School Intervention for Inclusion of Students with and without Disabilities. Focus on Autism and other Developmental Disabilities

A common understanding shared by parents and educators of students with disabilities is the students ’ tremendous need in the area of socialization. Having and maintaining friendships is an integral part of children’s development. Often, students are ill pre-pared for the inclusion of schoolmates with and without disabilities. Consequently, a comprehensive school intervention model designed for the effective inclusion of all stu-dents should be planned. The purpose of this article is to share successful practices for the socialization of students with and without disabilities in the general education class-room. A model of inclusion conducive to establishing positive interactions and commu-nication among students with and without disabilities is presented. Intervention strate-gies involving the relationship between two elementary school students and their schoolmates are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the intervention. nclusion, encouraged by federal leg-islation and supported by profes-sional and parent groups, may ne-gate its intended charge if typical students are not prepared to understand, accept, and demonstrate caring for their peers with disabilities. Smith, Polloway, Patton, and Dowdy (1998) indicated that often students are ill prepared for the inclusion of classmates with disabilities. Myles and Simpson (1998) concurred by suggesting that the preparation of stu-dents without disabilities is an often overlooked area of intervention. Gres-ham (1981) and Honig and McCarron (1990) recommended that children without disabilities need encouragement in their sensitivity to others ’ difficulties and competencies. These suggestions should come as no surprise considering the limited efforts made to prepare the environment for inclusion (Hilton &amp