Inclusion of Students with Special Needs in the General Education Classroom

The inclusion of students with special needs in the general education classroom has been a major topic of discussion for many years. Inclusion education means that all students are part of the school community, regardless of their strengths and weaknesses (“Sec. 300.8 Child With a Disability.” n.d.). These students deserve to have full access to all resources and social interactions that are present in the general education classroom. The ultimate goal of many schools is to create a classroom that has the least restrictive environment to meet the needs of all students, including those with special needs. However, many teachers were not taught how to teach students with special needs, yet alone include students with special needs in their general education classrooms (Hyunjeong et al., 2014, p. 16). Studies show that teachers do want students with special needs in their classroom, however they do not feel prepared to fully address the educational needs of students with special needs. While these teachers might be capable of teaching students with special needs, they do not feel confident enough to do so. Teachers should be given the opportunity to learn more about how to create successful inclusion classrooms. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to address the different teaching strategies that teachers can use, in order to have a successful inclusion classroom. This study answered one research question: How do teachers create and maintain successful inclusion classrooms? Data to answer this research question was collected through a review of scholarly literature and observations in two elementary classrooms. The researcher anticipates the results to show that teachers can set students with special needs up for success if they are knowledgable of a variety teaching strategies to do so