Different Not Less...

Integration is a necessity, not an option

Different not less, i choose this title because they didn't choose to be different. I'm talking about many groups that suffers one problem, am talking about students with special needs. Not only students with physical disabilities, but also behavioral or mental ones.
After deeply thinking, i decided first to define each situation before talking about the idea of including them in general education classrooms.

what is special needs?

"Special needs" are commonly defined by what a child can't do.

students who suffer from medical issues:

Medical issues for children include serious conditions like cancer and heart defects, muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis; chronic conditions like asthma and diabetes; congenital conditions like cerebral palsy and dwarfism; and health threats like food allergies and obesity. Children with medical issues may require numerous tests, long hospital stays, expensive equipment, and accommodations for disabilities. Their families have to deal with frequent crises, uncertainty, and worry.

students with behavioral issues:

 

Children with behavior issues don't respond to traditional discipline. With diagnoses like ADHD, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Dysfunction of Sensory Integration, and Tourette Syndrome, they require specialized strategies that are tailored to their specific abilities and disabilities. If those strategies are not developed and used, kids with behavior issues throw their families into chaos and are seriously at risk for school problems. Their parents need to be flexible and creative.

Developmental Issues:

Developmental disabilities are some of the most devestating for a family to deal with, changing visions of the future and providing immediate difficulties in caring for and educating a child. Diagnoses like autism, Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities often cause children to be removed from the mainstream, and parents must be fierce advocates to make sure their children receive the services, therapy, schooling, and inclusion they need and deserve.

Learning Issues:

Children with learning disabilities like dyslexia and Central Auditory Processing Disorder struggle with schoolwork regardless of their intellectual abilities. They require specialized learning strategies to meet their potential and avoid self-esteem problems and behavioral difficulties. Parents of learning-challenged kids need to be persistent both in working with their reluctant learners and with the schools that must provide the help these children need.

Mental Health Issues:

A child's problems with anxiety or depression can sneak up on parents; problems with attachment may smack them right in the face. Living with a child with mental health issues can put family members on a roller coaster of mood swings and crises and defiance. Parents have to find the right professionals to help, and make hard decisions about therapy, medications, and hospitalization. The consequences of missed clues and wrong guesses can be significance.

Every day i wokeup and thank god of all blessing he had granted me. Even that a peson can face many problems in his life, he should always remember that God gave him many blessing to thank him in during hard times.

My mother once said for me:" Close your eyes and you will know how much blessing God gave you. When i grow up and heard of children with special needs i started to appreciate what i already granted, but i also started thinking of those children.

Many ideas had come to my mind, the most important one is that they are children like us, and they have the right of integrating in general classrooms. 

I know that you might think that it's hard to merger those students on our classes, but do you know that integration has many advantages on the students physical and mental health, other typical peers, teachers and families:

Benefits for Students with Disabilities

• More contact with typical peers across a wider range of settings and activities
• Receive and provide higher levels of social support
• Enjoy larger friendship networks
• Engage in relationships with typical peers that are durable
• Increase in extra-curricular activities
• Decrease in inappropriate social behaviors
• Generalize to home and community environment
• Learn age-appropriate social skills by imitating students without disabilities in the environments where they are needed
• Provide a more challenging environment for students with disabilities
• Learn to be more independent and acquire developmentally advanced skills
• Develop friendships and a more positive self-image by having the opportunity to do what other students do

 Benefits for Typical Peers

• Higher levels of acceptance and tolerance increasing over time
• Growth in the areas of responsibility and self-concept
• More realistic expectations and perceptions of students with disabilities
• Typical peers voluntarily take on roles of helpers and tutors
• Access to strategies presented by the co-teacher
• Access to special educators and other service providers
• Opportunities for leadership roles

 Benefits for Teachers

• General education teachers have the opportunity to learn about disabilities and special education
• Special education teachers have frequent contact with normally developing students and, therefore, have more realistic expectations for the students they teach
• Both groups of teachers are able to exchange information about instructional activities and teaching strategies, thus expanding their skills

Benefits for families of Students With and Without Disabilities

• Have opportunities to see that many of their children’s behaviors are typical of most students
• See their children accepted by others and successful in integrated settings
• Feel better about themselves and their children
• Parents of children with disabilities also have the chance to become acquainted with other parents and participate in the same activities
• Providing positive experiences in integrated settings allows children without disabilities and their parents to learn about disabilities and develop positive attitudes about people with disabilities. Integration can expand and enhance the personal experiences of children, parents, and teachers.

We should always remember that they didn't create themselves or choose to be different. All members of society have a role to change the old idea toward students with disabilities. and the most important point is respecting and appreciating students with similar cases.

Integration does make a difference even that we may fail to be truly fair to toward those children.