Abstract

There is a legal concept in the United States that separate is inherently not equal. From the Civil Rights Movement to the establishment of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) all educators are mandated to provide an inclusive educational environment. Students with disabilities are to receive their education in the least restrictive environment that will meet their needs. When a student’s disability presents challenges to the structure and function of a classroom, such as when there are behavioral or compliance issues as can be evident with autism disorders, many pressures emerge that need to be reconciled. Classroom teachers may feel ill-equipped to manage both the behavior of the disabled student as well as the reactions and interactions of the rest of the class while also delivering quality instruction. Instructional assistants often feel overlooked as having valuable insight and perspective on managing behavior even though they are on the “front-line” in implementing behavior modification plans. Parents may have two very different points of view, both positive and negative, as they experience through their children the change of the classroom environment from what they might have experienced themselves. The school culture may need to be transformed as students learn to be inclusive, tolerant and accepting of one another. The school administrator is the one individual in this community that must emerge as a leader. This person must: Be well-trained on specific behavior management models such as Applied Behavior Analysis (A.B.A.), comfortable with working through a wide range of behaviors from non-compliance to physical aggression, be able to be an empathetic listener to staff and parents and demonstrate that perspectives can and should be shared, and be non-conflicted in the establishment and benefit of the inclusion model in all school governance decisions.