Inclusive Education Practices and Challenges

This assignment delves into the complexities of inclusive education by examining a range of research studies. It investigates teachers' attitudes towards inclusive practices, highlights the challenges faced in implementing inclusion, and explores effective strategies for fostering successful inclusive learning environments. The provided text includes summaries of key findings from various academic sources, shedding light on the current state of knowledge in this crucial field.

Running head: MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Mainstreaming children with disabilities
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to throw light on the opinion and view of people regarding the
integration of children into the mainstream. It will focus on the methods implemented and their
efficacy in bringing about a solution. It will also focus on how much effort and discipline will be
required on the part of the teacher to bring about an integration in the society. This report will
also concentrate on the factors that will prove to be a barrier while carrying out the solution can
be removed in order to bring about a harmonious society. It will focus on the advantages of
bringing the disadvantaged children into the mainstream that will lead to cohesion in the society
and prove to be fruitful in the long run.

2MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Literature Review........................................................................................................................3
Search Strategy Database and Search terms................................................................................4
Critical Appraisal Tool................................................................................................................6
Recommendation based on critical appraisal tool.......................................................................8
Methodology of Research............................................................................................................9
Recommendations in relation to funding...................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References:....................................................................................................................................11
Appendix:......................................................................................................................................13

3MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Introduction
Disability in children is now a common phenomenon and many young children have to
suffer the brunt of these psychological and physiological disorders. It refers to a lack of ability to
do a particular task that can be performed by normal children. Disability prevents them from
achieving a definite goal. The disability may be attitudinal or social that prevents a person from
mingling freely within the fold of society. Mental retardation is the main cause for failing to
perform social roles perfectly (Hemm, Dagnan and Meyer 2015). The degree to which the
disability has affected them will vary from one person to another. This report will talk about
whether the children who suffer from mental disabilities should be integrated into the regular
classroom and the advantages and disadvantages of this assimilation. This will further highlight
on the efficacy of the research method employed and it will recommend whether the government
should allocate funds to help children with special needs.
Literature Review
The term “special educational need” came into existence in the year 1981. It is inclusive
of children who suffer from the scourges of mental disability and it prevents a person from
normal behavior and interrupts in his academic performance (Harkes, Brown and Horsburgh
2014). It results in a development delay and leads to an emotional problem. The development of
a child does not work along a linear path. Each stage of development in a child opens up new
possibilities for the later stage of developments. These stages are thus related to each other.
Regular teachers have to now face the responsibility of mainstreaming slightly
handicapped children at a steady pace. Special educators heap praises on this act of
mainstreaming. Research into the mechanics of the running of an organization will be much

4MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
required so that both the regular as well as special education personnel can work together. This
study differed from that of an earlier study that was conducted by Shotel, Iano and McGettigan
in the year 1972 that measured the attitude of the teacher towards the education of ED along with
EMR pupils with the help of a resource room. According to this study, a sampling was conducted
on an entire gamut of regular along with that of special educators. This research was done among
both rural as well as the urban population and it carried out a comparative analysis of responses
of both and this was done across all stages of schools like elementary and secondary position
(Knight, Porcellato and Tume 2014). It further focused on the abilities of teachers and on
outstanding needs of the children. It also laid stress on needs of teachers that would be reflected
with the help of their own views.
Search Strategy Database and Search terms
For performing the research studies were conducted in accordance which met certain
criteria. The studies were conducted in educational settings that are mainstream. It particularly
focused on the students who were dyslexic. It should contain indication of the effect of
intervention along with service on students. It encompassed a vast area that ranged from that of
the primary school to that of the higher education level. It should include studies in relation to
description and exploration in relation to relationships (Robertson et al. 2015). The primary
study that was conducted failed to define the terms like dyslexia and inclusion. It was found that
there was a lack of consensus in regard to meaning of these terms. There were some who held
that dyslexia was a disorder where the student faced difficulty when they applied their reading or
spelling at the word level while others thought of it as a neuro diversity that signified that it was
a normal human difference that deserves respect in the same manner that other difference does.
Systematic review was conducted that included students who were held as dyslexic. The Eric

5MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Thesaurus defined the term “inclusion” as successfully educating all kinds of students within the
same classroom that celebrates the diversity and various abilities and people coming from
different cultures. This systematic review included studies that addressed service and form of
support that was fashioned to help the mentally disabled children to come to the mainstream
(Hunter-Johnson, Newton, and Cambridge-Johnson 2014). The primary search strategy that was
done with the help of electronic database went through dual stage. The screening was firstly done
that was based on introspection of titles. It was followed by a full-text inspection. On the basis of
this, finally a decision was arrived that the students who had enrolled for access course in
preparation for taking degree course as studies involved students who were dyslexic and were
engaged in post-secondary education and they belonged to the same age group like the
participants from other studies. It was also decided that studies that would focus on different kind
of disability would help in providing relevant data in relation to our review (John et al. 2014).
A survey would also help in highlighting and it would focus on such parameters like the
attitude of the teacher regarding whether the exceptional children are entitled to equal
educational opportunity and it also measured the commitment of the teacher towards assimilating
the exceptional children into the structure of regular classroom. The attitude of the teacher was
measured in order to ascertain whether exceptional children who were kept in a self contained
class was viewed in a different manner as compared to that of a normal student. Their opinion
was asked regarding the fact whether an exceptional child would feel isolated in a self-contained
classroom. They were enquired regarding whether they thought that the teacher had to give more
importance to those who belonged to the special education class (Liamputtong 2013). Their
opinion was asked as to whether they thought that the teachers had the requisite amount of skill
to handle special needs children and whether they thought about recommending a different class

6MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
for those students who are mildly handicapped. It will also focus on the kind of special education
service that already exists and the one’s that would be provided in due course of time. They also
had to answer whether formal meetings were arranged within the structure of the classroom in
order to help in integrating the special needs children along with that of the regular children
(Lindsay et al. 2014). The research suggested that laid bare the fact both regular along with those
personnel who were involved in special education felt that self-containment will discriminate
against that of the exceptional children. It does not reveal any kind of overwhelming support to
abolish self-contained classes that would be for the slightly handicapped children. Above 60 %
thought classes that are self-contained would prove to be of more effective for those who were
slightly handicapped. Regular teachers were keen about getting assistance from services and they
agreed whole-heartedly to this thing and were eager to take advantage of it (Liu et al. 2016). It
was found that 40% regular teachers were opposed to the idea of main-streaming. The report
suggested that 20% would be in favour of mainstreaming if such a situation rose. The results
indicated the fact that the teachers who belonged to the regular education system thought that it
would become difficult to assimilate the students who are mildly handicapped into normal
classes without proper help from the special education sector.
The searching terms that have been used for this report are access barriers, adaptive
technology, disability, facility, dyslexia, inclusion, mainstreaming, specific learning disability.
Critical Appraisal Tool
A systematic review should not include all the evidence that is available no matter how
trustworthy the primary source is. The selection process returned the result of 15 studies which

7MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
had descriptive designs and the main area that was overlapping was the students of special needs
own views in regard to learning along with that of participation (Mackelprang and Salsgiver
2016). The indications of Cochrane Collaboration Qualitative Method Group and Centre for
Evidence Based management that was immensely helpful in ascertaining quality of study mainly
making use of four dimension. Credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were
the main factors held into consideration. Credibility was related to the perception of participants
and transferability highlighted whether the findings can help in illuminating other settings.
Dependability dealt with whether the process of research was traceable and whether the
documentation was done clearly. The effect of the researcher should be accounted for that would
ensure its confirmability. These factors help in establishing the soundness of study. They should
have the ability to answer their own research question.
The appraisal tool would include 10 yes and no question that would be divided into two
key areas (Miller 2017). One was that of the internal methodological study and the importance
that the study focus will have for the review questions. For internal methodological study, it was
asked whether the study revolved around clearly defined question. For understanding the
relevance of the results, it was asked whether the study was in relation to the aspects which was
important for including children with special needs and whether the studies were providing
detailed representation of the views of students. For data extraction, two options are generally
made use of. One was the selective and the other one was that of inclusive. The questions that
were raised in this review are completely new so an inclusive approach was integrated for the
process of data extraction (O'Connor, Yasik and Horner 2016).
Integrating children with special needs with that of regular children carries with it a
whole range of challenges. They need attention and care from people around them so that they

8MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
can fit into the society. According to a popular research, general students who do not have
special needs will get a lot of benefits when they interact with those who have special needs. The
approach of teaching a class that have students with disabilities will be different and an approach
that is all rounded will greatly benefit all kinds of students. Students with disabilities have to be
taught by using charts and figures and that would indirectly also be useful for normal students to
understand the subject (Oliver 2017). A pictoral representation simplifies the things and help in
captivating the attention of the students. It has been found that the mingling of students who do
not have special needs with those who belong to the special needs category will help in
increasing the self-esteem of those who have disabilities. According to a report, it would develop
empathy in the students who do not have special needs. It will help in their assimilation in the
society later on and people without any special needs will be able to accept them within the
framework of the society (O'Rourke 2015). It will help in building rapport and special needs
children would feel that they are an integral part of society.
Recommendation based on critical appraisal tool
A design that is universal for learning should be able to address the unique needs of
students who have different needs. Instruction should be designed for those who have special
needs. The traditional approach should give in to a new approach where adjustments would be
made for students with special needs. The instructional intervention should be designed to satisfy
the needs of both the students with special needs along with those who do not have any special
needs. A Code Memory Diagram Animation Software Tool would be able to enhance the self-
reported understanding of students in relation to computer programming module. It will prove to
be of huge help in fostering learning in the students. The critical appraisal has raised questions
about the ability of study to provide a description regarding how this software may help in

9MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
improving the understanding of students. The study hence has not much relevance in the present
context where the goal was to describe the understanding of students regarding what would
improve the instructional experience. E-portfolio will prove to be of huge help to enable the
personalization in relation to the learning process and it would prove to be valuable for students
who do not have any kind of special need but this results were derived in an indirect manner
from the relevant report of two learner who had disability based problems. The result of
instructional design that made use of Second Life that was related to students with and without
special needs. Problems in relation to written exams should be catered to. It was found that
emotional tension was related to bad performance in spelling and it was related to forgetting
known information. Some students with special needs felt that written examination was
discriminatory as it did not reflect their knowledge and mastery in relation to the subject matter.
Methodology of Research
A qualitative study was carried out which helped in gathering knowledge about beliefs
that people have and it will furnish valuable information about the perspective of people. It will
highlight the attitude of people and reflect on their reason for have such a mindset. A
questionnaire survey was carried out among different classes of population and among people of
different age groups. A major portion of people answered that they did not understand the
questions provided in the questionnaire. Lack of information regarding the problems that
children with special needs face compounded the problem. The results indicated that more than
60% of people were in favour of keeping the slightly handicapped within the framework of self-
contained classes. A very small percentage of people would go for mainstreaming if such a
situation rose (Round, Subban and Sharma 2016).

10MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Recommendations in relation to funding
The majority of the children who have special needs come from developing nations who
do not have access to treatment and therapy. The disabled do not have equal rights but they can
be productive in the society (Smith 2015). Dearth of resources and funding limit their scope in
the society. People with disabilities should be funded because that would enable them to have
proper access to guidance, opportunity and care in the society.
Disabled people can be productive but they need the support of the government. The
government should allocate funds for providing them with proper education and for taking care
of their health. Bringing them into mainstream will improve the workforce of a nation. The
principles of group entrepreneurship should be put into action to help the disadvantaged class.
Collaborative effort from different groups and volunteer organizations should come forward to
provide the disadvantaged class with the proper amount of funding (Thomson 2017).
Conclusion
It can hence be concluded that disseminating information that will highlight the obstacles
of children with special needs face is the first step that should be undertaken before distribution
of the questionnaires. It is extremely important that the teachers understand the severity of the
problem before answering the questionnaire survey. Social welfare groups and health
practitioners should come together to solve this growing crisis as more and more children are
falling prey to various kinds of learning disabilities. Teachers should be given training on the
proper techniques of teaching children with special needs so that they can rise to the situation
and prove to be a strong factor for the growth of the society.

11MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
References:
Harkes, M.A., Brown, M. and Horsburgh, D., 2014. Self Directed Support and people with
learning disabilities: a review of the published research evidence. British Journal of Learning
Disabilities, 42(2), pp.87-101.
Hemm, C., Dagnan, D. and Meyer, T.D., 2015. Identifying training needs for mainstream
healthcare professionals, to prepare them for working with individuals with intellectual
disabilities: a systematic review. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 28(2),
pp.98-110.
Hunter-Johnson, Y., Newton, N.G. and Cambridge-Johnson, J., 2014. What Does Teachers'
Perception Have to Do with Inclusive Education: A Bahamian Context. International journal of
special education, 29(1), pp.143-157.
John O.. Cooper, Timothy E.. Heron and Heward, W.L., 2014. Applied behavior analysis.
Pearson educational international.
Knight, K.H., Porcellato, L. and Tume, L., 2014. Out-of-school lives of physically disabled
children and young people in the United Kingdom: A qualitative literature review. Journal of
Child Health Care, 18(3), pp.275-285.
Liamputtong, P., 2013. Qualitative research methods.
Lindsay, S., Proulx, M., Scott, H. and Thomson, N., 2014. Exploring teachers' strategies for
including children with autism spectrum disorder in mainstream classrooms. International
Journal of Inclusive Education, 18(2), pp.101-122.

12MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Liu, Y., Morgan, C., Hornung, L., Tyry, T., Salter, A.R., Agashivala, N., Belletti, D.A., Kim, E.,
Fox, R.J., Cofield, S.S. and Cutter, G.R., 2016. Relationship between symptom change, relapse
activity and disability progression in multiple sclerosis. Journal of the neurological
sciences, 362, pp.121-126.
Mackelprang, R.W. and Salsgiver, R., 2016. Disability: A diversity model approach in human
service practice. Oxford University Press.
Miller, T.L., 2017. Academic Training.
O'Connor, E.A., Yasik, A.E. and Horner, S.L., 2016. Teachers' Knowledge of Special Education
Laws: What Do They Know?. Insights on Learning Disabilities, 13(1), pp.7-18.
Oliver, M., 2017. Defining impairment and disability. Disability and Equality Law, p.3.
O'Rourke, J., 2015. Inclusive schooling: if it's so good–why is it so hard to sell?. International
Journal of Inclusive Education, 19(5), pp.530-546.
Robertson, J., Hatton, C., Baines, S. and Emerson, E., 2015. Systematic reviews of the health or
health care of people with intellectual disabilities: a systematic review to identify gaps in the
evidence base. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 28(6), pp.455-523.
Round, P.N., Subban, P.K. and Sharma, U., 2016. ‘I don't have time to be this busy.’Exploring
the concerns of secondary school teachers towards inclusive education. International Journal of
Inclusive Education, 20(2), pp.185-198.
Roy, A., Roy, M. and Clarke, D., 2016. The psychiatry of intellectual disability. CRC Press.
Smith, J.A. ed., 2015. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Sage.

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Thomson, R.G., 2017. Extraordinary bodies: Figuring physical disability in American culture
and literature. Columbia University Press.
Vaz, S., Wilson, N., Falkmer, M., Sim, A., Scott, M., Cordier, R. and Falkmer, T., 2015. Factors
associated with primary school teachers’ attitudes towards the inclusion of students with
disabilities. PloS one, 10(8), p.e0137002.
Wilkin, D., 2016. Caring for the mentally handicapped child. Routledge.
Appendix:
Author Year Journal Key finding
Munn, Z., Moola, S.,
Riitano, D. and Lisy,
K
2014 International journal
of health policy and
Management
Assessing the
methodological
quality of study
MacFarlane, K. and
Woolfson, L.M.,
2013 Teaching and teacher
education
Relationship between
teacher attitude and
relationship towards
special needs children

14MAINSTREAMING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Feldman, M.A.,
Battin, S.M., Shaw,
O.A. and Luckasson,
R.,
2013 Disability and society Challenges of
integrating Autism
spectrum disorder into
mainstream
Sechoaro, E.J.,
Scrooby, B. and
Koen, D.P.,
2014 .Health SA
Gesondheid,
Effect of
rehabilitation
Grandisson, M.,
Hébert, M. and
Thibeault, R.,
2014 Disability and
rehabilitation
Systematic review on
how to conduct
evaluation
Riddell, S. and
Watson, N.,
2014 Disability, culture and
identity
Impact of disability
on culture
Rogers, A., Bower,
M., Malla, C.,
Manhire, S. and
Rhodes, D
2017 Evaluation Journal of
Australasia
Developing cultural
protocol for
evaluation