For many parents of children in special education, inclusive education isn’t just a preference, it’s a priority. Whether families are inspired by research showing the benefits of inclusion or they simply want their child to have a typical school experience, these families prioritize their child being part of a general education classroom.
But inclusion isn’t as simple as placing a child in the room. Without the right supports, many students struggle to thrive. So what happens when inclusion isn’t working? How do we troubleshoot challenges and make sure every child gets what they need to succeed? There are multiple ways that inclusion can miss the mark, depending in part on what we expect the benefit to be — let’s dive in.
One reason you might feel inclusion isn’t working is because your child isn’t interacting with other children in the classroom. Inclusive education is defined as being educated alongside nondisabled peers, but we often find students effectively being “islands in the mainstream” — surrounded by kids but not interacting with them, only with their paraeducator.
Inclusionists often say that if inclusion is not working, then it’s not truly inclusion. Having a “rightful presence” in the classroom is essential for “students who are left out or kept at the margins of school” but isn’t sufficient. Inclusion is the process of adapting the learning environment to make a classroom where all students can be successful and experience belonging. If that’s not happening, it’s not inclusion, and there is still work to be done!
Many parents might feel it took so much advocacy to get their inclusive placement that they don’t want to rock the boat. But inclusion isn’t going to be beneficial just because the child is in a general education classroom. There also need to be inclusive practices in place. Here are a few things parents can explore:
In this clip, Dr. Mary Falvey, emerita professor from the Division of Special Education and Counseling at California State University Los Angeles and a national authority on inclusive education, explains how even without AAC, many children need others in the classroom (adults and kids) to be trained on their communication style.
Parents are often concerned that their children with disabilities are not achieving grade-level curriculum standards. However, children don’t need to be on grade level for inclusion to be working. The idea that kids need to “keep up” is just one of the 5 Biggest Myths About Inclusion. What’s more important is that they’re making progress, particularly on IEP goals.
In this clip, two Undivided parents discuss how children with disabilities benefit from a standards-based education tailored to their needs, even if meeting grade-level standards isn’t the primary goal. They also highlight the importance of focusing on other important skills for their children to work on with their peers that aren’t written into the grade-level curriculum:
Consider whether there are accommodations that can make the curriculum more accessible. For example, a student who is still an emerging reader might be allowed to use universal technology (apps and extensions available to all students) to listen to readings. A student who isn’t at grade level with reading might be given accommodations to allow them to study the same novel as their peers by providing them with an audiobook, speech-to-text software, and/or a scribe. Or a student who isn’t at grade level with math can be provided with accommodations such as manipulatives, a calculator, a times table, and other supports. Other common accommodations that can support inclusion include a 1:1 aide, an inclusion facilitator, text-to-speech/speech-to-text tools and extensions, chapter summaries, shortened assignments, and pre-teaching vocabulary and concepts. See our list of example accommodations for more ideas.
In this clip, Mary Chirichella, an inclusion facilitator for Culver City Middle School, explains why accommodations can sometimes be the key to effective inclusion.
Some students will need modifications to the curriculum to enable them to access the same content but with the objective of learning alternative achievement standards. For example, if students are studying a novel, a student with modifications might read a simplified text of the same story and answer “who/where/what” questions while the other students focus on “why” questions. In science, students might be studying how the environment influences differences in organisms using material about lizards; a student with a modified curriculum could work on naming differences such as size, color, and pattern using the same lizards.
On the other hand, a modification might not be effective when it impedes inclusion or a child feels left out, but some simple fixes can help a child feel more included. As Arielle Starkman, an inclusive education consultant in Los Angeles, explains, “I often see a lot of teachers attempting to provide things, but maybe there are some simple things that could be adjusted.”
For example, let’s say the materials come in a super decorative or frilly font — it might look cute, especially in elementary school, but those frilly letters can be tough for any child to read. Sometimes, the way information is presented makes it visually overwhelming. Take math worksheets, for instance. If there are 10 to 12 problems crammed onto one page, it can be hard for kids to focus. But spreading them out or placing each problem in its own box can make a big difference. It helps clarify where everything goes and keeps attention on the task at hand.
“I think people have the best intentions when these things are modified,” Starkman says, “but those are really big barriers, and really simple fixes can help a lot of students access the modification much better.”
For more information, see our articles What to Do When Modifications Aren’t Working as They Should and Making Inclusion Work for Kids Who Require a Modified Curriculum. (Note that a modified general education curriculum is not the same thing as an alternative curriculum.)
