‘I Need Help on Mondays, It’s Not My Day. The Other Days, I’m OK’.—Perspectives of Disabled Children on Inclusive Education

Abstract

This article examines the experience of inclusive education from the perspective of disabled children. We worked with the observations of, and interviews with, 15 children, aged 5–17 who go to a mainstream school. The study is set in the context of a 3‐year research project exploring the practice of inclusive education in Flanders. Here, we report on the key findings from the children’s accounts, focusing on what they had to say about themselves, what they think about school, friends, support and their future prospects.

The Dissection of Paraprofessional Support in Inclusive Education: ‘You're in Mainstream With a Chaperone’

“…Giangreco (2009, p. 3) cautions that 'the nature of the support [provided to students with disabilities] may be inconsistent with individual goals that are geared toward greater student independence' , which was evident in this case, to the detriment of the young people's inclusion. These findings are consistent with other studies (Broer et al, 2005;De Schauwer et al, 2009;Mortier et al, 2011;Tews & Lupart, 2008), and show that young people with VI feel similarly towards paraprofessionals, as do those with intellectual and other impairments.…”

“…Students in receipt of paraprofessional support appear to constantly experience feelings of dependence on support personnel, which negatively affected their sense of autonomy (Tews & Lupart, 2008). Furthermore, the studies reported that students often felt controlled by support personnel (Broer et al, 2005;De Schauwer et al, 2009;Mortier et al, 2011;Tews & Lupart, 2008). Students who attended classes accompanied by paraprofessionals continually compared themselves against their peers who did not receive support.…”

“…More than a decade after this finding, a database search yielded a small number of published studies with methodology that included the voiced experiences of students with disabilities about the paraprofessional support that they received (Broer, Doyle, & Giangreco, 2005;Mortier, Desimpel, De Schauwer, & Van Hove, 2011;Tews & Lupart, 2008), among other aspects of their inclusion (Curtin & Clarke, 2005;De Schauwer, Van Hove, Mortier, & Loots, 2009). Most studies were conducted with either former or current students with cognitive or physical impairments; only one participant in Mortier et al's (2011) investigation had impaired vision.…”

Special Units for Young People on the Autistic Spectrum in Mainstream Schools: Sites of Normalisation, Abnormalisation, Inclusion, and Exclusion

“…Recent literature has begun to address this gap (e.g. Connors and Stalker, 2007;De Schauwer et al, 2009;Shah, 2005).…”

Programa de Integración Escolar en Chile: brechas y desafíos para la implementación de un programa de educación inclusiva

“…Entre sus resultados, se señala que "algunos de los factores que inciden en que no se dé una completa atención son: motivación de los docentes, exigencias del colegio y de los padres, falta de evaluación por parte de la institución al proyecto (…)" (Arias et al, 2005: 51). Existen diferentes miradas sobre sus resultados, por una parte, algunos autores defienden sus efectos positivos (Thomas, 1997;De Schauwer et al, 2009), otros enfatizan en las múltiples complejidades en su implementación (Clark et al, 1999;Norwich y Kelly, 2004) o la falta de evidencia sobre esta (Lindsay, 2007;Kelly et al, 2014).…”