Inclusive Education

1. Inclusive Education A Case for Julius

2. Julius’ Individual Needs Julius is in my year 6 class. He has been assessed as being 'legally illiterate' with reading and writing capabilities similar to the students just starting school. This is mainly due to the fact that he is unable to recognise and manipulate component sounds in words (Elkins, 2012 pp. 263) The challenge for me as a teacher is that although Julius' literacy levels are significantly lower than most of his peers, he is significantly less motivated to do work that has been obviously differentiated for his limited literacy skills. He has a strong group of friends and I believe that this has resulted in him having a strong self-concept as he is aware of the way that people perceive him (Elkins, 2012). This awareness influences the way in which he learns which is why it is important for him to be doing work that is not seen as being 'babyish' or of lesser value to the rest of his classmates work. While he is reluctant to do tasks that are below the level of his peers, it may or may not surprise you that Julius is very willing to attempt new activities, regardless of how difficult the activity may be. This is very encouraging for Julius' self-efficacy as it infers that he has an enhanced awareness of his capacity to learn and perform tasks (Elkins, 2012 pp. 75). The tasks which he enjoys most are those that involve building things or hands-on problem solving. Furthermore, Julius is not impartial to borrowing novels from the library to read during silent reading time in class.

3. Julius has medication to manage attention deficit disorder (ADD) which results in him finding it very difficult to process information, understand instructions and generalise new skills to other environments and learning situations. Julius is not so much hyperactive (such as students with ADHD) but inattentive and easily distracted when receiving instructions. His diagnosis does not affect his behaviour in a negative manner as he is often polite, friendly, enthusiastic and humorous in class.

4. Individual Needs of Other Students in my Class In my class I have a wide variety of student needs, including a number of students who speak English as an additional language or dialect, students classified as being gifted and a student with autism spectrum disorder just to name a few. I view all my students as individuals who each have unique and specific needs. However some, such as those just mentioned, require specific curricula modifications due to their classifications.

5. Gifted and Talented Students: Fraser-Seeto et al. (2013) define students as being gifted and talented when they have extraordinary potential (gifted) and/or performance (talented) in more than one aspect of human ability (e.g. Intellectual, creative, social, psychomotor). Furthermore, gifted and talented students have cognitive, affective and social needs that differ from their peers in the mainstream classroom (Fraser-Seeto, Howard, Woodcock, 2013). Research over the last 30 years has negated the common assumption of past teachers that gifted and talented students would learn, regardless of their home and school environment (Rowley, 2008).

6. Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder and it affect students socialisation, communication, interests, behaviour, cognitive profile, and sensory sensitivity. The functionality of students with ASD is extremely broad and the student in my class is academically a high achiever but lacks the communication skills to both express his own and read other peoples' emotions. He loves anything to do with aircrafts and is very reluctant to leave or have anyone play with his two model aircrafts which he keeps under his desk (Elkins, 2012 pp. 159).

7. Students who Speak English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EALD): There are a few EALD students in my class. Their linguistic and cultural backgrounds vary which results in them each having unique needs. Furthermore, their acquisition of English literacy's differ with some new arrivals to Australia being quite low compared to other students who I know have been at this school since kindergarten who may not be seen as an EALD learner at first glance. It is however, still important to keep these students in mind as there are certain aspects of their literacy which are affected as a result of being an EALD learner (Elkins, 2012 pp. 323).

8. Strategies for Differentiation Content Voluntary reading: Julius enjoys borrowing books from the library and this is important for him as it gives him the opportunity to choose books that interest him. I try and make suggestions of books that are closer to his reading level but ultimately the choice is his. I also give him the option of audio books that he can listen to as he reads along. Once the decision has been made I provide my class with daily extensive silent reading timeslots of a book of their choice (Elkins, 2012 pp. 266). During these times I will also read to model the importance of reading for leisure. Furthermore I provide options for free reading time for when a task has been completed early or when the class has earned free leisure time.

9. Choice to use hands to demonstrate understanding: Julius enjoys hands on problem solving and building things. When providing students with a rich task to show their knowledge and understanding of content and concepts covered, I give them a choice for them to explore this understanding in a variety of different mediums. This allows them to have greater ownership over the task which makes for higher engagement when working towards its completion. It also allows them to cater to their own strength (Churchill, 2011). In order to cater to Julius' needs, I make sure that this choice involves him being able to build something and/or using his hands to solve a problem as these activities are highly engaging for him.

