What are some advantages and disadvantages of inclusion? Could you provide support to back up your answers?

Question

I am writing a speech on the advantages and disadvantages of inclusion in the general education classroom. I need to be able to cite your answers and that is why I ask for support to back up your answers. Thanks! Also, a catchy attention getter would be awesome!! Thanks everyone!

Answer 1

I think it's more of a disadvantage, unless the teacher in charge is really really good. Otherwise, most cases are a disadvantage to both the special child and the rest of the children.

Firstly, the special child will mostly be left doing his own work. His favourite activity most of the time. And if it's time to do something else, he'll mostly get his way out by crying and making a loud noise. and of course to shut him up and avoid disturbing the other children/class that's having lesson, you'll mostly let him continue his own work.

Secondly, while he is obviously not learning anything else from this classroom, he could be with his therapist learning more stuff, which meant to be put in a special eds. school. and most importantly, he would be disturbing the other children in their learning. in this which both parties dont get to gain anything too. I mean yea, the normal children do learn something at the end of the day. but who would have known, they might have been able to learn more if there wasn't a disruption.

Thirdly, as  say, the special child would be in so much better hands if he were in special eds. the people there would know what to do in any situation, have the best equipment prepared for him, and they'll be so much more knowledgeable in what should be done and managing him.

it opened my eyes being in this classroom, previously i thought that inclusion was good, but that's unless your special child is able to understand and connect to "outsiders". if not, it's a total waste of time and money to put him in an inclusion classroom when he could be better off.

Ps/ are you sure you can use such a thing for your speech? dont you have to like reference it? and isn't a source from a place like these considered as inappropriate?

Answer 2

Advantages - Students are exposed to their regular ed peers, exposed to regular curriculum, students feel more normal, possibly positive peer pressure to behave better, possibly better academic role models

Disadvantages - students may become lost in a large group setting, reg. ed teachers may not understand students disability or be willing to work with it, student may feel stupid for struggling when other kids are getting it,

Answer 3

It really depends on the disability and the population of the classroom.  Peer grouping is great when the peers aren't overwhelmed.  A teacher also runs the risk of spending to much time with with those being place there by inclusion and letting the others fall behind.  Then there are too many classroom management issues for everyone.

Inclusion is great when done correctly!  Educators just need to know "when to include or not."

Answer 4

After reading some of the stories at alternativeeducationbible.com you'll see one major advantage of not allowing inclusion: some children just need a different environment in which to thrive.  Some need additional attention and a smaller class setting.  A catching attention getter?  How about something like, "When considering inclusion, let's take it one child at a time."

Answer 5

Inclusion was designed to help children with special needs to feel and interact within the environ of regular education students.  Inclusion is simply the outside world coming to school, because at home they do this all the time.  The advantage of inclusion is to help all of the children at the school to love, appreciate and assist each other.  It provides time for the regular education students to assist those who have impairments, and gives them more empathy instead of making fun of them.  The disadvantages of inclusion is that special needs children who are placed in an inclusion setting which is not manageable become embarrassed and discouraged.  Just make sure the inclusion sessions are comfortable for all.  I really see inclusion as great, and I have witnessed where there was  not inclusion (which is against the law) and the school that did this was shut down by the state authorities.  I also noticed that the regular education students loved to be with their friends and neighbors who had disabilities.  They fought to help them and be friends to them, and got upset when they could not help. (smile)  Love is a great thing! -- Toni D.   (senior lady)

Answer 6

Advantages:

1) Both the "normal" children and the disabled children can learn from each other, thus teaching acceptance of one other.

2) Help the disabled children develop socially.

3) Everyone is granted an equal education. Albert Einsein was learning disabled but still managed to become the greatest mind of the 20th century.

4) Prepare the disabled children for a future that they might otherwise not have.

5) It help the disabled child to develop a sense of pride in their work because they actually fill like they accomplished something.  

Disadvantages:

1) The disabled children can be disruptive.

2) Their is a problem with bullying.

3) The teacher tends to be impatient towards the disabled child or simply don't want to be bothered with these students.

4) The teacher might talk over the disabled child's head thus leaving the child bored.

5) The teacher has to slow down to teach the disabled child thus creating boredom among the other students.

