Compassionate Practices: The Case For Inclusion Of Special Needs Students Essay Sample

In Halifax, Nova Scotia, a group of parents of students with intellectual and physical disabilities has spoken out against a recent report by the Minister’s Panel of Education, which has stated that the current inclusion model in public schools is not beneficial to any students. However, children with intellectual and physical disabilities should not be segregated into their own classrooms, because inclusion helps the socializing process of both mainstream and special needs students, and having additional educational paraprofessionals in a classroom is beneficial to all students. First, special needs students benefit greatly from the inclusion model. Part of the educational process should be to encourage social skills of all students. Special needs students develop interpersonal relationships with all students; not just students who are also developmentally disabled. This process is also apparent for mainstream students as well. One of the fears of the parents from the group in Halifax is putting special needs students in their own classroom is a form of discrimination, and will lead to ostracizing students with special needs. Mainstream students learn to be more accepting of their peers with the inclusion model. Finally, while educational paraprofessionals benefit mostly the student who is on their caseload, having additional adults in a classroom can be beneficial for all students. Despite a paraprofessional’s primary duty of assisting a special need student with their coursework, more adults in a classroom could possibly mean better classroom management for the primary teacher, and more people to assist in content delivery for mainstream and special needs students alike. Special needs students should absolutely continue to be included into mainstream classrooms, because isolation is simply discriminatory, and will lead to far greater problems of acceptance and tolerance of students with intellectual and physical disabilities in schools.

Works Cited

Assouad, Maaya. “Nova Scotia Group Says a Report’s Recommendation Will Segregate Students with Special Needs.” Global News. Shaw Media, Inc., 18 Dec. 2014. Web. 14 Jan. 2015 <http://globalnews.ca/news/1732429/nova-scotia-group-says-a-reports- recommendation-will-segregate-students-with-special-needs/>