Over the years, special education, which is the educational system for students with disabilities, has been developing new approaches and teaching tactics in order to benefit the students’ academic and social abilities. The most popular of these approaches is inclusion, which refers to incorporating students with special needs in general education classrooms. Inclusion is a proposal that allows students with disabilities to learn with students without disabilities. As recent as a century ago, children with disabilities received little to no education (Torreno). By the 1900’s, children with disabilities were given slightly more educational opportunities; however, they either attended separate schools or individualized programs in separate classrooms (Torreno). Special education inclusion did not begin until the turn of the century, and has been on the rise since then. During the 1999-2000 school year, over ninety percent of children with disabilities attended typical schools, and almost half were included in general education classrooms for eighty percent of their school day (Torreno). 

The rights of children with disabilities to have an “appropriate education” are protected and advocated for under The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, also referred to as the IDEA (Dupre). By 2014, six and a half million disabled students received an education under the IDEA, which is thirteen percent of all public school enrollment (NCES). To be served under the IDEA and receive special education, the student must have at least one of the following disabilities: deaf-blindness, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment, orthopedic impairment, hearing impairment, multiple disabilities, emotional disturbance, developmental delay, intellectual disability, autism, speech or language impairment, specific learning disability, or other health impairment (NCES). The highest percent of special education students tend to have a specific learning disability, which is defined by the IDEA as “a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations” (NCES). Although the IDEA protects disabled students’ right to an education, it does not guarantee inclusive education. 

The growth of the inclusion of special education students in regular classrooms has provoked immense debate. Professionals and educators argue whether or not inclusion has more benefits than a separate special education system. Critics worry about an increase in classroom disruption that could negatively affect the teaching and learning environment. However, the practice of inclusive special education is now the most common method used in public schools and has proven to have many advantages that cannot be provided in individualized and separate systems. Special Education students should be integrated into the general education classroom because of many social and academic advantages that benefit not only the disabled students, but the general education students as well. Mainstreaming special education has been an improvement to the disabled students as well as the school system and the community. 

Students with disabilities are often given the cold shoulder, especially in the school system. Torrie Dunlap, the CEO of a national non-profit organization known as Kids Included Together, became an inclusion activist after witnessing the marginalization of a student with Down Syndrome while teaching a theater class (Isn't It a Pity? The Real Problem with Special Needs). She now travels the world campaigning for inclusion and clarifying that separating students with disabilities only hurts them. Dunlap states in one of her many keynote speeches that “when we separate kids and we place them in separate settings and give them separate services, we are teaching them that their place is over there, with people like them, and not as part of the full community” (Isn't It a Pity? The Real Problem with Special Needs). Even the U.S. Department of education has ignored the efforts being made to improve special education. A letter written in 1986 by a member of the Department of Education responded to a request for data concerning handicapped children in regular education systems stating “these data are not required in State Plans nor has the Office of Special Education Programs collected them in any other survey” (Alan Gartner and Dorothy Kerzner Lipsky). The major reason this data is ignored by policymakers and members of the Department of Education has to do with the negative attitudes that are generally held about special education and its level of importance. However, with the recent advancement of inclusion in the special education system, research and data displays that inclusion of disabled students provides many positive assets to the school system.

Inclusion of special education students in regular classrooms has proven to improve their language skills. Education researchers conducted a study which found that students with disabilities had improved language skills after spending a year in a classroom with non-disabled children (Grabmeier). The study involved 670 children enrolled in eighty-three early childhood special education classrooms in Ohio. The special education students were placed in general education classrooms, some with higher skilled peers, and others with lower skilled peers. The disabled students’ language skills were measured at the beginning of the school year and the end of the school year. The researchers found that the children with disabilities had an increased language score by the end of the school year, especially the children that were placed in classrooms with the most highly skilled peers (Grabmeier). Special education students cannot benefit from higher skilled peers if they are secluded in separate classrooms. Being in a classroom with non-disabled students has a positive impact on the development of language skills in disabled students (Grabmeier). Special education students benefit academically when included in regular classrooms. Many parents and teachers question how disabled students would benefit more academically from inclusive classrooms than individualized classrooms suited just for them. In inclusive classrooms, the disabled students are faced with higher expectations from teachers and peers, which provides a subliminal push. Special education students also witness positive academic behaviors and strategies used by their peers, providing them with academic role models. 

Inclusion is on the rise in the nation’s schools. In 2013, more than sixty percent of special education students spent more than eighty percent of their school day in regular classrooms with generally educated peers and ninety-five percent spent at least some portion of their day in general education classrooms (Heasley). Statistics show that with the increase of inclusive classrooms comes an increase in special education students’ graduation rates. Before inclusion became a movement at the start of the century, the graduation rate of special education students was extremely low. In 1994, only seven percent of special education students graduated with a diploma (U.S. Department of Education). In 2011, the graduation rate had increased to fifty-nine percent. By 2015, the graduation rate of students enrolled in special education programs reached almost sixty-five percent (Samuels). There is clearly a direct correlation between the increase of inclusive education and the increase in special education students’ graduation rates. A special education student is more likely to graduate if he/she receives an inclusive education, participating in classrooms with generally educated peers. 

