Pros and Cons

 

 

With anything there is always pros and cons... Here I examine the pros and cons of inclusive classrooms for everyone involved.  

 

Pros:

Children with Special Needs:

• Learn motor, communication and other skills in natural settings.
• Involved in a more stimulating environment
• Opportunities to make new friends and share new experiences.
• Membership/Sense of purpose or belonging in the classroom and school.
• Learning in a creative environment

Children without Special Needs:

• Students often become more accepting. 
• More comfortable with children who have learning disabilities.
• Acquire leadership skills.
• Improved self-esteem.
• Diversity of friendships.
• Encourages cooperation and tolerance.

Teachers of Inclusion:

• Awareness and appreciation of individual differences in all children.
• Access to specialists and resources to help all children.
• Learn new teaching techniques that can help all children.
• More understanding of child development.
• Work with more diverse group of children.
• Teachers may have to learn to use different approaches in order to get the information across to everybody so they can comprehend it.

Parents:

• More encouraged to actively participate in community.
• Awareness of disabilities.
• Knowledge of typical development.
• Ability to receive additional help, instruction and information. 

 


Cons:

• Teacher time is taken away from the other students in the inclusive classroom.
• Some teachers lack the training, resources and other necessary supports to teach students with disabilities which can take away from everyone's learning.
• Teachers have to take more time and care when lesson planning in order to adapt the lesson to the student or students with special needs/disabilities.
• Classroom management can be harder because of the addition of more students or students who are not used to the new differences.
• Special needs students may not feel comfortable because they are different than the other students.
• Some parents feel that inclusion is not a good idea, and their opinions and feelings can cause tension and issues. 

 

• (List adapted from here and here )