Here are some of the reasons to provide opportunities for students
with disabilities to learn and interact with their peers without
disabilities. Including students with disabilities in the general
education setting is incredibly important and can be beneficial for both
groups of students, as well as for their parents, teachers, and program
administrators.
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 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 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, teaching strategies, and
best practices, 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.
Administrators
- Educating
students with and without disabilities together can facilitate major
change and transformation of general education to better address the
needs of all students
- Staff skills may improve through in-service and modeling opportunities
- Everyone benefits from having increased classroom and staff resources
- Families and IEP teams may be able to choose between a greater number of service delivery options for students with disabilities