Culminating Project: Mainstreaming and SPED 502 Inclusion: Report and Content Area Unit

Culminating Project: Mainstreaming and Sped 502 Inclusion
Report and Content Area Unit
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Introduction
An inclusive approach to education is one of the education systems that are getting appreciation globally. The concept of inclusive education has therefore emerged as one of the discussions that are directed towards initiating development in advanced education. According to history, several educational institutions have assimilated integrated education models as an approach aimed at achieving inclusive education (Reindal, 2016). As determined in the integrated model of education, students who present disabilities are required to attend regular schools, a factor that emphasizes on the learners need to fit in such systems rather than systems adapting to ensure that the learner’s educational needs are met.
National Curriculum Framework for Teachers Education (NCFTE) defines the element of inclusion in education as a philosophical position that incorporates an arrangement with institutional facilities and processes. This is therefore developed to ensure that access to education and success for the learners that includes those who have been marginalized who either are having learning difficulties and challenges out of physical and mental disabilities or because of their social states (Reindal, 2016). The aim of developing an integrated school setting lies in the capacity of these approaches that are directed towards providing equal opportunities to learners with special needs and who come from varied backgrounds and who also present diverse needs in relation to learning.
On the other hand, the inclusive approach to education clearly depicts that the learners with disabilities are primarily served within the education system under the charge of a regular classroom tutor. Inclusion in this case is an educational approach that enables all the learners including those who are disadvantaged with an opportunity to learn together or at least three quarters within a school day (Reindal, 2016). This therefore determines the fact that inclusion refers to a philosophy of education that is primarily pegged on the belief of an individual in inherently participating in the society and also implies the acceptance of differences within the society. Through inclusion, learners who would be excluded from an educational experience are given room to receive education, a factor that remains fundamental to the development of students. This paper therefore aims at taking a closer study on the concept of inclusion in education. The central objective of this paper therefore lies in developing a means through which support and benefit can be provided through inclusion in education. The inclusion of special education students within a learning environment has the capacity to facilitate changes in both the learners’ mental and physical values.
Legal Foundations, Legislation, and Due Process of Inclusion
According to Theoharis, & Causton (2014), in the year 1975, the Public Law as captures in section 94-142 that protects Individuals with Disabilities as pertains to the Education Act (IDEA) was passed with this legislation and its subsequent amendments established with the primary aim of ensuring that the students who were disadvantaged due to disabilities had the right to public education. The details of this law also provided clauses that clearly determined that education would in this case take place to a maximum extent and in less restrictive environments (pp.85). It is therefore essential to point that before this law was passed, students with special needs were in most cases excluded from acquiring education in public schools.
IDEA therefore ensures that learners with special needs receive education with this including and not limited to students who is are: autistic, those who present mental disorders, and also have multiple disabilities such as emotional disturbances, speech or language impairments, specified learning disabilities, visual impairments, traumatic brain injuries, visual impairments, deafness and blindness (Theoharis, & Causton, 2014). It is additionally essential to note that other groups of learners may in other cases require special adaptations by educational teachers with this including learners who are linguistically or culturally diverse, students with varied talents and gifts and lastly those who are at risk of school failure
Additionally, there are other court rulings and federal legislation such as that presented in Section 504 and the American with Disabilities Act that also ensure that proper measures are available that addresses the elements of discrimination on learners who have disabilities (Theoharis, & Causton, 2014). It is in this case vital to determine that the fundamental goals of IDEA remains at ensuring that learners with different challenges receive appropriate education that needs to be provided in a less restraining environment. Additionally, IDEA also ensures that education systems are free from discrimination and that there is zero rejects, and lastly the incorporated participation of the parents in included in enhancing learning.
Current State and Special Education Standards
Currently, several educational institutions provide a continuum of services to students who have special needs and disabilities. This includes the full time placement of these students in regular education classes and their admissions in residential schools. Today, many schools have turned out to be diverse, a factor that has seen teachers find their classrooms filled with gifted students, English language learners, learners from diverse cultures and those with disabilities. According to data obtained from U.S Department of Education (2010), close to 42 percent of learners in the U.S public institutions are students of color with approximately 20 percent being students speaking other languages other than English and 14 percent are identified to be those with disabilities.
