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of Inclusion

2. Don't just be a host 

Many students that have a disability would have a learning support assistant to help them with their work, the teacher must keep in mind that this does not mean that someone else is responsible for the learning of this student, it is still the class teachers job to ensure the student is learning. Being a host to the student with a disability does not help at all. Teachers should be the “boss” of all activities and learning for ALL students within the classroom. A teacher must understand that if she/he is capable of teaching students without a disability, she or he also has the skills to teach students with a disability.

1. Do Welcome the student in your Classroom

It is a very horribly but common feeling for a student with a disability to feel unwelcome, they feel as though they need to work to become welcome. This also causes stress on the family of the child. More often than not it is the adults who have issues when welcoming a child with a disability into the class rather than the other students. Teachers must create a welcoming environment within the classroom community, this would help create a new generation of people that accept students with disabilities as their friends. To create this environment the teacher must welcome the student with a disability just as she/he would with any other student, the teacher must be sure that all students feel important within the classroom.

3. Do provide access to peer integration

As time goes by more and more children with disabilities are being placed in mainstream schools, but this does not mean they are being included. The student with a disability is not included most of the time when it comes to group work, peer interaction. So much so that most students are placed on separate larger desks with their learning support assistant, hence missing out on most peer-to-peer learning. This is the opposite of inclusion and may lead to social isolation. As much as possible the student with a disability should be able to participate in the same activities as his peers.

4. Don't use One Teaching style 

Nowadays teachers need to teach students with many different learning styles within one classroom, hence, using one teaching style will NEVER work. Also passive and didactic styles of teaching tend to reach only a few students. Activity based teaching is one of the most inclusive teaching methods one could us. Children with disabilities tend to learn much better when using more active, participatory and creative modes of learning. Activity based learning is not only beneficial to the student with a disability but it is also preferred and more effective with students that do not have a disability. This method of teaching and learning tends to promote positive behaviour and motivation

5. Do adapt Instruction styles

Teachers must adapt their instruction style when there is a student with a disability within their classroom. Adapting their instruction style would aid access to learning for the student. Different ways of adapting instruction: 

  •  Allowing different modes of response when the disability makes it difficult to write or talk.

  • Making activities shorter or longer

  • Changing the amount of content expected by the student

  • Extending waiting time

  • Giving memory aids

  • Using the student's interests in lesson

  • Using multimedia

6. Don't forget to Evaluate yourself 

It is very important for every teacher to evaluate himself or herself in order to adjust and improve instruction and also to check if their efforts have made a difference to the students. Evaluation for students with a disability could also be done through testing, in the same way it is done for other, although this evaluation may be done in different ways. A child with dyslexia might be allowed extra time or spell checkers, a child that cannot write may be able to type out answer and also a child that cannot see could be given a scribe. This allows the teacher to evaluate their work in order to evaluate their teaching. Teachers need to ask themselves, 'Is my teaching making a difference to the student's life?'.

7. Do ensure the right support

Although support should be helpful to both the student with a disability and the class teacher some times this support could be the opposite and it could actually hinder the learning of the child. This all boils down to the collaboration between the paraprofessional and the class teacher, if there is a lack of collaboration the child's learning will be greatly affected, in a negative way. It is important that the paraprofessional and the class teacher have the same agenda and the paraprofessional should adapt to the class teachers routines, ideas and concerns. Without this collaboration the student with a disability will be excluded within the class as the class teacher would simply leave the child in the hands of the paraprofessional, hence, lack of collaboration results in lack of inclusion.

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