What are the Pros and Cons of Full Inclusion?

Question

I have a report on full inclusion, and i need to find the pros and cons of this issue.

Answer 1

In a perfect world, full inclusion would be a perfect approach to the education of children with special needs.  Sadly, the perfect world is rarely found.

Pros:  

*Children attend their home school, with their siblings and neighbors.   They are members of their own community.

*The typcially developing kids may develop some compassion for people who have developmental differences, which may generalize into the understanding that people are all important and valuable, even if they are not "just like me."

*It is often argued that full inclusion students will get a richer speech model by being with their general ed peers, and that they will see, and model, more appropriate social behaviors than they would if they were in a special education class.  (Since my special education class is on a regular elementary campus, I have to say that whenever there is an assembly, or every day on the playground and in the cafeteria, my students are far better behaved, more polite, and more responsible than the average general ed student.  And as far as language development, just hearing other kids talk doesn't translate into development of better speech and language.  We have far more opportunities to give positive practice to appropriate speech and language.)

*It is often a more cost-effective approach for a school district.

Cons:

*A special day class placement is likely to be more expensive than a full inclusion placement.

*The success of a full inclusion placement is dependent to a very large extent on the attitude and expertise of both the classroom teacher and the assistant assigned to the special education student.  Far too often, the teacher is so focused on preparing the class to do well on standardized testing that he or she has little time to spend on a student who needs modifications.  And also far too often, the one to one assistant assigned to the special needs student has little training or experience in assisting the student with a disability to be part of the classroom.

*A corollary to the last point:  Often kids with disabilities can fully participate in  such classroom activities as arts and crafts, music, and physical education.  Often school districts have virtually eliminated arts and crafts, music, and physical education in favor of focus on the curricular areas that will be assessed in mandated testing.

*People become friends and socialize with people with whom they have things in common.  Often children with disabilities, especially those who have obvious disabilities such as being nonverbal, nonambulatory, or being far below grade level, become more like a classroom pet or mascot, rather than an equal.  Kids will say, "There's a really cute little girl in my class who uses a wheelchair and she doesn't talk very much, but she's really nice."  And then they run off to play with the kids who can also run and play.  That's not a bad thing;  it's just the way it is.  (For those who are offended by the idea that true friendship does not often develop between those who are typcially developing and those who are developmentally disabled, I ask:  How many actual friends do you have who have significant cognitive deficits?  Not family members or people you work with - real friends that you call up on a regular basis, socialize with, confide in, count on.... I have a sister with Down syndrome, and I love her and socialize with her.  But my friends are people who have higher intellectual capacity.  And her friends - and her boyfriend - all have significant disabilities.  Her friendships are every bit as deep and valued as mine, but her friends are people with disabilities, and mine are not.)

*Kids with disabilities who have good social skills may do well in full inclusion in the early years (kindergarten and early elementary), but as they become older, and especially as they reach puberty, they become more and more socially isolated in full inclusion.  When male-female interest develops, it can be very lonely for the kids with disabilities, who are left out of the loop.

*All kids need education that looks to the future:  What skills will this child need to become a successful and productive adult?  Often these skills, especially as the students become older, are different for kids who may be college bound, or ready to get a job after high school, as opposed to students with disabilities, who may need additional training to develop the skills to become as independent as possible.

Answer 2

Pro:  it exposes non-disabled children to children with disabilities, children with disabilities are able to feel more "normal" and part of the class

Con:  Full inclusion is not appropriate for meeting the needs for all students.

Answer 3

it greatly depends on the individual, as far as the benefits to them-  have worked with kids that strive, and get so much fulfillment out of working with kids without disabilities, they find someone to look up to that can do such cool stuff

Some shut down, they are too challenged

Attention motivated students feed on the inclusion- you can kind of explain the concept of extinction to a gen ed teacher- some do well- explaining to a bunch of peers to ignore the kid who is tugging on their ankles squeeling and creating a huge scene that they need to pretend nothing is happening is impossible

As for the other kids if the disabled kid is being well mannered it is great it takes away some of that fear of the unknown, and makes them feel important- if the kid is drooling on the cookies made in home ec. having behavioral problems- especially aggression it can really set a bad impression for them to base the MR community on- the people who do not spend time working with many people with developmental disabilities their perception on the whole classification of them is based on the few things they see the few do, and that is how they will expect the next kid to behave