Effective Inclusive Practices

By Karen S. Voytecki, Ph.D.
2001 CEC Clarissa Hug Teacher of the Year
Assistant Professor, East Carolina University

One issue that is of concern to both general and special educators is the need for providing appropriate services and supports to students with exceptionalities in inclusive classroom environments.  Today, now more than ever before, students with exceptionalities are increasingly being served in fully inclusive classrooms.  Being in the Least Restrictive Environment with "typical" peers is mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act; while using research-based, best practice instructional approaches is demanded by No Child Left Behind.  So...  How can teachers, including beginning teachers, implement high quality instruction to meet the academic and social needs of children with exceptionalities who are being served full-time in a general education setting?

I am currently working with general and special educators, Title 1 specialists, reading instructors, and paraprofessionals in a K-8 school in North Carolina for a program I developed and facilitate titled "Teaching ALL Students" (TAS).  I meet monthly with a cohort group of 12 teachers.  In the morning I observe in the classrooms to gain insights and provide ideas for developing a classroom culture that is conducive to effective and successful inclusive practices.  I focus on the student-student interactions, teacher-student interactions, and teacher-teacher interactions.  In the afternoon the cohort gets together and we concentrate on inclusive strategies, differentiated instruction, and questions/concerns.  We discuss what is going well, what needs to change, etc.   

Although now, in year two of TAS, all cohort teachers view inclusion as a promising approach for instructing ALL students...  In the beginning of the program they were initially confused as to how to implement inclusion effectively.  They didn't know what the role was of the general educator (teach everything?  share the teaching with the special educator?  discipline?  not discipline?), special educator (discipline general ed students, when needed? make photocopies for general ed teacher? add input to lesson while general educator is teaching, or not?  co-teach?  co-plan?  who does the grading?), Title I teacher (which students to assist?  work with them in the general education classroom or in a resource room?).  So...  Not knowing what was expected of themselves was the first concern.  Then, added to the complexity of the issue, the question of "what is the role of the other individuals in the classroom?" became the next item of concern (i.e. general educators didn't know what to ask of, or expect from, special educators and vice versa).

Communication is the first key component of successful inclusion.  Work with your colleagues to determine answers to the above questions, as they will all depend on the individual circumstances in which you are involved.  Please know that while you will have many of these same questions, so does the person(s) with whom you are working!  Opening the lines of communication will allow you to work as a team to determine how you can make inclusion work to the optimum advantage of all students.

Here are some resources for implementing effective inclusive practices:

Inclusion Strategies That Work!
by Toby J. Karten
Summary: Whether you are a general or a special education teacher, this guide helps you understand and implement hands-on strategies for successful classroom inclusion of students with disabilities. Students identified for special education services pose a variety of challenges, but this practical resource gives you research-based tools that make differentiating instruction for all students much easier. Designed to be taken off your shelf again and again, this book includes an array of lists, charts, curriculum suggestions, tips for working with parents, strategies for preparing Individual Educational Plans (IEPs), including a mock IEP, reproducible activities and applications, and sample inclusion dilemmas. (2004) 400 pages.
Price: $34.95
Available at the online CEC Store:
http://www.cec.sped.org/ScriptContent/Orders/ProductDetail.cfm?section=CEC_Store&pc=S5697

Helpful websites, including research-based instructional approaches for inclusion:

Circle of Inclusion
http://circleofinclusion.org/
The Circle of Inclusion website is for early childhood service providers and families of young children. This web site offers demonstrations of and information about the effective practices of inclusive educational programs for children from birth through age eight.
Funded by: the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education.

OSEP Ideas that Work
http://www.osepideasthatwork.org/index.asp
Funded by: the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education.
This website is designed to provide easy access to information from research to practice initiatives funded by OSEP that address the provisions of IDEA and NCLB. This website includes resources, links, and other important information that supports OSEP’s research to practice efforts.

Inclusive Education Website
http://www.uni.edu/coe/inclusion/index.html
This website is designed for general education teachers, special education teachers, parents, and school staff to help provide some answers about how inclusive education can be accomplished. Resources for making accommodations are included as well as links to other websites and resource lists for learning more about inclusive education.

