Special Education in an Inclusive Education Setting, Term Paper Example

Introduction

Intellectual disability (ID) refers to the situation where a child, especially those below the age of 18 years, have impaired or deficits in adaptive functioning during their development (Zeldin, 2016). Individuals may fail to meet the socio-cultural developmental standards of individual freedom and social responsibility. Patients having this kind of disability may show symptoms like language delay, fine motor or adaptive delay, cognitive delay, social delays, gross motor developmental delays, behavioral disturbances, and neurologic and physical abnormalities. The condition is also characterized by deficits in general mental abilities such as planning, reasoning, judgment, problem-solving, and abstract thinking learning from experience or academic learning (Walker). People with intellectual disability have existed globally across human history in most of the cultures.

Unlike the early days when people thought that students with intellectual disabilities should be taken to special schools, the present-day notion of the people that these students should learn from a general classroom is gaining support from various international conventions such as the UN Convention. Children with intellectual disabilities are provided with inclusive education. In Switzerland for instance, inclusive practices for students with intellectual disabilities are promoted through the agreement of several provinces and by the Swiss Federal Act of 2004 on Equal Rights for disabled people (EADSNE, 2012). Studies have shown that inclusion in a general classroom with support is the best alternative to education in separate or special classrooms (Sermier, 2013).

Children with disabilities are required to be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE). This means that children who need special education should be allowed to spend much time with their peers who do not receive special education and in the least restrictive educational program. These special children undergo an Individualized Education Program (IEP). This is a program designed to identify the child’s areas of strengths and weaknesses and to provide the least restrictive environment for the child’s education (Morin, 2016).

History of Inclusion in the United States

Special education is as old as 50 years back. About two hundred years ago, very little was done to help students with disabilities in the US, and most of them were denied adequate education. Advocacy for special education for children with disabilities begun in 1933 with the formation of advocacy groups made of parents of children who were marginalized. In the 1960s, special education saw huge support through the development of laws for granting funds to students who had disabilities (All-Star Staff, 2018).

Later on, in the 1970s, legislation was developed to ensure that children who needed special education received the education equally as those who did not require special education. Laws were made to give opportunities to these special children more than ever before. Multiple Following landmark court decisions during this year, the state was given the obligation of providing special schooling and education resources. In the present day, there are about 91% of special education funding coming from the state and local institutions. The federal funds take up the remaining 9% on meeting the federal criteria (All Star Staff, 2018).

The 1970s are known as the foundational years since it was the time significant improvements were made for the provision of special education to students with disabilities.in 1973, the Rehabilitation Act was developed to guarantee civil rights to all disabled persons. It also solicited for school accommodation for children with disabilities. A free and appropriate education for disabled children was then later on guaranteed by the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) of 1975. The provision of peculiar opportunities to education suited to meet the needs of children with disabilities and the delivery of this unique education in the least restrictive environment possible is the foundation of the present-day US special education history (All-Star Staff, 2018). In 1997, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was developed to emphasize on individual education plans (IEPs) for all students with special needs. Also, IDEA introduced the use of individualized transition plans (ITPs) in preparation of students for success in their adulthood. Technological support and accountability for special education were later in 2001 and 2004 enhanced in schools with the introduction of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (All-Star Staff, 2018).

Federal and State Requirements

The Brown v. Board of Education on Inclusion

One of the greatest examples in the history of the fight for inclusion in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka verdict of 1954. This was a combination of cases relating to school segregation that had been filed in the Supreme Court in1952 (History.com Editors, 2009). At the beginning of the cases, the jury got into a dilemma on how to rule on the issue. Fred Vinson, who was the Chief Justice, held the opinion that the Plessy ruling should stand. However, in 1953, Vinson died and was replaced by Earl Warren who was then the California governor. The new Chief Justice then displayed great skills and determination when he successfully engineered a unanimous verdict against school segregation in 1954. According to Warren, the separate but equal doctrine of education had no place since the segregation of schools made then inherently unequal. Following this argument, the curt made a verdict stating that the plaintiffs were not given equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14^th Amendment (History.com Editors, 2009). In 1955, the Supreme Court ordered that desegregation be undertaken by all schools with “all deliberate speed.” However, this decision applied only to public schools (Khan Academy, 2019). The brown v. board of education verdict is the foundation of the major federal laws regarding special education in the present-day public schools in the U.S (Rhim et al., 2017).

