“Inclusion is a philosophy that brings diverse students, families, educators, and community members together to create schools and other social institutions based on acceptance, belonging and community.” (Salend 6)
“Inclusion recognizes that all students are learners who benefit from a meaningful, challenging, and appropriate curriculum, and differentiated instruction techniques that address their unique strengths and needs.” (Salend 6)
“Inclusion programs provide all students with access to a challenging, engaging and flexible curriculum that helps them to be successful in society.” (Salend 6)
Inclusion not only benefits those children who are disabled but also the children without disabilities because it is an opportunity for them to learn about disabilities and learn to accept the differences that everyone has. While inclusion may not be for every child out there, the benefits greatly outweigh the negatives, thus why an inclusive classroom has been more and more pushed as the way to go for education of younger children. (Browne 117-118)
“Children with disabilities need the same things in their environment as other children. They need an environment that is safe, secure, and predictable and one that provides a balance of the familiar and novel, so that there are materials and activities that provide for their development.” (Browne 342) There is no one law that forces classrooms to be inclusive, but when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 it made it illegal for any facility to deny any person or persons admittance into a facility because they had a disability. Another law that has made waves in the equality of education for all is Public Law 94-142, which was passed in 1975. This law was later revised in 1990 and re-named the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). (Mastropieri 14-17)
An IEP is a legal