s major benefits to the child with a disability and to the other children in the classroom or who form the special need child's peer group. Young children tend to be more accepting of a child's differences than older children and adults. If preschool-aged, special-needs children are integrated into a school setting with the same children they are likely to encounter in kindergarten and elementary school the children will have already developed social skills and relationships with each other and a natural support system will have developed.
Children with special needs placed in inclusive classrooms learn skills in a normalized environment. Children participate in the class without specialized individual instruction. The amount and frequency of special instruction does not seem to impact on the degree the child participates in the class activities (Janko, et al, 1997, p. 290). Specialized instruction may become a barrier to full participation. The child with a disability may not learn the same skills in an inclusive classroom compared to a self-contained special education classroom but will learn and develop skills and natural support systems if allowed.
The use of ecologically based activit
...