Honest question about integrated special ed

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain how it works? Especially in schools with kids with acute special needs, how are both their needs and those of kids without special needs met?

[Anonymous]

I can't, because even though at Bridges I knew there were several special needs kids in our inclusion class, I couldn't tell you who they were. My child's needs were met well.

[Anonymous]

ideally, there are enough adults in the classroom (teachers or aides) so everyone gets attention. Specialists (speech, OT, psychologist) might come into the classroom or pull kids out for special attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ideally, there are enough adults in the classroom (teachers or aides) so everyone gets attention. Specialists (speech, OT, psychologist) might come into the classroom or pull kids out for special attention.

Teachers also need specialized training so that they can create lessons that are inclusive from the get-go. For a host of reasons we need to get away from the idea that special Ed happens in a different part of the school building - or that kids should just wait around til a specialist arrives. Inclusive classrooms approaches can also help teachers support gifted students as well as LGBTQ students. PP is right - when done well a casual observer shouldn't be able to 'see' it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how it works? Especially in schools with kids with acute special needs, how are both their needs and those of kids without special needs met?

If the special needs are really "high level" such as non-verbal autism or severe intellectual disability, then the students aren't integrated into the general education setting.

[Anonymous]

You really need to say more about what disability you're asking about and even the school, and then you can get more detail. It often comes down to the skill of the special educators involved.

[Anonymous]

Or is OP concerned that a typical kid won't get enough attention because the teachers will be focused in the studenta with special needs?

[Anonymous]

In 2nd grade, DC was in a classroom with what we took to be an unusually high numbers of special ed cases. The principal had decided to sort of concentrate them in one of two 2nd grade classrooms and place a second sped teacher into that integration classroom three of five days a week. We were worried at first because, by all accounts, our DC is advanced, esp. in math. But it turned out to be an excellent setup for all kids, advanced ones included. It was as if what the two teachers set up in the classroom benefited not only those who needed special attention and were entitled to their IEP allotted hours but also those who were particularly advanced. It was a real win-win.
In hindsight, I think pull-outs would have been less advantages for our "normal" child because DC would not have benefited from that sped teacher and instruction would have been more interrupted due to pull-outs.

Aside from that particular experience, our kids have always had classmates with special needs but couldn't point them out (neither could we btw, we just occasionally knew from the parents). I'm not privy to the details but they ranged from dyslexia to high-functioning autism.

[Anonymous]

Parent of a HFA child in an inclusive classroom.

In my child's class, virtually all of the concerning, disruptive behavior comes from kids without an IEP. Teachers agree.

[Anonymous]

Remember that most of the kids who are on IEPs don't lack intelligence, they just have to learn differently. A special ed teacher is great at catering to different learning styles, and the mainstream kids benefit from this as well.