Including Samuel is a documentary of the son of Dan Habib and Betsy McNamara. Samuel has cerebral palsy, and the documentary is about his challenges and joys. This documentary addresses the concerns, problem, and feelings of his parents. Also the documentary addresses the issue of inclusion and how to teach a blended class. This documentary is about being open minded and understanding of children with disabilities. Though Including Samuel, it has force me to look back on my experience with children with disabilities in the educational system. Dan and Betsy go through their emotions on hearing about Samuel condition of cerebral palsy. The roll coaster of emotion they felt. As a parent I could relate to their emotion of having a child with disabilities. I would love my child regards of condition but the emotion I would feel would be fear. Dan and Betsy both went through fear; asking themselves what about his education, and interaction with others. I would have those same question; as …show more content…
Samuel has a great team supporting him which makes inclusion in general classes easier. Dan and Betsy did not want him in a separate class from his peers. Samuel peer’s loves having him in class and he is not left out. This documentary raised the question for me are schools including all students. The documentary talked to students with disabilities, students without disabilities, and educators. The younger kids did not see a difference just perks. The children in Samuel class thinks his accommodations are cool. The older kids in a different school views varied; it seemed harder to include students with disabilities in general classes. Students with disabilities are more secluded in the higher grades. There should be no separate classrooms. The longer children are exposed to being in a class with students with disabilities the more understanding they will become. Inclusion should be in all grade level and every aspect of
Lavoie’s workshop provokes an emotional response. After viewing life through the eyes of a child with special needs, I cannot help but have a more significant understanding of what people, especially children with disabilities, must deal with every day, everywhere. During the many years that I have worked with children with various disabilities, I have encountered each of the topics discussed in Lavoie’s workshop and agree with the points he makes regarding children with disabilities. Particularly impacting the way I interact with my students are the topics concerning: anxiety, reading comprehension, and fairness.
This controversy may stem from the fact that inclusion is expensive and experts disagree about how much time disabled students should spend in regular classrooms (Cambanis, 2001). Although this topic is controversial, it cannot be ignored. Inclusion will, at some point, affect 1% of all children born each year, who will have disabilities and the families and educators they will come in contact with (Stainback, 1985).
Including Samuel is a film about how inclusion can be difficult, but it is important for these children and their success. This is an issue that people with developmental disabilities deal with on a daily basis, but not everyone knows this until you have seen it first-hand or lived with it. In the film, photojournalist and father, Dan Habib follows his son Samuel around and others with disabilities to show their stories and to help inform the viewers about this little known topic. The film was effective in its efforts to display how inclusion has many complexities, but we need to work at it in order for these children to have a contributing and successful life.
Another powerful video, Including Samuel, ignited my insight in this week’s class. As I heard in the video, “inclusion is an easy thing to do poorly.” The movie chronicles the life of a young boy, Samuel, and his family. With the shock of learning about their son’s disability, it caused his parents, Dan and Betsy, to experience the unexpected. Nevertheless, they did everything to include their son and help him live a normal life focused on his capabilities, rather than his incapabilities. I even admired how his friends knew so much about him, his likes and dislikes, his strengths and his weaknesses.
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.
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...
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.
I have experienced firsthand some of the positives and negatives. One of the most important aspects of inclusion is the social development gained by students with disabilities. One of the negatives is the danger of a student with a disability not being able to differentiate when they are in real danger of getting hurt. Often students with disabilities appear to be normal among the other students and not given the latitude of having a disability that may impede there judgement. As a special education teacher, I have learned standing in the doorway to prevent a child from leaving the classroom constitutes seclusion. I had to testify in a civil case in 2016 were a child with a disability tried to leave the classroom and the substitute teacher stood in the doorway and tried to prevent her from leaving. Preventing the incident could have transpired if there had been proactive measures taken rather reactive measures. It has become necessary to provide all personal involved within the school system the education needed to support inclusion and children with disabilities. I am a true believer in Least Restrictive Environment. Throughout my teaching career, I have watched a student with an IQ of 51 participate in co-taught or mainstream classes. Now, this particular student’s social skills were better than most people I know. In his freshman year, the doctor diagnosed him with cancer and given one year to live. He never stopped smiling. He pulled through and is currently finishing a program at the Vo-tech, where he maintained his grades and attendance with very few accommodations. He is happy, healthy, and I can see him ending up making more money a year than most people I know. I do understand not all cases will be like this one. However, I am sure that if the parents of this particular student had not stood their ground and refused to allow their child be
By not including these students with disabilities, it is like we are not allowing them to have the same fun experiences other students their ages are doing. In an example David M. Perry mentioned, “Last month the teacher put on Readers Theater (in which kids acted out books) and told us [the parent] in an email that “Nico [their son with disability] would get to participate as an audience member.”” How is this fair for Nico? What if he wanted to act out books with his classmates? This isn’t fair and students with disabilities shouldn’t be excluded like this; it is like we are putting them under discrimination. What some people in the society don’t know is how it truly affects the student with the disability who is being excluded. According to Tom Ledcke, who teaches in special education, “…my students could feel that they were ‘outsiders’.” Outsiders are of someone who does not belong in either a group or society. In this case these students with disabilities feel isolated or alone from everyone, so they feel like they don’t belong. People today are still arguing if we are indeed doing are best to include these students in inside and outside activities. So the question is are
Inclusion in the public school classroom has benefits for all students involved but obviously still has kinks that need to be worked out. Incorporating children with disabilities into the general education classroom has a lot of different aspects that need to all fit together to make it a successful feat. With the 3-dimension plan and taking all the cons into account, inclusion in the classroom will prove to be beneficial to all.
As a student who has a learning disability, the idea of inclusion in the classroom is very important to me. My learning disability may not be noticeable to everyone but there were still times in school that I needed my teachers to make accommodations ...
This program should help the students get accommodations and modifications. This does not mean that the disabled kids that are in this program are not around their peers. The point of this is so each student gets to experience each other. The students act like role models to each other. And people who are not really around diversity, it gives them a chance to be able to understand. They should be able to socially interact with them. The only time they leave a classroom is if they are having behavioral issues or need to get something read to them.
Chapter six states that students with disabilities have a tougher time finishing their education rather than non-disability students. Another problem encountered in the classrooms is the teacher not letting the students have a voice especially when you expect them to follow the rules and daily routine. That type of teaching is called sham inquiry which does not educate the kids but just to keep them busy. Besides the sham inquiry there are different reasons for including students in regular classrooms one it’s expensive to have separate classroom and changes the instruction. People think that special education is very unique and only qualified individuals should teach those students but that’s not true. There are a variety of disabilities that
I believe that inclusion is necessary for a child to prosper in society. I think that it is a great learning experience for both the special education student and their peers in the class. I think they both can learn a lot from each other. I also believe though if the student has a severe enough problem where learning in a regular setting would not benefit them I believe they should be placed in a setting where learning is most beneficial. Inclusion is a very good thing when it is used right where both the special education student and their peers can both learn from each other and still not be distracted from their studies.
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...