Comments

[Jimmon Watson]

The reality of the matter is that budget cuts have affected the way in which Special Education/Exceptional Education students are being taught. This blog is so beneficial because it shows a general education teacher that senstive to the needs of students with disabilities. This school year, I found myself on the receiving end of the inclusion totem pole. My students who had been in a seperate class setting for most of their educational career were being staffed out to the general education classroom for Science, Reading, and Math. This instantenously changed the way that I handled instruction and required more collaboration with the general education teacher about academics, accomodations, and reward systems. It also required me to now motivate my students in a different way. The practice of "including" my student in a general education classroom taught me to find another reason to celebrate the minute success of social change and diversity. Overall this experience was rewarding for the students as well as enriching for the general education students and fulfilling for the educators involved.

[April Malone]

I enjoyed all of the resources that you have offered in your blog. Because I am an inclusion teacher working with numerous teachers on a daily basis,I often encounter resistence to the inclusive setting at first. But once a line of communication is drawn and the roles of what is expected of each individual have been established, there is a much smoother flow. I am currrently working in a school in which has been placed in school improvement, and we frequently have consultants within the classroom. They do an excellent job of communicating more effective ideas, placement, and organization, but I would like to see more modeling. I know that their time is limited, but wouldn't it be more effective if an appropriate co-teaching model was implemented, either by the consultants or veteran teachers.

[Katrina Lastinger]

I have enjoyed reading the information about inclusion. I am anxious to learn as much as I can about this since I was an inclusion teacher last year and will be again this year. I have enjoyed it very much and feel that it will just continue to grow and be a part of education from now on. The one things I found that is the main problem is that all the teachers and paras need to be on the same page, so to speak. I have found that the saying it takes special people to work with these special kids is very true. I have had a bad experience for most of the year with a para not doing what she needed to for the SPED students. I would have never thought that someone could not love a child!! Before the end of the year I had another para that was simply wonderful!!
Thanks for all the information.

[Tiff]

I enjoyed reading Karen S.Voytecki post about Effective Inclusion Practices. I think the most valuable idea that she stated was the importance of communication between the teachers that are working in an inclusive classroom. I have worked as both a regular education classroom that had a special educator in the classroom and as the special educator in the regular education classroom. No matter what teacher you are it is challenging. Some of the topics that Karen brought up are so true. As a regular education teacher you may be thinking what do I teach and what does the special educator teach? Who does the discipline? As a special educator you may be thinking what do I teach? Where do I fit in?
I have had these questions fill my mind when I was in the inclusive classroom. Karen suggested that both teachers have to be willing to communicate what the responsibility is of each teacher. Communication is so important so that the inclusion setting works not only for the teachers but for the students. It's important that students can participate in the regular education classroom with their peers so teachers need to put away their differences, communicate clearly and work together to make inclusion work.

[Ailua]

Inclusion remains a controversial concept in education because it relates to educational and social values, as well as to our sense of individual worth. The main purpose is to ensure that every child receives the best education possible by placing them in the best learning environment possible. Inclusion is a very beneficial idea, supported by law that promotes a well-rounded education while also teaching acceptance of others. I agree with Voytecki’s concern about providing appropriate services and support for students with exceptionalities in inclusive classroom environments. As educators, we need to take every necessary step to make sure all children have a learning opportunity that they can get optimum results. Teachers need to educate themselves about the disability that the child being mainstreamed into classroom has. It is the responsibility of the school and the teacher to make sure all necessary materials and instructions are made clear to the student and anyone directly associated with the learning experience of the student that is being done to give the child the best education possible. It is very important that we take this matter very seriously to make sure the students in the classroom understand that the child is no different from themselves, they just learn in different ways.

[Rubon, Ribon]

October 28, 2008

Inclusion of Students with Exceptionalities

Being a teacher for several years, I have been teaching in general education classrooms and not in diverse or inclusive classroom settings. As I read what Karen S.Voytecki says about Inclusion of Students with Exceptionalities in general education classrooms, I agree with her on some of the ideas she points out that we teachers must considered in order to provide appropriate services and supports to students with exceptionalities to be successful in diverse or inclusive classroom environments.

One of the ideas she points out is for the general education teachers, special educators, paraprofessionals, speech/language pathologists, etc. to communicate and collaborate with each other to focus on instructional component in order to meet the needs of all students with exceptionalities. She also points out that there are numerous factors that must be taken into account such as students’ background knowledge, current skills levels, interest, relevance to their lives, etc.

