The school policy on education for all provides a clear definition of the inclusive education and what the legal commitments or obligations are based for supporting the disability students. Generally, inclusive education may be regarded as a means where all the members of the school community are appreciated and supported to take part in learning, develop, and thrive within the aspect of inclusive school philosophy. The Disability Discrimination Act of 1992 states the aspect of the education for all which clearly define the disability criteria. Furthermore, according to the Act, students with disabilities required to be educated in the minimum deterring environment probably. According to the research carried out in the 2004 and 2005 school year about 96 percent of the students were learning in regular education classrooms, and 50 percent of the disabled students spent their time in the inclusive setting. Inclusion help students with all sorts of disabilities may be it be mental, physical, emotional to access education in the school environment (Odom & Soukakou, 2011). This paper will bring into account the importance of inclusion of students with disabilities, challenges they face, and the reason for the insertion of the disabilities in the general education model.
The importance of the inclusion
Inclusive will play a significant role in students or children who are suffering from various forms of the disabilities. Inclusion is a form of education criteria that permits students or children with or without the disabilities to learn in the same schooling classroom following the respective mandate. First, students will have an opportunity to understand themselves positively and also for the others. When students join together in a class which reflects the people with similarities and differences in the actual world they will learn to appreciate each other and the diversity.
Furthermore, they will learn to appreciate, understand and respect each other when they grow, learn and play together. Also, during the inclusive classes students will develop friendship hence they will learn the social skills (Gal & Engel-Yeger, 2010). Comparatively, students with or without the disabilities will have the opportunity of learning academic skills together such as writing, calculating mathematics, and reading irrespective of the parity of the disability.
Another importance of the inclusive is that it enhances a better quality or excellence education for all students and act as the contributory in changing the aspect of the discrimination in the school culture. An inclusive education eliminates and separates the element of prejudice against the marginalized cultures in the society. In the inclusive model, all sets of accommodations and the modifications that the student will require will be provided hence stimulating equality for all students. Moreover, in an inclusive education setting all students and children are taught using similar principles, practices, and methods that the general schools are taught with (Morley et al, 2005). However, in general, education classrooms, there is a need for modification to meet the demand of every student’s ability. Hence, the same adjustment is carried out or adjusted to fit the respective requirements of the disabled students.
Reasons for inclusion criteria
In a normal circumstance, the general education has a restrictive setting where the students are not given or guaranteed the same learning opportunities in the curriculum. This incidence also contributes to students with disabilities to face the similar problem in the same setting in school among the society. The aspect of individual differences should not be taken as the deficit or disorder but it must be appreciated and valued as part of that individual (Odom & Soukakou, 2011). The differences should not be used to hurt and discriminate against others but should contribute to developing a classroom that will bring the students together. Hence, inclusion is the idea of putting the students in the school and teaching them in the same manner and teaching them the way to participate. Usually, during the process of teaching and learning not all students that will show the sign of the improvement in all areas of the inclusive setting since they portray different skills and understanding. However, the practice does not mean that is wrong or the strategy that the teacher used is not significant to students or have no benefits to them.
Another reason is that inclusion for all students help to strengthen needs for all classrooms and consideration for needs is done for all students. To facilitate this strength, teachers need to possess greater knowledge while teaching, giving the instructions, adjustments, educational practices, and the approaches (Gal & Engel-Yeger, 2010). These tactics that will enable the teachers to develop useful skills during the inclusion classrooms will also help the teachers from the general education perspective to establish same skills to teach the students.
The Primary challenges faced by the student with Disabilities
Disabilities can be in the form of physical, emotional, mental or abnormal disorders or conditions that either you are born with or occurred during the child growth. Students or children suffering from disabilities face a lot of challenges at school and in the society. They suffer from discrimination, and they suffer from isolation in the classrooms or rejected by others. Probably, the separation or rejection will make these students suffer from loneliness and later depression. Another incidence that may lead to isolation is harassment or physical abuse by the fellow peers. Physical abuse can lead to psychological unrest, negative behavior, and academic impacts. According to studies performed indicates that children who suffer from disabilities have low-self-esteem, low self-confidence, inwardness, and neglected emotional feeling.
Another challenge is that students or children who have autism or Bio-neurological disorder have a critical problem that prevents them from coexisting or building relationships with others. Students who suffer from this disorder are less responsive to make friends and have trouble responding correctly in social relations. Furthermore, they fail to understand social discourse and have a problem in sharing the social interests with other colleagues. Despite these problems, they are not the reason for keeping them in contained classrooms, but instead, they should be valued and appreciated by everyone in the society and their needs cared for (Polat, 2011). Their needs should be valued highly including proper management of their classrooms, proper modifications, and strategies.
Possible solutions to inclusion
In conclusion, the aspect of inclusive education should be the responsibility of everyone in the society. Inclusion we have seen is taking all the students with or without the disabilities teach them in the same manner and involving them in all participation activities. Inclusion helps the students to develop the sense of self- esteem, confidence, increase the social skills and awareness not forgetting the academic improvement. The aspect of discrimination, rejection, isolation should not be tolerated in the culture. The society should try and change the mindset of the people about the way they think and judge people are suffering from disabilities (Morley et al, 2005). The problem of inclusion of children with disabilities should be a problem to all people in the community and should take the initiative to face the challenge and provide the solutions altogether.
References
Odom, S. L., Buysse, V., & Soukakou, E. (2011). Inclusion for young children with disabilities: A quarter century of research perspectives. Journal of Early Intervention, 33(4), 344-356.
Gal, E., Schreur, N., & Engel-Yeger, B. (2010). Inclusion of Children with Disabilities: Teachers’ Attitudes and Requirements for Environmental Accommodations. International Journal of Special Education, 25(2), 89-99.
Morley, D., Bailey, R., Tan, J., & Cooke, B. (2005). Inclusive physical education: Teachers’ views of including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities in physical education. European Physical Education Review, 11(1), 84-107.
Polat, F. (2011). Inclusion in education: A step towards social justice. International Journal of Educational Development, 31(1), 50-58.
