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Inclusion Strategies for General Education Classrooms
Melissa King
Seattle Pacific University
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Inclusion Strategies for General Education Classrooms
There are many benefits for inclusive classrooms for both children with disabilities and
children in a general education classroom. Teachers should be willing to work with special
education staff, parents and students to accommodate the needs of the child with a disability.
Teachers can also act as liaisons between all students to help them accept and include the child
with special needs.
According to Brown and Nowicki (2013) social acceptance by peers can be the most
challenging part of inclusion. Children with disabilities are often at risk for social problems and
isolation. Often times students are aware of the social struggle bullying experienced by students
with disabilities. Also, peers are often lacking accurate information about students with
disabilities and have misconceptions about the disabilities that are seen within the school and
classrooms.
However, there are strategies that can be used to have these children seen as members of
the classroom and school community. In a study by Brown and Nowicki (2013) titled "A Kid
Way: Strategies for Including Classmates with Learning or Intellectual Disabilities", they set out
to interview students in inclusive classrooms to discuss their experience and strategies that can
be used by teachers and the school to accommodate students with special needs. They
interviewed 20 boys and 16 girls with the average age of 10 that were in inclusive classrooms.
They described their study as interviewing students to find out what they knew about their peers
with disabilities. (Brown and Nowicki, 2013)
The authors discovered from the responses that children are relying on the teachers to be
leaders in including all students and making sure that they are all being taught effectively. 1/3 of
all responses related to teachers needing to be responsible intervening in peer excluding
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behaviors and instructional help (Brown and Nowicki, 2013). Student's suggestions in this
category included teacher facilitation of group work, intervening in social situations and
choosing groups with a variety of differences (Brown and Nowicki, 2013).
The study also showed that the children interviewed are interested in helping and
including students with special needs but lack the information and tools for them to help. The
study found that children often lack accurate knowledge about student with disabilities inside the
classrooms and therefore are unable to understand the help they need and the obstacles that they
face (Brown and Nowicki, 2013). Overall, the strategies in this category have a common thread
of general but supportive behavior that children offer to their classmates who have disabilities.
They are all simple in nature and speak to the need for children to support one another in a
positive way (Brown and Nowicki, 2013).
These findings show that transformative knowledge taught in the classroom is needed for
students to be able to fully understand the differences and similarities between themselves and
the students with disabilities. Transformative knowledge relates to the importance of changing
preconceived notions on a subject into an accurate understanding. I believe if this is addressed in
the early grades, then children will be able to assist and include special needs students
throughout their schooling and become leaders in transforming knowledge about students with
disabilities and the importance of inclusion.
In the article, some strategies are mentioned by the authors of ways that we as educators
can assist peers to accept all students. School wide inclusion is a strategy that educates all
classrooms in the building instead of just the classrooms that are inclusive. The program would
address ways to reduce social issues such as bullying and exclusion. It would also educate all
students and staff on supportive learning environments for all students (Brown and Nowicki,
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2013) Teachers can also implement social learning strategies that focuses on interaction of all
students and group cooperation. One strategy is called "peer tootling" where classmates observe
one another doing something positive and then telling the teacher. This strategy focuses on
positive peer interactions, instead of the opposite "tattle telling". This is a positive behavior
support strategy that teachers can use to praise positive social behaviors and not address negative
behaviors.
Social problems are not the only hardship that special needs students in general education
classrooms can face. They can often face misconceptions and uninformed teachers and peers.
Notbohm (2006) discussed the misconception that students with autism could "do it if they only
tried harder". Peers often do not understand that there are incompatibilities between the way that
disabled students learn and the way that information is often taught. Brown and Nowicki (2013)
suggest that teachers can focus on similarities and differences to teach about disabilities.
Students need to be aware of their differences, but can also focus on how they are the same as
themselves and have similar social and emotional needs.
Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have a hard time communicating
with peers because of their lack of social cues (Ogilvie, 2011). A very effective intervention for
ASD students to gain social competence is the use of peer mentoring. Studies have shown that
following peer mentoring, ASD children have increased peer interactions and retain the learned
material (Ogilvie, 2011). Group work can also be challenging for students with ASD. Teachers
can help by providing a specialized defined role for the student when working in groups, so they
do not need to negotiate with the group (Lewis & Doorlag, 2011). Buddy systems are also
effective for children with ASD and can lead to increased social skills and manners in young
children (Lewis and Doorlag, 2011).
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It is also important that teachers accommodate the learning styles of students with
disabilities in order to maximize effective learning. Teachers can also accommodate different
learning styles seen in the classroom as well. "Children’s comments focused on the need for
teachers to ensure that children with disabilities can reach their academic potential" (Brown and
Nowicki, 2013 p. 260) According to Kurth (2013) teachers should implement adaptations that
are useful for students with different learning styles, which is called Universal design for
learning (UDL). "A hallmark of UDL is providing students with many different ways to
represent knowledge (how content and directions are presented to students), express knowledge
(how students demonstrate their knowledge), and engage in the classroom (how students stay
motivated and involved in learn-ing)" (Kurth, 2013, p.35)
Kurth also states the adaptations can be used for any student to use if they choose. "When
adaptations are created with the idea that anyone may use them, it is often easier to keep age and
cultural appropriateness in mind." (Kurth, 2013, p.42) This is important because the adaptation
does not ostracize the student, rather gives them choices which can better fit their unique
learning needs. These adaptations can be created to incorporate different learning styles in the
classroom.
