Supporting Students with Severe Disabilities in Inclusive Schools

A Descriptive Account from Schools Implementing Inclusive Practices

Inclusion Research Paper

Students with disability in the US experienced discrimination and exclusion for an extended period. This deprived them the opportunity to access quality educational services like their regular counterparts. Consequently, in 1970 the federal government introduced the Education for All Children Act to help level the grounds for the children that had some disability. Following the enactment of the EACA more and more children with a disability enrolled for academic excellence in public schools and the majority completed their studies and graduated just like healthy children. The following paper seeks to review the article aims to examine the article @Beginning Teacher Study: Development of Inclusive Practice Inclusive Education In US and Canada@

Research participants

The study involved a longitudinal study to compare the level of social competence of 40 children that were identified to have had severe disabilities. The children were divided into smaller groups of self-contained classrooms. Half of the participants chosen for the experiment had a hearing impairment that made communication difficult. Half of the remaining population had cognitive disorders that lowered their levels of reasoning, while the remaining community was comprised of individuals with schizophrenia. All the participants were sophomores in a large urban university in the United States.

Research Hypothesis

The research was designed around the following hypothetical questions:

H1. To determine whether encouraging interactions between students with disabilities with classmates and parents without any form of limitations increased the level of educational achievement

H2. To establish whether inclusive educational programmes for children with a disability would increase the level of participation and engagement for the students with a disability, and

H3. Whether inclusivity had the potential of increasing overall learning outcome for the students with disability

Procedure

All the 40 students were located in four different states to have a variety of geographical locations with varying conditions in their learning environments. At the onset, the researchers identified the level of social awareness and perception of the students using the Assessment of Social Competence (ASC). Again the researchers also took a record of the age of the students during the initial ASC. Besides, the researchers also made recordings of the general independence score of the students using SIB as a way of determining the functionality of the developmental personalities of the students. The study covered a broader perspective of the social benefits of inclusivity of educational programs and encompassed non-academic issues like home and community perspectives as well.

Summary of the Findings

From the research, it was established that through the inclusivity approach, the rate of interaction between the students with disability and their colleague classmates an/or school mates without a limitation increased. The close cooperation is also said to have boosted learning outcomes since the students without disability supported those with a disability, thereby improving the overall result. From the teacher’s perspective, it was discovered that the inclusive approach to supporting students with severe disabilities meant much time for an explanation by teachers to help them grasp the ideas and views that are being taught. Consequently, there was an increased amount of time required for delivering both the functional and necessary skills of learning. The introduction of accommodation modifications to support the learning process of the students with severe disability visited the level of participation of the students with disabilities in-class activities and subsequently in their overall performance as well. Furthermore, the findings also established that offering supportive environments outside classrooms such as disability-friendly social and cultural activities and support to the students enhances better outcomes that can lead to improved academics and behavioural adaptation among the students. The researchers thus proposed that the institutions of learning should provide learners with social spaces that allow them to engage effectively and learn from their healthy colleagues.

Critique of Article

Though the article provides that inclusivity has proven to be effective in improving the academic outcomes of the students with disabilities, it is pragmatic to have teachers specialized in special education. Students with severe disability have special needs that can only be addressed adequately by someone who has a sound understanding of such requirements. Therefore, incorporating the students with such special needs with other students is kind of injustice to the students with disabilities since their rate of grasping ideas and facts is relatively slow and therefore need ample time. On the same note, regular teachers handling norma students may not have a moral understanding to handle the unique needs of this class of learners.

For effectiveness the students with severe disability should be catered for separately since their needs may vary from those with healthy senses, For instance, it would be challenging to teach a combined class of blind and those with good eyesight. I, therefore, feel the best way of supporting students with special needs is to have an expanded program that would cater to the needs of this particular group. Otherwise, the efforts may not yield any fruitful impact.

References

(June 27,  2019). Inclusive Education, Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. Vol 63 (7), 759-776. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12658