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Catherine Hanes Mrs. Wery ECI 416 20 Nov 2012 Final Inclusion Paper At the beginning of this class I started off will just a little bit of knowledge and volunteering with children with disabilities. As mentioned in my initial inclusion paper, I volunteered both for my senior internship and every summer after at a school where both physically and mentally disabled. Working with those kids taught me so much in such a little time and I will always keep that in the back of my mind, especially during this class. Working with those children opened my eyes to many different kinds of conditions there are and how it not only affected that child and their life but also the families and teachers. I used to ride the bus in the morning to pick them up and many of them lived in not so safe homes and neighborhoods. Then, when I met their parents when we got off the bus to get them, it was always interesting to see and talk to the parents and they gladly told us how their lives were and how much of a blessing the school was. Most of them were low income families and this school provided them very cheap nursery and schooling that fit perfectly for their child with whatever disability. They also explained that the bus system was amazing because they had to work and their children were adapting and some were even making progress. My favorite childs name was Peter. He was a low income, Mexican child who suffered from stiff baby syndrome. Every muscle in that childs body was incredibly still and would not move. I had to hold him because in the morning his muscles were the stiffest and you couldnt even move it to sit in his seat. I would carry him to

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class and usually sit with him all day. He was included into one of the few inclusion classrooms. There were only three other children in the classroom who had disabilities. Seeing Peter interact with those children and seeing the joy he had playing with them made me believe in inclusion. They all treated him perfectly and it was honestly better for him. Those mornings with Peter really taught me to not only appreciate my health and all the things I was given in life but also the importance of inclusion. The teacher later told me that Peter had once gone to another school that only had children with disabilities. She explained that he wasnt doing well at the school and after he arrived that the Childrens School he became more comfortable and had the confidence to do more things. This experience with Peter is what stayed in the back of my mind this whole semester while we discussed the many different conditions and ways to manage and teach children who had these disabilities. Ranging from teaching ELL students to behavioral disorders I now feel like I will be more prepared when working with students with disabilities. However, I do realize that Peters friends were nice to him because they are young kids, I understand that when Peter gets older it will be much harder for him to do the things that they can and want to do and that might affect his social life. I learned this from the film Including Samuel that we watched the very first day of class. This has given me a different point of view about inclusion and opened my eyes up to that lifestyle. Inclusion is a topic that has been argued about by many people who have strong standpoints on education and the people being taught. Inclusion is the idea that a general education teacher is responsible for the student with the disability. However, the students may be pulled out of the classroom or receive additional support in the classroom. There is also another form of inclusion called full inclusion. Full inclusion means that the students with disabilities are served only in the general education classroom. They can, however, receive services from a

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special education staff in class if needed. Continuum of services provides a number of services for students with disabilities and only sometime being placed into a general education classroom. There are very good, understandable arguments for both sides. One advantage that inclusion provides is simply that it is their civil right to be able to be included into a general education classroom. In 1975, the Public Law 94-142 (IDEA) was passed to institute the rights of students with disabilities. It states that these students have the rights to a free and public education to the maximum extent possible in a lowest-restrictive environment. Before the IDEA law was passed students with disabilities were sent to different schools and could not be included in general education classrooms. There are six principles that IDEA covers. They include nondiscriminatory testing, appropriate education, least-restrictive environment, zero people rejected, due process, and parent participation. Another advantage for using inclusion for a student with a disability is because it benefits all the students in the classroom; both the general education students and the students with the disability. This inclusion process includes the students with the disability into a classroom full of students of all different kinds. If they are the student with the disability, then they are surrounded by kids that are their same age and who they wouldnt be able to hang out with if inclusion wasnt in action. It lets them interact and be around other students, which can sometimes benefit them greatly. If they are the general education student then they are given a piece of diversity in their classroom. They are also given the opportunity to be around these students and not only see what life could be like but also just add diversity into their lives. Even a child who has a learning disability can teach a general education student certain things as equally as a child who uses a wheelchair.

