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The Inclusive Education Debate
- 1. The Inclusive Education Debate Sarah D’Amico December 5, 2013
- 2. Background Inclusive education: the philosophy that all students, regardless of ability, should participate within the same environment, with necessary support and individualized attention Integration: putting disabled students in the same setting as their peers Exclusion: special education in separate schools or classrooms
- 3. Reasons for Inclusion Legal, moral, and rational reasons Supported by empirical research Demonstrates social, academic, and behavioral benefits
- 4. Legal Reasons The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that children with disabilities should be educated in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). The IDEA defines the concept of LRE public or private school separation from non-disabled children only when necessary can use aids before separation is necessary
- 5. Debunks myths (“only public schools,” “can’t have aids present,” “all-or-nothing”) Shows that LRE (and inclusion) can be assessed on a continuum Examples of applying LRE full-inclusion, no aid full-inclusion, part-time (->full-time) aid partial separation->separate class(es)-> separate school
- 6. Paraprofessionals- people to whom a particular aspect of a professional task is delegated but are not licensed to practice as a fully qualified professional Peer tutors- a helpful reg. ed. student Special educators- teachers with spec. ed. experience Therapists (speech, physical, occupational) Child removed only when supports are not enough Supplementary Aids and Services
- 7. If it’s the law, why don’t we always see inclusion? The law does not mandate *inclusion*--it mandates LRE. However, it is possible that inclusion is the least restrictive option, with the child still receiving the appropriate education. The amount of inclusive time in the school day must be calculated on an individual basis.
- 8. Moral Reasons Often, moral arguments for inclusion parallel those for desegregation and the civil rights movement. Disabled children have the right to learn in the least restrictive environment possible. They should not be separated by classroom or school solely because they have a disability Specialized services can be provided while in the inclusive class No need to go to a separate (more restrictive) place
- 9. Rational Reasons Inclusion is a no-brainer benefits both disabled and typical students Research on preschoolers shows benefits to social development Exclusion does not provide better education at this age
- 10. All Children Benefit With Disabilities • More challenging learning environment • It is less likely that a teacher will assume a child can’t reach a goal • Opportunity to observe & learn from peers • Facilitates social responses Without Disabilities • Learn about differences in people • Greater acceptance of those with disabilities and their own strengths and weaknesses • Model for behavior
- 11. Academic Benefits Waldron & McKlesky (1998) Those with mild learning disabilities in inclusion make significantly more progress than those in exclusion Significantly more mildly disabled students in inclusion made comparable progress to non- disabled peers than those in exclusion For severe learning disabilities, the setting had no impact Inclusion is LRE, and, although no academic benefit, still social and behavioral benefit
- 12. Misconceptions Myths inform the public’s idea of inclusion “full inclusion for *all* children” think definition of inclusion = integration specialized services (AKA supplementary aids) not available in inclusion Supporters of non-inclusion have only been exposed to low-quality programs, or programs that lack funding/understanding of proper inclusion Problem is not the philosophy of inclusion
- 13. For a successful program... Need to know what inclusion actually means Need funding and resources Need teachers with the right mindset attitude toward spec. ed. in general attitude toward included students acceptance of inclusive practices
- 14. It takes the cooperation of many, but in time, it can be done! If people learn what inclusion is, they can give children the education they deserve.
Editor's Notes
- The research I’ve been working on is about whether or not inclusion is the best method for special education
- To give some background on this topic, here are some important definitions. I wanted to start by giving the definition of inclusion itself. Inclusion is the philosophy that all students, regardless of ability, should participate within the same environment, with necessary support and individualized attention. What some programs are currently writing off as inclusion is actually more like integration, which is simply putting disabled students and “normal” students in the same room. What I’m going to be arguing against is the idea of exclusion, also referred to as non-inclusive education, which supports separate schools or classrooms as the best method for educating children with disabilities.
- There are legal, moral, and rational reasons to support inclusion. Many of these are backed by empirical research. This research demonstrates that there are social, academic, and behavioral benefits to learning in an inclusive setting.
