Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums THINKING BIG About Gifted Education Inclusion models - what works?

Having kids on both ends of the spectrum (though my youngest child’s special needs at this point are primarily physical) I would also like to point out that a huge benefit of clustering and grouping (if not necessarily segregating) is the community support.

I very much enjoyed his years in the spec ed preschool because there were so many parents and teachers that just got it. It is tough always having to be the one who fights and educates, and it was nice being able to profit from the cumulative experiences. I wouldn’t trade those years for anything. DS5 does very well being included in a regular preschool now, but I miss the support.

However, in order to have a clear eyed view on this, I imagine not only must one view inclusion as only on value mong others, but one must have made their peace with being different, needing to parent, live, plan differently. I suspect that the case Aquinas has described is one in which this has not been possible for the parent. (I know a very prominent case just like it, too). Maybe growing up gifted and raising gifted kids, always feeling you are different and frequently feeling excluded because of it has made this easier. Maybe some of you think this isn’t a good thing in the first place?

I also think that educational systems should not feel coerced by ideology not to run several models simultaneously. Larger districts can always offer more specialisation, smaller districts can offer only limited choice, with one choice being busing to the larger district/city/whatever or even boarding school. A more inclusive setting can then come with some trade offs, in that they not every school is required to be the educational equivalent of a maximum care hospital, and parents (and, with increasing age, kids) can choose. I meet a lot of teenagers with disabilities who have chosen a special ed setting for high school and/or job training after having been mainstreamed and say they are so happy they are not always the only person with issues („in this school, everyone’s got something and it’s so liberating!“).