Students who have behavioral and psychological problems need special treatment or intervention in education. They are the young people who experience mental, emotional, and behavioral problems that are real, painful, and costly. Their problem is often called “disorders,” which are sources of stress for children and their families, schools, and communities (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Association, 2004). Also referred to as mental health disorders (SAMHA, 2004), the condition is said to be caused by biology, environment, or a combination of the two. Examples of biological factors are genetics, chemical imbalances in the body, and damage to the central nervous system, such as a head injury. Many environmental factors also can affect mental health, including exposure to violence, extreme stress, and the loss of an important person (SAMHA, 2004). Basically, children and adolescence with behavioral problems demonstrate behavior that is noticeably different from that expected in school or the community and are in need of remediation. There is still a current debate on where these students should be placed. For some, special students should be placed in a special education classroom setting along with classmates that also have disabilities. On the other hand, others suggest that such students should be allowed to attend general classes but should also have appointments with special educators outside the general classroom setting. However, for proponents of inclusion, there is no need for special students to leave the classroom when taking up special education needs. Inclusion is basically the philosophy of confining a special student only within the general classroom setting. It is believed that through this process, disability students will have more opportunity to make friends, get along with other students, and develop cognitive skills and self-esteem better. Through this, disability students will not feel they are being isolated, but instead, will feel accepted for what they are. But the concept of inclusion also has many critics that question its effectiveness. Until now, there is still a great debate on whether inclusion should be applied to all schools. This literature review will evaluate the advantages of inclusion and the different disadvantages that critics pointed out against it.


 


INCLUSION IN REGULAR CLASSROOMS


 


 


Traditional versus Special Education


 


 


A statement by Ralph Waldo Emerson says: “The man who can make hard things easy is the educator”. Furthermore, Sims (1995) stated that “the effective instructors are those who understand the importance of involving all of their students in learning how to learn.” Effective learning occurs when instructors affirm the presence and validity of diverse learning styles and maximize the climate or conditions for learning in and out of the classroom through the deliberate use of instructional design principles that take account of learning differences and increase the possibilities of success for all learners (Sims, 1995). Those statements are true especially when it comes to students who have behaviour problems. Traditional education approaches cannot be as effective as it can be, at least generally viewed, to special students such as those who have behavioural or psychological problems. That is why certain institutions find it a necessity to prevent or resolve such behaviour problems. They can be branded as special treatments to students with problem behaviour. Furthermore, certain traditional schools and universities provide psychological non-formal education to educate students on how they should act. However, according to Ritter (1995), there has been considerable discussion regarding greater accommodation of handicapped students within a mainstream setting and the integration of regular and special education since the mid-1980s. Furthermore, Ritter (1995) stated that proponents of the Regular Education Initiative believe that the integrative model is workable for behaviorally disordered and emotionally disturbed students, as well as for those students with learning or cognitive handicaps. In addition, classroom context has been identified as a critical variable in dealing with problem behavior and stands as a potential barrier to any considered merger of regular and special education. Undeniably, the classroom setting itself may contribute to elevated ratings of problem behavior on the part of regular classroom teachers (Ritter, 1995).


 


Behavior Problems


 


 


The SAMHA of the United States Department of health and Human Service enumerated the types of behavioural disorders that a number of children and adolescents face.  The Group stated that all can have a serious impact on a child’s overall health. Included in the disorders are: anxiety disorders; severe depression; bipolar disorder; Attention Deficit / Hyper-Activity Disorder; learning disorder; conduct disorder; eating disorder; autism; and schizophrenia (SAMHA, 2004).


 


What is Inclusion?


 


 


            According to the Center for Mental Health Schools (1998) in California University, the term inclusion denotes to the practice of educating children who have disabilities in classes along with their peers who do not have disabilities. Bateman and Bateman (2002) explained that the term inclusion is not a precise term because it is often confused with similar concepts such as least restrictive environment (LRE) and mainstreaming. Rudd (2002) emphasized that inclusion is not to be called inclusions when there is no supports and services given to special students to help them cope in the general classroom setting. It does not also cut back special services and does not assume that all the children in the general classroom setting should learn in the same way (Rudd, 2002). Rudd (2002) also emphasized that inclusion or inclusive programs should not ignore the concerns of the parents. It should also provide special education services in the general classroom and not in a separate place (Rudd, 2002).