Not only does inclusion have a great impact on students with disabilities, it also has been found to positively impact the non-disabled students. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Kansas showed that both disabled and nondisabled students saw the values of inclusion in their schools. Interviews found that all of the students felt a sense of belonging in their school, more so than they did if they had previously attended a non-inclusive school (Krings). Inclusion creates a more diverse and positive culture; students learn to be more accepting. One student without a disability said, “This is the school where nobody can get picked on or judged by who they are … we have a variety of nice, different learners, and we’re unique and all creative and determined and responsible” (Krings). The fact that non-disabled students were able to distinctly voice the aspects of inclusive education that they valued shows that inclusion is beneficial to more than just the special education students. Whether a person with a disability is a child or an adult, they usually will have more in common with a non disabled person than they do with someone with disabilities (“Mainstreaming Special Education in the Classroom”). For both non disabled children and adults, these similarities are harder to recognize without exposure to the disabilities. When exposed to someone with disabilities, a person is better able to identify the many commonalities shared in both of their lives. This exposure encourages children to develop empathy for other human beings, whether they suffer official “disabilities” or not (“Mainstreaming Special Education in the Classroom”). In inclusive schools, students without disabilities tend to be more accepting, especially of their disabled peers. 

Moreover, when general education students are rarely exposed to students with disabilities, they are unaware of the students’ condition. When special education students, who only attend individualized programs located in separate classrooms, are socially exposed to the school environment outside of that classroom, other students react negatively. The reason for this is that the nondisabled students fail to identify with the symptoms and behaviors associated with the impairments of the disability, which generally leads to mockery. Therefore, when special education students have limited access to the social aspects of school, they are more susceptible to bullying. Despite the fact that only ten U.S. studies have been administered exhibiting the correlation between bullying and students with disabilities, every study found that disabled children are two to three times more likely to be bullied than their nondisabled peers (“Bullying and Harassment of Students with Disabilities”). This bullying has many detrimental effects on students with disabilities, making their learning and social life even more difficult. These students are more likely to experience lower academic achievement, higher truancy rates, feelings of alienation, poor peer relationships, loneliness, and depression (U.S. Department of Education). However, when special education students participate in inclusive classrooms, their peers become aware of their differences and are better able to identify and sympathize with the disabled student.

Although inclusion of special education is on the rise in public schools around the US, there is still segregation. In 1975, the United States congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Amendments, or the EHA. The EHA intended to “to separate students based on perceived disability and re-examine the idea of special education” (Krings). However, these amendments inadvertently led to a completely separate system for special education. Wayne Sailor, professor of special education and director of the School-wide Integrated Framework for Transformation Center (SWIFT) said, “Special education became a place instead of educational supports." (Krings). When asked whether inclusiveness can improve educational outcomes Sailor said, “The answer is yes, quite dramatically, if you put the SWIFT framework in place, all students show improvement." (Krings). The SWIFT framework Sailor refers to is the innovation of the current approach to special education and augmenting the practice of inclusion in schools. 

Today, support of inclusion is growing, even at the federal level. Arne Duncan, secretary of education, has publicly stated that in regard to school inclusion, "all means all” and other high ranking education officials have supported his position (Krings). These officials have also shown their support financially with the Office of Special Education and Educational Programs granting a twenty-four and a half million-dollar award to organize the SWIFT Center and establish the SWIFT model in sixty-four schools (Krings). Sailor states, “Our job is to carry the idea of inclusion down to the level of the kids in schools. If you look at a fully functioning SWIFT school, there are not these divisions. All students are fully connected to the general education curriculum and educational outcomes are better for all students” (Krings). 

 Without inclusion, students miss out on the benefits of having long-term social relationships with classmates without disabilities. As a result, when they leave the school system, they are not ready to join the larger communities in which they live and work for the rest of their lives. One study found that disabled students who were taught in inclusive classrooms showed more independent functioning and improved abilities to adjust socially (Willis). Another study, which followed special education students over the course of twenty years, showed many more life long benefits resulting from inclusion. These included a positive self-concept, a proactive approach to life, a tendency to set goals, perseverance, effective support systems, and effective emotional coping strategies (Willis). Without these benefits from an inclusive learning community, the disabled students may have an increased tendency to act out inappropriately or drop out of school altogether. Inclusion helps disabled students make social connections and gain confidence, which aids in their transition to the “real world” after graduating high school. 

Inclusion provided me with a very special, life-long friend who has shaped the person I am today. I attended a high school in which inclusion was widely demonstrated through not only the education system but athletics and clubs as well. I was introduced to Carlos, a special education student, when his assigned seat was placed next to mine in a marine biology class. I always wondered what he was doing in such a difficult class, since he was obviously disabled and was unable to learn at the same level I did. However, it did not take long for him to impress me along with the rest of the class. Carlos was always so delighted to come to class and make new friends. Every morning before the school bell rang, Carlos always greeted me at the door with open arms and an excited “Good morning!”. Eventually, it was a rare occurrence if I did not hear Carlos yelling my name across the hall to say ‘hi’ between classes. I have never met a more optimistic human being in my lifetime; which is surprising considering his condition and daily struggles. He taught me to accept everyone, no matter what makes them different. He became one of the most popular kids in school, and still never fails to inspire me and everyone he meets.

Inclusion has made a significant impact on not only students with disabilities in the special education system, but also general education students and the community as a whole. Without inclusion, disabled students are more susceptible to bullying because they are portrayed as an outcast and other students have a hard time identifying with them. However, with inclusion, disabled students are given the chance to socialize and form relationships that would never be possible when separated from the rest of the student body. With higher expectations, aspirations, and the ability to connect with higher skilled peers, students with disabilities that participate in inclusive classrooms benefit from higher academic achievements and improved language skills. These academic advantages have led to an increased graduation rate for special education students, sending them into adulthood with the skills needed to be as successful as possible. Inclusion creates a sense of belonging and diversity that forms an overall more positive environment, which would not be present if special education students were segregated. These many benefits are the reasons why inclusion has been on the rise in the U.S., and should continue to become a regular phenomenon in all schools. 