I also agree with her that teachers must differentiate instruction or lesson according to their levels of background knowledge, skill readiness, language acquisition, learning styles, interests, and response modes.

As I read further on differentiated, I strongly agree that in meeting the needs of all students with exceptionalities in diverse or inclusive classroom settings, we teachers must use and apply these strategies and tools in order for them to be successful. Strategies and tools such as teachers and students accept and respect one another’s similarities and differences, assessment is an ongoing diagnostic activity that guides instructions, learning tasks are planned and adjusted based on assessment data, all students participate in respectful work-work that is challenging, meaningful, interesting, and engaging, students and teachers collaborate in setting and individual goals, students work in a variety of group configurations, as well as independently, time is used flexibly in the sense that pacing is varied based on student’s needs, and students often have choices about topics they wish to study, ways they want to work, and how they want to demonstrate their learning.

As a teacher who have not taught in diverse or inclusive classroom environments, I strongly believe that using all these ideas that Karen S. Voytecki talks are very important for teachers to consider in order to meet the needs of each individual students with exceptionalities in general education settings.

[siope akauola]

I really agree with Kare S. Voytecki’s point of view about differentiated instruction. We teachers must look deeply at three important things before going in to the classroom. They are the contents of lesson to be taught, process we picked to deliver the content and lastly, evaluate what are our products we get or the result of our lesson. Again we educators need to recognize that our children will have different ways of learning and also different rates of learning. We must be well prepared so that we can picked the right methods to use and also to collect as much material as we can get, so that we can deliver the objectives to every soul in the classroom. The process we may use must be taken in to account students with hearing, visual and physical problems.
Therefore our content will be delivered well, since we use the best process which will brings the best or right product to make sure that every kid learns.

[Pepe Maiava]

RESPONSE!!

Inclusion of Students with Exceptionalities is very interesting and i've really enjoyed reading about it. Focussing on the students needs is very important and especially students with disabilities. It is important that they are not left behind or feel left out of the class activities. Also doing things that both will help both students with exceptionalities and others. Giving them the same treatment and the same attention is better than differentiating them and taking away the priviledge of getting a better education like all other students. Giving them the same instructions will also help them work together.

[Ann Welch (in response to Alana)]

Alana, It certainly sounds as though you have been doing all the right things. Congratulations on continuing to work on adding to your credentials even as you experience the frustration of not getting a special education teaching position. There is a growing need for special education teachers who are ABA trained. If you do not have an active CEC chapter in your area, you might find out whether there is an active Phi Delta Kappa chapter. Their events will almost certainly be open to non-members. I'm a member, because I enjoy the Kappan journal and because PDK keeps me in touch with general education issues. I also find that many members are local administrators, so PDK programs are a good networking opportunity. Good luck.

[Alana]

sorry my response was sent twice :(

[Ann Welch (in response to Lynda re total inclusion)]

Lynda,
My sympathies! As you already know, what you are describing is NOT effective inclusion. It's worse than not being the best situation. It is a situation almost guaranteed to be harmful to students and teachers, both general education and special education. The middle school boy with the urinary problem will remember that embarrassment and ostracism for years to come. Karen Voytecki's blog entries on inclusion illustrate the kind of support that is necessary for inclusion to work, and even then, there will always be some students for whom inclusion is not the least restrictive environment. I hope general and special education teachers in this and similar situations will band together to articulate the problems and lobby for the type of support needed to make inclusion work. Teachers may have to work through channels, but parents will be valuable allies and are often better able to apply effective pressure. Inclusion never means "dumping." Can the local affiliate of the NEA or AFT help? Do you have access to a CEC chapter or federation that could sponsor programs to help teachers? Are there administrators who would also be allies? We all need a time and place to express our frustration, but after that, it's better to put our energies into making things better. Good luck.

[Lynda]

Test.

[Patty Ann Bryant]

Total Inclusion practices are somewhat challenging to me. A neighbouring district had included children in hospital beds into an already crowded classroom. To top it off they have reduced the number of paraprofessionals and aides. The teachers are frustrated because they have no training with the severe/profound and the SpEd teachers are now itinerant and can only spend precious few minutes with each teacher. It was embarrassing for the middle-school boy with the urinary problem and the other students now ostracize him. This is obviously not the best situation but is rapidly becoming the norm around here.