Transcript EDU 221 Ch 1 Spring 2016 - Wayne Community College

Chapter 1
An Inclusive Approach to Early
Education
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Inclusion Defined
• Inclusion means that children with special
needs attend school with typically
developing peers.
• Inclusion is belonging, being valued, and
having choices.
• Inclusion is accepting children and families
and supporting their participation.
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What is it?
Inclusion
is any opportunity
for children with
disabilities to play &
interact with, grow & learn
alongside children who are
developing in a
typical way.
Attitudes Toward Disabilities:
Historical Perspectives
1500s
• Only 50% of children reached adulthood
• Infanticide, abandonment,
exploitation common
• Public sentiment: Children were full of evil
1.2
1700s
• Children maimed to be
better beggars
• Strict discipline enforced
• Public sentiment:
Children seen, not heard
∆
∆
1.3
Children = workers
Little thought given to persons with disabilities
1800s
• First kindergartens
• 80% of persons in poor housing
had some disability
• First disability services
∆
School for the Deaf (1817)
∆
School for the Blind (1832)
∆
National Education Association subdivision
concerning disabilities (1897)
• Public sentiment: Protect the handicapped
1.4
early
1900s
• Institutions – isolated,
overcrowded, understaffed
• Residents – institutionalized
for life, provided
minimal care
• Community – developed
apathy, fear, distrust
• Public sentiment – Persons
with disabilities = menace
1.5
early
1900s
• New science of genetics produced
faulty studies resulting in
misconceptions
—Mental retardation was mostly hereditary
—Mental retardation caused social evils
• New laws removed rights of
persons with disabilities
• Study of children as a science
emerged
1.6
mid to late
1900s
• World wars ended & disabled soldiers
returned home
• New compassion for persons with
disabilities
• Civil rights movement unfolded
• Federal legislation supports rights of
persons with disabilities
• Public sentiment: People with disabilities
are people first
1.7
Historical Perspective of Inclusion
• Forget and hide—children with disabilities
were placed in institutions, and families
were told to forget about them.
• Screen and segregate—people with
disabilities now had civil rights.
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Historical Perspective (continued)
• Identify and help—children were now
identified earlier, so treatment could begin
earlier.
• Include and support—Americans with
Disabilities Act is passed and inclusion
begins.
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Rationale for Inclusive Early
Education
• Ethical issue—segregated classes for
children with disabilities often do not have
the materials, funding, and support of
regular classrooms, making their
education inadequate.
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Rationale for Inclusive Early Education
(continued)
• Socialization issue—through inclusion
equal social status is implied:
– Children of varying abilities grow up together,
and acceptance is mainstream.
– Re-entry into the social norms is not
necessary because they are already a part of
the norm.
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Rationale for Inclusive Early Education
(continued)
• Developmental issues
– Children with and without disabilities are
provided lessons that enhance their level of
development.
– Children learn from each other.
– Children model appropriate interactions with
others.
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Rationale for Inclusive Early Education
(continued)
• Cost issue—cost is actually reduced,
because existing program structures are
already in place.
– Segregating typical and atypical children
would be a setback.
– Not enough quality programs to serve all
children in segregation.
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Supporting Inclusion: Implications for
Teachers
• Structuring child-child interactions
– The teacher needs to structure his/her
activities on encouraging play between
children with and without disabilities.
– After a period of imitating each other’s
behaviors, children will begin to play together
on their own.
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Supporting Inclusion: Implications for
Teachers (continued)
• Planning activities
– Activity-based approach has the teacher
develop lessons based on typical preschool
activities and incorporate IFSP and IEP goals
at the same time.
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Supporting Inclusion: Implications for
Teachers (continued)
• Professional collaboration
– Interdisciplinary teams are developed and
must work together to meet the needs of the
individual child.
– Interdisciplinary teams partner with families.
– Professionals share their strengths to improve
the child’s educational outcomes.
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Benefits of Inclusion
• Benefits for children with disabilities
– Gains are made in
•
•
•
•
•
social competence
social play
developmental domains
higher levels of play
higher academic achievement
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Benefits of Inclusion (continued)
• Benefits for typically developing children
– Developmental progress
• not adversely affected.
• improved quality in teaching has positive impacts.
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Benefits of Inclusion (continued)
• Peer tutoring
– Both children receive significant benefits.
– Provides social interactions.
– Promotes acceptable play behaviors.
– Promotes appropriate and enhanced use of
materials.
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Benefits of Inclusion (continued)
• Developing sensitivity
– Understanding differences
– Becoming aware of own strengths and
weaknesses
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Benefits of Inclusion (continued)
• Benefits for families
– Parents’ attitudes become more positive over
time as they see
• their children become more accepting of
differences
• their children become more comfortable around all
people
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Benefits of Inclusion (continued)
• Benefits for society
– As the children grow into adults, they are
• more accepting of individual differences
• more mature in their responses around others
• able to respect others for what they can do
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Practices That Interfere with
Positive Attitudes toward
Persons with Disabilities
• Isolating people who have disabilities
• Treating people with disabilities as
incapable & dependent
• Seeing only the disability, not the person
• Using language such as cripple, idiot,
retarded, deaf & dumb
1.8
Challenges to
Implementing Inclusion
• Negative attitudes of parents, teachers, &
community
• Lack of trained staff
• Continued physical inaccessibility of some
buildings
• Lack of funding for additional staff, smaller
class sizes, specialized materials & equipment
1.10
Concerns and Challenges of
Inclusion
• Will special needs be served?
– Parents and professionals often feel that they
cannot meet the needs of the child.
– Are specialized services going to be
available?
– How well are the teachers prepared?
– If so much time is spent on children with
disabilities, will the typical children feel
shortchanged?
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Concerns and Challenges of Inclusion
(continued)
• Concerns about inappropriate behaviors
– Typically developing children will begin to
imitate inappropriate behaviors of children
with disabilities.
• This is unfounded and false.
• Children will not imitate unusual or stereotypical
behaviors.
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Concerns and Challenges of Inclusion
(continued)
• Will children with special needs be
teased?
– Not if given good role models who answer
questions honestly and support friendships
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Final Thoughts
• Inclusion is the law.
• There are more benefits than downfalls.
• Society will be more accepting of all
individuals.
• Cost should not be a deterring factor.
• Try it; you might like it.
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All Rights Reserved.