Special Education Students: Inclusion vs Reality

1330 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: impotance of inclusive education

Shocking and demeaning words such as idiot, moron, and retard were once used as actual labels for disabled children in special education. “Prior to 1975, schools were not mandated to educate students with disabilities . . . . [Those with disabilities] were deemed to be uneducable and were barred from entering schools” (“Exceptional Students”). Federal and state laws, as well as mandates, now require schools to educate all children with disabilities in the least restrictive environment, to the maximum extent possible. The least restrictive environment is considered to be the general or the “regular” education classroom. The preferred language of today is the term “general education classroom”, because using the word “regular” implies that special education rooms would then be considered ‘irregular”. Schools are also bound by law to provide “a full continuum of services” which simply means they need to be able to provide all placement options, from the least restrictive to the most restrictive environment, such as an institution. Each special needs student also has an individualized education plan to meet their unique needs. Inclusion is a controversial subject which has been debated for decades. Susan Crowell in her article, Inclusion in the Classroom: Has it Gone Too Far?, explains that “inclusion is the idea that all children, including those with disabilities, should and can learn in a regular classroom.” In theory, the idea of all students being included and educated together is a philosophy which sounds morally correct, especially when considering that the disabled were not always treated with compassion. Often the disabled were institutionalized and banished from society, even in recent history. Ma... ... middle of paper ... ..., Boarded Up and Overgrown, Still Stands Among the Weeds: A Home for the Indigent and Unwell.." Beaver County Times (PA) 2 Mar. 2014, Community: C1. NewsBank. Web. 9 Mar. 2014. Osgood, Robert L. The History of Inclusion in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet UP, 2005. Print. "Special Education." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 7 Sept. 2007. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. . Tompkins, Richards, and Pat Deloney. "Concerns About and Arguments Against Inclusion and/or Full Inclusion." Inclusion: The Pros and Cons. 4.3 (1995): n. page. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. . United States. Department of Education. “Archived: 25 Year History of the IDEA”. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. .

Show More
Related

  • Inclusive Education In Australia Essay

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    These children were now being seen as a group in which society had obligations to provide “normalisation” (Bowe, 2007, p.45) and would lead to a revolutionary law being introduced in America. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was passed in 1975, of which Australia became a signatory. (AIHW, 2004). This Act mandated “that all school-age children with disabilities must receive a free appropriate public education” (Bowe, 2007, p. 101) “in the least restrictive environment” (Bowe, 2007, p. 5). For the first time in a century, Australia no longer segregated these children into an isolated “special facility” (Allen & Cowdery, 2012, p. 8). State governments established special education units within mainstream schools (AIHW, 2004). This is referred to as Integrated education and is described by Talay-Ongan & Cooke (2005), as an environment “where children with similar disabilities in special classes share the normal school environment, and utilise some classes (e.g., art or physical education) or the playground that all children enjoy.” In 1992, the Disability Discrimination Act was introduced in Australia which specifically covered the topic of Education and in 2005 a set of supplementary standards was passed which specifies the support schools are required to provide to students with a

    Read More

  • Inclusion in the Public School Classroom

    1541 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

    2994 Words  | 6 Pages

    Schools in today’s society are rapidly changing and growing striving to implement the best practices in their schools. Nonetheless, before a school can implement a program in their school, they need reliable evidence that the new program will work. A new program that schools are aiming to implement is inclusion in the classroom because of the benefits inclusion could bring. The implementation of inclusion is strongly connected by people’s attitudes whether they are positive or negative. However, while inclusion is being widely implemented, there is comparatively little data on its effectiveness. It may be that inclusion benefits some areas such as reading and social skills, more than it does others.

    Read More

  • Special Education: Examining the Pros and Cons of Inclusion in Education

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Legally, Inclusion is defined by Public Law 94-142 from 1975. This law, known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA, does not contain the term “inclusion”, however, it describes the term “Least Restrictive Environment” which means that a handicapped child must be placed in a classroom that can meet their needs but is as close to a regular classroom as possible (Villa p. 4). IDEA states that:

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Full Inclusion

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    The majority of students with disabilities should be in an inclusive setting. These students are generally placed based on the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). Furthermore, the majority of these students are able to keep up academically with their peers, even

    Read More

  • Minorities in Special Education

    2005 Words  | 5 Pages

    Special education is a large part of the education system, which includes the mentally retarded, people with learning disabilities, the emotionally disturbed, hearing impaired, visually impaired, etc. Many people fail to include this system as one that can possibly involve discrimination, but those enrolled in special education has increased among all racial classifications. Between 1980 and 1990, the entire population enlisted in special education has increased. European American increased by 6%, African Americans increased by 13%, Hispanic Americans increased by 53%, and Asian Americans/Pacific Americans increased by 107.8% (Ford, Obiakor, p. 8). In the end, it is these students who ultimately experience low rates of employment, low income, and growing rates of incarceration. Another survey indicates t...

    Read More

  • Inclusion Of A Special Education Classroom

    1880 Words  | 4 Pages

    Inclusion of all students in classrooms has been an ongoing issue for the past twenty-five years (Noll, 2013). The controversy is should special education students be placed in an inclusion setting or should they be placed in a special education classroom? If the answer is yes to all special education students being placed in inclusion, then how should the inclusion model look? Every students is to receive a free an appropriate education. According to the Individual Education Act (IDEA), all students should be placed in the Least Restrictive Learning Environment (Noll, 2013).