10. Process Providing consistent routines: Transitioning between lessons can prove to be difficult for Julius as it provides a number of stimulants that can distract him. I have implemented a routine to make transitioning between activities and lessons easier for Julius. This routine includes letting the class know 2 minutes before the activity is about to end and then making sure that they know what they have to do in order to commence the next activity or lesson e.g. gather equipment, get into groups, meet on the floor etc (Elkins, 2012 pp. 153). Julius has drawn up and laminated a checklist which he keeps on his desk which gives him something to reference for specific transitions such as lunch and recess, going to music lessons, going to language lessons.

11. Providing clear and explicit instruction: Instruction delivered to Julius must be short, concise and clear in order for him to retain the information being provided (Grant, 2011). I try to make sure that he is keeping eye contact to show that he is listening and provide subtle prompts if I can see that his mind has drifted such as lowering my voice to make it sound secretive and interesting or walking into his proximity if possible and giving a gesture for eyes to me. I will do this to other students as well to show that this strategy is not differentiated just for him and if there are a number of distracted students I will try a number of other strategies such as stopping talking, positive reinforcement of students doing the right thing or getting students to have a quick move around and 'shake off all the distractions'.

12. Product Construction: Julius likes building things and I want to give him as much opportunity to do this. This can result in a range of different products that he can construct to show how he has understood a variety of different concepts. When he has completed his construction I will put it on display either in the class for his classmates to see or in the corridor for the rest of the school to see. I explain to Julius that this will be happening prior to completion and it motivates him to produce high quality work and gives him a sense of pride when he is able to see it on display (Churchill, 2011).

13. Group work: Julius is well liked by his peers and relates to them well. He demonstrates learning by participating as an integral part of a team. He is always willing to give things a go and his peers value this in him. I allow students plenty of time for planning when they are working in groups. I get them to think about their members and how each member could best be utilised given the varied strengths of each individual. In many cases I make them set goals for what they want to achieve in a session (especially if it is a task being carried out over multiple sessions). After the session, students evaluate how their group went about achieving these goals. Thinking about what they did well and what could have been improved upon. This is done as individuals and then they bring all their ideas together for the next planning session. This process allows Julius to think about his role in the team and be critical of him own actions (Churchill, 2011).

14. Environment Classroom set up: The classroom is set up so that Julius is not seated near his friends who can provide an easy distraction for him. He is seated facing the front, nearest to where teacher instructions are delivered in order to make it easier for him to process information. He sits between more settled students who give a frequent positive example for how to stay settled and engaged. He has noticed this deliberate positioning but I have explained that I have organised the classroom in this way so that all students can be engaged and participate to their full potential while pointing out that other students are placed in positions away from things/people that are less likely to distract them (Grant, 2011).

15. Inclusive Classroom: It is important for Julius to feel comfortable to express himself in our classroom and school as he is very aware of his learning differences. I have initiated a few classroom discussions when it is relevant around the notion of each of us being different and that this is important for everyone. These discussions are aroused by student conflict, frustrations with their peers and misunderstandings. I place a high importance in the achievements of making mistakes as I do not see this as a negative this especially when students are trying something new or difficult (Churchill, 2011). Currently students are putting suggestions in a box to come up with a new word that fits this description so we are able to differentiate the two terms. Students are aware that this word is too been seen as a positive one and the class will vote on their favourite word.

16. Additional Support Julius could use the support of a Learning Support Teacher (LST) in class; however I am apprehensive to implement this at such a late stage in his schooling when he has been without for so long and considering that he does not want to be seen as having greater assistance than his peers (Supporting Students, 2013). He does get assistance from LST's but it is in less formal settings such as the buddy program we have with a kindergarten class and another leadership program where him and a few other identified special needs students in the senior school teach games to students in the junior school. These programs are great for his self-concept as well as empathy as it makes him think about how the younger students are affected by him behaviour (Elkin, 2012).

17. Assistive Technologies Audio Books: Julius' reading skills are extremely low for his year. He does not like to be seen as having to do 'babyish' work and I involve him in peer reading activities such as Luke & Freebodys' Four Resources Model (Elkin, 2012 pp. 259). This allows him to discuss with his classmates the different ideas of books that although are not at his literacy level, are at his cognitive level in terms of content and themes. The understanding of content is acquired through the use of audio books. Julius listens to the audio book as he reads along. Students have a set number of chapters that they read each session as a group and the audio book will generally finish before the other students have completed their chapters. Julius then has the opportunity to re-read the chapters without the assistance of the audio book.

18. Word Processor and Spell Checker: Julius will often type up his work using Microsoft Word on the computer. This allows him to be more familiar with using a keyboard which is an essential life skill as well as giving access to spell checker. This has proved to be very helpful as it allows him to first; have a go at the word in a low pressure environment, and if it wrong a red line appears and he selects the word that he thinks is correct. This will often require some assistance as the selection of appropriate words does require some context (Elkin, 2012 pp. 171)