The Inclusion Puzzle: A Case Study of Inclusion in a Rural Elementary School

Abstract

Inclusion of special education students in general education classrooms has come to general acceptance by educators as one option in the continuum of special education service delivery. Another view of inclusion is the ideal of providing for all the varied individual needs of a diverse population of students: learning needs, physical needs, language needs, and social emotional needs, together, in all school settings. In the study school, special educators took a step toward the ideal of inclusion by providing all special education services in general education classrooms. Looking at the picture of inclusion in the school during the four years of the study, of how the ideas of inclusion were put into practice in the specific setting, is the puzzle of inclusion.In the study, specific instruments were used, including surveys and questionnaires, observations, whole group dialogue groups, a checklist, and individual interviews, for the purpose of gathering information about the setting to promote inclusion philosophy and practice, determining the activities to promote inclusion, and gaining insight into school members' attitudes and beliefs about inclusion in the school. In response to the specific instruments, school members participated in providing data, and the result was a body of in-depth information that could be helpful to others interested in the experiences andperceptions of the practice of inclusion in one rural elementary school.