Demopolis City School System

Introduction

Full inclusion has been a major topic of discussion in Demopolis City School System. Inclusion is to have students with special needs educated along with the general population. Throughout the past several years teachers have found that there are both positive aspects and drawbacks to this system of educating our students. Three critical points that I feel effect inclusion are: class disruptions, time consumption and possible budget overload.

To begin with, I have found that, depending on the disability, many special needs students tend to have disruptive behaviors. These behaviors can have an adverse behaviors can affect the climate and flow of the learning environment. According to Marzano (2003), there already isn't adequate time for instruction throughout the day. Disruptive special needs students will only add to the distractions. These distractions tend to cause other students to lose their focus. I have observed a situation where a student was included in a regular classroom scenario that did not have learning capabilities, but was included in a regular classroom setting because of parental demands. I wonder is this fair to the other students or parents?

Secondly, time consumption is a factor when dealing with inclusion. The general population teacher along with the resource teacher will have to spend a vast amount of time preparing and structuring the lessons to meet the individual needs of the special needs student. These plans may include special games, one on one computer lessons or even skills that require the use of a headphone. These students require much more hands on and individual attention.

Lastly, the state of Alabama has faced major budget cuts in education in the past several years. This issue has also hit the Demopolis City School System. In In 2011 several teacher and aide positions were cut from the system because of funding. When certain special needs students are included in a self- contained classroom, they are required to have their own personal aide at all times. This rule pertains mainly to students confined to wheelchairs or maybe even highly autistic, not all situations apply to this rule. The hiring of personal assistants for individual students can be extremely harsh on an already suffering budget.

In conclusion, I am sure that including special needs students in the regular classroom have some benefits, but it is my opinion that the