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One last pro towards inclusion is that it promotes equality. By having both kinds of students in one classroom you are not segregating the two types of students. They are both receiving the same education in the same classroom at the same school. It benefits both students and helps each other grow off one another. No student is forced to go to a certain school or institution because of their disability. If children are surrounded by people that are different from them in any, way, shape or form then that benefits them. They are learning how to be around different people than them; boy or girl, white or black, Catholic or Jewish, and disability or no disability School is so much more than just learning the material that the teachers are teaching. This is a very important thing to remember not only for the students but for the parents and teachers as well. Although inclusion offers many helpful and important things, there are also many disadvantages to inclusion. One of these disadvantages is that many of the general education teachers are not prepared or taught how to teach a student with a disability. If this occurs, it can not only harm the student but also the other students in the classroom. This could hurt the child with the disability because if the teacher is not taught how to teach to a student with that type of disability, whatever it may be, the teacher will not be able to get through to that child and teach them everything that they need to know. If it is a student that English is not their first language, or an ELL student, they would not know that they need to teach a certain way. The teacher should have the words in the ELL students language underneath any hard or complex words or ideas. They should also talk slower, clearer, and repeat in both languages if possible. If the teacher was not taught some of those helpful hints they would completely lose that student. They would have no idea what she was saying and get confused and frustrated and most likely

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quit. This is just one of many examples of the bad things that could come from a teacher not being prepared. Another disadvantage of inclusion would be that there is the lack of resources. Because these teachers are not trained for these students with the disabilities, there is a lack of resources. If the student uses a wheelchair there may be problems with that student easily getting around the classroom and using things in the room. Also, if the student needs a special education teacher, that school might not have a full time special education teacher or it might be difficult to bring one in. All of these constitute as a lack of resources. One final disadvantage to inclusion would be that having the student with the disability could take too much time away from the other students, especially if the teacher is not sure how to handle it. There are many parents and families that do not agree in including these students with the disabilities into the classrooms because it takes away from their childs education and schooling experience. One of the experiences this semester that stands out to me the most, especially with becoming more prepared for teaching students with disabilities is watching the FAT city video. This video broke down exactly what it would be like to be that student with a learning disability. From the teacher talking to fast, to not speaking clearly, and for harassing children for not knowing the answer everything was put at the perspective of the student. Every education class that I have taken here at NCSU has explained how to teach and all the man different ways and how to make classrooms and lessons more fun. However, this video completely changed the way that I will forever look at any lesson plan or lesson. Being from their point of view is

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something very important for a teacher to know. Every teacher should have to watch this video, especially if they are teaching any child with a disability. Our duty as a teacher when teaching a student with a disability is being a part of a referral process and identifying that the student is having an academic or behavioral issue. We can also implement a suggested intervention with other staff members. A referral process occurs as a preventative measure that can help get rid of any inappropriate refers to special education. This is the first step. One benefit to the referral process is that it provides a forum to both the teachers and their team members to discuss how to meet the students needs. It starts out with the initial concern which then turns into the information gathering that all the parents, teachers, etc get together and talk about the students information and their background knowledge or classroom behavior. From there they discuss strategies and then try them out. After a while, the team will reconvene and discuss the students progress. This is a very important thing for the specific student, especially one who has a disability. One last important process that a teacher should know while teaching a student with a disability is accommodations. Accommodations are the changes in the learning environment or specific process. They do not, however, change the expectations, just the way you approach certain situations. There are four different categories of accommodations; presentation, response, setting, and timing and scheduling. Presentation is accommodating the visual presentation for a child who has a visual disability. The response is the action of getting a scribe to help the student who has difficulties with both verbal and written assignments. Setting is moving that student to a quieter location with fewer distractions for an ADHD student. Lastly, timing and scheduling is allowing extra time on an assessment of assignment because the

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students who easily gets mentally exhausted or cant focus long enough. All of these things help the student understand better and allow you to grow as a teacher. All of these factors are ones that are very important to know as a teacher for both general education students and students with a disability. From the advantages and disadvantages of inclusion and the many different processes helpful for any teacher.