The only kids who shouldn't be in mainstream classrooms are kids who are profoundly violent. I'm not talking about the first grader who routinely pushes kids out of the way to get to the swings first at recess, I'm talking about the second grader who throws chairs at classmates and bites teachers when they try to restrain him from throwing chairs.
When I taught, I had a non-verbal girl on the Autism Spectrum in my (regular ed) classroom for two years with no aide or helper for her. I had kids who were very developmentally delayed. I had kids who were gifted. I had kids who were dyslexic. I had kids who couldn't sleep at night because of gunfire. I had kids who were in foster care. I had kids who were being abused. I had kids with chronic diseases. I had kids who had been abused. I had kids who didn't get enough to eat. I had kids who had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. I had kids who were so shy that they never spoke in class.
So when I hear about teachers in nice suburban areas who do have classroom aides and parent volunteers and supplies complaining about inclusion, or parents in those same suburban areas complaining about it, I want to smack them. Actually, when I hear any teachers or parents complaining about inclusion, I want to smack them.
The worst-behaved, most obnoxious class I ever had had few special needs students in it. The best class I ever had had the girl on the Autism Spectrum, a kid who was being abused, a kid who had been abused, a foster kid, a kid with a chronic disease, 3 kids who were developmentally delayed and a number of kids who didn't get enough to eat. That class? Also tested the best and a higher proportion of them is still in school than in the worst behaved class. Even though - on paper - they looked like a much more challenging group.
Obviously, my experiences do not a study make. But anyone who assumes that a kid with a learning difference, or a behavioral diagnosis, is somehow harder to teach than a "typical" child shouldn't be teaching. . .or having children. I'm not saying that a kid with, say, ADHD, isn't going to be a challenge in the classroom. But so is a kid whose parents are getting divorced. Or a kid whose parents never make her follow rules. Or a kid whose personality grates on your nerves. And you know what? There's (supposed to be, at least) a support team when a child has an IEP and a diagnosis. Most schools don't have a process in place for kids who don't get enough to eat or are adjusting to divorce or are extremely introverted.
I can hear a parent thinking, "But MY special snowflake is just fine. No learning or behavior differences, no family upheavals, given plenty of food and love. . .why should my special snowflake's teacher have to deal with all these other kids' issues when s/he should be paying attention to my special snowflake?"
First of all, your special snowflake probably doesn't need that much attention. Second of all, as long as there are other children in the room, your special snowflake is going to have to wait for the teacher's attention sometimes, whether the teacher is helping a developmentally delayed student or breaking up an argument over an indoor recess Jenga game, That's the nature of a classroom.
The more important concern here is what kind of person do you want your special snowflake to be? Tolerant? Kind? Open-minded? Ready to serve others? Thoughtful? All of those traits will be a lot harder for your kiddo to develop if everyone in the class has the exact same abilities s/he does. But if there are kids with differences who are accepted, who are assisted, who give assistance - isn't that going to teach your kid a lot more?
I once had a student who was very tough. A mean little girl, really. I tried bribes and consequences and all sorts of things that didn't help much. It wasn't until I had her help my student on the Autism Spectrum that she started to open up. That hadn't been my master plan AT ALL, I just needed some help with one day and tough girl was the closest, but damn if that didn't motivate her to actually be kind to people. She was still tough and it's not like she started doing her math homework, but she stopped bullying the other kids in the room and started looking out for the girl on the spectrum.
That's a win for inclusion right there, trust me. The thing about inclusion is that if the teacher goes into it with the attitude that the kids who are different are somehow making his/her job more difficult. . . .then his/her job WILL be more difficult. If the teacher goes in thinking, "Oh, Kids X, Y and Z have diagnoses and support in place, what a big help, " or "It's so great that I'll have Kid A in my class this year, he has an aide so there'll always be another adult in the room - woohoo, I can pee when I want!" then the teacher's job will just be the basic level of difficult it usually is.
This was not the cohesive rant I meant for it to be. . . . .but I'm posting it anyway. What's your take on inclusion? How did/does your school do it?
