Inclusion in Elementary School

We know that statistically, students with disabilities do best when included in general education classes with their non-disabled peers. Parents, for the most part, want their child to have a “regular” childhood and have access to all the same activities, learning, and experiences that other children have. However, inclusive education for kids with disabilities is not easy. In many school districts, it takes almost constant parent advocacy, firstly to gain access to inclusive placements, but more importantly, to ensure that the support is there to ensure the inclusion is meaningful.

Starting early is important, not only because children acquiring language need an environment rich in children’s language, but also because parental rights built into the IEP system make it easier to advocate for staying in general education than to advocate for moving out of a separate classroom or school into a general education environment that might initially be overwhelming and complex.

In our first articles in our inclusion in school series, we looked at inclusion in preschool classrooms. In this article, we explore inclusion in elementary school. (See our articles on inclusion in middle school and high school for more information.)

Many parents worry that if their child has been in a separate classroom for many years, it’s too late to move to a general education classroom. Your child will likely have missed key concepts in a separate classroom and will be used to a small classroom size. However, third to fifth grade classrooms are often highly structured, calm and quiet, and relatively distraction-free compared to a separate classroom where there are often kids with challenging behaviors.

Even if your child has been in a separate classroom or program for students with disabilities throughout preschool, the law still presupposes that the default placement is general education. For this reason, in kindergarten and first grade, a good strategy is to just ask to try it. Your child has a right to be educated in the least restrictive environment, which is always a general education classroom. Try to shift the focus of your IEP team from “here’s why it won’t work” to “here are the supports that could make it work.”

Ask the IEP team for a trial period

You might need to ask the IEP team to agree to a trial period in which the student is partially included. This is sometimes called a “diagnostic placement.” Many families start off by securing a limited period of “mainstreaming” time — where the child 'visits' general education from a special education program — which can be gradually extended once the child has “proven” that they can be successful — although as discussed in our Myths of Inclusion article your child does not have to earn their place in general education. During the trial period, the team can collect data and experiment with the level of support needed for the child to be successful in a general education classroom. Here are a few tips:

• Suggest collecting data on IEP goals at the end of the diagnostic period if a progress report isn’t scheduled. Progress on IEP goals should be a factor in determining how successful the inclusive placement is considered to be.
• The IEP team might not change the minutes on “the grid” — the list of services offered, with location, frequency, and duration in the IEP document — for a diagnostic change in placement, but if they do and you sign it, you possibly have the right to invoke stay put.
• Prepare the student for the change and ask the school to consider the most appropriate start date.
  However, bear in mind that visiting the general education classroom for a short while each time does not have the same benefits as belonging to a general education community. Mainstreaming increases the number of transitions expected of a child with a disability that may reduce their ability to cope with transitions, while typically developing children of the same age are not usually expected to change classrooms individually or change classmates or adults during the school day. So you have to expect some behavioral issues to arise around transitions. Make sure everyone expects some initial difficulties as the child adjusts to a new environment, new expectations, and increased transitions.

Keep the following in mind when taking school tours and/or observing classrooms:

• Ask to see a general education classroom, even if your child will likely not be learning there.
• Ask to see a Special Day Classroom (SDC), if that’s a possibility for your child. Pay attention to how many adults are in the room. Does it seem to be enough, or are they short-staffed? It's often that there are too many adults in the room and it's overwhelming. Notice what is on the walls and what is the seating arrangement.
• Are kids with IEPs segregated or separated at any point during the school day? One example could be Adaptive Physical Education (APE). If APE is separate from general education PE, ask to see those areas AND the GenEd areas to see if they are vastly different.
• Similarly, inquire about the technology and equipment used in special education classrooms. Sometimes tech and computers are worse in the special education classrooms, or there are none at all.
• What does inclusion look like? Observe how the teachers interact with the students (in any setting), and more importantly, whether kids with IEPs are truly included in the same activities at the same time in the same place with the GenEd students.
• What speech and vision supports are provided in classrooms?
• If your child has auditory sensitivities, pay attention to the classroom acoustics. If your child has trouble staying focused, pay attention to the environment. Are there a lot of distractions (e.g., an adjacent playground, doors and windows left open, etc.)?
• Where are the increased mobility stresses, such as lunch, recess, or the library? Consider a physical therapy assessment if your child may have difficulty navigating a bigger school.
• Are the playground and field accessible? If your child uses a mobility aide, they may need an adaptive trike to access those outdoor areas.
• If you can, try to observe classrooms on two different days at different times, no matter the classroom type. For example, circle time in the morning might look great, but how does math look after recess?

