Inclusive Education: It's Great if You Can Get It

Here is a recent post I wrote for Ollibean. I was thinking about Henry Frost, a boy who is being told by the school district in his community that he can not attend the school across the street from his house. 

Inclusive schools need to become a reality for all students across the nation regardless of abilities, socio-economic background and geographic location. Unfortunately, many school districts do not see the inclusive classroom as the Least Restrictive Environment and an appropriate placement for children with special needs. Thus, what one child has free and appropriate access to, another one doesn’t. And then inclusion, which has been proven by experts to be the gold standard of special education, becomes an ideal situation…if you can get it.

The lack of universal practice of inclusive education in our school system creates an overall discord in our social value system and risks the overall future success of our students.  While one school teaches respect and tolerance, another models segregation and exclusion.  While one school welcomes students of all abilities with open arms, another turns away a student who lives across the street.  While one student has access to assistive technology, another is removed from the classroom. Children are constantly receiving mixed messages of.............CLICK HERE TO CON'T READING