Classroom Connections: Inclusion

Inclusion in Your Classroom?

New Jersey student member Sharon O’Donnell has chosen a K-12 education major at Brown University because she wants to be a counselor. She’s also chosen a special education major. Why?

"I was in a classroom, observing and teaching with a first-year teacher," recalls O’Donnell. "In that class was a boy who seemed to require more attention than the others. Though it was challenging, I was able to engage this little boy one day while the teacher was out of the room.

"When the teacher returned," says O’Donnell, "she pulled me aside and said, ‘Oh, don’t try to do too much with him. It won’t work. He’s a crack baby and can’t learn that much.’

"The thing is, he was learning, and doing quite well," O’Donnell says. "And I saw in a flash that I was working with someone who never received any real training on how to teach this child——and who bought into labeling this child with special needs as one who’s difficult to teach.

"Just then, I knew I had to change my own training. I added special education to my major," says O’Donnell.

Like O’Donnell, students around the country are expanding their field of study to include a special education major. Others are going beyond the "one-class" introduction to special needs children.

One reason for the shift is that more students are identified as special needs students, resulting in a call for special education-certified teaching candidates.

The other reason: inclusion. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that students with disabilities be educated "to the maximum extent appropriate" with nondisabled children in a regular classroom setting. But too often, disabled students are merely moved into classrooms without support services or training for their general education teachers.

"I want to make sure I can teach every child in the classroom at the highest level," says North Dakota’s Stefanie Schumaker, an elementary education major who also majors in special education. "I don’t think I can do that unless I understand the special needs child, too."

"Even if you’re a general education major and don’t want to major in special ed, you still need more extensive training than one class," says Meredith Brodsky, dean of the College of Education at Western Oregon State University. Brodsky and her colleagues have worked hard to integrate understanding of special needs children throughout their program.

"We have a special Ed educator on every team," Brodsky notes. "That way, we can show how the instruction would work with a special needs child."

Child advocates laud approaches like Brodsky’s because kids won’t get short-changed. "At most colleges, general education students don’t gain even basic knowledge of learning disabilities, other disabilities they’re likely to confront, and interventions for behavioral problems," says Judith Heumann, assistant secretary of special education and rehabilitative services at the Department of Education.

What’s a student to do? "Find out if there are ways to improve your program," says Brodsky. "Some of the work involves updating the research and learning various teaching techniques. You can also invite classroom teachers in to provide you with anecdotal experience or serve as mentors."

"The more we know about special needs students, the more skills we have to teach them," adds Sharon O’Donnell. "If inclusion is here to stay, let’s look at it as a chance to enhance our teaching."