Review of Relevant Literature

The idea of teaching inclusion first started around 1975 when Public Law 94-1975 was passed. During this time they had mainstreaming, which was when kids with disabilities would go to regular classrooms during specific times based on there skills. In 1986 The Regular Education Initiative (REI) promoted the position that students with disabilities be educated in general education classes without pullout special education services. The REI included major revisions in how services are provided to students with learning disabilities. In the early 1990s the inclusion movement came to effect. The movement helped kids socially with the inclusion classes and also with kids with sever disabilities in general education classes (Raymond).

These sources I have found on the internet starting with the article called “Including Children with special needs in regular classrooms: Pros & Cons” by Alan Harchik. This information is helpful because it states the pros and cons of the inclusion and gives both sides on the debate. This is a reliable source because Alan Harchik has a Ph.D. and a BCBA which means a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Another article I used from the same website is “Inclusion for Special Education Students: Advantages and Benefits” by Keren Perles. This article is suggesting why inclusion was a good idea and how it is helping kids all across America. This is a reliable source because someone else edited her work to see if it was correct.

I have done so much talking with teachers about Inclusion, the main two teachers I have talked to was Mrs. Sarah Strong and Mrs. Martina Chuey. Mrs. Chuey teaches at Symmes Elementary in the special education classes. She has been a teacher for a long time and she was a special education teacher before the Inclusion rule. She talked to me all about it the pros and cons and how she felt about the situation, she also gave me the book, Ideas for Inclusion by Anne M. Beninghof. This is a book that has an overview of what inclusion is. Also it gives a lot of information on how you teach the kids that are being included and how it might be easier to teach them.

Mrs. Strong, on the other hand, is a new teacher at Sycamore high school, and inclusion is the only way that she has learned how to teach. She gave me many books about inclusion and articles and really got me to understand what inclusion was about. One book she have me was Teaching Students with Learning Problems by Cecil D. Mercer and Ann R. Mercer. This book gives a lot about the history of inclusion. It claims how it first started, how people were taught before inclusion and is just an overall amazing source. She used this book in college, so it is an extremely reliable source. Another book she gave me was Learning with Mild Disabilities by Eileen B. Raymond which really emphasizes the laws that apply with inclusion. It was also a textbook she used in college. The last book she gave me from when she was in college was Exceptional Children by William L. Heward. This is an amazing book because it proposes the arguments for and against inclusion. Finally, from the High school I emailed Mrs. Wasem and she have me her opinion on inclusion and how we can improve on it.