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After speaking so much about the benefits of inclusion, we realized that like all things, there is a downside to it. For example, in the article linked above, a child who had been diagnosed with autism was placed in a mainstream classroom due to having a high enough IQ for it... Only for his mother to realize that he was not well supported, and thus, unhappy and lagging behind his typically developing peers. Since his IQ was on par with that of a typically developing child, he was rejected from special schools that might had been able to help him. Do you remember the questions we posted in regards to inclusion in this post? The reality is that if schools are not ready for inclusion, but try to practice it, it will most likely end up being integration- something we had already discussed about previously. This means that if the students with special needs is unable to accommodate and adapt to the school, they will most likely fall through the cracks. We've identified some issues arising from opportunities - or lack thereof - given to students with disabilities.

Social: Keeping students with disabilities segregated away from mainstream schools will just increase the stigma people have in regards to the term 'disability'. It takes away the opportunity for typically developing students and students with special needs to interact and realize that despite their differences, they are still similar in many ways. Today, many Singaporeans do not know how to interact with a person with a disability due to a lack of exposure, and the stigma that comes with it - so why not give them the opportunity to do so when they are young?

Educational: Students with disabilities, if given the right support, will be able to excel in studies as much as their typically developing peers, especially since many of the students with learning difficulties - such as dyslexia - actually have an average IQ. However, due to the lack of support for these students, they tend to do badly in mainstream schools, causing their self esteem to take a beating. This might discourage the student from trying, and inevitably stop themselves from reaching their maximum educational potential.

Moral: What are we trying to teach our children when we ignore the needs of students with disabilities in our schools by practicing integration, and not inclusion? Or when we decide to put them in special needs schools because we think that they can't? That they are "second class", or "not worth our time"? Inclusion in schools will help children - and the adults around them - be better people, simply by helping them recognize that we should look at the person first, and the disability second. We believe that inclusion will help with working towards minimizing ableism, by showing that students with disabilities are just as able!

Ethical: Students with disabilities should have the same rights to education as typically developing students; while not all students with disabilities will be better off in a mainstream school - again, we can't emphasize enough on there being adequate support and accommodations because we are aiming for inclusion -those who are able to should be given that equal opportunity to succeed in school. It is about doing what's right... Even if often, doing the right thing is the tougher path to take.

We feel that if the child in the article had been given the right support and accommodations when he was in a mainstream school, he would have done as well as after he was transferred to Pathlight. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with our views? Why not leave some Food for Thought?

Inclusion is not bringing people into what already exists, it is making a new space, a better space for everyone.

Rachel Olivero, Diversity Officer

Changing Expectations of Children with Disabilities in Singapore

Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) is the journal of the Society for Disability Studies (SDS). It is a multidisciplinary and international journal of interest to social scientists, scholars in the humanities, disability rights advocates, creative writers, and others concerned with the issues of people with disabilities.

The study linked in the title found that pre-service teachers were most positive with dealing students with social issues (withdrawn, absent, shy) and least positive with dealing student with behavioral issues (disruptive in class/verbal or physical aggression - such as students with certain types of disabilities). Notable points:

Overall less positive in their attitudes on including students with significant academic delays: These students often require significant amounts of extra effort from teachers if they are to be successfully included, and the idea of these extra demands likely makes pre-service teachers less positive about including students with significant academic delays.

Overall more positive towards inclusion if trained for it: There is a positive correlation between training and positive attitudes; teachers who had been prepared to work in an inclusive setting were more willing to defend the practice than teachers who were not prepared for it.

Overall more positive towards inclusion after experience: Teachers who had direct contact with a person with a disability - especially while playing the role of teacher rather than family member or friend - produced a significant impact on attitudes; the more intimate the relationship with the student, the more positive the attitude.

Canadian/Australian teachers more positive towards inclusion vs Singapore/Honk Kong teachers: This is probably due to cultural and educational differences; the idea of inclusive education is relatively new in both Hong Kong and Singapore, and as such, most university level students have rarely experienced peers with cognitive and physical disabilities in their own schooling. As such, teachers in Hong Kong and Singapore tended to slightly disagree that students with academic and physical problems should be included in regular classroom.

In school, we learnt that disability is socially constructed; meaning that our culture, beliefs and personal experiences shape how we view disabilities and people with disabilities. This study supports what we had learnt, and proves that with inclusion - by exposing the general population to students with disabilities in our mainstream schools - people will eventually become more open to the idea, because they will be learning more about it. Let's remove this stigma together!

The title links to the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) website which shows the education paths that can be taken by students with disabilities. If you go to the website, you'll realize that although going into a mainstream school is an option, it is an option that is not advocated for - we had trouble finding information regarding children with special needs opting for a mainstream classroom.

Under what conditions are children with disabilities educated in Singapore? For a child with special needs to be accepted into a mainstream school, they must be certified to be at least a certain IQ; however, we were unable to find out the exact IQ required at this time. If their IQ is below that, they will be allocated into a special needs school. This brings to attention Pathlight - the only special needs school in Singapore that offers mainstream education to children with mild to moderate autism. For children to be admitted, they are required to be certified with Autism and have a non-verbal IQ of at least 70. In the event that the student’s verbal ability is below an IQ of 70 or cannot be ascertained during the psychological assessment, evidence must be provided to support the student’s ability to meet the language demands of the mainstream curriculum.

