Special Needs Children

It seems that there are many more children in today's society than in the past that are labeled as special needs kids. Instead of placing these kids in a general classroom (full inclusion)with normal children--- special needs children would be better off, if placed in a special education classroom. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to place kids with disabilities in a general classroom wasn't thinking about the effect that it would have on them or the affect that it would have on the so called normal children.

I have been removed from school for many years, but if my memory serves me well I remember that school age children can be very cruel at times. Especially, if you don't look like them or act a certain way. My nephew is in the fourth grade and he has three special need kids in his classroom and he stated to me that “no one in the class talk or play with them other than the teacher.” The majority of children that I know usually socialize with kids that they have things in common with. Just as well, kids with certain disabilities are more likely to gravitate towards kids in which they have things in common with. Therefore by thrusting these kids in a class with normal kids is like taking a sheep out of its natural habitat and placing it with a pack of wolves.

At first I thought it was a good idea for inclusion, but after talking to a parent that sat in a classroom to observe this practice she made me realizes that it is not such a good idea after all. She stated “the class that she sat in had an autistic child in the room.” She went on to say that “the child must have disrupted the class two or three times while she was there.”

Teachers already have enough obstacles to hurdle in the classroom while trying to teach twenty–five to thirty kids at a time. Teachers in the general classrooms just don’t have time to concentrate on a modified curriculum for a child with special needs. I know many people will think that this is segregation all over again, but I truly believe it is in the best interest of the child to place them in an environment where they are able to become as socially productive as possible instead of placing them in social isolation with children that never communicate with them anyway. NO one should be denied the right to the best education as possible; it’s just my belief that a special education class is the best option to educate an individual with special needs.