by Brian Fleming

Created on: January 21, 2009

I am a paraprofessional who works at a local integrated middle school. In every class, there is at least one special needs student integrated with the rest of the student population. To integrate special-needs students into a school takes preparation and dedication on behalf of the school administration, teachers, and paraprofessionals.

Firstly, the school site must be able to support special needs students. Basically, this means that the school must have wheelchair ramps to all classes and bathrooms. The bathrooms must be equipped with at least one handicap accessible stall. For example, in the middle school I work the boy's bathroom has a large back-stall, big enough for even the largest of motorized wheelchairs.

Secondly, the teachers who will work at this inclusion school will need to be psychologically ready to teach both special needs and the rest of the student body. Paraprofessionals can greatly help the teacher when teaching the special needs student in the classroom. Because the special needs student will most likely need modified work, an aide or paraprofessional may need to work with this student one-on-one while the teacher is explaining a lesson to the other students.

Lastly, the students themselves must be ready to share their classroom experience with special needs students. Adolescents and teens are surprisingly good with change. So, most students will be fine with having special needs students in their class; in fact, some students help the special needs students out and become their first friends at the school. For example, at the school I work for there is a student with Downs syndrome who is actually one of the most popular kids at school. He is friendly to everyone and is great at sports. The other students don't see him as a weird kid with a bizarre syndrome, they see him as Hunter, the cool kid.

Integrating special needs students into schools not only greatly benefit special needs students social and interpersonal skills, it also helps the rest of the student body to see that, hey, maybe these special needs kids really aren't that different from me. They have likes and dislikes like me, they even like the same movies as me. I have seen this internal transformation take place in many kids at the middle school I work at.

So if you are a principal or superintendent thinking about creating an inclusion school, or a teacher considering taking a teaching position at an inclusion school, or even if you are a parent, wondering if you should enroll your son/daughter at an inclusion school, I have two words for you. Do It. Inclusion schools have allowed those with special needs to interact and befriend the rest of the student body in ways never believed possible. Take the tips on how to integrate special-needs children into school, you won't regret it.

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