INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS
Researchers have shown that mainstreamed autistic students excel when compared to their isolated peers. The children’s language abilities and social skills increase. Also, mainstreamed autistic students have access to more qualified teachers. Classrooms should be more inclusive for the benefit of everyone.
Children with disabilities positively affect other children and should therefore be included and embraced. Schools should support researched-backed inclusion policies that keep disabled students alongside their typically-developing peers. Researchers found that children with disabilities get a big boost in their language scores over the course of a year when they can interact with other children who have good language skills. After one year of preschool, children with disabilities had growing language skills comparable to children without disabilities when surrounded by highly skilled peers in their classroom (Grabmeier, 1). The biggest
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Teachers are somewhat more likely to have advanced degrees. However, because of personnel shortages nationwide, about 10% of special education personnel are not certified for the position they hold. Teachers in general classrooms are more likely to use a wider variety of teaching strategies to be effective. The most effective interventions for students with disabilities, whether in special education or general education settings, have employed intensive and reasonably individualized instruction, combined with careful, frequent monitoring of student progress. Average class size is larger (24 elementary, 21 high school) than in special education (15). When the classrooms size is bigger although there is less one on one instruction the students get better social skills. Also with the different teaching strategies brought into the classroom there wouldn't need to be as much one on one
Students use basic skills every day from looking at the clock to tell the time to handling money when paying and making change. Students who have jobs need to
Inclusive practice is about adapting what is being delivered to make learning accessible to everyone regardless of ability, special education need (SEN) or any other barrier that might exist. When planning to meet the needs of everyone in the group it is essential that the teacher has as much information about everyone as possible. (The City and Guilds textbook level 3 Award in Education and Training). Features of inclusive teaching and learning starts with knowing which learning styles your learners prefer, to do this you can use VARK (visual, aural, read/write and kinetic) test which was designed by Neil Fleming to help learners and teachers know what learning methods they are best suited to e.g. in the first lesson my tutor asked for us
In some general classrooms, teachers tend to give more time and attention to children with disabilities, leaving general education students who may be struggling with little to no help. Socialization is another whole ballpark, inclusion could lead to children developing negative attitudes about peers with disabilities, especially if they feel they are receiving more attention from the teacher and other students in the classroom. Teachers of general education classes may have a fear of teaching students with disabilities. They feel they do not know them well enough and that they will make a mistake. This can then in return allow the teacher to push the student with a disability away and not give them the best education piece they can. These teachers feel like they should not have to change their classroom for a student that is coming to them. It also shows that these teachers are not trained properly in special education.
However, the negative aspects of inclusion have not proven a strong enough point in that the good, which comes from this experience, severely outweighs any doubt of its success. Inclusion of autistic children has shown to be beneficial due to the notion that these 'disabled kids' can attend 'normal' classes with their non-learning disabled peers. By allowing all kids to feel 'normal' we, as a society, stand a chance of making prejudice which we associate the disabled under, cease to exist.
An inclusive environment is a condition where everyone has an opportunity to fully participate. In education, this means everyone has the same opportunity, there should be no borders such as ethnicity, gender or disability. All students should feel valued, be able to mix and participate with all members of the group be in a safe and positive environment.
Creating an inclusive learning environment is an extremely important aspect of modern education, which, according to Gravells (2008: p18), ensures that “[…] all learners are entitled to be treated with respect and dignity. Everyone is an individual, with different experiences, abilities and needs.” She also offers a brief explanation of inclusivity (2008: p18), which is “[…] involving all learners in relevant activities rather than excluding them for any reason directly or indirectly.” Inclusion has also been defined by John Tomlinson (1996: p26) as “the greatest degree of match or fit between individual learning requirements and provision”. In the other words, inclusive learning environment nurtures individual potential of all learners,
It will be important to create an inclusive teaching and Learning Environment so my learners will have the opportunity to be involved and included in the process.I will need to make sure that I treat all my learners equally and fairly without directly excluding any of my learners.I must take into consideration that I won't be teaching my subject ( Painting & Decorating ) to a group of learners who are all the same, but to group of individuals with different abilities and needs which I must recognise.
Assignment 302 - Understanding and using inclusive teaching and learning approaches in education and training
This piece of work will firstly analyse the characteristics which influence the learning of a group of learners, review legislative requirements relating to inclusive practice and consider their implications. Then furthermore, it will describe what I consider to be the most significant barriers to learning for the adult learners that I teach, and include a discussion of what myself and Nacro have done to overcome these barriers. Lastly, this piece of work will describe the systems that Nacro have in place to monitor the effectiveness of inclusive practice within the centre and discuss how it can be monitored and evaluated to improve our own skills in inclusive practice. There are five key factors that influence the students
In order to allow children to grow, learn and develop to their utmost potential, educators need to be attentive, inclusive, flexible and understanding. Attentive to the differences of each child and the variances they bring with them to the classroom, in order to best understand a child’s individuality. In being inclusive of all children, regardless of their circumstance, gender, history or attitude; the educator can make a conscious effort towards equality for all children. Having flexibility, to allow for prompt changes to pedagogy; as children are continually changing, growing and adjusting to their environments, therefore their learning path may also need to change, the educator needs to be able to introduce alternatives where required.
At the level of school systems, aspects which appear to be common to inclusive school practice for pupils with ASD are ethos, leadership and environment. An important starting point is a shared commitment across all staff towards the inclusion of pupils with ASD (Humphrey and Symes 2013). This can be facilitated through staff training which incorporates whole staff awareness (Ravet 2011) and targeted training according to need (Glashan, Mackay, and Grieve 2004), both of which have been found to reduce teacher stress and increase strategy use (Probst and Leppert 2008).
According to medical professionals, specifically pediatricians, molecular biologists, and general surgeons, autistic children need to be successfully integrated in mainstream classrooms. According to A Report of the Surgeon General about integrating autistic children into mainstream classrooms “Thirty years of research demonstrated the efficacy of applied behavioral methods in reducing inappropriate behavior and in increasing communication, learning, and appropriate social behavior” (Malamed). Clearly, applied behavior methods have effectively reduced behavioral issues through mainstream classes, also improving the social skills of autistic children. According to Richard Axel, molecular biologist at Columbia University, in a lecture about perception, he revealed that different individuals with different mental capacities have different perceptions and social abilities (Axel). When you combine with this from the report from the general surgeon, it is evident that an autistic child’s previous social disability as a result from their differing mental capacity will be improved when they are given the opportunity to improve in a mainstream classroom, rather than brutally suffering in a separate learning environment. Like surgeons and molecular biologists, pediatricians also observe that integrating autistic children and neurotypical will produce
Inclusion benefits some areas such as the social skills of students with disabilities. The students benefit from interacting with other students rather than being in a classroom that only has a few students. Just because a child has special needs does not mean they should be kept in a separate room. They are humans who deserve to be treated the same way the other students get treated. Many parents feel that their child may get made fun of by the
Uniquely, in inclusive classrooms, students with special needs have access to the mainstream curriculum, thus giving them more opportunities for academic growth. (Is Integrating Children with special needs in mainstream classrooms beneficial?) Students with disabilities do better when in a setting where expectations are higher and more is asked of them. The students will flourish academically because in regular
A paragraph from Desiderata says, “You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here.” The paragraph is in consonance with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) 1994 Salamanca Statement which calls for the accommodation of all children, regardless of their physical, intellectual, emotional state in an ordinary school. The Framework for Action stipulates that children with special educational needs, namely: the gifted, the mentally retarded, the visually impaired, the hearing impaired, the orthopedically handicapped, the learning disabled, the speech defectives, the children with behavior problems, the autistic children and those with health