Who Are We Forgetting in the Inclusion Matrix

Abstract In many of our rural school districts, today's inclusion initiative struggles to make a smooth transition from segregating students with disabilities to including them with their age appropriate peers. Efforts have been made to prepare educators, paraprofessionals, administrators and even children with disabilities, but little focus has been placed on the area that will bring about the success of this concept. Most often we have forgotten to adequately prepare the environment in which children with disabilities will spend the majority of their educational day. The general education classroom in many rural school districts is primarily made up of classmates, most without a disability or the knowledge and disposition to accept and include their peers with disabilities in both the educational and social experiences of this environment. The Inclusion Matrix provides a concrete approach to preparing and educating nondisabled peers for the inclusion classroom environment. This model stresses that the interaction of all students both with and without disabilities does not just occur. An effort must be made to nurture an environment within the classroom, which would show caring to those classmates many times alienated and separated from the group. Phases that build on knowledge, understanding, skills for socialization and integration, addressing dispositions as well as our feelings toward all students within the classroom environment are important aspects of this program design. The use of peers to provide much needed support of inclusion may prove to be the most effective resource for the implementation of the inclusion initiative. The 1997 reauthorization of I.D.E.A. has strengthened the support for inclusion in America's rural schools, and brought about a frenzy of activity blending students with and without disabilities within the same general classroom environment (Weiss.& Rapport, 1996). Rural districts have larger struggles as they compass the task of meeting the educational needs of students with disabilities within their neighborhood schools (Sebastian & McDonnell, 1995). Traditionally, students in rural districts that have had more intense educational needs have been served in much more restrictive environments isolating them from their peers without disabilities (Passaro, Guskey, & Zahn, 1994). In rural schools, most teachers know the students and may have even taught them for several years. This may also be a factor that has contributed to a pattern of low expectations toward students with disabilities (Harriman, 1998). Research indicates that the majority of training has been implemented in an attempt to adapt mainly the teachers and students with disabilities to function within the inclusion classroom. Data in current literature sustains the focus that many times these efforts produce positive outcomes (Bennett, Rowe, & DeLuca, 1996; Farmer,1996; Farmer & Farmer, 1996; Ringlaben & Dahmen-Jones, 1998; Sharpe, York, & Dowdy, 1998; Smith, Polloway, Patton, & Dowdy, 1998; York, Vanderhook, MacDonald, Heise-Neff, & Caughney, 1992). Another vast array of the literature focuses on attitudes of teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals and students with disabilities toward the inclusion process (Boyer & Bandy, 1996, Downing, Eichinger, & Williams, 1997; Olson, Chalmers, & Hoover, 1997; Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1996; Summey. & Strahan, 1997; Wigle & Wilcox, 1997). This approach to the inclusion initiative is the rationale for the development and implementation of this model. Often the most important component of the matrix, the peers without disabilities, is left unprepared for this educational system. Many peers without disabilities that could support inclusion are seldom adequately prepared for the changes they encounter within this initiative (Smith, Polloway, Patton, & Dowdy, 1998). Schools struggle to make a smooth transition from segregating students with disabilities in special education classrooms to inclusion with their peers in the general education classroom. …