Inclusion – What is It? Why Do We Do It?

How Can We Be Successful?

Presented by Dr. Alicia Brophy

Dr. Hiam Ginott Quote (Milwaukee Public Schools)

“I have come to frightening conclusion that, I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.”

Four Beliefs

1.All individuals are capable of learning.2.The teaching talent to help all students learn according to their potential exists in most schools today.

3.The knowledge gap between what is known about effective teaching and what routinely is practiced in classrooms is enormous.

4.All students need a safe, caring, and positive learning environment.

Be able to define inclusion and related terms◦ What is inclusion? (inclusion vs. full inclusion)◦ What is mainstreaming?

Gain an understanding of Federal Law with regard to inclusion and its history

Identify characteristics that have been identified as important to and supportive of inclusion

Identify strategies that can be used to support students within an inclusive classroom

Objectives

Please take a moment to complete the K part of the KL chart provided

K (What you know) L (What you learned)

Assess Current Knowledge

Has anyone in this room taught in an inclusive classroom before?

Students taught in this type of classroom environment?

Assess Current Knowledge

Inclusion is a term that describes the ideology that each child should be educated in the general education environment in the school that they would regularly attend, to the maximum extent possible.

It involves providing the support services to the student rather than bringing the student to the services, and requires that the student will benefit from being in the class rather than having to keep pace with other students.

What is Inclusion?

Full inclusion is the belief that technological supports and instructional practices are currently available to provide accommodations to all students, regardless of whether or not they have a disability, in the classrooms and schools they would regularly attend.

What is Full Inclusion?

This term refers to the selective placement of students with disabilities in one or more general education classes.

The idea is that students will be “set up for success.”

It is assumed that in order for a student to be successfully mainstreamed, they must posses the ability to keep pace with their general education peers both academically and socially.

What is Mainstreaming?

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (as amended in 2004), does not require inclusion. Rather, the law states that children with disabilities should be educated in the "least restrictive environment.”

IDEA stipulates that the process for determining the "least restrictive environment" should begin with placement in the general education classroom.

Federal Law and Inclusion

IDEA does recognize that it is not appropriate to place all children in the general education classroom. ◦School districts should have a “continuum

of placements” available, extending from the regular education classroom to residential settings, in order to accommodate the needs of all children with disabilities.

Federal Law and Inclusion

Why Do We Do Inclusion?

◦Use of the “continuum of placements” concept makes it more probable that each child will be appropriately placed in an environment that is specifically suited to meet their needs.

◦The degree of inclusion should derive from what the student needs (as determined by the IEP team), not by the parents’ desires or school district’s convenience.

Federal Law and Inclusion

Continuum of Educational Placements

Section 504 is significant in the legal mandate of Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and the use of supplementary aids and services for students with disabilities because it was used to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of disability.

Because the categories of disabilities covered by the IDEA have expanded during the past two reauthorizations in 1997 and 2004, Section 504 is used less often to provide access to public education for students with disabilities.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1975

Oberti v. Clementon (1993)◦The Federal Court upheld the right of students with disabilities to be educated with their nondisabled peers in general education classrooms. This judicial decision required that school districts need to provide an explanation as to why students with disabilities are educated in separate settings and why this placement is the best option for said students.

(Baker, Wang, & Walberg, 1995)

Court Cases Involving Inclusion

Board of Education v. Holland (1992, 1994)◦ The 9th Circuit District Court defined LRE as a strong

Congressional preference. This opinion combined factors from several previous decisions to determine what the least restrictive environment is. Those factors dealt with educational benefits in a regular classroom; non-academic benefits for the handicapped child in a regular classroom; the child's effect on the teacher and other child in the regular class; and the cost of supplementary aids and service to mainstream the handicapped child. The Court said cost is only a factor if it will significantly affect another child in the district.

Court Cases Involving Inclusion

Hartmann v. Loudoun County Board of Education (1996)◦ A Virginia federal district court ruled that a

nonverbal student with autism should attend a regular education second grade class with appropriate supplemental aids and services. However, when the case was appealed, the 4th Circuit Court concluded that the inclusion efforts were sufficient with staff training and help on behavior issues, reduced class size, and class composed of independent workers.

Court Cases Involving Inclusion

Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garret F. (1999)◦ The Supreme Court ruled that taxpayer-supported

schools are responsible for the costs of providing continual care for disabled students under a federal law that says all children must receive "free, appropriate public education." Under the Court's reading of the IDEA's relevant provisions, medical treatments such as suctioning, ventilator checks, catheterization, and others which can be administered by non-physician personnel come within the parameters of the special education law's related services.

Court Cases Involving Inclusion

How Can We Be Successful?

Cooperative Learning Experiences◦ Think-Pair-Share◦ Peer Tutoring◦ Small, cooperative learning groups

Philosophical Orientation Defines Special Education as a Service, Not a Place

Provision of Adaptations and Support◦ Only as needed◦ Follow accommodations and support that is

expressed in a student’s IEP paperwork

Characteristics of Successful Inclusive Classrooms

Inquiry-Based Learning Experiences Classroom is Student-Centered and has a

Collaborative Learning Environment◦ Identification of students’ strengths and areas of

need◦ Students have mutual respect within the learning

environment◦ Students help to create the classroom rules and

are expected to follow them◦ Students have a responsibility for developing their

community

Characteristics of Successful Inclusive Classrooms

Teachers Teaching Teachers◦Collaboration between general education

and special education teachers is required.◦RTI◦Strategies for increasing consultation time◦Collaborative consultation◦Assistance teams◦Coaching◦Peer collaboration◦Cooperative teaching◦Communication skills for collaboration

Characteristics of Successful Inclusive Classrooms

Parent Teacher Collaboration◦Establish cooperation◦Develop culturally responsive relationships

◦Parent-teacher conferences◦Parents as teachers

Characteristics of Successful Inclusive Classrooms

Focus on time for learningEnsure high rates of student success

Provide positive and supportive learning environments

Plan and maintain a motivational environment

Instructional Variables to Facilitate Successful Inclusive Classrooms

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

High Quality Inclusion in a Diverse Society

Positive Behavior Support

Tiered Models in Early Intervention

Promising Practices to Support High Quality Inclusive Practices

An educational framework based on research in the learning sciences that guides development of flexible learning environments that accommodates individual learning differences

What is UDL?

Since the way individuals learn can be unique, the UDL framework, first defined by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) in the 1990s, calls for initially creating curriculum that provides:

Multiple means of representation to give learners numerous ways of acquiring information and knowledge

Multiple means of expression to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know

Multiple means of engagement to tap into learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn

What is UDL?

Descriptions of Intervention Levels of Multi-tiered Instruction

Primary or Core

Universal instruction for all students to promote behavior and reading achievement

Secondary or Supplemental

Targeted small group or individual instruction for students who need additional support or assistance to successfully learn to learn to read

Tertiary or Intensive

Individualized or small group, intense, specialized instruction for students who despite previous instruction and intervention efforts experience marked difficulties in learning to read

Funding for Early Interventions

IDEA 2004 addresses the use of RTI ◦Created the option of using up to 15% of federal

special education funds for “early intervention” for students not been identified for special

education For students who need academic or behavioral

support to succeed in general education ◦IDEA funds

Professional development Scientifically-based literacy programs and

assessments Support services

Please take a moment to complete the L part of the KL chart provided

Assess What You Learned

K (What you know) L (What you learned)