Inclusion more than 'dumping'

Pamela Winton, Ph. D., is child development expert and senior scientist with the National Professional Development Center on Inclusion in Chapel Hill, N.C. The essay was submitted in response to recent Endeavor News stories about local school districts' efforts to educate students with special needs in an integrated classroom setting.

Inclusion is like anything else. When done poorly, it doesn't work. And simply calling something inclusion does not make it so.

In the most basic terms, inclusion flips the old special education model on its head. Instead of moving children to isolated classrooms to receive specialized services, inclusion requires that the services be brought to the child in the regular classroom - the same one that his or her typically developing peers attend.

Research shows that, when done correctly, inclusion benefits those with and without disabilities.

For inclusion to be successful, specialists, teachers and families must actively collaborate to best meet the needs of children with disabilities. There must be active support for inclusion from the administration and ongoing professional development. In other words, the resources to support inclusion must be in place to allow all children to reap its benefits.

This is clearly not the case in all situations.

In some early childhood education programs, effective inclusion practices are becoming the norm. And when done well, it is producing significant results for children across a range of abilities.

Research shows that children with disabilities make developmental gains in inclusive classroom. They engage in more positive behaviors. Parents report gains in social skills, acceptance by peers, and developmental gains.

Typically developing children also benefit. In one study parents reported that their child was more accepting of human differences, more aware of other children's needs, had less discomfort around people with disabilities, and had less prejudice about people who behaved differently.

Inclusion is so much more than "dumping" - simply placing children with disabilities in the same classroom as their typically developing peers. Rather than using inclusion as a scapegoat for problems in schools, we should be providing the resources to support it and allowing all children to reap its benefits.