What Makes Inclusion Work?

"The happiest moments my heart knows are those in which it is pouring forth its affections to a few esteemed characters." Thomas Jefferson

Characteristics of Schools Successfully Implementing Inclusion

The good, the bad, and the included... What makes inclusion work?

"Inclusion works when teachers believe that all children can learn." Dayle Timmons

Diversity is valued and celebrated

The principal plays an active and supportive leadership role

All students work toward the same educational outcomes based on high standards

There is a sense of community in which everyone belongs, is accepted and is supported by his or her peers and other members of the school community.

There is an array of services

Flexible groupings, authentic and meaningful learning experiences and developmentally appropriate curricula are accessible to all students

Research based instructional strategies are used, natural support networks are fostered across students and staff

Staff have changed roles that are more collaborative

There are new forms of accountability

There is access to necessary technology and physical modifications and accommodations

Parents are embraced as equal partners

Teachers, on both sides, special education and regular classroom teachers must buy into the philosophy that, if material is presented appropriately, all children can learn. Maybe it will be at their own rate, but they can learn.

Teachers must also be risk takers. They must be willing to risk the way they've always done things. They must be willing to look at the same situation in a different way and even to risk failure in order to grow, to look at obstacles as opportunities.

They must be willing to look at different methods of delivery, different management systems, different room arrangements... Inclusion works when teachers become learners.

Good inclusion teachers are open to suggestions, and they are even more open to criticism. They do not take criticism of the program personally. They learn instead to use negative comments as opportunities to explain what they are doing and why.

They use criticisms to probe the mind of the critical to find out ways they can change and deliver services in a more efficient manner.

Inclusion works when all teachers believe and practice the idea that they will not sacrifice the many for the few. In other words, they will not provide for the special needs of some students without looking at how that effects all children in the classroom.

The teachers work together to make the teaming time effective for all students - even when that means the special education teacher provides services to children who are not identified as part of his or her program. Teachers look at kids first. They design programs developed for children and then fit the personnel into the program as the need exists.

Inclusion does not mean a certain number of children with special needs in a classroom with a certain number of "regular" children. It does not mean equal amounts of time split between two classes, without regard to the specific needs of each child.

It means looking at the whole picture, looking at the needs of individual children and then assigning children to classrooms based on the needs of the class, looking at teacher and learning styles to make the best matches, and looking at time in relation to need. Inclusion works when teachers are able to take the "me" out of the formula and look at the needs of the children first.