UDL adaptations within the classroom are important for students with disabilities
because it provides a flexible learning environment to fit their needs. Some examples of
adaptations to support students with disabilities are audio books, manipulatives and counters,
assistive technology, planning tools or checklists, graphic organizers and peer tutors. The use of
technology is also beneficial in creating UDL modifications. Digitalized text can enlarge and
manipulate text (Ralabate, 2011). Ralabate (2011) suggests using computer programs to create
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animated digital coaches, voice avatars, speech to text technology and video captioning to fit the
needs of students needing differentiated instruction.
These tools available require a teacher to plan ahead and understand the needs of the
students in their classroom and the ways they learn. UDL is an effective approach but requires
additional planning and doing assessments to plan for the adaptations needed. I like the idea of
this approach because it does not single out a disabled child needing assistance, it provides
learning tools for all students in the classroom to use as needed. However, teachers may need
additional training on how to use technology and computer programs to assist students with
special needs.
The UDL approach is beneficial because it allows for teachers to include adaptations for
all students who may have different learning styles and incorporate the idea of multiple
intelligences into the curriculum. Multiple Intelligences (MI) relate to seven distinct ways that
people learn. They include visual/spacial, musical, intrapersonal, linguistic, logical and bodilykinesthetic. We can use the MI theory to guide our practices and offer choices for students who
may not learn from the typical ways of learning.
Another interesting adaption for students with ASD is video modeling. Video modeling
"involves demonstrating desired behaviors and role-playing through video images. The student
with ASD watches a video that demonstrates the desired behavior and then is asked to imitate the
behavior" (Ogilvie, 2011). This meets the needs of students who are visual learners and benefit
from repeated exposures to content. Teachers can identify a targeted behavior that the student
needs to work on, and create a simple video involving peers and teachers (Ogilvie, 2011).
Ogilvie (2011) also suggests using peer mentors to assist the student in practicing the skill and
modeling the behavior.
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The video modeling coupled with mentoring idea is interesting to me because it allows
for peers to become involved in assisting a student with special needs. Teachers can allow for
students to identify an example or circumstance where the behavior is often seen from the
student, and how that behavior can be changed into something positive. The peers can also
collect data on the student with ASD in social situations to identify if the video modeling
intervention was successful. The teacher should only incorporate peers that will take the job
seriously and be positive role models for the student. These students can also gain confidence in
how to include the student with ASD in social situations and how to coach them toward positive
interactions with peers. I like the idea of empowering peers to take action to assist students with
ASD or other disabilities, and become active in their life to make a positive difference. It also
eases the teacher's mind to know there are students who want to help and can make a positive
impact.
I chose this topic because I want to start gaining strategies and tools for my use in my
future classroom. I hope to be able to meet the needs of all my students, whether they have
special needs or different learning styles. I believe both of these articles summarized the need
for teachers being proactive in social acceptance and instructional accommodation for students
with disabilities in the inclusive classroom. It is not only important to listen to what researchers
and educators say about inclusion, but it is also beneficial to listen to children to address ways
where we can assist special needs students and help all peers understand both similarities and
differences.
This topic lacks the research on children without disabilities in inclusion classrooms. Do
students who spend classroom time with others with disabilities gain a stronger understanding of
their needs and disorders? Does it lead them to become accepting of differences later in life? It
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seems that inclusive classrooms can be a positive experience for all students. However, I am
sure there can be drawbacks such as increased time spent with just one student, and classroom
disruptions. I am also interested in how inclusive classroom impact the teacher and their
confidence in working with special needs students. This research would be highly beneficial for
educators to understand how inclusive classroom effect others besides the students with
disabilities.
In the future, I hope to be an educator that can incorporate these ideas into my classroom
to assist all students and their unique learning styles. I hope to have a classroom of children that
can understand the differences in learning that children with special needs have, and assist that
student in achieving academic and social competence. I also hope to incorporate the Universal
Design of Learning approach into the classroom to allow for choices and adaptations for
differentiated learning styles and supplemental curriculum materials.
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References
Brown, J., & Nowicki, E. (2013) A Kid Way: strategies for including classmates with learning or
intellectual disabilities. Intellectual and Learning Disabilities, 51 (4) 253-262
Kurth, J. (2013) A Unit Based Approach to Adaptations in Inclusive Classrooms. Teaching
Exceptional Children 46 (2) 34-43
Lewis, R. & Doorlag, D. (2011) Teaching Students with Special Needs in General Education
Classrooms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Notbohm, E, & Zysk, V. (2006) Ten Things Your Child with Autism Wishes You Knew.
Arlington, TX: Future Horizons
Ogilvie, C. (2011) Step by Step: social skills instruction for children with autism spectrum
disorder using video models and peer mentors. Teaching Exceptional Children 43 (6) 2026
Ralabate, P. (2011) Universal Design for Learning: meeting the needs of all students. American
Speech-Language-Hearing Association. retrieved from
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/universal-design-learning-meeting-needs-allstudents