An inclusive elementary classroom might at first not look any different to an exclusionary space because you might not see a child with a visible disability. Here’s what to look for in an inclusive elementary classroom:

• Children have multiple ways to engage. Do students have choices in how they interact with the lesson? For example, some might watch a video, others might read, and some might listen to an audio version.
• Varied ways to show learning. Can students express their understanding in different ways? Some might write a sentence, others might draw a picture, and some may use speech-to-text technology.
• Diverse teaching methods. Does the teacher use different approaches to spark interest? Look for strategies that support all learners, including those with greater challenges.
• Signs of Total Communication. All forms of communication are supported and nurtured daily and students are encouraged to use any combination of communication methods that best meet their needs. Do students or staff use ASL, PECs, or AAC devices?
• Sensory-friendly accommodations. Are noise-canceling headphones, fidgets, sensory materials, quiet spaces, or alternative seating (like wobble chairs) available for students who need them?
• Positive behavior supports. Are behavior charts and token boards used for encouragement and motivation, rather than for public shaming?
• Inclusive, whole group activities. Do all students participate in whole-group activities? During small group work, are students who need extra support paired with peers who can work more independently?
• Adapted learning materials. Do students with extensive support needs have instructional materials that match the lesson’s content but with different expectations for access and achievement?
• Collaborative teaching. Is there a special education co-teacher, or evidence of co-planning between general and special education staff? Inclusive classrooms thrive on teamwork!

Think about whether accommodations or assistive technology can help support inclusion and make it easier for your child to participate in whole-class activities alongside their peers. The right tools can bridge the gap between what they can do and what’s expected in the classroom, ensuring they stay engaged and included. For example:

• A student who has difficulty holding a pencil might use a slant board, adaptive grips, or a tablet for writing activities to reduce frustration and fatigue.
• A student who has trouble following multi-step directions could benefit from visual schedules, first-then charts, or step-by-step picture guides to help them stay on task.
• A student who has difficulty with social interactions could use social stories, role-playing, or a buddy system to practice conversational skills and build friendships.
• A student with fine motor challenges might use alternative scissors, adapted crayons, or Velcro fasteners on classroom materials to increase independence in hands-on activities.
• A student with difficulty sitting may have access to take a movement break, or alternative seating such as a wobble chair or standing desk.
• Teachers can provide flexible classrooms. For instance, some students may work at a desk, while others may prefer sitting on the floor, using bean bags, or standing at tall tables. This flexibility supports various learning styles and promotes student autonomy.

Every child deserves to feel included, supported, and valued at school. Here are some things to look out for and ways you can stay engaged in advocating for a more inclusive elementary school environment for your child.

Ask who will provide support in the general education classroom

If your child is moving into a general education classroom, it is important to ask whose responsibility it will be to provide specially designed instruction within the general education classroom. Many schools provide this support through an inclusion specialist, through co-teaching, or using a special education teacher from a separate classroom to consult with the general education teacher and paraeducator. This should be noted in the IEP, either as a service, a support, or support for staff.

Ask for inclusion in all school activities

You don’t have to pick and choose for inclusion to be just in PE or lunchtime, or just during math and reading. True inclusion means your child has the right support to participate meaningfully in all aspects of school — academics, social experiences, and extracurricular activities.

Schools often choose PE and “non-academic” activities, such as art classes, school assemblies, lunch, and recess for inclusion, that may be perceived as more easily accessible. Physical education is as important as any other part of your child’s education, so don’t be afraid to ask for the same kinds of supports you’d expect for their academic instruction. But too often, though, schools don’t know how to incorporate students with disabilities into PE programs outside of Adaptive PE — which often favors physical activity in a segregated setting versus an inclusive PE experience. But inclusive PE is possible, often with accommodations. You can find our list of IEP accommodations here!

However, bear in mind that the research on the benefits of inclusive education focus on academic achievement and IEP goals, and these benefits are not going to come from only eating lunch at the table next to general education students. Inclusion isn’t just about social time or checking a box. Lunch and recess are great opportunities for inclusion, but true inclusion also means making sure your child gets the support they need in academic subjects like math, reading, and science. Schools need to make inclusion a priority in the classroom, not just during the fun extras.

Advocate for Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Proponents of inclusive education do not imagine that all children will be able to work at grade level. There are a variety of tools that schools can use to provide support for teachers coping with different abilities in the same class community. The first is Universal Design for Learning, which provides a framework for teachers to plan a lesson that contains multiple ways for new ideas or information to be represented to the children, based on their different capabilities. Teachers can also offer children multiple ways of expressing their learning. These multiple means are offered to all the children in the class rather than one student having a completely different curriculum.

