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Inclusion: Pros and Cons
Inclusion is a very controversial idea because it relates to
educational and social values, as well as our sense of individual worth. Inclusion
is the assignment of students with disabilities to regular classrooms in
neighborhood schools for the entire school day. These children participate in all the
regular school activities. It involves bringing the support services to the child
rather than moving the child to the services, and requires only that the child will
benefit from being in the class rather than having to keep up with the other
students. Physical accommodations, sufficient personnel, staff development and
technical assistance, and technical collaboration are all brought into the classroom
to assist the special needs child in a regular classroom.
Those who are for inclusion claim that segregated programs are
detrimental to students and do not meet the original goals for special education.
Recent meta-analyses show a small to moderate beneficial effect of inclusion
education on the academic and social outcome of special needs children. Those
who support inclusion believe that the child always should begin in the regular
environment and only be removed only when appropriate services cannot be
provided in the regular classroom. Another study assessing the effectiveness of
inclusion was done at John Hopkins University. In a school-wide restructuring
program called, Success for All, student achievement was measured and several
positive changes were noticed: a reduced fear of human differences accompanied by
increases comfort and awareness, growth in social cognition, improvement in self-
concept of non-disabled students, development of personal principles and ability to
assume an advocacy role toward their peers and friends with disabilities, and warm
and caring friendships.
However, for inclusion to be successful, adequate
supplementary aids and support services must be present. The teacher needs to
prepare students to be accepting of the special needs students by being honest
about the nature of the child’s disability and/or behavior difficulty. Although
inclusion seems like a great idea that should be of some form of benefit for all
involved, if not handled properly it can become a very stressful situation. As an
elementary school student, I remember being in my classroom about mid-semester
and the teacher announcing that we would be having and additional student joining
us. She went on to explain that this particular boy had had difficulty in his
previous school due to behavioral problems but that she was going to try to work
with him. She asked that if he ever acted out towards us, that we not retaliate but
instead go to her or the principle and tell them. She also asked that we be friendly
and not treat him indifferently because of his behavioral problem, but to instead
understand that he could not help but be this way. Although the teacher probably
felt that by arming us with this knowledge we would be able to handle encounters
with this boy better, we were in no way prepared to deal with the disruptive and
sometimes abusive nature of this boy. The rest of that school year was very hard
for all of us. The boy had no ability to concentrate, sit still or be quiet. The teacher
would try to teach the lesson over his outbursts but needless to say, not much was
learned for the rest of the year.
I believe that inclusion is a good idea when all the proper
facilities, services, aids and proper disciplinary strategies are present. However, if
the teacher/classroom/school, are not well equipped to handle inclusion, it can
become a very stressful hardship for all involved. The regular students will become
distracted by the constant disruptions, they can even resort to acting out themselves
because they are seeing the inclusion student is not being disciplined. The teacher
can become frustrated with the chaos in his/her classroom and feel unable to regain
control or not able to effectively teach the class with constant disruptions occurring.
In my opinion, the best way to deal with children with
behavioral problems or learning disabilities is early intervention. The greatest
debate over inclusion versus special education for children with these kind of
problems is that their academic performance is below those of their agemates.
However, many of these students could have succeeded in school in the first place
if they had had effective prevention and early intervention programs. There is
strong evidence that a substantial portion of students who are now in the special
education system could have been kept out if they had had effective early
intervention. Studies of high quality early childhood programs such as the Perry
Preschool, the Abecedarian Project, and the Milwaukee Project all showed
substantial reductions in special education placements for students with learning
disabilities and mild mental retardation. The program, Success for All, which
combines effective early childhood programs, curriculum reform, and one-to-one
tutoring, has reduced special education placement by more than half. These
findings suggest that special-education services could be greatly reduced if
prevention and early intervention programs were implemented.
Ultimately, the key to the child’s success lay in the hands of the
educators. It is their duty to provide proper assistance and instruction for these
children in order for full inclusion to be successful.
Word Count: 863
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