 


Unlike mainstreaming (which means moving students from separate schools and classes to regular education classes for part or all of the school day) and the LRE (which means students may receive special education and may also participate in general education setting), inclusion implies that students are needed to be taught outside the regular education classroom only when all available methods have been tried and failed to meet their needs (Bateman and Bateman, 2002). It is a movement that seeks to create schools and other social institutions based on meeting the needs of all learners as well as respecting and learning from each other’s differences (Salend, 1998). This means that the special students have the right to be educated in a general setting classroom given that a specific teaching method or approach works for him or her. In a sense, inclusionary schools should seek to establish communities of learners by educating all students together in age-appropriate, general education classrooms in their neighborhood schools (Salend and Garrick Duhaney, 1999).


 


            In the past, the automatic inclusion of children with disabilities in general classroom setting is not supported by any legal documents. In 1997, the Disability Education Act Amendment was passed, clearly defining a set of regulations for LRE. In a way, this act also supports the adoption of the inclusive philosophy by schools as the act states that all children are to be considered for placement in regular classroom first. If ever the school decides not to include, they should provide a clear explanation why (Rudd, 2002).


 


Advantages of Inclusion


 


The inclusion of special students in the general classroom is viewed by many researchers as advantageous in a sense that they believe special students or students with disabilities in this setting can develop better social development, better social interaction, enhanced skill acquisition and generalization, better health, more independence, greater success in meeting the objectives of their IEPs, and more normalized functioning (Burnette, 1996).


 


            The Florida Children’s Forum (2002) stated that four stakeholders can benefit from inclusion. They are: the children; the family; child care professionals; and the community. Through inclusion, children can develop friendships and learn how to play and interact with one another. They can also develop a more positive image of themselves and a healthy attitude about the uniqueness of other (The Florida Children’s Forum, 2002). On the other hand, the families of the children with disabilities can also benefit from inclusion because through it, they will have the opportunity to learn more about child development. They will not only have access to child care, but they will also have the opportunity to teach their children about individual differences and diversity (The Florida Children’s Forum, 2002). For child care professionals, it can also be advantageous because through inclusion, they will have the opportunity to learn about and develop partnerships with other community resources and agencies. They can also build strong relationships with parents and enhance their credibility as quality, inclusive child care providers (The Florida Children’s Forum, 2002). Finally, the community can also benefit as it will teach each member to become more accepting and supportive of all people (The Florida Children’s Forum, 2002).


 


            According to the research of Lipsky and Gartner (1997), inclusion can help children with disabilities reduce their fear of human differences. This is accompanied by increased comfort and awareness, growth in social cognition, improvement in self-concepts, development of personal principles, and warm and caring attitude toward peers and friends.


            In another study, Moore et al (1998) found that students with medium to severe disabilities can develop academic increases, and behavioral and social progress through inclusion. Accordingly, they found that it is not recommendable to segregate these students because in segregated sites, they do not receive a greater concentration of special education resources, degrading their traditional skills domain and social competence learning (Moore et al, 1998).


 


            Almost similarly, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (1997) stated the following as advantages of inclusion to children with disabilities: demonstrate increased acceptance and appreciation of diversity; develop better communication and social skills; show better development in moral and ethical principles; create warm and caring friendship; and demonstrate increased self-esteem.


 


            Odum et al (1999) also preaches the good news about inclusion as their study shows that inclusion of students in general classroom settings produces positive outcomes. Parents and teachers are supportive of such program and a wide range of curricula are being used to make sure they are really effective for students with disabilities.


 


            It has also been reported that inclusion can be an advantage because it gives and ensures children with disabilities access to the general education curriculum, an important consideration in recent IDEA amendments (Council for Exceptional Children, 1998). Furthermore, inclusion can also provide opportunities for expanding social networks and forming new friendships (Scruggs, 2001).


 


Two strategies of inclusion practice – cooperative learning and peer tutoring – seem to be viewed advantageous as well. In co-operative learning, students with special needs are not pulled out of their classroom for supplemental in­struction rather, the special education staff provides instruction in the regular classrooms, to increase learning time, reduce behaviour problems, give students an opportuni­ty to participate fully in their classrooms, and teachers an oppor­tunity to learn from each other. On the other hand peer tutoring enables students to be assigned to heteroge­neous ability pairs and has been proven to be an effective strategy in increasing the academic achievement of students with and without disabilities (Kamps, Barbetta, Leonard and Delquadri, 1994; Stevens and Slavin, 1995a, 1995b) and in increasing social interactions (Kamps, Barbetta, Leonard and Delqua­dri, 1994).


 


Barriers


 


It was emphasized that general classroom teachers may be unprepared in experiencing a special student. Ritter (1995) cited that regular classroom teachers rated behavior as more problematic than did special education teachers. Their explanation was that regular teachers experience a narrower range of deviance than special education teachers and therefore their referents for normal behavior are more restrictive. Furthermore, he mentioned that teacher judgments of behavior problem were not independent of classroom environment, but rather reflected the classroom context.