Universal Design for Learning is an important component of inclusive practice. Lessons can be designed to provide all students with:
Many parents report that they feel inclusion is not working because their child has no sustained friendships. This is usually okay in elementary school but becomes a more important factor in middle and high school. Parents might note that everyone says hi to their child in the hall and gives them a high five, but no one texts their child on the weekend to ask whether they want to go to the new movie. When you think of your time in high school, do you even remember going to class?
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:
Dr. Falvey explains why children with disabilities often need structured support in order to develop friendships. For typical kids, friendships might develop from proximity and shared interests, but some kids need extra help.
For many children, having a 1:1 paraeducator in place is the only way that inclusion will work. But often, inclusion isn’t working because the aide support is not implemented effectively. Here are some tips when advocating for more 1:1 support for your child in the classroom:
There are many reasons why a child might need to spend part or all of their day in a separate classroom for students with disabilities. Parents often feel torn between the need for services that are difficult to provide in a general education classroom and their dreams for inclusion. Research on the benefits of inclusion defines full inclusion as a child being included in general education for 80% of the day. This leaves 20% of the day for skills-based interventions, which might require 1:1 teaching in a quiet setting.
In this clip, Dr. Caitlin Solone explains how services can also be embedded into a universally designed lesson, such as an intensive structured literacy program.
Here are some things you can ask during your IEP meeting:
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. And pay attention to IEP goals that need a lot of intensive 1:1 work, because your child will likely get pulled out for those.
Many students are partially included, spending between 40% and 79% of their day in a general education classroom and the rest of their day in a learning or resource center or a special day class (SDC). These classrooms often have a reduced curriculum or, in some cases, an alternative curriculum (often described as life skills or functional skills). There are some pitfalls to watch for when it comes to partial inclusion:
If you feel that your child needs a more restrictive environment, remember that your IEP team should first consider whether more services and supports can be added to your child’s IEP to make the least restrictive environment (LRE) work. In cases where it is not possible for the child to make progress in general education even with these additional supports, the IEP team should explore a continuum of placements available in the school district. See our article on LRE to understand these alternative placements. Even if your child is mostly learning in a separate classroom, it is important to consider how they might spend time with children without identified disabilities.
Your IEP team must consider placement annually, but you can also request an IEP meeting to discuss placement at any time. Placement is determined by considering the student’s goals, services, and supports, with a bias in favor of inclusion. Even if the school feels that your child could make more progress in a separate classroom, it does not necessarily outweigh the social benefits of inclusion. See our article on what to do if placement isn't working.
If you disagree with your IEP team on your child’s placement or the supports needed to make inclusion work effectively, you have options:
Inclusive education works best when there’s strong teamwork, especially between general education and special education teachers. But for parents, making sure that collaboration happens can be one of the biggest challenges — especially when inclusion isn’t working the way we’d like it to. It’s frustrating to see your child struggle in a setting that’s supposed to support them, and it can feel overwhelming to figure out what to do next. How do you bring your child’s IEP team together to create the inclusive learning environment your child needs to thrive? From open communication to shared problem-solving, there are key steps you can take to strengthen collaboration and ensure that your child gets the support they deserve.
Work with the IEP team to add goals into the IEP using specific language that promotes inclusion. For example, when identifying goals, consider whether you can ask to rewrite the goal to include “with a same-age typical peer” as part of the activity. Encourage your IEP team to identify goals that promote interaction with other students. Find more information in our article 4 Steps to Write Inclusion into Your IEP Goals.
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? In this clip, Chirichella talks about the importance of peer support and socialization opportunities in the classroom.
This should be a report written by an education specialist (or a special education teacher) based on an observation of your child in a classroom setting. The inclusion expert will look at what kinds of supports and services can be added to create an environment that the child can thrive in. Make sure they are not writing an assessment of your child’s ability or readiness to be included. Many districts are hiring their own inclusion specialists, or they can contract with a company such as Arielle Starkman, 2Teach, or Sevi’s Smile. They can also seek support from their SELPA, County Offices of Education, or state initiatives like SIP if they don’t have internal inclusion specialists.
Team members can have consult time written as an IEP service — e.g., “Inclusion Support.” You can also suggest regular team meetings, not formal IEPs, and let them know you don’t have to be there (but would love to). Let the team know that the TIES Center has a great template that teams can use to collaborate on implementing IEP goals in a variety of settings.
In this clip, Starkman talks about working with the IEP team as an inclusion specialist to create a system for collaboration.
We’ve gathered some questions about following up on inclusion at your child’s school so that you can check in with your IEP team and ensure that your child has what they need. Check out our Inclusive Schooling Checklist: Questions to Ask Your IEP Team.
Sometimes, parents feel they can’t speak up or rock the boat when it comes to asking for more inclusive practices or supports for their children. If you want to try inclusion, push for it and don’t let the school tell you it can’t be done.
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