Little Johnny is approaching his third birthday and will soon age out of early intervention services. Mr. and Mrs. Doe are frightened by the thought of the family making this change. They have become comfortable with Johnny’s current support team. However, Johnny’s Early Head Start team reassures them that will support them all the way to make the transition to the next step in Johnny’s education successful. Definition of Inclusive Education Inclusive education is different from “integrated” education. Inclusive education is defined as students with disabilities receiving their education through the local school districts within their district’s general education classes. The student with a disability is expected to receive instruction in the age-appropriate general education curriculum alongside their peers. Whereas the term integrated or integration is defined as special educational classes held in the same building or school campus as general education students, however, the classes are self-contained. The special education student would have only minimal interaction with the general education students during the recess period, art, or gym classes. Integrative instruction does not build a sense of belonging or acceptance among peers; it only continues to generate a sense of difference among all students (Odom, Horner, Snell, & Blancher, 2007). The public education system in the context of disabilities and IDEA Since the enactment of IDEA in the ‘90’s, and its earlier predecessor the Education for all Handicapped Children Act in the ‘70s, the American educational landscape was forever changed. The societal mindset has been reshaped; teachers are taught to teach differently, and the school children are playing with disabled p... ... middle of paper ... ...). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. Ko, B., & Boswell, B. (2013). Teachers' perceptions, teaching practices, and leaning opportunities for inclusion. The Physical Educator, 70(3), 223-242. Loreman, T. Seven pillars of support for inclusive education. International Journal of whole schooling, 3, 22-38. Obiakor, F., Harris, M., Mutua, K., Rotatori, A., & Algozzine, B. (2012). Making inclusion work in general education classrooms. Education and Treatment of Children, 35(3), 477-490. Odom, S.L., Hornor, R.H., Snell, M.E., & Blanch, J. (2007). Handbook of developmental disabilities. New York: The Gilford Press. Peters, E., & Johnson, T., (2006). Thriving in the co-taught classroom. Science Scope, 30(4), 56-58. Sindelar, P., Shearer, D., Yenol-Hoppey, D., & Leibert, T. (2006). The sustainability of inclusive school reform. Exceptional Children, 72(3), 317-331.
Sands, D., Kozleski, E., & French, N. (2000). Inclusive education for the 21st century: A new
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...
Peterson, J. Michael and Hittie, Marie Michael. Inclusive Teaching : Creating Effective Schools for All Learners. Pearson Publishing. (2003)
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.
De Boer, A., Pijl, S.J. Minnaert, A. (2010). Attitudes of parents towards inclusive education: A
...d Inclusive Education in Ontario Schools: Guidelines for Policy Development and Implementation . Toronto, Ont.: Ontario Ministry of Education.
This article contains information on inclusion including thorough definitions of key words in the inclusion debate, a discussion of certain laws concerning inclusion, current research findings of studies regarding the usefulness of inclusion and the author's own recommendation of what should be done with respect to the education of special needs children.
Slee (2001) argues that inclusive schooling demands schools to recognise all types of difference from disabilities, ethnicity, gender, class and sexuality. Furthermore, he challenges schools to accept difference, to encourage and promote flexibility thus benefiting not only the curriculum and pedagogy, but the community and students themselves (Slee, 2001).
In this essay I will reflect upon the inclusive learning environment, i intend on reflecting this by researching, reading, extending my own knowledge and a recent exemplar visit. The main issues i have chosen to cover throughout this essay are inclusion, children’s learning and the environment. Issues i will also cover are Special Educational Needs (SEN), Every Child Matters (EMC), Diversity and legislations. I intend on doing this by arguing, analyzing and discussing the inclusive learning environment. Inclusive learning environments can be varied from the school environment to the home environment. Both having a significant impact to a child’s learning. The environment within schools needs to be stimulating, creative and enjoyable for all children to learn in. Effective classroom organization, interaction between both staff and children are essential to the inclusive learning environment.
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.
Munro, J. (2009). Educations systems and services. In Ashman. A & Elkins. J (Eds). Education for inclusion and diversity (pp. 386-413). Pearson Education Australia.
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.
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...
“What does inclusive education mean for me as a teacher in 2014 and beyond? “