Practitioners must consider whether a mainstream or special setting is best for a particular child on an individual basis, says Valerie Driscoll
The feasibility of including children with special education needs into mainstream settings is something I had to consider recently in my role as an under-fives education worker.
Fortune Park Early Years Centre in London is a mainstream setting that is fully inclusive of children with SEN. As part my work there I have been involved in the process of integrating into our mainstream provision a three-year-old old girl who has a physical disability. Diane currently attends a special school, where education is offered to GCSE level, and will begin the process of inclusion next term.
While I have always been an advocate of integration, being involved in the inclusion of this child has meant that I have had to consider and take on board the positions and reservations of other people.
I think there is a danger in the notion that mainstream provision might improve the quality of life for a child with SEN, because it makes an assumption that the child's life needs improving. This can also make the people who are already working hard with the child feel defensive. I had to examine what it was that my nursery could offer Diane.
The aim of a mainstream nursery is for all areas of a child's development to be considered and catered for. When asking how an included SEN child could benefit, I looked at each of the different areas of development. For every area I came up with, there was no reason why this could not be offered in a special school. For example, physical development can be catered for in a special school as much as it can be in a mainstream setting.
My thinking kept returning to the children. The most notable characteristic of mainstream provision that other settings may not have is large groups of children. With this comes play, social interaction, communication and language and a sense of identity within a group. This is where a child with SEN will experience an improvement in their quality of life.
In play, for example, children communicate and they learn strategies to be able to do this. When the responses of other children and adults are within the range of the child's understanding, while also presenting a challenge to stimulate this understanding, communication skills will be developed.
Research by Guralnick and Paul-Brown (1984) found that normally developing children were able to make adjustments in the language they used, depending on who they were speaking to - for example, a child with speech delay, or a younger child (in Hoad and Silverman, 1996). While this kind of feedback can happen in any setting with any adult, it is the children who provide the most enabling context for language acquisition, intellectual development and socialisation through their play.
Joining in
Another area where attending a mainstream provision can improve a child's quality of life is in how the child perceives him or herself. Special schools or isolated units within schools may serve to highlight the child's special need, rather than their individuality or ability. In a group setting a child will go through a process of assessing the social group and then find their place within the community of the setting. The same is true for the included SEN child. In provision where integration is part of everyday life, all the children learn that it is normal to be different. They learn about each other as individuals within a group, not as a group.
Hoad and Silverman state, 'In a segregated educational setting, children may regard themselves as a subgroup in the wider community. In a mainstream educational setting they regard themselves as a member of a community of individuals, with all the individual difference and variety that that implies.'
Any child coming to nursery needs to know that they too have something to offer. A child such as Diane will learn that she has a rightful place in the society of the nursery, where she can command her environment and assert her needs and rights. Wolfendale and Wooste (1995) say, 'Inclusive principles... for children with special needs in the early years includes educational experiences; their right to take their place alongside their peers; their "best interests" to be paramount.'
The family
Parents and families too need to know that their child's best interests include them. This is important because how a family perceives itself and the child can have implications not only for the child's development but also for the family as a whole. They need to be helped to avoid being isolated by their child's special need.
This was highlighted for me when I first met Diane's parents. I was surprised to find that what concerned them most about Diane's inclusion were exactly the same issues that often concerned parents of normally developing children - for example, they were worried about bullying and wetting. They believed that their concerns arose from the fact that Diane had a disability. Diane's parents had begun to feel isolated and different. They had not considered the possibility that parents of normally developing children also worry that their child might be bullied.
This for me presented a sad reality of the consequences of segregation. Where children are educated in separate schools, Alcott (1997) says, it '...can lead to a segregated lifestyle outside and beyond school'. It became obvious to me that this process has already begun for Diane's family.
Barriers to inclusion
There are, of course, valid and serious issues - staffing, staff training, funding, resources, support and so on - that can impede the process of inclusion and in some cases make it inappropriate. Perhaps where there is a political will to support the inclusion of SEN children, these barriers may be overcome.
It is possible that for some children with SEN, attending a mainstream setting may not be appropriate. One reason could be that in a special school the specialist services required by the child would be available in one place, avoiding too much travelling.
In the case of Diane, I feel it was more appropriate for her to attend a special school prior to being included. She suffered with physical pain after many operations. Attending a mainstream setting at that time would not have been appropriate.
Another important consideration is what happens to an included child when they leave nursery. Compulsory education starts with the question of equality of access; yet a paradox occurs from this point on. Once a child starts school, a race begins. Warnock (1977) describes this as the 'opportunity to compete'. It becomes possible to see why some people, in a special school where a child's specific special need was being catered for, would feel reluctant about sending the child into 'the race'.
In my nursery, I am perhaps in a privileged position. I see the benefits of inclusion on a daily basis. There are also a number of benefits for the normally developing children who attend the setting. This has made it difficult for me to view segregation as a viable alternative. However, mainstream schools may have a different philosophical framework where the curriculum takes precedence over the individual.
While going through this process of including Diane, I have had to play devil's advocate to my deeply held belief that inclusion benefits all. I have learned that it is not constructive to be complacent in the notion that what we provide in our own setting is the best care available, or that it is always appropriate.
The opinions, fears and reservations of all the people involved with the SEN child will affect the child. It is therefore necessary to consider all perspectives and work with them.
