As inclusion expert and author Paula Kluth says, "Over, under, around or through, find a way or make a way". An Abundant Support System. It is expected that schools will use resources from a variety of sources within the district and community to bring supports to the student in the classroom.
These supports include instructional strategies, Individual Education Plans, paraprofessionals, health professionals and assistive devices. Inclusive school systems expect they will do everything possible, in partnership with families, to provide students with a developmentally and age-appropriate education. However, it is also understood that inclusion does not preclude alternate, more suitable educational environments outside of the general education classroom for an individual student.
An abundant support system ensures that students with disabilities learn and progress in their individual educational program alongside same-age peers. Appropriate Teacher Training.
Inclusion is successful when teachers are trained and prepared to teach in classrooms that are inclusive. Teachers must be equipped with the knowledge and tools to cultivate a welcoming, safe environment, identify student needs, use research-based instructional strategies to teach diverse learners, and assess individual progress.
Years of research have contributed to our knowledge of how to successfully include students with disabilities in general education classes. Listed below are the activities and support systems commonly found where successful inclusion has occurred. TeacherVision Staff. Learn about activities and support systems commonly found in successful inclusion programs. Challenge Assumptions about Students. Everybody wins when members of an educational team, each with a unique professional perspective, work together on strategies that help students in a classroom learn.
A great example is a teacher working with an occupational therapist to create activities that playfully engage the body in learning. Teachers can. Occupational therapy OT insights can also help students in inclusive classrooms who may have sensory issues. With just a little time and effort, teachers can use a wide range of other environmental modifications to help students with sensory modulation challenges.
Download more than 30 ready-to-use strategies from Teaching the Moving Child. Viewing each student as competent and capable rather than deficient or difficult helps keep both teacher expectations and student motivation high.
Try this activity from The Paraprofessional's Guide to the Inclusive Classroom : write down the names of the students who make you think, "What terrific kids!
Think about the reasons that you identified those children, and then reflect on the students who didn't spring to mind immediately. What qualities and attributes do those students have that reflect goodness? The driving principle is to make all students feel welcomed, appropriately challenged, and supported in their efforts.
This includes the regular education teacher and the special education teacher, as well as all other staff and faculty who are key stakeholders — and that also includes parents. Inclusive education and inclusive classrooms are gaining steam because there is so much research-based evidence around the benefits. Take a look. Simply put, both students with and without disabilities learn more. Many studies over the past three decades have found that students with disabilities have higher achievement and improved skills through inclusive education, and their peers without challenges benefit, too Bui, et al.
For students with disabilities SWD , this includes academic gains in literacy reading and writing , math, and social studies — both in grades and on standardized tests — better communication skills, and improved social skills and more friendships. More time in the general classroom for SWD is also associated with fewer absences and referrals for disruptive behavior.
This could be related to findings about attitude — they have a higher self-concept, they like school and their teachers more, and are more motivated around working and learning.
Their peers without disabilities also show more positive attitudes in these same areas when in inclusive classrooms. They make greater academic gains in reading and math. One of these is when they serve as peer-coaches. By learning how to help another student, their own performance improves. Another is that as teachers take into greater consideration their diverse SWD learners, they provide instruction in a wider range of learning modalities visual, auditory, and kinesthetic , which benefits their regular ed students as well.
Researchers often explore concerns and potential pitfalls that might make instruction less effective in inclusion classrooms Bui et al. But findings show this is not the case. Neither instructional time nor how much time students are engaged differs between inclusive and non-inclusive classrooms.
In fact, in many instances, regular ed students report little to no awareness that there even are students with disabilities in their classes. When they are aware, they demonstrate more acceptance and tolerance for SWD when they all experience an inclusive education together.
Parents, of course, have a big part to play.
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