Additionally, close to half of the students identified to have disabilities spend close to 80 percent of their day in general educational classroom settings (Hutchings, Scammell, & Quinney, 2013). On the other hand, it is essential to note that close to 12 percent of students within the public schools are also considered as gifted and possess numerous talents. Like their other peers who present challenges as a result of disabilities, these students are also integrated within education classrooms, a factor that blends students learning needs and makes learning interesting and complex.
Technology and Other Modifications for Students with Varying Abilities and Disabilities
Assistive technology redefines and enhances learning for learners with different disabilities within a class setting. Through the aid of assistive technology, learners of different ages includes those who are disabled are in a position of being productive, independent and self-confident, a factor that sees them included in the everyday activities within a classroom (Hutchings, et.al. 2013). These modifications therefore include the low or high-tech modifies technologies that can help learners in performing tasks. The senior man with headphones and microphone encompasses assistive technologies that include computers, laptops, iPads, tablets, and other software that include voice recognizer, text to speech, screen readers and magnifiers. These aids therefore have the capacity of enhancing the course of learning for different students with varied needs.
Benefits and Barriers to Successful Inclusion
Benefits
It is essential to determine that students who have special needs and are educated together within a class setting that also has regular students have the potential of performing better academically and socially as compared to those in non-inclusive settings. Studies have also determined that students who have disabilities and are educated in inclusive environments progress more in math than their counterparts (Hutchings, et.al. 2013). In as much as this progress in reading may not be significantly greater than that of their peers, there is a consistent improvement in their scores, a factor that favors the education of students without disabilities to learn in inclusive settings.
Additionally, it is significant to note that learners also have the capacity to improve on their social skills, academic skills, communication skills, and the manner in which they relate to their peers, a factor that is pointed as beneficial to this approach of learning (Hutchings, et.al. 2013). It has also been determined that the non-disabled students have the capacity to support their peers who have special needs by acting as their speech and behavior models. On the other hand, those who are disabled in return offer their colleagues tolerance, peer acceptance, mutual friendship, and patience through the course of learning.
Barriers
It is in this case essential to note that there are some challenges that have been noted in the element of inclusion and the full time placement of students who have learning disabilities in regular class settings (Hutchings, et.al. 2013). The main barriers in this form of education are in the fact that most children who present disabilities are still educated in separate classrooms and schools. It is also essential to note that the teachers additionally find challenges in relating to students who have varied educational needs.
Teachers also find some elements of inclusion in their classes a challenge. It is however, essential to determine that teachers noted that this requires the need of sufficient preparation and time, adequate resources and training ensuring that students are taught effectively within an inclusive classroom (Hutchings, et.al. 2013). When these elements are provided, the attitudes towards inclusion in education are likely to improve.
Roles of Educators and Families in the Process
It is significant to note that parents prepare therefore prepare their children for this type of education that allows them to be independent as possible. This therefore means that there is a need to instill discipline that allows the children to behave appropriately within a different setting (Kurth, 2013). In other words, support from the parents’ remains one of the essential elements is shaping the future of their children through this process.
Educators on the other hand have a role in ensuring that learning is incorporated in a way that meets the needs of these children. It is additionally essential that educators develop appropriate skills in the delivery and dispensation of learning to these children (Kurth, 2013). This would require the development of effective curriculum that incorporates several activities in the process of learning.
PART II: Content Area Unit
In achieving the requirements of this unit, it is essential to determine that the learners in Grade 4-6 were chosen in order to develop a content area that covers a five –day unit within an associated topic. This unit is therefore developed in a manner that adheres to the special and state standards through the provision of culminated curriculum and instruction to students, who present different learning needs. Students in this grade are known to undergo peer pressures with parents failing to h...