Make a sentence with each word and word combination. 2. Read the text “Inclusion”

2. Read the text “Inclusion”. Use dictionary if necessary.

Inclusion is part of a much larger picture then just placement in the regular class within school. It is being included in life and participating using one's abilities in day to day activities as a member of the community. The trend of integrating people with disabilities into the larger society began decades ago and is stronger than ever today. Champions of integration are proud that they have reduced the number of people who live in institutions and the number of students who attend spe­cial schools and special classes. Some of the radical proponents of integration, however, will not be satisfied until virtually all institutions, special schools, and special classes are elimi­nated. They recommend placing all students with disabilities m regular classes. Even today’s more conservative advocates of integration recommend much greater interaction between students with and without disabilities than most special educators recommended in the 1960s and 1970s.

A key principle behind the trend toward more integration of people with disabilities into society is normalization. First espoused in Scandinavia before being popularized in the United States, normalization is the philosophy that we should use means which are as culturally normative as possible, in order to establish and/or maintain personal behaviors and characteristics which are as culturally normative as possible. In other words, both the means and the ends of education for students with disabilities should be as much like those for nondisabled students as pos­sible. Regarding the means, for example, we should place students with disabilities in ed­ucational settings that are as similar to those of nondisabled students as possible. We should also use treatment approaches that are as close as possible to the ones we use with the rest of the student population. Some disability rights advocates suggest that the assessment of normalization is wrong-headed, as it begins with the idea that nondisabled people should be seen as the norm to
which those with disabilities are compared. For example, a representative of the organization Disabled People's International has called for " the elimination of the value concept of
normalization as a measurement and the use of non-disabled people as the norm".

At one time, it was common to place nearly all children and adults with mental retardation and/or mental illness in residential institutions. In the 1960s and 1970s, systematic efforts were made to move people out of institutions and back into closer contact with the community. Referred to as deinstitution­alization, this movement caused more children with disabilities to be raised by their families. A review of research on deinstitutionalization between 1980 and 1999 suggested that many people with intellectual disabilities have improved their adaptive behavior by moving into small community homes. However, research also indicates that much still needs to be done to improve the quality of life for some people with disabilities who have been released from insti­tutions. In fact, many people who were or formerly would have been in institutions are now homeless or in jail.

Deinstitutionalization has fostered increasing recognition that people with and without disabilities have a right to exercise self-determination—the right to make one's own decisions about important aspects of one's life. Examples are where to work and live, with whom to become friends, and what education to pur­sue. Person-centered planning has become an important aspect of self-determination. The primary hallmark of person-centered planning is that " the per­son's activities, services and supports аге based upon his or her dreams, interests, preferences, strengths, and capacities". The main idea is that people with disabilities should exercise per­sonal control of their lives. Making schools places where all children have a significant voice or say in important decisions is seen as critical.

Inclusion in education is an approach to educating students with special educational needs. Under the inclusion model, students with special needs spend most or all of their time with non-disabled students. Implementation of these practices varies. Schools most frequently use them for selected students with mild to severe special needs. Inclusion rejects the use of special schools or classrooms to separate students with disabilities from students without disabilities.

Inclusion has two sub-types: the first is sometimes called regular inclusion or partial inclusion, and the other is full inclusion. For example, students with special needs are educated in regular classes for nearly all of the day, or at least for more than half of the day. Whenever possible, the students receive any additional help or special instruction in the general classroom, and the student is treated like a full member of the class. However, most specialized services are provided outside a regular classroom, particularly if these services require special equipment or might be disruptive to the rest of the class (such as speech therapy), and students are pulled out of the regular classroom for these services. In the " full inclusion" setting, the students with special needs are always educated alongside students without special needs, as the first and desired option while maintaining appropriate supports and services.

Writers have different ideas about exactly what full inclusion means. However, most definitions contain the following key elements:

· All students with disabilities—regardless of the types or severities of disabilities— attend only classes in general education. In other words, there are no separate spe­cial education classes.

· All students with disabilities attend their neighborhood schools (i.e., the ones they would go to if they had no disabilities).

· General education, not special education, assumes primary responsibility for stu­dents with disabilities.

Some advocates of full inclusion propose the total elimination of special education. Others hold that professionals such as special teachers are still needed but that their main duties should be carried out in general education classrooms.

Arguments Favoring Full Inclusion. Those who advocate full inclusion base their po­sition on at least the following four premises:

1. Labeling people is harmful.

2. Separate special education has been ineffective.

3. People with disabilities should be viewed as a minority group. People with disabilities have experienced dis­crimination on the basis of their disability and therefore can be considered an oppressed minority group.

4. Ethics are more important than empirical evidence. The rationale for full inclusion is based on presumptive moral values, not research data.

Arguments Against Full Inclusion. The notion of full inclusion has met with consid­erable resistance. At least six arguments against full inclusion have been offered:

1. General educators, special educators, and parents are largely satisfied with and see the continuing need for the continuum of alternative placements.

