INCLUSION IN SCHOOLS
The United States
The U.S. has mainly two different ways of going about inclusion. They focus on trying to allow students with disabilities to participate in normal general education classes while receiving accommodations to allow them to stay on top of work. If the disability is more severe, students will still go to the same school but likely will either have an aide with them in the general education class or will have a separate classroom with a curriculum that is slightly altered to achieve better success.
Accommodations that allow for students to participate in general education classes come in two types.
1- Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
2- 504 plan
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​A 504 plan is geared toward ensuring a student has equitable access to a learning environment. An IEP focuses on educational benefits, and often includes direct services such as speech or occupational therapy. Both are free. Some students have both, and some just have one or the other.
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France
Localized Units for Inclusive Education (ULIS)
ULIS replaced CLIS, Classes d'intégration scolaire.
It is divided into seven different sections:
TFC: cognitive or mental function disorders
TSLA: specific language and learning disorders
TED or ASD: pervasive developmental disorders (including autism)
TFM: motor function disorders
TFA: auditory function disorders
TFV: visual function disorders;
TMA: multiple associated disorders (multi-disability or disabling disease)
Not all schools have all divisions. In actuality, most only have one that accepts all students regardless of their disabilities.
Children in these classes generally receive the same accommodations which means that their individual needs may not be met.​
These specialized classes are often in the same buildings as the classes that non-disabled students are in.
The hope is to eventually transition these students into mainstream classrooms, but in most cases, this transition never happens.
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Enrollment in Mainstream classes
Over the years, the number of students with learning disabilities enrolled in regular classes has increased.
President Macron has pledged to improve the lives of disabled citizens and provide them access to education.​​
As the video below explains, this switch to mainstream classes does not come without any difficulties.
The first child in the video has aphasia which affects his speech and ability to write.​
Despite contacting the school several times, his mother was never informed whether her child would receive any accommodations.
Unfortunately, this seems to be a common experience for parents of disabled children.
"Disabled and special needs children still on sidelines of French education system"
Medical Facilities
In France, there are medical facilities children can be admitted to where they can receive both the care that they need and the education they deserve.
The quality of these facilities varies as well as the types of disabilities they accommodate.
Most are reserved for those with disabilities that occurred as a result of an injury or severe neurological disorders since birth.
There are some places like the ‘Lycée Bresson’ that consist of a school connected to medical buildings.
The Lycée Bresson is a secondary school, but primary schools similar to it do exist.
At Lycée Bresson, education is focused more than the medical aspects.
None of the teachers are required to undergo any special training which creates an environment in which everyone acknowledges that they still have so much to learn.
Some teachers are also disabled which creates an environment in which students recognize that their disability does not hold them back.
In contrast, the Institut Médico-Professionnel dedicates only a few rooms to education.
How often students go to school depends on what treatment they are receiving.
Most students at the Institut Médico-Professionnel have attended a regular school before and were either not able to receive the treatment they needed simultaneously or were said to be "too disruptive". In saying that a student is "too disruptive", it ignores the underlying cause of their disruptions.