The law in the USA recognizes the rights of students with disability to as normal education as possible. The inclusion process and doctrine fosters the implementation of an optimally normal environment for students with a disability (McNally et al., 2001). Teachers in regular classrooms, however, have a huge responsibility to ensure the success of students with disability. They may require additional support for the children, which often include the allocation of time for the regular teacher to develop a plan for inclusion of students with special needs (McNally et al., 2001).

Categories of Disability

There are thirteen categories of disabilities identified and defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Autism is when a child experiences developmental disability, which affects communication, both verbal and non-verbal, and the social interactions before attaining three years (NICHCY, 2012). The effects of this kind of disability are adverse effects on the child’s education performance, engaging in stereotyped movements and repetitive activities, uncommon response to sensory experience and resistance to routine and environmental changes (NICHCY, 2012). Hearing impairment is where there is fluctuating or permanent hearing problems.

Deafness has severe hearing impairments, which hinders a child from processing information in the presence or absence of amplification. Emotional disturbance is characterized by the inability to establish and keep relationships, the persistent mood of being unhappy or depressed, fear, inappropriate behavior in normal circumstances and lack of unexplainable learning ability (NICHCY, 2012). Intellectual disability is associated with subaverage intellectual functioning that while at the same time lacking adaptive behavior. Deaf-blindness has both visual and hearing impairments, which makes it difficult to communicate.

There is orthopedic impairment includes disabilities caused by diseases like cerebral palsy, burns, fractures or amputations, and congenital anatomy. Language or speech impairment means having a communication disorder in voice or articulation. Traumatic brain injury is where there is an external physical force that damages the brain resulting in psychological or functional disability. It may result from closed or open injuries to the head, and it leads to problems in memory, motor abilities, reasoning, judgments, problem-solving, among other areas (NICHCY, 2012). This impairment excludes degenerative or congenital brain injuries. Multiple disabilities refer to simultaneous impairments that cannot be handled in a special needs school.

Visual impairment, including blindness, includes partial sight and blindness, and even when corrected, it largely affects the education performance of a child. Specific learning disability is an impairment in the basic psychological processes that involve the use and understanding of languages (NICHCY, 2012). Other health impairments refer to limited alertness, vitality, or strength ad increased alertness to the stimuli. All these disorders are said to have adverse effects on a child’s performance in education (NICHCY, 2012).

Disability under Section 504

Section 504 is a law of civil rights under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which prohibits discrimination for people with disabilities in the private and public sectors that receive financial support; those ran by federal agencies. This section is applicable for all disabled persons regardless of their ages. It requires that the needs of the disabled students be met as those of the non-disabled students are also met (K-T Support Group). This section prohibits employees and their organizations from denying disabled individuals’ equal opportunities to services and program benefits (Fact Sheet). It thus defines the rights of the disabled in relation to participation, access, and benefits to services and different programs. It protects from discrimination the individuals who qualify to be disabled defined as people with a physical or mental impairment that limit their life’s activities (Fact Sheet).

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal law that caters for the educational needs of children with special needs. It governs the education of children with disability to ensure that their needs have been met and that they are able to assess further education, employment opportunities, and independent life. It protects the children rights to access to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) (Dragoo, 2018). It also takes part in catering for the extra costs that may be incurred in educating the disabled children. This Act ensures that every child who has any form of disability in the U.S can access FAPE from the time of infancy through to when they become young adults (Lipkin and Okamoto, 2015).

IDEA was put into practice 1975 to enhance the provision of education to all children with a disability under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act P.L 94-142 (Dragoo, 2018). It was enacted after Congress realized that above half of the disabled children had no access to the appropriate educational services, and others were fully denied access to education in the public schools. Those who accessed the education had a bad experience based on the fact that they were disabled. Also, the states and local communities were not able to fund the education for the disabled; a judicial decision had realized the need to educate children with disabilities and long-term benefits could be achieved by educating them (Dragoo, 2018).

Societal Perspective on Inclusion

There are two perspectives in which the society perceive inclusion, which is the deficit perspective and the social constructivist perspective.

The Deficit Perspective

Special education is viewed from the point of either being normal or abnormal (Dudley-Marling and Burns, 2014). It is assumed that the characteristics and the abilities that human beings have stemmed from the norms focusing on them as being low intelligence and average intelligence. When people are different from the expected traits and abilities, they are viewed to be deficient in those areas. These are the people who are taken to be disabled (Dudley-Marling and Burns, 2014). The deficit results in failure to those children viewed to be in lack, and the lack is informed by the deficiency identified in different skills or abilities they may be lacking.

