proper support systems in place in the classrooms for both disabled and nondisabled students.   

            I attended grade school in a suburb of Cleveland in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  There was one multi-age segregated special education room on the first floor of my school.  I remember my initial emotion upon seeing these students was fear.  I think we are afraid of things we don’t understand or are not exposed to.  We have come a long way in how we view and interpret those with varying abilities in schools today.  It is my opinion that in most cases, students with disabilities should be educated in the general education classroom alongside their same age peers.  All of us deserve a life where we have friends and feel that we are a valuable  part of the community.  With the right supportive resources available for the general education teacher, I believe students with disabilities can thrive in a regular classroom.  It can also be beneficial to the nondisabled student because they can learn patience, acceptance of diversity and individual difference.  It also helps both the disabled and nondisabled prepare for adulthood where the communities are inclusive.  There are cases when a general education class does not benefit, or is not in the best interest of the student.  In these cases, a separate setting may be warranted.  Our school district uses co-teaching in the elementary, junior high and high school buildings.  The intervention specialist is in the classroom alongside the general education teacher to help with any accommodations needed to facilitate the learning of any students needing assistance.   They plan and teach their lessons together and collaborate daily on any changes needed for successful learning.