sabilities had little opportunities to interact with non-disabled students. Inclusion on the other hand provided an alternative to mainstreaming and committed to the education of each child with maximum intent to place the child in a general classroom with necessary supports. Inclusion is defined as placing a disabled student in an age-appropriate general education class with supports needed to allow for successful participation in activities offered to non-disabled students (Paige, 2004).
Specifically, Paige (2004) reported that inclusion was NOT to include: placing disabled students in classrooms without needed supports, sacrificing quality or education to any student, reducing special services, ignoring needs of students, requiring all students to learn the same, or requiring teachers to teach these students without support. Laws and regulations requiring inclusion state that to remove a child from a classroom, the nature and severity of the disability must be such that education cannot be achieved satisfactorily with the use of aids and services. Full inclusion is defined as placement of all students in general education all day in every school setting. Responsible inclusion is defined as having a continuum of services as the disabled child is included in an appropriate manner.
Boyd (1996) defined full inclusion as all students attending the school that they would attend if they did not have a disability. According to this definition all school sites would have a natural proportion of students with disabilities and no student is to be excluded due to disability. Schools are to have no self-contained special education classes at the site and effective instructional practices are to be used along with special education supports.
Yell (1995a) reported that there is a difference between LRE (least restrictive environment), mainstreaming, and inclusion. Yell stated that LRE refers to the mandate in IDEA (Individua...