I believe that all students have the right to feel safe, supported and included at school in the regular classroom as much as possible.  In the province of Ontario, the vast majority of students are included.  Approximately 82% of all students (86% at secondary school) receiving special education are placed in regular classrooms for more than half of the day.

Although I am an advocate of inclusion, I do recognize that an inclusive model does not work for all students all of the time.  There are many students that benefit from spending a portion of the day receiving targeted assistance with school work outside of their classroom.  For both classroom and special education teachers there certainly are many challenges with inclusion.  Here are some tips to help classroom and special education teachers work through these challenges and help ensure that inclusion is successful:

1.      Make sure the student knows what to expect as a member of an inclusive classroom. This means making sure that the classroom teacher goes over the classroom rules and routines.  To help reinforce this, the student should be given a copy of this important information, in order that his/her parents can review this key information with them at home.

2.      Students need to feel accepted in the classroom.  Social skills development and peer support play a key role in promoting inclusion in the classroom.  For many students with special education needs, social relationships with their peers are difficult and take time to develop.  Teachers need to provide opportunities to help facilitate positive interactions and help build friendships.  For example, it helps to have a few classmates support the student and become the child's special friend(s).  I plan on exploring this topic in greater depth in my upcoming blog.

3.      The classroom teacher needs the right information to help in getting to know their student.   This includes the student’s strengths, needs, preferred learning style, accommodations, modifications, successful strategies, etc.  The main source of this information will be the student’s previous Individual Education Plan (IEP).  It is important that after an initial period of assessment and evaluation of learning, that the classroom teacher and special education resource teacher collaborate on revisions to the student’s IEP to ensure that it is up-to-date.

4.      Use the information you know about the student to put the right supports in place.  Depending on the student, this could be access to an Education Assistant in the classroom, working with a resource teacher outside the class for a portion of the day, access to assistive technology, i.e., laptop, voice-to-text software, etc. 

5.      Create a positive atmosphere to encourage parent involvement.  The student’s parents should be given opportunities to meet with the classroom teacher, special education resource teacher, education assistants working with their child, etc.  Opportunities to share information go a long way to help build parental confidence.  In addition, it helps the school staff because they are able to share information with parents and communicate how they can help at home to support their child’s learning.  If this kind of communication is not being transferred from one party to another, set up a meeting to create an opportunity to share that information.  If possible, encourage both parents to attend.  Very often it is usually one parent (ie. the mother of the child) who ends up having all the meetings with the school.

I believe there are significant social and academic benefits to inclusion at school. However, this does require everyone involved to demonstrate a collective commitment to work together to create an inclusive environment that will help enable the student to meet their full potential.  

Crawford Dedman

Special Education Consultant

www.challengingminds.com