If given the opportunity to be educated in settings where children with disabilities are taught in Singapore, would you go? If so, why, if not, why not? We decided on a 'yes'. However, we believe that our answer was influenced by the fact that we've studied about disabilities, as well as worked with children with disabilities before. Thus, having these positive experiences, we're more receptive towards being in the same classroom or school as someone with a disability, and having them being included in the curriculum.

What does your response imply about the state of educational opportunities for children with disabilities in Singapore? Back in our day, children with disabilities were more or less kept out of the mainstream classroom, and in the special needs schools - this is especially true in primary and secondary school. Most of us did not have much contact with people with disabilities, especially while we were studying. Looking at the website linked in the title, we came to the conclusion that although things are improving - starting with more children with mild special needs being accepted into mainstream primary schools and being supported by Allied Educators (Learning and Behavioral Support) - there is still a lot of room for improvement.

What are your thoughts on the questions posted in this post? Do consider leaving your perspectives in our contributions page, and questions in our food for thought page! :)

Do you remember the definition of Inclusion made in this post of the blog? The article linked above talks about the differences between inclusion and integration, as the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. As a group, we recognize the differences between those two terms - our aim is inclusion in schools, not integration. To get a sense of the differences between these two terms, let's start with the definition of integration.

Integration is defined as students with special needs fitting in or adapting to mainstream schools without the necessary assumption that schools need to change to accommodate a greater diversity of students.

So, here is some food for thought. Do leave your ideas and perspectives in our contributions page, and questions in our food for thought page! We will get back to you as soon as we can :)

Reference: Quah, M. M., & Lim, L. (2004). Educating Learners with Diverse Abilities. Singapore: National Institute of Education.

Singapore Education system speaks of inclusion, but practices integration?

The Problem: No schools have expressed interest in specializing in catering to the needs of students with disabilities.

The Cause: Intensification of competition among schools leading to schools’ reputation at risk; School cares about reputation and parents’ feedback, and are unwilling to accept students with disabilities due to a fear of dropping in rank on the School Ranking System.

The Effect: As many schools are unable/unwilling to accommodate these students with disabilities, most of them were delegated to special schools instead. For example, only 2 students with hearing impairment and 4 students with visual impairment were accepted into mainstream schools, out of 165 mainstream secondary schools in 2003. Mainstream schools were also more concerned about the education of the typically developing students, leading to neglect of students with special needs in the system.

Our Question: At the rate things are going... Is inclusion really feasible? Does it do more harm than good? Is Singapore trying to take too big a first step into inclusion? What do you think about this 'Do as I say, not as I do' approach?

Why not leave your thoughts and comments for us as Food for Thought? (:

Inclusion without supports isn't inclusion - it's dumping

Kathryn Burke, Executive Director, Learning Disabilities Association of Alberta

Inclusive communities are accessible communities.

Steffanie Date, Sault Youth Association

What is Inclusion?

Before proceeding with the rest of this blog, we would like to introduce you to what inclusion means. Inclusion has been defined as students with special needs participating meaningfully alongside students who are typically developing in school activities by being provided with the necessary support and accommodation from the school. Characteristics of Inclusion:

Home-School Placement: Students with special needs being placed in mainstream schools.

Principle of Natural Proportions: Students with special needs being placed in schools/classrooms where the population reflects the populace of persons with special needs of that area/district.

Restructuring Teaching and Learning: Collaboration between general and special educators, as well as service providers, families, and the students themselves to promote individualized instruction for the student with special needs in the mainstream classroom.

Age- and Grade-Appropriate placement: Students with special needs being in the same classroom/grade as the rest of the students their age.

Inclusion is all about...

A radical reform of schools in terms of curriculum, assessments, pedagogy and student grouping to accommodate all learners.

A radical shift away from society's current view of disabilities as an innate defect; challenging people to think about how society and institutions limit the participation of people with disabilities from mainstream life.

Improving the education of students with disabilities to improve education for all students.

Children and adults learning to recognize and appreciate human diversity, something that is especially important in today's highly globalized world.

References:

Quah, M. M., & Lim, L. (2004). Educating Learners with Diverse Abilities. Singapore: National Institute of Education. Turnbull, A., Turnbull, H. R., Wehmeyer, M.L., & Shogren, K. A. (2009). Exceptional lives: Special education in today’s schools (7th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.

From left to right: Leow Yan Ping, Fidelia Liew, Chong Wei Fang, Sharon Mark 4 early childhood educators who stand for inclusion. We will be putting up our own thoughts/ideas, as well as links to resources we find useful. There will also be the occasional quote, especially ones we find inspiring or thought-provoking! Scroll to the top of the page for our Food for Thought (The place to ask us questions and give us your opinions for us to respond to!) and Contribution (The place to submit your own posts; we'll have to approve of it though!) links! :)

A journey together

Because learning is a step from being ignorant.

Everyone's different in our own way.

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