 


As mentioned by Ritter, various sources suggest that barriers between general and special education are problematic in a sense that it affects the attention that should be given to behavioral problems of students. For instance, ast findings show that general education teachers are not prepared for the inclusion of special students. The findings in Schumm and Vaughn’s (1992) study about planning for mainstreamed special education students showed that general education teachers are willing to have mainstreamed students in their classrooms as long as the students do not exhibit emotional or behavioral problems. This shows that most general education teachers do not give much focus on behavioral problems contrary to special education setting. Schumm and Vaughn (1992) stated that they (general education teachers) are willing to make adaptations while the student is taking tests or working on assignments (i.e., interactive planning), but are less likely to spend much time planning or making adaptations to the curriculum or test (preplanning) or constructing new objectives based on student performance (post planning). Furthermore, another problem in general education is that numerous middle and high school teachers are unaware when they have a mainstreamed learner and rarely use the IEP or psychological reports in their planning (Schumm and Vaughn, 1992). Because of the lack of psychological planning, general classroom teachers need assistance in planning for mainstreamed learners, and they are likely to seek the help of the special education teacher, reading resource teacher, or fellow teachers (Schumm and Vaughn, 1992).


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


REFERENCES:


 


Bateman, D. and Bateman, C.F. (2002). What Does a Principal Need To Know about Inclusion? ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education Arlington VA.


 


Burnette, J. (1996). Including Children with Disabilities in General Education Classrooms: From Policy to Practice. ACCESS ERIC, Rockville, MD.


Center for Mental Health Schools (1998). Least Intervention Needed: Toward Appropriate Inclusion of Students with Special Needs. An Introductory Packet. California University, LA.


Council for Exceptional Children (1998). IDEA 1997: Let’s make it work. Arlington, VA: Author.


Florida Children’s Forum (2002). Understanding Inclusion and the American Disabilities Act. Florida’s Statewide Inclusion Advisory Council. Remington Green Circle Tallahassee, FL


 


Kamps, D.M., Barbetta, P.M., Leonard, B.R. and Delquadri, J. (1994) Classwide peer tutoring: an integration strategy to improve reading skills and promote peer interactions among students with autism and general education peers, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 27, 49–61.


 


Lipsky, D.K. and Gartner, A. (1997). Inclusion and School Reform: Transforming America’s Classrooms. Paul H. Brooke’s Publishing, Baltimore MD.


 


Moore, C., Gilbreath, D. and Maiuri, F. (1998). Educating Children with Disabilities in General Education Classrooms: A Summary of the Research. University of Oregon.


 


National Association for the Education of Young Children (1997). The Benefits of Inclusive Education: Making it Work. Washington, DC.


 


Odum, S.L., Wolery, R., Liebert, J., Sandall, S., Hanson, M.J., Beckman, P., Schwartz, I. and Horn, E. (1999). Preschool Inclusion: A Review from an Ecological Systems Perspective. Unpublished Paper


 


Ritter, D.R. (1989). Teachers’ Perceptions of Problem Behavior in General and Special Education. Exceptional Children. Vol.55, No. 6; pp.559+.


 


Rudd, F. (2002). Grasping the Promise of Inclusion. Palm Springs, CS.


 


Salend, S. J. (1998). Effective mainstreaming: Creating inclusive classrooms (3rd. ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill/Prentice Hall.


 


Salend, S.J. and Garrick Duhaney, L.M. (1999). The Impact of Inclusion on Students with and Without Disabilities and Their Educators. Remedial & Special Education; 3/1/1999


 


Schumm, J.S. and Vaughn, S. (1992). Planning for Mainstreamed Special Education Students: Perceptions of General Classroom Teachers. Exceptionality. Vol.3, No.2, p.96.


 


Scruggs, T.E. (2001). Promoting inclusion in secondary classrooms. Learning Disability Quarterly, 9/22/2001


 


Sims, S.J. (1995). The Importance of Learning Styles: Understanding the Implications for Learning, Course Design, and Education. Greenwood Press.: Westport, CT.


 


Stevens, R.J. and Slavin, R.E. (1995a). The cooperative elementa­ry school: effects on students’ achievement, attitudes, and social relations, American Educational Research Journal 32, 321–51.


 


Stevens, R.J. and Slavin, R.E. (1995b). Effects of a cooperative learning approach in reading and writing on academically handicapped and nonhandicapped students, The Elementary School Journal 95, 241–62.


 


Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (2003). Children’s Mental Health Facts Children and Adolescents with Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders. National Mental Health Information Center. United States Department of Health and Human Services. CA, U.S.



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