I was in special education and I had to deal with the nastiness from both the students and staff. However, I still managed not only to graduate from high school but I'm currently in college, majoring in Computer/ Electrical Engineering, where I'm maintaining a 4.00 GPA despite being told by my wonderful high counselor "You need to do yourself a favor and drop out of high school because people  like you  (the retarded) will never amount to anything."

Good luck on your speech!!

Answer 7

WHOA  JL, you are something else!

I wanted to add  the legal aspects to this. It does not matter what anyone *thinks* about if it is good or not,  it does not matter what the school wants to do with a child so it is *convenient* for them and NOT care about the childs needs.

According to the law that mandates special ed in schools, IDEA federal law, a child in special ed is to be in the 'least restrictive environment', to be as close to a reg ed classroom as possible in order to recieve FAPE.

IDEA law also mandates that the child is to recieve the help they need while IN the reg ed classroom.

THIS is where the school makes a BIG mistake. They have the child in the reg ed classroom WITHOUT the specialized help the child needs that is specified in his IEP plan.

Instead, they make the reg ed teacher teach the special ed child along WITH the reg ed kids.

THIS is a violation of the IDEA law, because a SPECIAL ED teacher is suppose to be in the reg ed class teaching the SPECIAL ED kids, and the reg ed teacher teaches the reg ed kids.

A reg ed teacher is not highly qualified and trained in the childs disability and specialized program the child needs.

The bad thing is, MOST parents and teachers don't know this, or any of the IDEA laws. They just go along with what the school tells them.

The ONLY reason a child is NOT to be in a reg ed classroom is if the child is NOT suceeding with the HELP that the IEP mandates.

Schools sometimes don't do this either. They will NOT give the child the correct help and then say the child is NOT progressing, so they can get them out of that classroom.

It is all about money and convience for the school, and NOT about the child at all.

Answer 8

The advantages of inclusion are that it gives the sp. needs child typical peer interaction.  It also gives the typical children opportunity to be a role model.  When properly executed with the identified child properly placed in the least restrictive environment and appropriate support in place it can be beneficial to all parties.  It develops tolerance and patience for the identified children

The disadvantages, there needs to be adequate support.  If the child needs a 1:1 aide then he should have it.  There should  be no more than 33% of identified children in the class.  There should be a sp. ed. teacher and a reg. ed. teacher.  There should be less students all together.  My sons class there was a total of 19, 5 identified.  Even if implemented correctly this is not always the best classroom.  Some typical students do not fair well and begin to look delayed.  These students should not continue in the inclusion classroom.  Also not every identified child can function in inclusion even with all the support.  This would not be an appropriate placement, that is why there are other options like self-contained.  When it doesn't work there is a lot of frustration on the teacher's side (JL) and the parent/child as well and it doesn't work for anybody in that situation.

My son repeated kindergarten, and it was a positive year.  We are doing an independent eval. to get further data.  We are keeping him in inclusion.  Should he be unable to function with maximum supports with the increased demands of first grade then we will look to having him re-screened for the autism program (previously he did not qualify) or they will create a self-contained classroom, or send him to another school that has one.  To force inclusion on a child that isn't making it will cause more behaviors, self-esteem issues and is unfair to the remainder of the class.

Answer 9

Advantages:  Both "typical" children and special education children benifit from properly excuted inclusion.  My daughter has a wide variety of "typical" friends at school who now understand that "special ed" kids aren't to be feared or mocked, but are kids first and formost. The typical kids learn compassion, patience, and understanding. The special education child learns age appropriate behaviors from typical peers that they might not learn in a self contained special education environment.

Disadvantage:  When inclusion is not done properly, it's not only disruptive to the typical students, but can actually cause harm to the child with an IEP. I've seen first hand how a child like JL so "charmingly" described was treated in this same manner.  He went from being a pretty pleasant well mannered little boy to learning that he only needed to scream and cry a little louder/longer to get what he wanted.  He didn't have the proper support he should have had. Even after being removed to a much more restrictive self contained special education environment, the damage had been done and his behavior continued to escalate.  It took his parents over a year of homeschooling and therapy to undo the damage the school had done by reinforcing inappropriate behavior patterns.  

I feel sorry for the child in JL's class. If he had parents who were educated in the law, that school would be in big trouble for violation of his IEP I'm sure.