From this perspective, the goal of special education is to provide the disabled students with the skills that will enable them to behave and function like the others in a normal way in the normal environment to the best they can (Dudley-Marling and Burns, 2014). To achieve this, educators are expected to identify the deficiencies and come up with remedies to address them. They may also offer training where they teach the students on how to overcome the deficiencies or help them develop ways to compensate for those deficiencies. Another approach to handling deficiencies is by developing ways in which the environment and the curricular can accommodate the disabled (Dudley-Marling and Burns, 2014). These approaches are meant to help the students succeed both in education and in the other aspect of their lives.

Inclusion from a deficit perspective depicts that disabled students should be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE), and it is associated with how services are delivered. It focuses on helping disabled children overcome learning barriers (Dudley-Marling and Burns, 2014). The principle for this perspective is to consider an environment that serves the best interest of both the disabled children and those without disabilities. Implementation for this perspective requires identification of the best practices for giving instructions in the LRE. The problems of a child are first diagnosed to help identify the best learning environment, the appropriate instructional strategies, and continuous services. This perspective requires that technical solutions are offered for the disability problem (Dudley-Marling and Burns, 2014).

The Social Constructivist Perspective

This perspective suggests that learning does not live in individual minds as much as it exists in cultural practices and activities in human institutions and relations (Dudley-Marling and Burns, 2014). Some scholars have indicated that the “concept of self” does not live in one person, but it resides in the objects, relationships, and actions surrounding a person. This indicates that learning is located in the structure, people, practices, events, and procedures that make education. Thus, individuals are held for the achievements they make or for the deficiencies they show. Disability is thus identified by a community that does things in the right way and at the right place (Dudley-Marling and Burns, 2014).

This perspective views disability as a social construction, and it identifies the differences in human beings, which is against the view of the educators. Educators take differences as normal and not disabilities. Social constructivists want to see the disabled succeed based on their competence and capability. They view all children being competent and smart learners. They want to see all children in a classroom equally challenged. Inclusion based on this perspective refers to some aspects of exclusion. Disabled students are allowed access to regular education when they prove that they are fit. The rationale for this approach is to change the structure of the schools and not the students. Inclusion for social constructivists is not only for students with disabilities. This perspective aims at identifying the challenges to doing better and improving them for the better (Dudley-Marling and Burns, 2014).

Disadvantages and Barriers to Inclusion

There are several barriers and disadvantages that have been associated with an inclusive education system. Communication in an inclusive classroom may become a challenge (Murphy, 2015). There may be a lot of students in a classroom, which may lead to overcrowding. With an overcrowded classroom, it becomes quite hard for the teachers to instruct and guide the whole classroom and teach them effectively. Thus, the time and attention given to individual students in a classroom are reduced, which in return can affect the children’s performance. Accessing the classrooms may be a challenge for the disabled when the classrooms are designed for students who are not disabled as a result of physical barriers (Murphy, 2015). Another disadvantage is financial constraints. Inclusion requires the use of a lot of funds in modifying and improving the school set-up to accommodate children with disability to ensure they are safe.

There may be cases of negative attitude and stereotypes towards disabled students (Murphy, 2015). This may result from a lack of information about disability and existences of gaps created between the disabled and the non-disabled. This will make some students view themselves as being better than the others. The teachers in inclusive schools may also be untrained or unwilling to teach disabled children. The curriculum may also not be structured in a way that caters for the needs of the disabled, which makes it difficult for them to cope with the syllabus (Murphy,2015).

Advantages of inclusion

In an inclusive environment, the students will a given disorder are able to progress better in acquiring social skills as well as academic skills (Petrovska et al., 2016). Age-appropriate skills are acquired when the disabled student imitates those who are not disabled. As they interact with other pupils, they will gain a better understanding of the environment and acquisition of the social skills will be enhanced (Raschke and Bronson, 1999). Also, an inclusive classroom has enabled the pupils to acquire advanced skills, for example, self-esteem and confidence. They are taught how they can control some behaviors through teaching them a broader worldview enabling them to avoid egocentrism (Petrovska et al., 2016).

