Note: Though inclusive education encompasses a variety of factors, this article will only focus on its relation to disabilities. This is not to say that being inclusive only regards disabilities; other factors are present and important as well, they will just not be covered here.
Approximately 1.3 billion people, 16% of the world’s population, experience a significant disability today. Of them, 240 million are children, half of whom are unable to go to school. Schooling for children with disabilities is crucial for them to develop and feel like they have a place in the world. They need peer-to-peer interaction and education, just like any child, in order to be successful in life and achieve great things. Schools often ostracize children with disabilities thinking that educating them is difficult, time consuming, and/or arduous, but how fair is that to these children who are intelligent and wonderful in their own ways? Inclusive education combats this problem head-on and allows all children to learn without being held back by their conditions.
What is Inclusive Education?
Decades ago, educators and school systems often took a segregated approach to education for children with disabilities. They would take lessons in separate classrooms where their education would be presented to them in possibly less complex ways to allow them to understand the material. However, this approach was flawed as it included no peer-to-peer interaction with students without disabilities and heavily underfunded classrooms.
In recent years, though, school systems have been accepting and using inclusive education methods. This is where all students, regardless of disabilities, study in the same “general education” environment. Those who need them are given accommodations and modifications to their lesson plans to enable them the same amount of academic achievement.
For example, let’s say there is a 5th-grade English class with 24 students without disabilities and 3 students with disabilities, and a part of their lesson plan is 30 minutes of silent reading daily. While the other students may be able to read on their own, the 3 students with disabilities may need additional assistance. So, to help them, maybe the teacher takes them off to the side and reads them the book out loud or they use an audiobook. This allows them to feel like they are still part of the overall classroom environment without being intentionally excluded.
Background and History
A significant law that has been passed to improve education for these children is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). First passed in 1975 as the All Handicapped Children Act, it aimed to improve the quality of education for those with disabilities, especially because at that time, children with disabilities were mostly exposed to the segregated educational methods mentioned prior. Over the years, the act has been modified and altered to make it the current IDEA.
For one, this act requires schools to provide Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to all students. FAPE essentially states that schools must provide certain extra services, accommodations, and/or modifications to their students to adhere to their needs and allow for them to fruitfully learn under a general education curriculum. This can come in various forms, whether it be speech therapy, reading devices, or even transportation. This must also come at no cost for the parents.
Schools are also required to create Individualized Education Programs/Plans (IEPs) for each of these children. These plans use results from initial evaluations to create attainable goals that the students should achieve during the school year. Parents are required to be given a voice during the creation of these IEPs and give consent before any special services are administered to their children.
Benefits of Inclusive Education
The benefits of this education/classroom method are various and benefit not just students with disabilities, but their peers without disabilities and teachers too.
Promotes Diversity and Tolerance
Children who interact with peers who have disabilities often are more emotionally intelligent and empathetic. They have less fear of people who are “different” than them and are able to embrace those differences. This also comes with them having more tolerance of others and less prejudice towards people who may have different needs and behaviors than themselves. This enables them to grow up to be empathetic and caring people in the future. Though children are sent to school to learn predominantly academics and practical lessons, these unintentional social and emotional lessons can prove to be just as important.
Preparation for the Future
If children with disabilities are forever trapped in bubbles where they only interact with people who have similar behaviors to themselves, how will they be prepared for the future? Throughout their lives, they will have to know how to interact with various people and they may even be confronted with uncomfortable questions about their conditions. Inclusive schooling allows them to be exposed to these kinds of situations and gives them a sense of what the real world is like early on in their lives.
Improved Academic Performance
Students without disabilities may have opportunities to be peer tutors to their peers with disabilities and help them during lessons. It is proven that teaching somebody a material that you learned can help you understand it better too. This could thus significantly improve academic performance among students without disabilities. As much as educators may view this as a form of competition or an imbalance (like “smart vs. dumb”) which they wouldn’t want in their school environments, using unique ways to push students in a controlled manner to improve is healthy and beneficial when performed properly. Having peers help each other does not plot them against each other, rather they learn that they are in a safe place to ask questions and get help when needed.
Success Story
Shamieh Wall is a mother to Ryan, her now four-year-old who has autism. They live in Dorchester (Boston area) where Ryan attends the Henderson Lower School, known as Boston Public Schools’ best all inclusion school. As a toddler, Ryan received home based Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy, though it was difficult to manage due to the pandemic and Ryan’s overall uninterest. Shamieh knew her daughter could read, even if she couldn’t talk, so she wanted to try something different. After asking around on Twitter and gaining support from friends to fight for her daughter’s seat at Henderson, Ryan was able to officially start school when she was 3 years old.
Though Ryan did face some troubles in the school early on with bullying and food issues, overall her experience has been helpful to her success as a student. Shamieh appreciates how “all children get specialized attention thanks to the inclusive classroom,” her daughter’s classroom specifically being provided with general and special education teachers and even therapists to conduct in-class therapies. In addition, she has barely had to worry about her daughter being unloved or uncared for. Once, at a birthday party where Ryan was unable to keep up with other kids, she saw one of her classmates console her, asking if Ryan “needed a hug,” mimicking exactly what any adult would do. She is in awe of these children’s emotional intelligence and the tight-knit community among them. You can read the full story here.
In conclusion, inclusive education has been a force for good around the country and the world. Students with disabilities are being taught that their differences don’t define them and that they can achieve just as much as their peers without disabilities. Educators are embracing ideas that these students do not need to be ostracized to be educated and providing that education does not need to take as much extra effort as they presume. The future for these children is looking to be bright!
Read more articles on our Zealousness blog Education – iN Education Inc. (ineducationonline.org).
Sources:
- Hehir, Thomas. A SUMMARY of the EVIDENCE on INCLUSIVE EDUCATION. Aug. 2016.
- Lee, Andrew. “What’s Covered under FAPE | Free Appropriate Public Education.” Www.understood.org, 2022, www.understood.org/en/articles/what-is-and-isnt-covered-under-fape.
- Lee, Andrew M.I. “Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).” Understood, 2022, www.understood.org/en/articles/individuals-with-disabilities-education-act-idea-what-you-need-to-know.
- World Health Organization. “Disability and Health.” Www.who.int, 7 Mar. 2023, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health#:~:text=Key%20facts.
