Children who are emotionally and behaviorally challenged may struggle to integrate with other students. Mostly, the affected students struggle to compete fairly with their peers in both academic and social spheres. The response by most developed countries has been to place the affected students in special education facilities designed to meet the unique needs of the students. The problem with such an approach, however, is that the affected students are not given enough opportunity to learn and work on their inadequacies. This paper seeks to analyze the impacts of inclusion program on the behavioral and mental development of the affected students.
There have been appeals from different stakeholders to have the special education sector restructured and reformed. One way of achieving reforms, according to Oliver and Reschly (2010), is to have inclusion policies for students with disabilities. Many stakeholders have argued that inclusion of students has both short and long-term benefits to both the normal and the students with emotional disorders. According to MacFarlane and Woolsfon (2013), high-quality inclusion can help students make gains that are visible during their preschool days as well as later in their life. However, experts have warned that the approach used in inclusion programs should be well planned to ensure that the students benefit from the program. In other words, the class environments should be designed such that the students can develop positive emotional skills, acquire and use knowledge such as language skills, as well as use appropriate behaviors to achieve the goals and needs.
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The benefits of inclusion can be categorized into short-term benefits and long-term benefits. According to existing research, children with multiple interactions with peers and adults are likely to benefit a lot from regarding their development. From these findings, it is clear that students should be placed in environments where they are constantly interacting with their peers (MacFarlane & Woolsfon, 2013). By interacting with peers and adults, students with emotional and behavioral disorders have templates upon which to base their behavioral and emotional learning. For children with developmental problems such as hearing abilities may engage in more advanced forms of plays with normal kids than they would when playing with other children with similar disorders .
Communication is an important skill that every student must learn and apply for their school and future survival. According to Macfarlane and Woolsfon (2013), students with emotional and behavioral disorders learn a lot about communication when they are included together with normal students. Communication is a broad concept that involves both verbal and non-verbal forms. The most common forms of communication problems facing students suffering from emotional and behavioral disorder include speech, language, and non-verbal cues. Other forms of communication problems related to developmental disorders include hearing loss and the inability to recognize the subtle differences between certain sounds. The argument by Macfarlane and Woolsfon (2013) is that emotional and behavioral disorders can greatly affect both verbal and non-verbal communication. By observing how others communicate, the students can learn the basic skills needed to sharpen their communication skill. According to Macfarlane and Woolsfon (2013), this is something that can be considered a long-term effect of inclusion programs. Perhaps the most important aspect of communication that students with EBD can learn from peers is how to relate to each other under different scenarios. Communication is an important skill that is not only useful to them when in school, but also important for their future professional and personal engagements.
A number of approaches have been suggested in the existing literature on how to use inclusion to improve the communication skills. According to Macfarlane and Woolsfon (2013), teachers should be pair the normal students with the disadvantaged students in groups during class activities. The argument is that pairing the students would improve the confidence of the disadvantaged students, hence make it easy for them to learn. According to Macfarlane and Woolsfon (2013), most of the problems faced by the disadvantaged students often persist because of their shyness and inability to express themselves properly. By pairing them together, however, the students tend to develop confidence by seeing what the peers are doing and trying to mimic. Integration of students is particularly useful in helping students learn and appreciate the non-verbal cues by observing what their peers are doing and then repeating it exactly.
Most students with EBD have challenges with social functionalities such as the ability to form and maintain friendships . According to Oliver and Reschly (2010), placing emotionally and behaviorally challenged students in restrictive environments limits their ability to exercise such social functionalities like forming friendships . By integrating the students together with their peers, there is a high chance that they will learn how to interact with one another and how to form friendships. Macfarlane and Woolsfon (2013) argue that such an opportunity is so important that no kid should be denied the opportunity, especially because it defines their social life, and hence happiness in the future.
Self-concept is another important factor that can influence the interaction of students with fellow students. Students with low self-esteem are likely to seclude themselves from the rest and even show signs of depression. However, by integrating students together, there is the possibility that they will forge genuine friendships that can improve their sense of self-worth. Macfarlane and Woolsfon (2013) argue that integrating students together also have the potential of increasing their awareness of personal skills. However, according to Kauffman (1997), educators must be careful because integrating students can expose the disadvantaged kids to mean kids who may only worsen their situation. In other words, the interaction of the students should be carefully monitored to ensure that the disadvantaged students are bullied on their basis of their disorders.
The environmental influence has been identified as a factor that determines how kids turn out to be in the future. The concept of environmental influence has been emphasized by Theule, Wiener, Tannock, and Jenkins (2013) who observed the impact of nuclear family on the behavior of kids. According to their study, Theule et al. (2013) observed that families with poor structure and no role models could expose their kids to poor social behaviors such as hostilities, inability to forge friendships . In particular, Theule et al. (2013) mentioned that families that have a poor social network , poor parental responsibilities, hostile relationships, et cetera, are likely to negatively influence their kids . Most importantly, the study by Theule et al. (2013), noted that inadequate parent-child relationship could make many students to develop antisocial behaviors.
Education stakeholders must appreciate the fact that both the normal kids and the socially and emotionally challenged kids will definitely face a world of diverse people when they leave school. Through integration, there is no doubt that the students are prepared for the realities of the outside world. The emotionally and behaviorally challenged are taught how to adjust to various environments and value themselves. Similarly, the integration process teaches the normal kids how to behave and respond to people who challenged in one way or the other. The reality is that the environment where students will be after school is an inclusive environment and hence there is no point creating restrictive environments for them while in school. According to Oliver and Reschly (2010), the environment where students learn should be a reflection of the inclusive reality of the world outside school. Oliver and Reschly further argue that it is an abuse of right for any school to place restrictions on students with a behavioral and emotional disorder . The argument by Oliver and Reschly (2013) is that no student should be subjected to any form of segregation since they have a right to be exposed to the practices and curriculum of the regular education systems.
Conclusion
The inclusion programs have some benefits to the emotionally and behaviorally challenged. However, in spite of the many advantages of inclusion programs on the social adaptability of students , many scholars have warned that the schools have to be careful about the unique needs of the socially and emotionally challenged students. In other words, the students should be given special social and emotional support system to ensure that they integrate seamlessly with the rest of their peers.
References
Kauffman, J. M. (1997). Characteristics of emotional and behavioral disorders of children and youth : Merrill/Prentice Hall, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Landrum, T. J., Tankersley, M., & Kauffman, J. M. (2003). What is special about special education for students with emotional or behavioral disorders? The Journal of Special Education , 37 (3), 148-156.
MacFarlane, K., & Woolfson, L. M. (2013). Teacher attitudes and behavior toward the inclusion of children with social, emotional and behavioral difficulties in mainstream schools: An application of the theory of planned behavior: Teaching and teacher education , 29 , 46-52.
Oliver, R. M., & Reschly, D. J. (2010). Special education teacher preparation in classroom management: Implications for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders , 188-199.
Theule, J., Wiener, J., Tannock, R., & Jenkins, J. M. (2013). Parenting stress in families of children with ADHD: A meta-analysis. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders , 21 (1), 3-17.
