Inclusion of Disabilities in the Classroom
During the later years of the 20th century and the start of the new millennium, it has become abundantly clear that we are living in an increasingly diverse world. Indeed, the diversity of the world has increased not only in terms of race and nationality, but also in terms of ability and aptitude. So recognized have these differences become that that accommodations have been made for them in work, educational, and social settings. The same is true for persons with learning disabilities, or LD. Although there has been much controversy around including such children in general education settings, the trend has been to opt for this choice rather than excluding them from the general education classroom. Interestingly, studies such as the one by McLesky and Waldron have proved that such an idea may indeed be worth the considerable time and money involved in setting up educational environments that can accommodate LD learners. Indeed, the authors have found that LD learners perform significantly better than their non-general education counterparts, regardless of the type of program or interventions provided.
An interesting component of the issue is legislation. Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 (McLesky and Waldron, 2011). Renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, the legislation mandated that students with disabilities needed to be included in the least restrictive environment in terms of their learning.
Under this legislation, an increasing number of children have been educated in a general education setting for the majority of their school day. During the years between 1989-1990,...
In my view, it is clear that the parents' decision to include their son in mainstream high school classes was a wise one. Even with their reservations, it appears that educational professionals agreed with this view. The disagreements are evidently mainly the result of philosophical differences, with educators being reserved about inclusion while parents were clearly overwhelmingly positive. I think greater alignment could have been achieved from the beginning if the
Among all the measures, sentence imitation illustrated the greatest power in discriminating poor and adequate readers (2010). Another study conducted by Flax, Realpe-Bonilla, Roesler, Choudhury, and Benasich (2010) studied the profiles of children with a family history (FH+) of language-learning impairments (LLI) and a control group of children with no reported family history of LLI (FH-) with the hope of identifying "which language constructs (receptive or expressive) and which ages
There is little doubt that students with special needs require more support services, and the article referenced above adds clarity to that assertion. What also is true is that often students with disabilities are harassed, made fun of and even bullied because they are "different." An article in The Journal of Counseling & Development refers to emotional abuse that students (not necessarily students with disabilities but rather students that are
Either one of these things can lead to acting out. The students in her LD classroom are often grouped together during specific tasks, so they have others to talk to and work with. This helps them to be less frustrated and keeps them from feeling as though they are the only one who cannot understand a particular task. Sometimes, they can talk out their issues with a particular task
Conclusion For the new teacher, the most important factor in resolving issues concerning students with learning disabilities is to recognize the high incidence of depression and other emotional disturbances that go along with it. Early treatment and intervention can improve the outcome for the child. However, the teacher must first be able to recognize the signs of these disorders and to provide them with resources that will help them resolve these
Distance learning education provides a wide range of resources and learning experiences that are usually much more diverse than the traditional brick and mortar classroom can furnish. This makes this mode of learning more adaptable to a variety of needs by different learner. The next article by Edmond addresses the requirements and standards that need to be met in order to provide adequate access to traditional educational environment for those
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