As the disabled students interact with the complex environment, they will acquire technics that will help them cope, thus developing the skills of independence (Raschke and Bronson, 1999). They will feel more confident about themselves developing a positive image of themselves, and this will, in turn, improve their interactions and relationship with other students. Inclusion also creates an equal opportunity for all pupils to access education and personal development. As the children interact, they are able to challenge and encourage each other to work on their personal growth and development.

Teachers Conflicts on Inclusion and Solutions to the conflicts

Conflict can be defined as the perceived divergence of interests which involve two or more groups who hold on to the belief that their aspirations cannot be achieved the same time (Rubin et al.,1994).  The teachers may raise conflicts on inclusion because they feel like they have no skills to manage to attend to the disabled class. The teachers will feel unsure of how they are to treat disabled children (Trent, 2015). The teachers may also find it hard to divide the time they have and effectively allocate it to ensure that they have looked into the need of every pupil in the class. The teachers may feel like they are being overburdened by the addition of more students into their classes. Conflicts are also bound to occur as a result of the differences ‘in the mode of communication when the teachers cannot understand or interpret the languages.

Proper time allocation should be ensured to address the needs of all the students and to provide fair treatment; there should be well-stipulated procedures that guide on how to go about that. The strategies should also govern the use of the equipment and tools in the education center for the benefit of all students. The teachers should be trained on other means of communication to enable them to interact with all the students equally without favor.

Reaching an Agreement on Inclusion

To arrive at an agreement, the involved parties should realize that there is an alternative way out of the issue (Fisher and Ury, 1991). They should thus work towards getting to the middle ground. The focus should, therefore, be taken to separate the people from the issues they are facing and setting them down. Getting to this point requires that every side should present their idea. They should then focus on all the available options and select the best. The people should be given an opportunity to express why they have specific ideas and to listen to the opinion of others to avoid being biased. The result should be aimed at getting to an objective point where there shall be satisfied by all the parties (Fisher and Ury, 1991). Through this, a middle ground is attained.

My opinion on the inclusion is that the inclusion of children who have an intellectual disability into the schools with the children who have no disabilities should be allowed. The disabled kids should not be excluded and taken to their classes, considering the benefits that they gain from their interactions with the students who are not disabled.

Conflict Resolution

Conflicts can be resolved in different ways. Negotiations are a way in which the opposing sides in an argument are dealt with by involving a professional (Goldberg et al., 2014). The involved parties voluntarily come together in a temporary relationship meant to look into their issues (R. William and V. William, 2012). It is a formal and structured way of resolving conflicts. Negotiation is based on either creating value or claiming value. Value is created by finding a point where all the parties in the conflict will gain. Value claimers see a joint gain as an aim of the weak and the naïve. They look at negotiating as a tough bargain. It may be broken into several stages to enhance the easier and proper address of the issues at hand (Goldberg et al., 2014).

Another approach is mediation, which entails elaboration and extension of negotiations (R. William and V. William, 2012). A neutral third party intervenes into the situation and guides the parties on how they will settle the argument. The parties must be willing to have a third party intervene, and the power to deal solve the conflict is left with the parties. Arbitration, which is a private conflict resolution process is voluntary, and the outcome of the conflict is not open to the public (R. William and V. William, 2012). The involved parties select their arbitrator, and the process is faster, informal, and less expensive.

The judicial approach is where a recognized social authority intervenes into the private conflict, and the process becomes public. A lawyer is hired as a neutral and impartial third party to listen to both sides of the conflict. Judgment is then made based on what the law states (R. William and V. William, 2012). The legislative approach, on the other hand, is a legal public way of solving conflicts. It addresses disputes that involve a large number of people. Here, decisions are made on a win-lose voting process (R. William and V. William, 2012).

Conclusion

Disability is one of the conditions that is bound to be encountered daily in society; thus, the need to develop appropriate mechanisms to deal with the victims. This has necessitated an education system that promotes the inclusion of disabled children into public education systems. It is evident that integration of specialized systems in education to cater for the needs of the disabled children have been come a long way from history in the U.S. different acts and initiatives have been enhanced to promote inclusion which has not been a simple encounter. Despite the many differences that may result from integration like the building of self-confidence and self-esteem, improving social skills among other benefits, the inclusion system has faced a lot of barriers and has also brought up some disadvantages. Different perspectives have also been created to depict the various ways in which people view disability. In an attempt to promote inclusion, conflicts are bound to arise, and the means to deal with them identified so as to promote a peaceful society.

References

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