Inclusion of Disabilities in the Classroom
During the later years of the 20th century and the start of the new millennium, it has become abundantly clear that we are living in an increasingly diverse world. Indeed, the diversity of the world has increased not only in terms of race and nationality, but also in terms of ability and aptitude. So recognized have these differences become that that accommodations have been made for them in work, educational, and social settings. The same is true for persons with learning disabilities, or LD. Although there has been much controversy around including such children in general education settings, the trend has been to opt for this choice rather than excluding them from the general education classroom. Interestingly, studies such as the one by McLesky and Waldron have proved that such an idea may indeed be worth the considerable time and money involved in setting up educational environments that can accommodate LD learners. Indeed, the authors have found that LD learners perform significantly better than their non-general education counterparts, regardless of the type of program or interventions provided.
An interesting component of the issue is legislation. Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 (McLesky and Waldron, 2011). Renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, the legislation mandated that students with disabilities needed to be included in the least restrictive environment in terms of their learning.
Under this legislation, an increasing number of children have been educated in a general education setting for the majority of their school day. During the years between 1989-1990,...
Some 20 years later, by 2009-2009, the number of LD children being educated in general settings stood at 62%. It is therefore clear that most schools have adopted this mode of education when possible for their LD learners, with the preferred model being teaching LD learners in a general setting with co-teaching by a specialist.
McLeskey and Waldon's results show that LD learners tend to respond positively to the efforts made in general education classrooms, performing somewhat better than those receiving only special education.
Another interesting component of general education for LD learners is the effect of labeling. While Lauchlan and Boyle suggest the usefulness of such labeling resulting in specific treatment outcomes, it is also true that it could lead to discrimination. Labeling means that the general public is more aware of the disability suffered by an individual. This could be particularly troublesome in a school environment, where children are often not only cruel, but also thoughtlessly so. Children with learning disabilities may therefore be marginalized and feel rejected because of the labels imposed upon them. For this reason, the authors argue that there is less help than hindrance in the labeling of individual learners, and that the overreliance on labels should be terminated, since these lead only to the unnecessary suffering of learners, without truly helping them in any concrete way.
The interactive instruction strategy appears to be particularly useful in classes with LD learners. Particularly, this strategy includes ways to help individual learners to learn from their peers…