- For me, the legal reasons are some of the most convincing. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates that children with disabilities should be educated in the Least Restrictive Environment. The definition of LRE in the IDEA is “to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.”
- This legal definition debunks myths surrounding inclusion. It also shows that LRE, and therefore, inclusion, can be assessed on a continuum, rather than strictly yes, full inclusion, or no, not any inclusion. I’ll give some examples of the application of least restrictive environment; each example will be more restrictive than the last. First, take a mildly disabled child. She is in a full-inclusion program (which means she is with normal peers for 100% of the school day) and she doesn’t need the help of an aid. A second example could be a student in a full-inclusion program as well, but needs part-time (or in a more restrictive case, full-time) assistance from a paraprofessional. Another example could be a mildly disabled student, but maybe he takes time away from inclusion because he also needs to attend sessions with a physical therapist at the school.
- The IDEA allows for many sources of support before the removal of disabled students becomes necessary. There are paraprofessionals, which are a very common source of supplementary support. There are peer tutors or buddies, who are helpful regular education students in the class. This source of support is very successful for the appropriate socialization of autistic children. There are special educators, who are teachers with experience in special education. For inclusion, they would be present in the capacity of a co-teacher. And there are also therapists to help students. The law states that the disabled child should only be removed when these supports are not enough for the child to make progress in their Individualized Education Program goals. These are more often referred to simply as IEPs. These are just benchmark goals, just like the goals for regular educated students, but they are written individually to tailor to specifics.
- Now for the rational reasons. Inclusion seems like a no-brainer after hearing about the empirical evidence that supports its practice. In and of itself, the fact that inclusion benefits both disabled and non-disabled children is a good enough reason to support inclusive education. Research on preschoolers shows benefits to social development. And interestingly, there is little to no scientific evidence that exclusion provides better education for children at this young age. It would be irrational to place a child in a non-inclusive setting at this stage.
- There is striking evidence of academic benefits provided by inclusion. The empirical research published by Waldron and McKlesky in 1998 is thorough and quite compelling. They were able to demonstrate that students with mild learning disabilities in inclusion made significantly more progress in reading, and comparable progress in math, compared to students with mild learning disabilities in non-inclusive settings. In addition, significantly more students with mild learning disabilities in inclusion made progress in reading that was comparable to their typical peers than students with mild learning disabilities in non-inclusive settings. Further, Waldron and McKlesky found that students with severe learning disabilities made comparable progress in reading and math; the setting did not matter. The implications of this last finding in particular is that if the setting does not have an effect, the students should be placed in the inclusive classrooms because this would be the least restrictive of the possible environments. Not only is inclusion the least restrictive environment, it is also an environment that provides the previously mentioned social and behavioral benefits.
- Now after learning all this, and doing all this research, it really made me wonder why there is any debate over inclusion at all. However, the many misconceptions about inclusion are what keep the debate going. Myths, like the ones I mentioned earlier, are what informs the public’s idea of inclusion. Many people, including many parents, have only seen faulty inclusion programs. And as some researchers have cited, when faced with the choice between a low-quality or misinformed inclusion school and a high-quality exclusion school, parents will choose the exclusive environment--and they should! The problem here is not the philosophy of inclusion, but the way programs implement it.
- For an inclusion program to be a success, many things need to happen. First, those forming the program need to know what inclusion actually is, and not what many think inclusion is because of the misconceptions they have. Then, they need the funding and resources. It can take a lot to create or revamp a program. However, hopefully with knowing the correct definitions of inclusion and LRE, they will be able to do it right the first time and not waste funding on the wrong resources. Next, they will need to choose the appropriate staff. Inclusion programs need teachers with a positive attitude toward special education, an effective attitude toward the included students in the class (by this I mean setting goals that are not too low, and giving them the right amount of attention), and the teachers will also need to be accepting of inclusive practices. Because if the staff doesn’t know why inclusion is the right thing to do, the program isn’t going to be successful in the long-run.