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Makayla Schul

Rebecca Morean

English 1201

24 March 2020

What’s the purpose of inclusive education?

There have been ongoing debates on the rights of students with disabilities being place in

an inclusive classroom setting. But what is inclusion? Inclusion is the ideology that students with

disabilities should be integrated in the general education classroom regardless if they can meet

the curriculum standards. The purpose of this research is to determine if education professionals

and the laws regarding special education students benefit the learning of students with

disabilities or is it there to try and establish was seems to be “equal” opportunity education.

In 1997, the federal special education law, now renamed the Individuals with Disabilities

Education Act, or IDEA, required that students be educated in the “least restrictive environment”

and “to the maximum extent possible” (Dybvik). In the years before legislation passes the IDEA

requirement life for special needs was quite horrific, many lived in institutions that were for

mental retardation or mental illness (Duncan and Posny). Children with disabilities all over the

world were denied the right to appropriate education or any education at all.

The challenge with IDEA and inclusion is that each student with and without disabilities

learn in their own unique way, although learning in a general education classroom for a student

with disabilities is considerably more difficult. Students that are place in general education

classrooms lag dramatically behind their peers (Gilmour). Although people still advocate that

students with disabilities should have the right to learn along their peers. Amy Farrell in her

article “A Spectrum of Inclusion: Strategies for Students with ASD” argues that all it takes to
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have effective inclusion is having a school wide approach that is established by school

administration and also incorporates family involvement, Individualized support, a functional

approach that has specialized curriculum for students, and teachers that are willing to adjust and

manage the needs of special education students. Though her argument has some grounds, Lorella

Terzi a professor in philosophy of education says in the article “Reframing Inclusive Education:

Educational Equality as Capability Equality” that we owe to each child equal, effective

opportunities to achieve the educational implementation's necessary to participate in society as

equals. Another potential worry when placing a student that has special needs in a general

education classroom is that, instead of including these students we may be isolating them more

than we would be if they were to be placed in a self-contained resource room. Brandt

Chamberlain and colleagues state in their article “Involvement or Isolation? The Social Networks

of Children with Autism in Regular Classrooms” says that many typical children appear to view

their friendships with autistic children differently and that the likelihood of them associating

outside of their classroom is very low because they are less sought out for socializing outside of

the school environment. Regardless, a child’s placement in school should not more important

than what the child needs to be successful academically and personally.

The debate of inclusion rest solely on the idea of equality, however individualized

instruction for students with disabilities is critical to their development and success in society.

The idea of inclusion comes with good intentions, however some students with disabilities need

and should receive their education in a setting best suited for them so they can grow

academically and gain the life skills to flourish in their personal lives.
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Work cited

Chamberlain B, et al. “Involvement or Isolation? The Social Networks of Children with Autism

in Regular Classrooms.” Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, vol. 37, no. 2,

Feb. 2007, pp. 230–242. Academic Research Complete,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=106294661&site=eds-live.

Duncan, Arne, and Alexa Posny. “Thirty-Five Years of Progress in Educating Children With

Disabilities Through IDEA.” U.S Department of Education, Nov. 2010,

www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/idea35/history/idea-35-history.pdf.

Dybvik, Ann Christy. "Autism and the inclusion mandate: what happens when children with

severe disabilities like autism are taught in regular classrooms? Daniel

knows." Education Next, vol. 4, no. 1, 2004, p. 42+. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A111734750/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=34020555. Accessed 23 Mar. 2020.

Farrell, Amy. “A Spectrum of Inclusion: Strategies for Students with ASD: Flexibility,

Innovation and Adaptation Are Key to Creating an ASD-Friendly Classroom.” Agora,

vol. 54, no. 2, June 2019, pp. 40–43. Academic Research Complete,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=139131594&site=eds-live.

Gilmour, Allison F. "HAS INCLUSION GONE TOO FAR? WEIGHING ITS EFFECTS ON

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES, THEIR PEERS, AND TEACHERS." Education

Next, vol. 18, no. 4, 2018, p. 8+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A556890651/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=33b32ee5. Accessed 24 Mar. 2020.

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Terzi, Lorella. “Reframing Inclusive Education: Educational Equality as Capability

Equality.” Cambridge Journal of Education, vol. 44, no. 4, Dec. 2014, pp. 479–

493. Academic Research Complete, doi:10.1080/0305764X.2014.960911. Accessed 23

Mar. 2020