When Does All Really Mean All?

Posted on October 4, 2005

This portion of the Supportive Classroom Blog is for the discussion of issues that come up from time to time or for issues that I want to share. Please feel free to comment or add your own issues to this section.

When does All mean All? refers to an issue that I have been addressing for the past 30 years as a special educator and as a parent. It is the issue of inclusion of students with disabilities within the general education classroom. When I talk about the importance of students feeling a sense of Belonging within their classroom, school and community, I am talking about all children, regardless of ability. The reality of many schools is that some children that should be assigned to a particular classroom are not. They may be assigned to a resourse room, a special classroom or ever to another school. These children may be labeled as children with multiple disabilities, deaf-blindness, autism, emotional disabilities or severe learning impairments. The bottom line is that they are "children". If you are teaching third grade and there is a child in your school of 3rd grade age who is not assigned to a 3rd grade classroom, what can you do to help this child feel a sense of belonging? How can we tell our students that we all belong, if there is a child in the school that is not included in our activities? What do your think?