UDL in an elementary school classroom can look like:

• Instead of telling the whole class they’ll be learning about the bones and muscles in the hand while giving the student with a disability a separate task to draw a turkey hand, the teacher can use UDL by having everyone create hand turkeys, making the activity a fun way for all students to learn about the bones and muscles in the hand.
• Learning content can be shared in multiple ways to meet each learner’s needs. For example, if teaching about biology, a teacher might use a video, a hands-on experiment, a reading passage, and a graphic organizer. They may use a combination of lecturing, visual aids, music, and tactile props (like sandpaper or shaving cream to engage students through their sense of touch). This ensures that students who learn best visually, through hands-on activities, or by reading all have access to the material in a way that works for them.
• Children have multiple ways to respond to the lesson, for example one group might be working on a short movie, another group might be creating a poster. Individual writing projects could be submitted as a slide show or video presentation.

Within a UDL-designed classroom, there will also be students who need additional accommodations written in their IEP or 504, such as tools like a number line, or behavioral supports, like alternative seating. Some children will also need specially designed instruction, perhaps with alternative achievement standards. These need to be designed by a special education teacher, although they can be implemented by the general education teacher, perhaps with the support of a paraprofessional.

Parent tip: if a teacher says that there is no need for accommodations because their classroom is universally designed to offer choices to all students, you can still ask to include specific accommodations for your child that may not be included in the list.

Advocate for embedded instruction

A more universally designed approach adjusts the lesson plan in the general education classroom to include the specially designed instruction without the need to pull the child out. This is often called embedded instruction. Embedded instruction is where evidence-based instructional strategies are “embedded” into natural performance settings, such as everyday in-class activities, to give students opportunities to work on their IEP goals. Here are some examples of what embedded instruction can look like in elementary school:

A student working on number recognition as part of their IEP practices identifying numbers during a small group math activity with peers, rather than being pulled out for one-on-one instruction A speech therapist joins recess to help a student practice conversational turn-taking and social interactions in real-time with peers. A student working on sentence structure gets support from a peer buddy or teacher during a shared writing activity, instead of being pulled for isolated practice.

Ask about interventions, supports, and pullout services

During pullout services, a student can be pulled out to work in a small group setting with a credentialed special ed teacher in a separate room. But that doesn’t have to be the only option. Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is a school-wide framework that helps teachers identify the supports available to all students and how interventions for kids who need a little extra support will be provided. Here are a few key things to know about MTSS:

• MTSS helps schools create truly inclusive learning environments — making sure kids with disabilities are actively engaged in learning with the right supports in place.
• To make this happen, general education teachers, special education staff, and other school professionals work together to provide the right level of support for each student.
• With UDL as a baseline to provide students with multiple ways to learn content and demonstrate their knowledge, schools can then use the principles of MTSS to add extra support where needed so children can continue to make progress.

MTSS has three tiers of support. Tier 1 supports are provided to all the children in a school universally. Although a child with an IEP might have access to Tier 2 or 3 supports that are more intensive, they should also have access to all Tier 1 supports. It’s worth asking about Tier 2 or 3 supports while your child is in elementary school.

For example, Tier 2 might identify students struggling with foundational reading skills using a curriculum-based assessment. Support at this level could include small group instruction within the general education classroom to reinforce key reading skills. Progress is monitored at regular intervals, and students who continue to need additional help may move to Tier 3.

Tier 3 provides more intensive support for a smaller group of students, which could include pullout services like a one-on-one reading intervention for several weeks or targeted, evidence-based strategies provided as embedded instruction. When students need Tier 2 or Tier 3 support, it is added on top of Tier 1 instruction, not used as a replacement. The goal of this process is to ensure all students have access to the general education curriculum while recognizing that every learner may need support at some point, regardless of whether they have a disability.

