6 Ways to Make Inclusion Work — Real Advice from a Special Education Advocate

Participation with peers helps our kids with IEPs build invaluable social and academic skills at school, but so many barriers can get in the way of meaningful inclusion – from all-or-nothing IEP placement decisions to lack of support in general education. So how can we make sure our kids are being included when learning with and alongside their peers?

During a live Q&A, we asked Non-Attorney Special Education Advocate Karen Ford Cull about how to navigate inclusion. Check out the highlights from our conversation where Cull shares how inclusion is more than just placement, what to do if a school denies inclusion, how to prioritize progress, the role of separate classrooms, how to collaborate with your IEP team, and other practical inclusion strategies.

Listen to our full conversation on the go in this episode of the Undivided Voices podcast!

Often, when people hear the word “inclusion,” they equate it to placement. And while that is definitely a piece to the inclusion puzzle, it doesn’t automatically mean that a classroom (or school) is truly inclusive.

Cull explains, “I see inclusion as not just placement, but the process that the educators go through thinking about how to make that environment work for every kid in that environment.”

Inclusion and placement work hand in hand, but a school creating and tailoring an inclusive environment is key. Cull expresses, “When inclusion is done right, it should feel and look very natural.” Meaning, all of the children are working, helping, and teaching one another together.

Schools like CHIME, for example, have left Cull pleasantly surprised when she went to tour their fully inclusive campus. Even with kids with visual disabilities, it still felt like they were all working together seamlessly.

Cull explains more about what inclusion done right looks like in this clip:

“In an inclusive classroom,” Cull says, “it's not just that we are making sure that the kids with disabilities have the services and support they need to make that work, but also teaching the kids without disabilities how to work with people who might need something different.”

That’s why placement is a great starting point to inclusion, but it’s not the final destination. True inclusion means creating an environment that actively teaches and supports a classroom where all students can meaningfully participate, socialize, and access the academic material successfully. Because at the end of the day, inclusion benefits everyone.

While this is not legal advice, Cull explains that under IDEA, the school has to do inclusion: “IDEA says the purpose of special education is to give the student access to a general education, curriculum, and environment.” Therefore, students can’t be denied for needing proper support and services at school. One big tip Cull shares is that if a school does say they don’t do inclusion, “try to get them to put it in writing.”

Cull dives deeper into what to do if a school denies inclusion by claiming your child “isn’t ready,” in this video:

Inclusion in special education isn’t about meeting the same benchmarks as peers; it’s about making meaningful progress with the proper supports and services in place. As Cull emphasizes, “Students don’t need to meet their goals — they need to make progress. That’s why clear baselines in IEP goals are so important — you need to be able to objectively show that progress is being made.”

In practice, IEP goals can be written to account for progress. For example, a student with reading challenges can still participate in grade-level lessons by using assistive technology (like text-to-speech or audiobooks) that allows them to engage in discussions about themes and characters without needing to read every word independently.

Overall, with the proper support and services written into a student's IEP, there is no reason why they can’t still thrive in a general education setting. As Cull mentions, “Research shows that children learn better when they're learning with other typical peers.”

“Once you have agreed to a separate classroom, it's very difficult to get back in,” Cull explains. “You really have to prove to the district that a general education placement can work with the right supports, rather than starting from that assumption from the beginning.”

Because inclusion is (and should be) about progressing, it’s incredibly important to work with your IEP team to keep your child in general education by advocating for different accommodations or modifications — especially if you’re unsure if placing them in a separate classroom is right for your child.

Cull dives deeper into what you can say if your IEP team says that your child needs to be placed in a separate classroom:

As Cull explains, there are three key areas to focus on when creating a more inclusive classroom: communication, engagement, and peer interaction.

• Communication: parents can ask how instruction/materials are being adapted (like text-to-speech tools or audiobooks) so that your child can access it, and how they will then be able to participate and show what they know.

• Engagement: advocating for lessons that incorporate your child’s interests can make a big difference in meaningful participation and learning.

• Peer interaction: inclusion isn’t just about being in the room — it’s about your child actively being involved with their classmates. As parents, don’t be afraid to ask how your child will be included in group work, what their role will be, and how peers can be supported when interacting with them.

Cull further shares how teachers can create a more inclusive classroom in this video:

Working with your child’s IEP team, instead of against them, is a crucial part of making inclusion work for your child.

“As parents, we quite often talk about people being ‘inclusion warriors,’ but we should say we're advocating for inclusion,” Cull tells us. “The parent has to be part of the collaboration or it's not going to work. You have to have a team that's going to work towards [something] better than being in a separate class. It's not going to work as well as it should without you collaborating with the team. And quite often, the team comes back to you later and says, ‘I'm so glad we did this. It was really meaningful to me as a teacher.’”