    Read More

  • Special Education Setting Research

    304 Words  | 1 Pages

    Over many years there has been issues regarding placement of special education students. Determined by which environment is the most effective learning setting is to either place a student into full inclusion general education classes or if he or should be placed in a “continuum of alternative settings” (O’Leary, 2016). As stated in O’Leary (2016), general education teachers and special education teacher’s work together to meet the students need when placed in a general education setting. This setting benefits the student social interactions with peers, but also incorporates the necessary services needed (O’Leary, 2016). Students do not want to seem like an outsider or someone who is “special” so this placement setting makes students feel more

    Read More

  • Inclusion: The Past, Present, and Future

    4020 Words  | 9 Pages

    There are millions of children that are passing through the United States school system every day, not all children possess the same traits, and not all children can learn at the same rate, and do not perform at the same ability. The fact that all children learn differently and some have difficulties learning in general classrooms, special education was put into place to try and take care of these issues. Special education programs were put into place to help all students with disabilities. These children range from general disabilities to more complex and severe disabilities. There has been a revolution occurring in the past several years with education systems, and special education. There have now been several laws that have been passed that mandate changes in special education and the treatment that children, and parents receive, it also changes how the children are being taught, and how the teachers are to also change and conform to this idea called inclusion. Inclusion in the school system simply is stating that children who have learning disabilities, and more severe disabilities are to be included in the general education environment for as long as possible daily. There has been several different names other than inclusion that have been used, but in present times and since the 1990’s inclusion has been the most common term used. “The change in terminology was pushed in part by the philosophy that inclusion would mean more than only physical placement of children with disabilities in the same classroom, but rather it conveyed that children with disabilities would become a part of larger social, community, and societal systems” (Odom, Buysse, & Soukakou, 2011, para. 3). There has not been just one major law that was passed...

    Read More

  • Inclusion in the Classroom

    1625 Words  | 4 Pages

    Inclusion in classrooms is defined as combining students with disabilities and students without disabilities together in an educational environment. It provides all students with a better sense of belonging. They will enable friendships and evolve feelings of being a member of a diverse community (Bronson, 1999). Inclusion benefits students without disabilities by developing a sense of helping others and respecting other diverse people. By this, the students will build up an appreciation that everyone has unique yet wonderful abilities and personalities (Bronson, 1999). This will enhance their communication skills later in life. Inclusive classrooms provide students with disabilities a better education on the same level as their peers. Since all students would be in the same educational environment, they would follow the same curriculum and not separate ones based on their disability. The main element to a successful inclusive classroom, is the teachers effort to plan the curriculum to fit all students needs. Teachers must make sure that they are making the material challenging enough for students without special needs and understandable to students with special needs. Inclusive classrooms are beneficial to students with and without special needs.

    Read More

  • People with Disabilities Need Inclusion

    2230 Words  | 5 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Special Education Placement in Public Schools

    1918 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the late 1980’s and 1990’s the number of children with learning disabilities receiving special education services grew rapidly, but during 1998 and 2007 the number of children classified as having a LD has declined by 7% (Cortiella, 2009). “In 2007, 59% of students with LD spent 80% or more of their in-school time in general education classrooms. In 2000, that figure was just 40%” (Cortiella, 2009). In addition, students with disabilities are spending more time with students in traditional classroom settings. According to the Department of Education, “approximately 6 million children (roughly 10 percent of all school-aged children) receive special education services” (Pardini, 2011).

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Special Education

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is special education? The common belief is that it a program only dedicated to helping students with disabilities, whether physical or mentally. This is not entirely accurate in regards of what special education is. While special education does provide assistance to students with disabilities ns meet their needs in quality education (Küpper 2009)—the program extends to all students facing difficulties keeping up with the pace of learning (Huerta 2009). This brings the next question onto the table: the importance of special education. Before 1970s, majority of students with disabilities were shun into isolation with little to no education in general classes (Bradley 2016). However, with the passage of Education for All Handicapped Children

    Read More

  • Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities

    1625 Words  | 4 Pages

    The right to have access to education is a concern for people with disabilities. They were treated poorly and often desegregated from society. The response to the concerns of parents and educators over the exclusion of children with disabilities created the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The public law “guaranteed a free, appropriate public education to each child with a disability in every state and locality across the country”. In the 1970's children with disabilities entered schools and over the years, the number of students in special education has grown dramatically, from 4.3 million students in 1990 to 6.9 million students in 2003 (The Council of Chief State School Officers , 2007).

    Read More

  • The Difference Between General Education And Special Education

    1239 Words  | 3 Pages

    “in order for your child to qualify for the services the student must be found to have one of the 13 categories of special education and it must adversely affect their educational performance” (Hancock, 2016). So to get a better understanding of the special education process we have to view it from both sides of the situation, that is, a parent whose child was diagnosed with a disability, and a professional who works with special education for a living. Knowing both sides and their views we can get a better grasp of the whole system and the flaws and strengths that come with the whole process and

    Read More

More about Special Education Students: Inclusion vs Reality

Open Document