If a child is having that much difficulty in being around other people, why would you even consider forcing that?

I may be wrong, but I think Amanda has said that some people can’t be “included” the way people think of inclusion/integration/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, and that needs to be respected and taken into consideration when desiging school programs for the disabled.

In this example, though, the most obvious solution (to me) would be to allow the child as many breaks from the classroom as he needs. If that results in him missing more than half the class, then maybe he’s just not able to be in a group learning situation, and efforts should be made to have his learning take place separately – coming into the larger group for activities in which he is able to participate as an equal (such as those taking place outside, perhaps).

But for the sounds, there are earplugs and protective earphones, if he can tolerate them. And for behaviour that is intolerable because he is seeing it, he could perhaps be seated at the front of the classroom. For smells, I am not sure that there is anything yet. If there was, I would definitely be using it. ;)

Well, no doubt that’s true, but let me give you a theoretical example to illustrate what I mean. Imagine the following situation: an autistic kid is educated in a normal classroom along with other non-autistic kids. The autistic child finds the noise of the kids, their natural behavour, even their smell (which the autistic kid can percieve due to hypersensitivity), to be unbearable for more than very short periods and therefore has almost constant tantrums, screaming fits etc. which make teaching the class impossible because of all the noise the autistic child is making. Objectively, the autistic child’s response to his/her surroundings is disruptive to the other kid’s education (obviously it’s not this child’s fault). The question then arises: how do you accomodate this autistic child in a mainstream setting in such a way so that he won’t have these sensory responses which both ruin his school experience and disrupt his fellow students’ education?

Obviously there must be a way – I suspect in this kind of situation it would involve some form of assistive technology, but I’m just using this as an example to argue that it’s not only intolerance on the part of others that is the problem. There are wider issues as well and accomodating *all* children in one setting rather than segregating at least some disabled ones will require some redesigning of the education system itself.

BTW Chris De Burgh should be thrown into a pit and concreted over. And we’ll throw in Phil Collins just for good measure! ;-P

That is the reason why my school for severe learning difficulties has tripled in size in twenty years. The government and the local authorities push so-called inclusion as an option when they really mean integration. Everybody has to fit in and not damage the school’s performance on the standard tests.

It is often the case that a “failing school” is one that has taken in the kids excluded from other local schools. The kids and their parents like the school and want to keep it open. But they cannot match the results of the neighbouring schools that have effectively selected the academically able and the undemanding pupils.

In a situation like that a segregated school can be a lifesaver for some kids. We are not expected to compete in the exam stakes. We may still be judged against those standards when we are inspected. But most of the time we can seek to create a nurturing environment for some damaged kids and rebuild their self esteem and find areas of success for them.

It is not ideal. Sometimes it is like having chickens and foxes in the room together. But my experience is of special schools that are nowhere near as horrific as the institutions that Ballastexistenz describes.