Since the school year has officially begun I thought it would be fitting to share some benefits of inclusivity in the school system. I had two pieces of inspiration for this post. A grad school professor had our class read a very interesting article which was “A Summary of the Evidence in Inclusive Education". The article was lengthy so I thought it would be beneficial to summarize it in a post on here if you don’t have time to read the whole thing (however I do recommend you look over it). On top of that article, I was speaking to a parent over the weekend and they were telling me all about how excited they are that their child who is in a grade three classroom is learning ASL (American Sign Language). The parent explained to me that there is a deaf student in the class so they hired a teacher that speaks both English and ASL. So now not only can the child who is deaf understand the teacher while still being in an inclusive classroom setting but the other students in the classroom are learning ASL at the same time. It’s a win-win situation. Having the deaf child included in the classroom setting is benefiting everyone in the classroom.

It’s important to understand what exactly inclusion is before I list the benefits. The article linked above asserts that inclusion is when students with disabilities are immersed in the same classroom as the other students while also providing changes to the classroom environment itself to adequately provide education to all the students in the classroom.

Benefits of Inclusion for Students With and Without Disabilties:

1. Academics. Research has shown that students without disabilities have either positive or neutral effects on their academics when students with disabilities are included in their classrooms. Parents are often worried about their typically developing child not being challenged enough in the classroom if teachers are focusing too much on students with disabilities. However, research has shown that inclusion of students with disabilities not only increases the quality of the teacher’s instruction but that teacher’s strategic and thoughtful instruction actually meets the needs for a more diverse set of learners, thus targeting all the students in the classroom not just the A+ students.

When it comes to the academic achievement for students with disabilities all of the research demonstrates the same thing which is students with disabilities who are learning in inclusive settings academically outperform their peers with disabilities who are learning in segregated settings. This is especially true for their language and literacy but research has also shown this to be true for mathematics as well.

2. Social and emotional development. As discussed in the literature, there are several benefits of inclusion for students without disabilities when it comes to their social and emotional development.

Reduced fear of human differences and increased comfort and awareness (i.e. there is a decrease in the fear surrounding people who look/act differently)
Increased tolerance of others
More effective communication with peers
Increased self-esteem and sense of belonging
Decreased prejudice
Increased responsiveness to others needs
Increase in positive friendships

For students with disabilities many of the same benefits show up in the research. For example, research has shown that inclusive education settings also assist in students with disabilities forming and maintaining positive peer friendships. Other benefits for students with disabilities include:

Increased development of social skills
Decrease in perceived loneliness
Decreased behavioral problems
Increase in school and community involvement
Increase in independence
Increase in self-sufficiency

It is important to note that these benefits occur when teachers are properly trained on how to manage an inclusive classroom, funding is given to the schools to hire EAs and provide education to teachers and staff and the teachers have an open and positive mind set of having an inclusive classroom.

So when you are reflecting on inclusivity and acceptance whether it be in the workplace or the school system try and remember that when people are exposed to diversity their tolerance for diversity increases.

-S