Here are some key takeaways as you explore pullout and push-in services:

• Spending 80% of the school day in a general education classroom is often considered “full inclusion.” Even if that level cannot be achieved, any additional time that your child spends learning with typically developing kids will be advantageous. Ask your therapists about “pushing in” to the general education classroom and working with a group of peers when possible.
• Make sure the pullout time will benefit your child, not that it will benefit the general education teacher to have your child out of the way.
• Make sure the program in the general ed classroom is aligned with the instruction that’s being received outside of the room.
• Your child may need to have speech and occupational therapy sessions as “pull out,” where they leave the classroom and spend time in the therapist’s office. Your child may miss vital instruction in the classroom and might feel lost when they return. If the child has OT, the occupational therapist can join the class during an activity that involves cutting, like an art project, and can support students in a natural setting. The alternative is pulling a child out during math class to practice cutting in the OT room, causing them to miss important instruction.
• For pragmatic social skills, the speech therapist can support the child in natural settings, like recess or small group activities. Meeting during these times allows them to practice real interactions instead of working on skills in isolation.

Support all communication styles

Technology is perhaps the most important and yet most forgotten support that should be added to a general education placement to promote an inclusive environment. Social communication can be facilitated between classmates by visual supports, books, classroom resources, and alternative means of communication. The majority of children with extensive support needs struggle with communication. For some children with Down syndrome or cerebral palsy, for example, there are physical reasons why speaking and writing are difficult, caused by muscle tone and motor planning issues. For other children, speaking and writing might come relatively easy, but determining what or how to say or write is challenging. All these children can benefit from AAC. Here’s what you can do:

• It is important that parents request an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and an assistive technology (AT) assessment (for access to reading, writing and math) and that their IEP team includes specialists in these areas who can train and consult with other members. Once you have a system in place, inclusive practice becomes easier because the child can communicate (their needs, their learning, their questions).
• Ensure the IEP expert on AAC is involved in training all the communication partners, and in a busy general education classroom, that means non-disabled peers. There are a number of examples of speech and language therapists using AAC training to generate a “buddy group” or “communication circle” to facilitate communication with other children. And remember, you can write training into the IEP!

Adapt reading and writing materials

After third grade, students gradually switch from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Students who are not at grade level in either reading or writing need some assistance to make the written curriculum accessible. Here are some ways to do this:

• Use assistive technology: there are multiple assistive technologies that can help level the playing field for students. This can often take the form of tech support, such as speech-to-text and text-to-speech, many of which are universal on classroom computers. Students (and IEP team members) may need training on how to use them effectively. Students with extensive support needs often do not have the necessary skills to use these tools, but AT can also provide supports that build toward using it, such as Word banks, PixWriter, or Clicker. These tools tend to be adult-intensive in terms of the work required to ensure that the words in the word bank line up with the lessons in class, so always ask whose job it is to set up the word bank. For more information, see our articles about assistive technology for reading and writing.
• Modify text: there are many ways to modify text so that students who are reading to learn can access some of the content of a grade-level class, whether they are in a general education or a separate classroom. In our article on phonics and the science of reading, you can find an example of how we modified a passage from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, a novel that is often set for tenth-grade students in California and contains some beautiful and complex text, using AI.
• Personalize reading and writing instruction: for example, if a student is bilingual, a teacher can allow them to write in their native language to better express their thoughts and emotions, and can support this choice and use translation tools if needed.
• Share that every student in a gen ed class can struggle with writing: for example, instead of giving just one student a pencil grip or slant board and making them feel singled out, a teacher can offer different types of pencil grips and slantboards to the whole class. This way, every student has the chance to try one and see what feels most comfortable. By introducing tools like this to everyone, students who need extra support can use them without feeling different, and all kids benefit from learning about different ways to make writing easier.

Bring in paraprofessionals and 1:1 aides

For many children, inclusive education is impossible without additional adult support in the classroom. For some, that will be a 1:1 aide for safety, behavior, or instruction. For others, a classroom teacher's aide will be sufficient. Many schools will push back against this, partly due to the expense but also because so many children develop a dependence on adult support that gets in the way of their developing independence and social interaction.

Remember that an aide is not a restriction or an environment but a support added to an environment, and a properly trained aide will know when to pull back and allow a kid to develop independence. But the reality is that many children need to learn how to live interdependently and how to manage getting support from staff and peers. You can read more about using paraprofessional support in our article Paraeducators 101.

Facilitate peer socialization and friendship

Younger kids in TK and kindergarten tend to be very accepting of differences in their playmates. Older elementary children can be very conformist, and unless they have been explicitly taught how to navigate treating their peers' differences, they may shun children whose differences are difficult to understand. Diana Pastora Carson, creator of Beyond Awareness, tells us the best thing is to model how you want your child to be treated. “Be in the classroom and model, if you can. I know not everybody has the privilege of being able to go in and volunteer, but that's the first step. Go in and model and answer those questions: ‘How come he can't talk?’ ‘Well, some people communicate in different ways, it's okay. Here's how he communicates this is what he wants or this is what he needs.’”

