Controversy Project

Children with Disabilities:

Full Inclusion vs. Self-Contained Classes in Regular General Education

Emily Norell

ENC 3021 Fall 2016 Jennifer Enoch

 Mild, moderate, and severe learning disabilities and cognitive impairment have

completely categorized children with special needs into a social stereotype that is nearly

unavoidable. This classification has led to the uprising of question of how to incorporate

education into children of special needs lives. When I think of a child with special

needs, I dont immediately think that this child is incapable of learning general education

curriculum. The reason for my mild sense of the phrase would have to be due to my

involvement in a club in high school called Best Buddies. When I first joined this club,

I had absolutely no idea what I was about to experience. I call this an experience because

that is exactly what it was. Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization that works with

people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to integrate the lives of people

who are not disabled and create bonds that would otherwise not be easily obtained by

them. Once a month, the members of the club would organize some sort of field trip with

the buddies and we would all go and simply hang out while doing some sort of fun

activity with them. My buddys name is Carly. She is a wonderful human being who

was diagnosed with what they call level 2 autism. Carly is currently twenty-three years

old, three years older than I am. She enjoys watching movies (typically of the comedy

genre-NOT romance becausejust, yuck!), loves Justin Timberlake (she married him

when she was six), and is the basketball prodigy of her neighborhood team. When I first

met Carly, she was extremely shy and visibly unsure about opening up to me. Our very

first meeting with the buddies was in the media center of my high school where there

were wooden picture frames with various paint colors and paintbrushes set up on each

table. The goal was to decorate these frames and be able to fill them with a picture of us

by the end of the year. I really wanted Carly to feel comfortable around me and I felt that
we got off to a rough start. In efforts to get Carly to laugh, I took the paintbrush, dipped

it into the blue paint, and accidentally painted the side of my face. She loved that.

Carly let out a huge laugh, took the paintbrush right out of my hand, and then she

accidentally painted the side of her face! The ice was broken and that was the

beginning of our lifelong friendship. To this very day, Carly and I keep in touch over the

phone and social media. We will video chat at least once a week, and sometimes I even

get the occasional postcard from wherever she has been traveling. Best Buddies has truly

changed me as a person and I owe it all to Carly. Although Best Buddies is merely for

social and developmental improvement, the education system connects to the club. My

fascination in this topic sparked when Carly revealed something to me that I was least

expecting. In casual conversation about what she was learning that week in school, Carly

slipped in, The regular kids laugh at us when we walk in the hallways every single day.

Carly is a girl who, when she sees someone laughing, she will happily join in. She

explained what was happening every single day with the regular kids as something

funny to her and all of her classmates. Although she was completely unaware of what

this really meant, it really didnt sit well with me that the entire ESE class saw the

regular classes mocking them. This opened my eyes to the problem with separation of

students with disabilities in the classroom. I chose this topic because this is something

that truly captivates my interest and I am curious to learn about the pros and cons of

inclusion of special needs children in general education classrooms. In this project, I will

analyze both sides of the controversy while looking at how past rhetoricians have

influenced modern day thinkers such as parents, teachers, and the government.
 Today, we live in an equal society. Women and men now have equal rights,

everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion, and opportunity in the workplace is easily

available. Regarding education, students are given the opportunity to work hard to

potentially earn a college degree. Education equality, when it comes to people with

disabilities, is an ongoing controversy that has gone on for many years now. When we

look at the word inclusion, we see how integration of non-disabled students in a

classroom with students who have disabilities can benefit and hinder everyones learning

experience. Right now, we will focus purely on the pros.

To include students with special needs in a classroom of non-disabled students is

to create diversity where there may have not been any in the first place. Exposing non-

disabled children to those who are allows for normal children to gain a sense of

awareness that others may not have it as easy as they do. This also helps in normal

childrens familiarity with disabled people as they most definitely will encounter more

throughout adulthood. Inclusion can help students appreciate and learn to take

differences in learning and/or developmental abilities as something that isnt necessarily

negative. They will learn to appreciate and truly value their own abilities and skills.

Merging special education with regular education gives each and every student

the opportunity to learn in normal teaching environments with natural stimulation.

Inclusion makes it possible for friendships to form along with role models that can

potentially be set into place. When my friend Carly told me about how she was

essentially being laughed at by the other children, I suggested her to be moved to a school

who did not separate these children from one another. Although Carly only had a couple

years left at the school, her parents were open to the fact that another school setting might
be good for her. Schools that do not separate children of special needs from normal

children provide a more natural environment as well as a more realistic approach to the

matter of what kind of people exist in the world.

Placing students with disabilities into regular education classrooms also allows for

academic advantages. With regular education curriculum, students with special needs are

able to learn what their peers without special needs are learning. It gives students the

chance to learn something that they may have not been able to learn whilst not being in a

regular education classroom. The term for merging both kinds of students is called

mainstreaming and without this, people do not have an acceptance for the people that

are around them. Not only are academic advantages good reason for full inclusion in the

classroom, but students learn a variety of things that ultimately shape the person they are

to become. They learn how to get along, manage conflict, citizenship skills, and more.

The perception that self-contained classrooms are essentially a safe place for students

with special needs is almost an inadequate representation of what safe really means.

Starting children in environments where each and everyone in the room have some sort of

disability is something that can potentially disadvantage a child. Without exposure to

normal conversation and play, a childs disability may even become more severe than

before. It is important for children with disabilities to be able to live in the real world.

