SHOULD MY CHILD BE INCLUDED?

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The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act does not require that children with special needs be place in a general education classroom. Rather, it states that the child with the disability should be placed in the least restrictive environment. The least restrictive environment could include full inclusion, partial inclusion, or no inclusion at all. The decision hinges solely on the child as to where they should be placed. The analysis that tells where a child should be placed begins with a placement in a regular education classroom. However, not every child with special needs should be placed into a general education classroom. The law that determines where a child should be placed states that the degree of inclusion should be driven by the childs needs, which is determined by their IEP team, not by the district, and not just by their parents (Schultz, 2001). Each child has different needs. The placement should is based on their individual IEP goals. Currently, about thirty five percent of students with disabilities are in general education classes. 36.3 percent receive special education services in a resource room setting and 23.5 percent are just in self-contained classrooms that are specifically made for students with disabilities. Just a little bit over five percent of students that are identified as needing some sort of special educational services receive them outside of a school setting ("Inclusion: The pros," 2012). The problem with inclusion is whether or not the children with special needs should be in a classroom with children who do not have disabilities. Many points that come up for them not to be are that it takes away from the attention that would be given to the children without disabilities. Also, many teachers are not trained to work with students with special needs. However, having a child with special needs in a general education setting helps them with their

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social skills. Also, it gives children without disabilities the opportunity to interact with someone who is different from them. There are many arguments that inclusion is imperative to the IEP goals of many students with disabilities. There are many studies that show that the current special education system is not as effective as it should be. The National Association of State Boards of Education (1992) reports that 43 percent of students that are just in special education classes do not graduate. Often times the students with disabilities have higher chances of being arrested than those without disabilities. Also, only 13.4 percent of students with disabilities live independently after leaving high school. The same report states that less than half of students with disabilities are employed after being out of school for one or two years. The NASBE also reports that the overall high school dropout rate for students with disabilities is estimated as being between 18 and 21 percent. So what does all of this information have to do with whether or not inclusion is important? Stainback, Stainback and Bunch (1989) credit these statistics to being the direct result of an ineffective special education system. They write that the dual system of having a special education system and a general education system does not prepare students for the real world. They write this because the real world is not divided into regular and special. Because the students are being separated, their interactions with their non disabled peers are limited to recess and lunch, and sometimes not even then. A second argument for inclusion is that there is evidence now that students with very severe disabilities can be educated appropriately without the isolation from their peers that they receive when placed into a special education classroom (Ringer and Kerr, 1988). According to Lyon (1994), students with disabilities that are placed in a more inclusive environment improve in social interaction, language development, appropriate behavior and self-esteem. There are many people that support inclusion, and they suggest that

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while the regular and special education staff works together in integrated settings, their cooperative work often tends to raise their expectations for their students with disabilities along with the students self-esteem and their sense of belonging. Staub and Peck (1993) also write that having students with disabilities in the same classroom as students without disabilities gives those without disabilities the opportunity to develop positive attitudes, understanding of, tolerance of, and true friendships with those that are different from themselves. While there are many positive reasons to place a child with disabilities into a classroom with children who do not have disabilities, there are people who believe that students with special needs should not be placed into general education classrooms. The president of the Florida Education Association United feels that inclusion leaves teachers without the resources, training and other support that is necessary to assist children with disabilities. Because of the lack of resources, the children with disabilities would not receive the appropriate, specialized attention and care that they need. Also, the children without disabilities would not receive the care and attention that they need either (Tornillo, 1994). He feels that inclusion does not make sense with the added pressure of developing higher academic standards, and improving the academic achievement of students. With inclusion, teachers would eb required to direct a lot of attention to a few, while leaving the other students in the class with inadequate attention. Due to the lack of attention, and teaching opportunities, the academic achievement goals would go unmet. Many parents of children with special needs are also worried about moving to full inclusion. They feel that with the responsibility of teaching the child transfers from a special education teacher to a general education teacher, advocacy will be lost. Also, the parents feel that with the children being spread out around the school and the district, the content of the

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things that they are being taught will be diluted, and not appropriate for what the children with disabilities need. While they feel that some inclusion is okay, moving to full inclusion would not benefit many students with disabilities (Skrtic, 1991). While there are arguments that support and do not support inclusion, many more reasons are available for inclusion. The students with disabilities benefit from inclusion in many ways. They are able to socialize with their peers outside of lunch and/or recess. They build their language skills. They build their social skills and their sense of belonging. The students with disabilities are also able to better their self-esteem. Teachers that participate in inclusion of students with disabilities also are able to raise their expectations of that child when working collaboratively with the childs special education teacher. The students without disabilities are able to begin to understand and tolerate students with disabilities. They are able to associate with them in a comfortable, familiar setting, and gain some true friends. I feel that inclusion is an important part of the IEP plan for children with disabilities. The benefits for having students with disabilities in the general education classroom greatly outweigh the reasons to not have children with special needs into a general education classroom. I feel that the child with the special need should be included in whatever they can be a part of. Each child is different and should have varying amounts of time in general education classroom settings and special education classroom settings. The most important thing to keep in mind, in my opinion, is to make sure that the children with the disabilities actually feel like they are a part of the class. They should feel like a member, and not just a visitor. As a teacher it is easy to determine when a child feels like a member in a classroom setting. That child will feel comfortable speaking to the class and the other children. The child will not have a very difficult time asking a question or saying that they have a problem. The other key indicator that a child is a member of a classroom

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is how their peers interact with them. If the other students interact with the child without being told to, then that child can be considered a member of the classroom. It is very important to establish a connection with the child and make sure that they are comfortable in the classroom. Children with disabilities should still be able to be a part of the general education classroom if that is what is best for them developmentally and socially.

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Works Cited Inclusion: The pros and cons. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues43/historical_background.html Lyon, & Vaughn. (1994). Inclusion: Can it work for students with learning disabilities? Unpublished manuscript. National Association of State Boards of Education. (1992, October). Winners all: A call for inclusive schools. (Report of NASBE Study Group on Special Education). Alexandria, VA: Author. Ringer, L., & Kerr, S. (1988, winter). Integration-the legal imperative. Minnesota UAP Impact, 1(2), 2. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Affiliated Program on Developmental Schultz, K. (2001). Special education inclusion. Retrieved from http://www.weac.org/Issues_Advocacy/Resource_Pages_On_Issues_one/Special_Educati on/special_education_inclusion.aspx Skrtic, T. M. (1991, May). The special education paradox: Equity as the way to excellence. Harvard Educational Review, 61(2), 148-206.Disabilities. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 329 081) Stainback, W., Stainback, S., and Bunch, G. (1989). A rationale for the merger of regular and special education. In S. Stainback, W. Stainback, & Forest, M. (Eds.), Educating all students in the mainstream of regular education. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

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Staub, D., & Peck, C. A. (1994-1995). What are the outcomes for non-disabled students? Educational Leadership, 52(4), pp. 36-40. Tornillo, P. (1994, March 6). A lightweight fad bad for our schools? Orlando Sentinel.