Integration Vs Inclusion

Autism is an invisible disability and as such, in my experience, many schools seem to oversee or fail to see the autistic difficulties which autistic pupils experience, therefore, failing to meet their educational and social needs and not making reasonable adjustments, as required by the law (SEN code of practice 2015).  For example, if a pupil uses a wheelchair, the school will make adjustments for that pupil to being able to access the buildings, such as ramps or lifts.  When it comes to autistic students, many schools fail to see their need.

What do we understand by integration and inclusion?  Let’s have a look at the definitions

Integration
Disabled people of all ages and/or those learners with 'Special Educational Needs' labels being placed in mainstream education settings with some adaptations and resources, but on condition that the disabled person and/or the learner with 'Special Educational Needs' labels can fit in with pre-existing structures, attitudes and an unaltered environment.
For example: The child is required to "fit in" to what already exists in the school.

Inclusion
Disabled people of all ages and/or those learners with 'Special Educational Needs' labels being educated in mainstream education settings alongside their nondisabled peers, where there is a commitment to removing all barriers to the full participation of everyone as equally valued and unique individuals. 
For example: Education for ALL

The fundamental principles of 'inclusion' are far deeper. Inclusion in education involves the process of:

• Increasing the participation of students with disabilities in, and reducing their exclusion from, curricula and communities of local schools;
• restructuring the cultures, policies and practices in schools so that they respond to the diversity of students' needs;
• accepting diversity as normal and as a rich source for all students;
• responding to the diverse needs of all students;
• accommodating both different styles and rates of learning;
• ensuring the quality of education to all students through appropriate curricula, support and teaching strategies;

SEN code of Practice: early education settings, schools and LEAs will need to be able to demonstrate, in their arrangements for children with special educational needs, that they are fulfilling their statutory duty.  Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and October 2010, schools must make reasonable adjustments to make sure all pupils can be involved in every aspect of school life. 

Schools are required to make reasonable adjustments in order to avoid that pupils with learning difficulties are placed at a substantial disadvantage.  For this, schools must take reasonable and appropriate steps to overcome barriers which impede or complicate the academic and social attainment of pupils with learning difficulties.  For example, a teacher always addresses the class facing forward to ensure that a pupil with hearing difficulties is able to lip-read. Also the teacher makes sure that pupil sits within close range to be able to lip-read.

Inclusive Practice

Inclusive practice can be defined as attitudes, approaches and strategies that we take to ensure that no learners are excluded or isolated from the education on offer.

In other words, we all work to create a culture where all learners feel welcome, accepted, safe, valued and confident that they will get the right support to assist them to develop their talent and achieve their goals.

If the IEP focuses on strategies to help a child fit into a classroom, this is integration. If school personnel talk about extra adaptations or services to help the child fit into a classroom, it is integration.  When looking at the IEP, strategies will be used to adapt and improve the classroom so that all students achieve success. Inclusion is about helping everyone.

Integration models assume there is something wrong that must be fixed in order to fit into the present system.

 It is argued that integration implies that disabled people need to be integrated into “mainstream” society and that it is they rather than society which is required to change.

 In contrast, inclusion takes as its starting-point the fact that a just state of affairs is one in which disabled people are included in society and hence the required policy response is a broad one which includes comprehensive civil rights legislation, an analysis of the effects of present and future policy on disabled people and the participation of disabled people in the democratic decision-making process

On the assumption that the successful implementation of any inclusive policy is largely dependent on educators being positive about it, a great deal of research has sought to examine teachers' attitudes towards the integration and, more recently, the inclusion of children with special educational needs in the mainstream school

Acceptance of a total inclusion or ‘zero reject’ approach to special educational provision. Teachers' attitudes were found to be strongly influenced by the nature and severity of the disabling condition presented to them (child-related variables) and less by teacher-related variables. Further, educational environment-related variables, such as the availability of physical and human support, were consistently found to be associated with attitudes to inclusion

There has been some research evidence that children with autistic spectrum disorders benefit from contact with normally developing peers and that this contact also benefits their classmates (Strain and Hoyson, 2000). However, success is only documented in relation to well supported situations, where professionals are trained and mere placement (even with 1 to 1 support of an untrained teaching assistant) does not guarantee true inclusion or the meeting of needs (Jordan and Powell, 1994).

The guiding principle of ‘the least restrictive environment’ is a sound one, providing that meeting the individual’s needs (including the basic right to freedom from persecution, stress and distress) is a paramount consideration.

In reality, and this is the case for most secondary schools I know that autistic students get terribly bullied by his mainstream peers.