Inclusion

The article, "Inclusion as an instructional approach: Fostering inclusive writing communities in preschool classrooms," written by Erin McClockey, explores how a writing community in an inclusive preschool classroom promoted social engagement and literacy learning of all students. McClockey takes a close look into the life of one student, Ray, to showcase one way in which divergent theories of literacy learning might be bridged.

McClockey begins by explaining how children in the USA who are identified as preschoolers with disabilities can be placed in a range of inclusive preschool settings and there are many differing definitions of what constitutes an inclusive classroom. She mentions how some preschoolers with disabilities are placed in 'true' inclusive classrooms where all special education services are brought into the general education classroom, while at other times preschoolers with disabilities are removed from the general education classroom to receive special education services in other locations. While included in general education classrooms, the preschoolers with disabilities participate in the same activities as children developing 'typically'.

In many preschool settings that are described as inclusive, therapists and special education teachers remove children entitled to receive special education services from their classrooms so that the service provider may address the specific goals in their IEPs. McClockey points out that removal from the classroom, in part, creates a secondary disability that Vygotsky describes as "a disability based on the social implications of an organic impairment (primary disability)" (pg. 51). The message sent to the other students in the classroom, as well as the teachers, is that the child being removed is different and cannot be taught adequately in the classroom. The child is disabled by this removal because he or she is led to believe that instruction must be different for them to learn. During the course of this study, McClockey observed Ray trying to manage these removals. Ray was in an inclusionary preschool classroom, but only up to a point. While Ray leaves the classroom to work privately or with a small group of children who are also classified as preschoolers with disabilities, there are social implications. McClockey asks, "How can inclusion be considered as an instructional approach to avoid this?" (pg. 52).

One way to support the learning and instruction of all children is inclusive writing communities in preschool classrooms. McClockey defines inclusive writing communities as "spaces where all children can sit around the table and create marks, drawings, words, and stories while talking and listening to each other" (pg. 52). In facilitating this inclusive writing community, an instructional goal for the teacher is to recognize each child's strengths as a place from which to support further learning.

McClockey states that if children are taught in classrooms that celebrate the diversity of learning, beginning at the preschool level, it would then be a natural environment as they continue in their schooling. She also notes that an IEP should, at its very core, be detailing how instruction ought to be focused to maximize strengths and facilitate development, and yes using percentages to quantify literacy learning makes its impact as an instructional tool unproductive. A better format might be to describe the instructional environment and a guiding question could be, 'What learning environment would be best to foster the literacy development of all students while providing support for students who are working on social skills?'

Instructional approaches that work from a child's strengths to foster growth provide a context for students to notice each other's strengths. Inclusive environments are classrooms in which 'the attitude is that all students belong everywhere, with everyone else, in the school community' (pg. 62). When preschool teachers utilize an emergent perspective on literacy development, they can notice and support the progress in learning that all students are making. "All students then have an individualized literacy plan, one that honors their strengths and promotes engaged learning" (pg. 63).




Mccloskey, E. "Inclusion as an Instructional Approach: Fostering Inclusive Writing Communities in Preschool Classrooms." Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 12.1 (2012): 46-67. Print.