Inclusive Education for Students with Disabilities

It is one’s personal belief that all children deserve access to quality education, regardless of
socioeconomic status, location, gender, or disability. This is reflected in policies, the
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and in research.
Students with disabilities often face barriers to inclusion in the classroom as educators have
long been underprepared to teach students with disabilities and much of this can be
attributed to a lack of training in initial teacher education programs. However, recent
studies (Boutot, 2007) have shown that some of the best methods for teaching students
with disabilities are simple adjustments that can be made at the classroom level, which will
be discussed in detail later in this document. As such, much more focus is being placed on
classroom teachers to provide meaningful adjustments to their teaching as a way of
promoting inclusive education. With the recent rise in children and young people being
diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or similar medical issues that affect
learning, inclusion is more important than ever in the classroom.
According to (Knott, Dunlop & Mackay, 2006) and (Jimenez, 2018) students with learning
disorders such as ASD may struggle in the classroom as they experience issues with social
interaction, social communication and social imagination, the most notable issues being
most commonly in the areas of social interaction and responding to social cues. As the
classroom requires students to interact appropriately with peers and the teacher in order to
complete and facilitate learning tasks, students with ASD or similar disorders may struggle
to ‘fit in’ and be accepted by their peers and also may not respond well to being questioned
by their peers or the teacher when their learning is being assessed. Furthermore, in (Boutot,
2007) it is noted that acceptance and inclusion by peers is important in promoting academic
success. It is found that students with disabilities belonging to an inclusive and supportive
social group fare better academically than students with disabilities who do not.
According to both (Department of Education and Training, 2018) and (Department of
Education and Training, 2012), schools must enrol students with disabilities on the same
basis as students without disabilities. That is; students with disabilities must be equally
considered for enrolment along with their non-disabled peers. In determining how best to
adjust their classroom to meet the needs of students with disabilities, teachers can consult
several legislative documents including (Department of Education and Training, 2005) which
serve to inform best practice. (Department of Education and Training, 2018) states that
adjustments should only be made and considered reasonable if the student or their
advocate, the school executive and the classroom teacher themselves are all in agreement
that the adjustment would be of benefit to the student. This is determined by asking
whether the proposed adjustment/adjustments will positively affect a student’s: “(i) ability
to achieve learning outcomes; and (ii) ability to participate in courses or programs; and (iii)
independence and (iv) whether there is any other reasonable adjustment that would be less
disruptive and intrusive and no less beneficial for the student.”. The cost of implementing
any proposed adjustments must also be taken into consideration. So that adjustments may
be of maximum benefit to the student/s in question, they must be implemented as soon as
possible after the school is notified of the student’s disability and its effect on their learning.

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This legislation was implemented due to a shift in views towards education for students with
disabilities. According to (Dunn, 1968), in the 1960’s there was a large shift from placing
children with disabilities in segregated schools, to integrating these students into
mainstream classrooms, as it was found that the influence of peers on students with
learning difficulties was a positive one; students in mainstream classes could model correct
social interactions and pro-social behaviour which is then learnt over time by students with
learning difficulties. The shift was also made as no studies could prove that students with
disabilities attending segregated schools performed any better academically than students
with disabilities who had been integrated into mainstream schools. (Dunn, 1968) This shift
has been made easier for educators over the last decade or so due to the implementation of
the Commonwealth Disability Standards for Education in 2005. This legislation has made
more support, training and resources available for teachers so that students with disabilities
can be more readily included in schools.
With implementation of the extra support available through the Commonwealth Disability
Standards for Education, teachers are readily able to build their skills in providing students
with an inclusive education; however, the skills teachers need to do so are elusive and ill
defined. So then one must consider which skills are required by teachers to best provide the
support needed by students with disabilities. According to (Department of Education and
Training, 2005), to foster positive outcomes for not only students with disabilities, but all
students, teachers must have the skills necessary to: “create meaningful, engaging and
rewarding personalised learning experiences, give students multiple opportunities to
succeed, and build students’ social and emotional skills in order to foster positive
relationships with peers, teachers and the community while promoting parent and
community involvement in student learning.” (Department of Education and Training, 2005)
These goals can be achieved for students with disabilities through several small classroom
adjustments. For example, teachers can give students choice in the way course content is
presented to them and how their learning is assessed, by presenting content multimodally
and designing assessment tasks that allow students to present their knowledge in a form
that is comfortable for them; i.e. a student may feel most comfortable recording a video of
themselves speaking rather than submit an essay. Teachers can also implement classroom
rules designed to build social skills and create routine. A teacher or whole school community
may also choose to organise regular open days or parent-teacher interviews. These
adjustments benefit all students and ensure that students with disabilities are not singled
out in the classroom. As (Boutot, 2007) states, many students with disabilities are
uncomfortable with being singled out and/or receiving visible support from teaching staff.
As such the suggested adjustments above foster inclusion on more than one level.
Another important aspect of inclusive education is communication. As stated earlier
throughout this document, legislation requires educators, students with disabilities and
their parents to communicate effectively about any adjustments made to benefit student
learning. Following on from this, it should be noted that communication between classroom
teachers and support staff including School Learning and Support Officers (SLSO) is essential.
This is outlined in (Agzarian, 2018) and suggests that an SLSO could not be expected to assist

