Inclusionary Education And Special Needs Children In America

Introduction

Being included is a right, not a luxury, for certain people. Board of Education v. Oberti (2010). This has been a hotly debated issue for many years: all students in America, disabled or not, have a right to full access to resources and social interaction in inclusive schools. In the 1970s, society often desegregated children who needed special education and treated them harshly. As kids were then enrolled in special schools due to their learning disabilities, the 1990s saw minimal improvement. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was created in response to parents’ and educators’ worries about the exclusion of children with disabilities (IDEA). Every child born with a handicap, from birth to age twenty-one (21), is entitled to a free and adequate public education, according to the Public Educational Policy of the time (2005, PL 108-446.). According to this Act, American schools were required to accept these kids and provide them the greatest learning environment possible regardless of whether they had a physical or mental handicap or what their strengths and shortcomings were. Students who battled with mental retardation, sensory, motor, visual, and auditory problems were covered up by the Special Educational (SE) label. All kids, regardless of their difficulties, must be enrolled in age-appropriate classrooms in their neighborhood and get high-quality instruction, support, and interventions that help them succeed and lead fulfilling lives in society. This is known as inclusive education (IND) (Bui, Quirk, Almazan, & Valenti, 2010; Alquraini & Gut, 2012). According to the Children and Youth with Disabilities Report, 6.5 million impaired children in America are enrolled in inclusive schools as of today, with 65% of them being physically challenged. All schools are striving to offer this atmosphere (2018). This essay will explain how using inclusive teaching practices, fostering relationships, and modifying curricula might help special needs children who are physically challenged and living in America.

Body

Despite having physical disabilities, many special needs children have benefited greatly from learning and integration into schools because to inclusive teaching practices. According to Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, and Lovett, the phrase “inclusive teaching strategy” refers to a wide range of instructional strategies that address and take into account the requirements of students with various backgrounds, skills, and learning styles (2010, p. 169-170). Cooperative learning, for instance, is an inclusive teaching strategy that helps both students with disabilities and peers. Its goal is to plan and coordinate the utilization of small groups to improve learning and interdependence. physical impairment When cooperative learning mechanisms are in place in the classroom, students are more involved than they would be with a conventional classroom intervention. Students express their ideas more freely, get affirming and helpful feedback, participate in questioning strategies, get more experience using skills, and have more chances to reply in inclusive courses that employ cooperative learning. Both students and instructors have benefited from this; by actively observing students’ learning, teachers are better equipped to evaluate pupils and their needs. The children’s understanding process is sped up when the mechanisms are in place for this level of discussion. Emerson (2013). Evidently, students benefit the most when teachers are committed to cooperative learning because they realize that it is enjoyable, so they enjoy it and are motivated because they get to interact, engage, and participate in active learning, as well as be taught critical thinking, and retain lesson learned for a longer period of time, as well as develop strong relationships with their peers and teachers.

Building relationships between students and faculty is a crucial component of good inclusive education. All students and instructors should strive to develop healthy relationships, which may be challenging in an inclusive educational environment. However, it is crucial for a teacher to comprehend their student’s demands as well as their strengths and flaws. Social capital theory, which describes the degrees of respect, trust, and trade that individuals recognise in their conversations with one another and their urge to belong, may be used to explain this (Putnam, 2000). Adler and Kwon contend that social capital not only enhances mental safety and wellness but also enables groups of individuals to work together toward common objectives. It enhances an organization’s resources in a variety of ways by expanding ideas, chances, counsel, assistance, goodwill, connections, the flow of information, and emotional support (Adler & Kwon, 2002). In light of this, schools that are less hierarchical and moralistic are more likely to involve all members of the school community in polite conversations, which in turn creates an environment that encourages staff, teachers, and students to form bonds with one another.

Levels of community participation, social background activity, a sense of one’s own and others’ effectiveness, emotions of trust and safety, tolerance for variety, and a sense of belonging are the factors that Onyx and Bullen (2000) identified for evaluating social capital in schools. Due to their unique physical challenges, physically impaired students sometimes find it difficult to study and disengage from class. Students may have temporary or permanent physical impairments or obstacles, and ultimately these issues may cause disturbance in the classroom. For instance, two students in a 9 a.m. class were often late because they both had knee surgery, required special transportation to and from class, and had to climb three flights of stairs while using crutches. By the conclusion of the semester, with the help of staff and classmates, they had recovered and could attend class without the need for special transportation. In order to assist physically challenged kids, building strong relationships with the instructor and staff is essential. Once that bond is established, children will feel at home and at ease in the classroom.

The development of inclusive education throughout the American educational landscape is largely due to changes in the curricula. There are modifications that may be made to suit learning so that it serves both kinds of pupils without impeding each one’s ability to learn. According to a 1994 research by Vaughn, for inclusive education to be successful, modifications must be made to classroom procedures, such as adjusting the curriculum to make it more relevant to each student and changing the teaching methods. While instructional adjustments take the shape of instructors adapting their teaching methods to the vast range of students in the classroom, curriculum adaptations affect the substance of what is taught utilizing various basic and supplemental procedures. One such effort is the McCleskey 2002 study into the inclusive school program [ISP] in America, which found that despite changes to the curriculum, the ISP had not slowed down the overall rate of covering the curriculum content for each school it was implemented into. The study involved six elementary schools and a significant state university in three local school districts. More educators were willing to work together, which improved the effectiveness and productivity of teaching in these multicultural classes. The Individual Educational Plan [IEP], which called for curricular changes and assessment processes, is another example of this. This program was designed to address social, self-esteem, and organizational shortcomings in schools for students who are blind or have hearing impairments (Janney, 2006). Teachers that have included such activities into their curriculum have generally reported positive outcomes for all of the children participating.

Conclusion

In order to assist everyone’s capacity to learn, inclusive education entails placing all kids with a variety of learning obstacles, such as a physical handicap, in a classroom alongside children who do not have a disability. It has been determined that developing relationships, using a variety of teaching techniques, and modifying the curriculum to take into account every child’s learning style are essential to the success of inclusive education. The success of inclusive education in schools involves a variety of content and creative materials to include all students by fostering their minds for growth, modifying tasks to suit each student, and adapting the curriculum to suit each student. It also involves developing strong relationships with each student. A strong bond must be established between the student and the instructor, particularly for those with special needs, since this will enable the teacher to meet each student’s unique requirements. Understanding each kid’s requirements will aid in modifying the curriculum to accommodate each child in the classroom, resulting in an inclusive atmosphere. The right of every kid to study in a single setting led to the development of an inclusive educational philosophy and contributed to the country’s overall educational achievement. This strategy is used in the US to guarantee that all children, handicapped or not, will have the same access to school as children who are not. This would therefore put an end to stigmatization and prejudice towards kids with exceptional needs and their capacity to study.