What is inclusion?
In the inclusion model of education, students
with exceptional needs spend most or all of their time with students without
exceptional needs.
Exceptional – current term replacing ‘special’
– includes all students with any kind of need including disabled or gifted
pupils
Generally, inclusion is now used for everyone
regardless of disability, whether mild or severe. Although, more severe
disabilities can be sent to special sites but those are gradually being
eliminated.
Alternative models
Segregated – Attends no classes with regular
students. Segregated students may attend
a special school for people with the same kind of need, or may be in their own
self-contained classroom within a regular school.
Mainstreaming – Not the same thing as inclusion.
It is a kind of in-between between segregation and inclusion. Mainstreamed
students attend some general education classes, but spends others with other
children with special needs.
Presenter’s perspective and background – both a
former student of all three educational models, and as a current student
teacher with practical experience
Brief legal history of
inclusion in Canada
Emily Eaton case (1997) – Emily was a young
girl with Cerebral Palsy who used a walker or wheelchair, and could not speak
or communicate. After a few years, her school board decided she had not made
significant progress in improving her communication abilities. They felt that
Emily required too much special attention which was isolating her and that the
regular classroom was not a good fit for her, and recommended a special
education class for her best chance at personal development, while still
allowing her to interact with peers through shared activities such as recess,
etc. It is important to remember that the school board genuinely believed this
was the best option for Emily here – there was no malice or hate on anyone’s
part. The Supreme Court upheld the decision – all educational decision must be
made in the best interests of the child.
Jeffrey Moore case (2012) – Jeff has severe
dyslexia. His school cut its reading program due to budget constraints. The
Supreme Court of Canada ruled that “adequate
special education . . . is not a dispensable luxury.” School boards were found
to tend to cut special education programs when budget cuts had to be made.
Inclusion in the
classroom
- Inclusion is more than value
statements and policies and workshops. At
its core, inclusion is an attitude shared by everyone involved in the school
system – parents, teachers, students, administrators, etc. Real inclusion is
about actions, not words.
- Tailored to a student’s individual needs –
each one is unique. Some people need physical support only, some need learning
support only, some need emotional or social support, and some need a mixture
- Exceptional students are included with the
general student body as much as possible
Features of inclusion
- Normalcy – both for the included student, and
for others. The student with exceptional needs is not made to feel too
different from his peers. Other students have the opportunity to see the
exceptional student as a regular kid with some additional problems, rather than
as someone alien or weird.
- Reduces elitism, encourages cooperation in
later grades
- Students are placed with their age peers,
regardless of actual academic level
- Research suggests positive effects for many
students in areas such as meeting individual program expectations, social and
communication skills, positive attitudes and perceptions of disabilities in the
student body, self esteem and so on.
- Evolution of inclusion – expanding to include
social and cultural differences
Potential issues in inclusion
- Extra burden on staff, especially teachers –
they cannot do it all by themselves
- Possible to overlook or disregard an
inclusive student’s need for specialized support and/or instruction
- Use as a tool and ‘buzz-word’ to placate
parents by politicians and administrators, when it may be an illusion
- Inclusion is complex and all-encompassing –
token gestures may amount to basically nothing. For example, sometimes
inclusion just means moving special education professionals from separate
classrooms to regular ones.
- Inclusion may not be the best option for all
students, especially those with severe and/or multiple disabilities or delays
- Some people view inclusion as philosophically
attractive, but impractical in reality
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