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Full Inclusion: Does restrictive environment for every special needs child,

One Size Fit All? and therefore more consideration needs to be placed
on the individual student as to whether or not they

by Mariah Molnar

for students with and without disabilities,

needs students in which both students with and

disabilities be provided with an education based

on their individual needs in the Least Restrictive

with non-disabled peers to the maximum extent

into special education classes because they are placed

the past two decades there has been a tremendous

amounts, but supporters of full inclusion believe

constitutional, environmental, or any of these

and all educational services the child needs should

a very popular way to educate disabled students, full

classifications for special education students are
an appropriate education for every special needs
are so many students in special education is that the
 into classes that are appropriate for them even if they
child in special education should be that it is the best
even more unfair to place a disabled student into a

should be viewed as a problem with identification,

the least restrictive environment for some students

implicit assumptions that provide a poor foundation

this theme is that the problem of student failure is

not created by deficits in schools- when a student
does not learn or behave appropriately, the fault is

view of students as helpless victims of a social system

reservations relate to the possible detrimental effects

on other students and on the maintenance of safe

teach special needs children, who are often more

special education teachers, they could be placed into

resistance should be expected when many teachers

the support would continue beyond the initial trial would provide an appropriate education for every

are concerned, the special needs students were neutral Almost all students with disabilities are expected

education academic classes do not meet performance

None of the professionals reported unequivocal in their least restrictive environment, which the

inclusion, it does require that children with

disabilities must, to the maximum extent appropriate,
be educated in the least restrictive environment
who were included became the class
education classroom to be the least restrictive
students convinced one special education student to

teacher reported that the special education students

to meet the needs of the included special education

the interpretation of least restrictive environment has

there is a rift between

full inclusion is laudable in theory, but falls short in

to the appropriateness of inclusion half of the teachers

produce some positive effects at some schools, while

in other schools and in different situations inclusion

of full inclusion hope for without as many academic

 Kauffman, James M., Michael M. Gerber, and Melvyn
I. Semmel. Arguable Assumptions Underlying
the Regular Education Initiative. Journal of
Learning Disabilities 21(1988): 6-11.

Terman, Donna L., Mary B. Larner, Carlos S.

Students with disabilities are an extremely Stevenson, and Richard E. Behrman. Special
Education for Students with Disabilities: Analysis
severity of disability, as well as by the many variables and Recommendations. The Future of Children.
6(1996): 4-24.

Villa, Richard A., and Jacquline. Making Inclusive

Education Work. Educational Leadership
behind inclusion is admirable and can be successful 61(2003): 19-23.

which students are included needs to be based on a

WORKS CITED

Biklen, Douglas, and Nancy Zollgers. The Focus of

Advocacy in the LC Field. Journal of Learning
Disabilities 19(1986): 579-586.

Contexts of Elementary and Secondary Education.

National Center for Education Statistics. US
Department of Education. 3 Dec 2007 http://
nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2007/section4/table.
asp?tableID=717.

Fast Facts. National Center for Education Statistics.

US Department of Education. 3 Dec 2007 http://
nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=64.

Hein, L. Juane, and Lyndal M. Bullock. Inclusion of

Students with Emotional/Behavioral
Disorders: A Survery of Teachers in General and
Special Education. Preventing School Failure
43(1999): 103-112.

Inclusion. Council for Exceptional Children.

Council for Exceptional Children. 1 Dec 2007
http://www.cec.sped.org/Content/NavigationMenu/
NewsIssues/TeachingLearningCenter/
ProfessionalPracticeTopicsInfo/Inclusion/default.htm.

Kavale, Kenneth A, and Steven R. Forness.

History, Rhetoric, and Reality: Analysis of
the Inclusion Debate. Remedial and Special
Education 21(2000): 279-296.