As a parent you can model that this is a normal and natural part of the human experience, Carson says. “Model it for the teachers. Model it for the children. That's the first step. And if a parent wants to do disability awareness, I say go beyond disability awareness. Invite an adult who experiences a disability, or invite different adults, different weeks, to talk to the kids about the five fundamentals, and then they will naturally transfer that knowledge over to their classmates, including your child. And if at some point your child would like to do a presentation, then your child can do a presentation and they can focus on the five fundamentals.”

Parents can advocate for support for social interaction in the IEP because socialization is a core component of the school experience. Here are a few tips:

• Parents may have to be proactive to foster friendships. We often hear from parents that their children are not invited on playdates or to birthday parties. Often, parents of children without disabilities are uncomfortable believing that they won’t be able to look after your child at a drop-off playdate.
• If parents are uncomfortable, it’s a great idea to have playdates together, such as playing in the park or visiting an attraction together. A lot of busy parents are grateful for you asking their kid on a playdate but may feel they can’t reciprocate, so tell them they are off the hook.
• Don’t expect the first playdate to work perfectly — it may take time to build up a relationship, but no kid should be forced to play with your child just because they have a disability — and you can still be friends with their parent.
• Help your child create opportunities outside school. Community organizations such as Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts are great for this.
• Add goals in the IEP to support socialization or social skills.
• Help build an inclusive culture with peers in the classroom, especially if there is bullying going on.
• Schools can be proactive in creating opportunities for proximity and shared interests. While peer support is often recommended, many teachers hesitate to include it in an IEP. They might argue that we can’t write other kids into an IEP. But peer support can offer some of the same benefits as an aide. So how do we advocate for it in the IEP?

For more ideas on helping your child make friends, see our article Socialization and Inclusion: Nurturing Authentic Peer Relationships. If you want to specifically address your child’s disability in the classroom, see Nurturing Disability Acceptance in Your Child’s School.

Get involved in school community events

Many parents with children with sensory issues find it difficult to participate in school community events, such as a school carnival or Halloween parade. It is important to establish a relationship with your PTA or PTO that may organize these events. Remember that your school must keep your child’s IEP confidential and cannot advocate for an individual student’s needs. However, you can self-identify as a family with a child with a disability and explain your unique needs to community leaders. Here are some tips to remember:

• Some schools offer a quiet space to retreat to during community events and also a sensory-friendly time when a child can enjoy attractions without loud music or bright lights.
• Volunteering to help your PTA or PTO will help you build a community around your child and foster understanding of your child’s extra needs and strengths.
• If your child has a 1:1 aide in their IEP, the school or district is responsible for supplying an aide. If it is written into a child’s IEP that they require an aide to participate in this activity and receive FAPE, then they must be accommodated, even if the school has to hire outside of their typical contracting pool. Many families skip these events because they worry their child won’t have the help they need — but you have the right to ask for it!

Ask for help from an advocate

Many families find that they need the help of a professional education advocate to secure an inclusive placement. You might also need to file for due process with the help of an attorney. Once you have an inclusive placement, the “stay put” provision allows you to maintain that placement until you consent to your child being moved to a more restrictive setting, or the district files for due process to enforce the move (and wins).

If inclusion isn’t working

It's not usually a smooth road. Remember that if your IEP team recommends moving your child to a more restrictive setting, the first step is to ask, “What supports can we add so they can be successful in an inclusive setting?” There are multiple ways that inclusion can miss the mark, depending in part on what we expect the benefit to be. See our full article What to Do When "Inclusion" Isn’t Working for ideas and tips about addressing specific challenges in implementing inclusive practices.

Prepare for the transition to middle school early by finding out as much as you can about how middle school works. Try to find other parents at the middle school to learn from their experience. This is often the point at which schools recommend moving into a more restrictive setting, but if inclusion has been successful (meaning if your child is making progress year after year on their IEP goals), then there is no reason to move them to a more restrictive setting. In some ways, middle school can be easier to navigate with inclusive practices because you can vary levels of restriction by subject, if that is what your child needs. Ask to tour the middle school and see all levels of classes. Be sure to read our article on inclusion in middle school for more information.

There is no-one-size-fits-all solution in inclusive education. The point is to find what each individual child needs to be successful in a general education environment. It doesn't need to be 100% of the day or of your child’s education. Navigating it is hard work, but for most parents, it's worth it to see their child participating and enjoying their community and developing genuine friendships, like any other child going to elementary school.