2. General educators are unwilling and/or unable to cope with all students with dis­abilities.

3. Justifying full inclusion by asserting that people with disabilities are a minority is flawed.

4. Full-inclusion proponents' unwillingness to consider empirical evidence is pro­fessionally irresponsible. Full inclusion ignores the considerable evidence that children and adults need affiliation, for at least some of the time, with others like themselves

5. The available empirical evidence does not support full inclusion. There are few rigorous studies of full in­clusion, but those that are available suggest that full inclusion has not led to social or aca­demic benefits for all students.

6. In the absence of data to support one service delivery model, special educators must preserve the continuum of placements.

Whether or not one supports the concept of full inclusion, the fact is that most educators are in favor of some degree of integration of students with disabilities with nondisabled stu­dents. For participation in general education classrooms to be successful, special educators, general educators, and other professionals must provide some form of support for the stu­dent. There are generally five ways in which teachers help students with disabilities to par­ticipate in the general education classroom:

1. Pre-referral teams and response to intervention models. Pre-referral teams (PRTs) are groups of professionals (e.g., special education teachers, counselors, administrators, psychologists) who work with general education teachers to help identify alternative educational strategies for students who are struggling in the class­room before a referral for special education evaluation is made.

2. Collaborative consultation.

3. Cooperative teaching and other team arrangements.

4. Curricula and instructional strategies.

5. Accommodations and adaptations.

Students with disabilities who are not included are typically either mainstreamed or segregated. A mainstreamed student attends some general education classes, typically for less than half the day, and often for less academically rigorous classes. For example, a young student with significant intellectual disabilities might be mainstreamed for physical education classes, art classes and storybook time, but spend reading and mathematics classes with other students that have similar disabilities. A segregated student attends no classes with non-disabled students. He or she might attend a special school that only enrolls other students with disabilities, or might be placed in a dedicated, self-contained classroom in a school that also enrolls general education students. Some students may be confined to a hospital due to a medical condition and are thus eligible for tutoring services provided by a school district. Less common alternatives include homeschooling and, particularly in developing countries, exclusion from education.

II. 1. Answer the questions:

1) What are the trends and issues integrating people with disabilities into the larger society?

2) What are the trends and issues integrating students with exceptionalities into schools?

3) What is your opinion about full inclusion?

 

2. Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1) Segregation of anу kind is morally wrong; inclusion is morally right.

2) The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was enacted in 1990 and reauthorized in 1997 and 2004. This federal law requires that to receive funds under the act, every school system in the nation must provide a free, appropriate public education for every child between the ages of three and twenty-one, regardless of how or how seriously he or she may be disabled.

3) Nondisabled students benefit by learning to know children with disabilities; they become more sensitive to people with disabilities.

4) A key goal for individuals with disabilities is learning skills that allow them self-determination

5) Planning for a person's self-determination; planning activi­ties and services based on a person's dreams, aspirations, interests, preferences, strengths, and capacities.

6) The child needs to be around other children with similar disabilities; he or she fits in better, feels less stigmatized or different, and has more real friends in a special setting.

7) The child does not get the needed teacher attention or ser­vices in general education.

8) The overall goal of inclusive education is to ensure that school is a place where all children participate and are treated equally.

9) An inclusive curriculum addresses the child’s cognitive, emotional and creative development.

10) Inclusion has two sub-types: the first is sometimes called regular inclusion or partial inclusion, and the other is full inclusion.

3. Give synonyms from the text to the following words:

- an advocate;

- practically;

- cooperation;

- to support;

- to encourage;

- symbol;

- to refuse;

- joint.

 

4. Which word or phrase in the list is odd?

1) Self-determination, normalization, distributive justice, deinstitutionalization.

2) Full inclusion, partial inclusion, self-contained classrooms, mainstreaming.

3) Students with physical disabilities that have no or little effect on their academic work, students with all types of mild disabilities, students whose disabilities require relatively few specialized services, students with severe behavioral problems (such that they represent a serious physical danger to other), students with severe sensory processing disorders.

5. Make up the plan of the text. Here are the topics\ paragraphs in the wrong order. Make it correct:

- Self-determination;

- Collaboration and participation in general education classroom;

- Normalization;

- Deinstitutionalization;

- Integration into schools;

- Integration into the larger society.

- Alternatives to inclusion.

 

6. Continue the sentences:

1) Inclusion in education is an approach…

2) Those who advocate full inclusion base their po­sition on…

3) For participation in general education classrooms to be successful…

4) The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act…

5) Students with disabilities who are not included are…

6) Pre-referral teams (PRTs) are…

7) At least six arguments against full inclusion have been offered…

8) Deinstitutionalization…

9) A key principle behind the trend toward more integration of people with disabilities into society is…

7. Fill in the blanks with the words from the text:

Inclusion has two sub-types: the first is sometimes called … inclusion or … inclusion, and the other is … inclusion. For example, students with special needs are educated in … … for nearly all of the day, or at least for more than half of the day. Whenever possible, the students receive any additional … or special … in the … classroom, and the student is treated like … …. of the class. However, most specialized services are provided … a regular classroom, particularly if these services require special … or might be disruptive to the rest of the class (such as … …), and students are pulled … of the regular classroom for these services. In the " … inclusion" setting, the students with special needs are always educated … students without special needs, as the first and desired option while maintaining appropriate … and services.