Although full inclusion in the classroom can demonstrate some challenges on the

way, students with special needs sitting alongside their peers without special needs is

something that many parents cannot say no to. When a child has the learning

opportunities that a normal student has, it allows parents to know that their particular

child is gaining a true sense of human interaction that can really benefit the in the
development of any child. If we look at this as a civil rights issue, we can ensure that our

children with disabilities have the rights of any other child. Its about every childs right

to an equitable education and access to their neighborhood schools and to their natural

community of peers. For a child to be successful in his/her education, each and every

child, special needs or not, needs to be presented with the right tools for his/her own style

of learning. With inclusion in the classroom, we can identify everyones different

particular needs and work to better everyones experience.

In addition to the many benefits of inclusive learning for special needs children,

there are setbacks and disadvantages. Full inclusion in the classroom of special needs

children and children who do not have special needs sometimes does not suit the

educational needs for all students. Immediately after being exposed to people who are

not disabled, children with disabilities feel uncomfortable and different to those around

them. This is an unavoidable social stigma that unfortunately has caused children with

special needs to become aware of the possible teasing, making fun of, and ignoring that

normal children participate in. Putting these two groups of students together can

ultimately be something that pulls them apart causing social issues to arise causing

disabled children to be singled out. In an unstable social environment, students may have

a difficult time adapting. Moreover, the atmosphere may be distracting to students who

may need one-on-one attention. A regular school setting doesnt always provide the

intensive, focused, constant instruction that children with disabilities need.

Continuingly, the classroom/school should be equipped with the proper things

needed to support special needs learning in a classroom. It is unrealistic that schools and

teachers have the specific training skills required for accommodation of special needs
children. In reality, teachers need to spend quality one-on-one time with each student in

the classroom and if a student has disabilities it is assumed that this time is significantly

longer than normal thus, causing a shortage in time for every other student. Typically,

students with disabilities learn better with a more visual approach of learning. Depending

on a regular education teachers style of teaching, modifications may need to be made

which can cause a challenge in how the teacher is teaching.

Additionally, as far as the students who are not disabled, the probability of them

acting out is higher than usual. Due to the behavioral differences that are present,

children with special needs have trouble controlling their actions. This can cause havoc

in a classroom that was originally designed to run smoothly. There is also the issue that

students with disabilities will not be able to keep up with the traditional curriculum. This

is arguably one of the biggest downsides to inclusion in the classroom. It is clear that

students with special needs do not learn at the same pace as students without. A gap in

pace of learning may cause the teacher to slow down the lessons. Inclusion would,

therefore, potentially be detrimental to students without disabilities essentially lessening

the workload and not providing the necessary challenges to succeed and master the

material.

Another disadvantage of inclusion in the classroom is the fact that children can be

cruel. As mentioned earlier, placing both students with and without disabilities in the

same classroom can cause separations and seclusions. There is already bullying prevalent

in the school system and when you mix in children who sometimes cannot stand up for

his/herself, it definitely isnt pretty. Children can develop negative attitudes toward

people with disabilities and this can ultimately hinder ones morality.
 Now that we have analyzed both sides of this controversy regarding inclusion in

the classroom, we can now look at how past rhetoricians have influenced the way that

modern-day thinkers view the situation. First, we will evaluate a parents role in this

situation. Then, we will look the stance that teachers have. And finally, we will go into

some governmental viewpoints and amendments made.

To begin, parents of children with or without disabilities almost always only want

the best for their child. When a child starts the education process, usually he/she is put

into pre-school, or something relating to the fact pre stages of primary education. At this

time, parents typically look for a local pre-school that provides the basic needs for a child

of the age. Parents of children with special needs take the approach of wanting their

child to have the full attention that he/she needs along with special treatment and a great

amount of seclusion from children who are not disabled. This is only normal. We can

compare this viewpoint to the views of Aristotle. Aristotle argues that influential

contributions are mostly based on science and logical reasoning. When a disabled child

is first put into a self-contained pre-school, the parent of the child uses his/her logic to

make that call. Essentially, it is only logical to seclude a child who needs special

treatment and time from regular children based on learning abilities and levels. Another

reason we can compare these kinds of parents to the rhetorician, Aristotle, would be the

fact that Aristotle uses ethos, logos, and pathos to support arguments. Placing his/her

child into care that is completely separate from regular children appeals to the emotion of

the parent. He/she wants to make sure that his/her child is not being mocked, and has the

best possible education foundation. Once parents feel that this seclusion has or has not

hindered the childs social development, then they may consider placing the child in an
all inclusive classroom. This has to do with a great deal of persuasion, which is

associated with Aristotle as well.

Additionally, teachers have varying opinions of this matter. When students with

special needs are placed into a regular education classroom, teachers may often feel a

disconnect with the traditional style teaching skills they have. The way that teachers use

their teaching skills varies across the board. Children with disabilities often learn using

visuals. Many teachers also like to use symbols and objects to teach lessons. This way of

teaching can be compared to the ways of contemporary rhetorician, Kenneth Burke.

Burkes theory of identification has three stages. The first stage is the process of naming

something according to specific properties. An example of this would be a student with

disabilities looking at one of his peers and seeing that she has longer hair and female

features. The second stage is associating with and disassociating from others.

Continuing the previous example, this second stage would be the student disassociating

himself with her, knowing that he is different. The third stage is the product or end result

of identifying. In this example, the student with disabilities identifying the girl as a girl

and not a boy.

Lastly, the government and education system is always looking to improve. This

being said, the education system can compare to the thinkers of the Enlightenment.

Specifically, John Locke. Locke always thought outside the box. The government wants

new things for parents and students. Learning plans are made and there are new ways of

approaching special education.

All in all, the inclusion decision is completely up to the parent of the child. There

are many advantages and disadvantages to both sides of the controversy and after
research and pure knowledge gain about the topic. This is something that can really be

beneficial or detrimental to the child and ultimately can cause a major turnaround in the

development and learning skills. The student, parent, and education system all have

varying opinions that contribute to the current rhetoric of this modern day controversy.
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