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a student effectively without having a good understanding of what the classroom rules are,
what the teacher intends to cover in a lesson, or what the student’s personal learning goals
may be. In the same way, a student could not be expected to undertake a learning activity
without having the task parameters explained in a meaningful way to them by the
classroom teacher. (Agzarian, 2018) also poses that for some students with disabilities, the
most effective adjustment is giving step by step instructions that are easy to follow.
If teachers of students with disabilities are to “create meaningful, engaging and rewarding
personalised learning experiences, give students multiple opportunities to succeed, and
build students’ social and emotional skills in order to foster positive relationships with
peers, teachers and the community while promoting parent and community involvement in
student learning.” (Department of Education and Training, 2005) and it is agreed that this
can be achieved through adjustments to communication styles, content and assessment
within the classroom as outlined above; they must develop the skills necessary to make
these adjustments. According to (Tomlinson, 2005) differentiation should always remain
student centred and relies on proactivity, the inclusion of pre-assessment when beginning a
unit, and the manipulation of content, process and output so that all learners are making
progress. Therefore, one would focus on training teachers to design learning tasks that can
be manipulated to suit individual students, and exercise proactivity through the use of pre-
assessment in pinpointing where students’ strengths lie and where they may need
assistance. This could be done through conferences, training days and in-school meetings
which would then form part of the 100 hours NESA mandated professional development
that proficient teachers must complete to maintain their accreditation. (NSW Education
Standards Authority, 2018)
While the training, skills and classroom adjustments suggested so far are designed to benefit
all students with disabilities, including those with ASD, further or more specific adjustments
may be required. As aforementioned, students with ASD most commonly struggle with
social interaction and may focus on objects, repetitive behaviours or routines (Jimenez,
2018) and (Knott, Dunlop & Mackay, 2006) Strength based teaching as discussed in (Epstein,
Rudolph & Epstein, 2000) suggests that instead of being seen as weaknesses, these
manifestations of ASD should instead be harnessed by teachers. Following on from earlier
mentions of routines in the classroom, students with ASD may benefit best from a
classroom environment with predictable routines, and it may even be a suitable classroom
adjustment to allow a student with ASD to create a classroom timetable at the beginning of
each week, term or semester or act as a timekeeper for classroom activities. To enhance
social skills in students with ASD, teachers may also consider the strategic use of
collaborative group work. In this way peers may model acceptable social interactions.
By training teachers to manipulate classroom content, learning activities and assessment,
and to use student strengths to aid the success of students with disabilities, they will be
more able than ever before to create truly inclusive classrooms. The creation of which will
serve not only to benefit students with disabilities such as ASD, but all students. Through
inclusive education all students will benefit from the diverse learning experiences of their

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peers and will learn invaluable social skills which will benefit them throughout their lives as
they will need to work cooperatively with people from differing backgrounds.

References
Agzarian, J. (2018). A Resource for Teachers and School Learning Support
Officers (1st ed., pp. 1-34). Illawarra: Student Services Riverina Region.
Retrieved from https://vuws.westernsydney.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-3145788-
dt-content-rid-
25005046_1/courses/102084_2018_1h/SLSO_Roles_and_Responsibilities%20
%202012.pdf
Boutot, E. (2007). Fitting In. Intervention In School And Clinic, 42(3), 156-161.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10534512070420030401
Department of Education and Training. (2005). The Wellbeing Framework for
Schools (pp. 1-9). Sydney: NSW Government.
Department of Education and Training. (2012). Every Student, Every School:
Learning and Support (pp. 1-20). Sydney: NSW Government.
Department of Education and Training. (2018). Disability Discrimination Act
1992 (pp. 1-3). Sydney: Australian Government.
Dunn, L. (1968). Special Education for the Mildly Retarded—Is Much of it
Justifiable?. Exceptional Children, 35(1), 5-22.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/001440296803500101
Epstein, M., Rudolph, S., & Epstein, A. (2000). Using Strength-Based Assessment
in Transition Planning. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 32(6), 50-54.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/004005990003200607
Jimenez, P. (2018). Grups de Recerca > Autisme UdG > What's ASD/ASC? >
Definition > Triad of Impairments. Www2.udg.edu. Retrieved 7 April 2018,
from http://www2.udg.edu/tabid/14314/language/en-US/default.aspx
Knott, F., Dunlop, A., & Mackay, T. (2006). Living with ASD. Autism, 10(6), 609-
617. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1362361306068510
Tomlinson, C. (2005). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability
classrooms (2nd ed., pp. 1-5). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.
NSW Education Standards Authority. (2018). Professional development | NSW
Education Standards. Educationstandards.nsw.edu.au. Retrieved 8 April 2018,
from http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/teacher-
accreditation/maintaining-accreditation/professional-development

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