(b) Advantages and disadvantages of Labeling

1) (a) The meaning of Labeling in the context of educational Psychology.
     Labeling Is a term associated with placing a student into special education and assigning an eligibility category. In essence, the label is the term the eligibility acronym. The main benefit of labeling involves the development of an Individual Education Program, which includes goals, accommodations and services.

(b) Advantages and disadvantages of Labeling
Advantages of Labeling
        The advantages of labeling were more obvious in the formative years of special education (mid-1940s to early 1970s), than they are now. For instance, without the category of learning disabilities, advocates for these children would have had no rallying point to promote educational programs. Imagine how ineffective scientists would be in raising money for cancer research if they had no name for it. The advantages of labeling can be summarized as follows:
(i) Federal and local funding of special education programs are based on categories of disabilities.
(ii) Labeling enables professionals to communicate with one another because each categorical label conveys a general idea about learning characteristics.
(iii) The human mind requires "mental hooks" to think about problems. If present categorical labels were abolished, a new set of descriptors would evolve to take their place. There is ample evidence of this in the evolution of the term "mildly retarded."
(iv) Labeling the disability spotlights the problem for the public. Labeling can spark social concern and aid advocacy efforts.
(v) Labeling may make the majority without disabilities more tolerant of the minority with disabilities. In other words, the actions of a child identified as having intellectual disability might be tolerated, whereas the behavior of a peer without intellectual disability would be criticized.
(vi) Labeling has led to the development of specialized teaching methods, assessment approaches, and behavioral interventions that are useful for teachers of all students. (Hallahan & Kauffman, 1982)
Disadvantages of Labeling
       Students with disabilities have made significant gains in public schools. These advances have been accompanied by problems inherent in officially designating someone abnormal. Make no mistake about it; these labels stick. Once a child is categorized with intellectual disability, emotional disturbance, or learning disabilities, that information will be forwarded to every new teacher in the child's cumulative folder. Along with the label comes the stigma of being considered deficient. For this reason alone, assigning a student to a category for special education purposes is a fateful step that should not be taken unless all other options have proved unsuccessful. The disadvantages of labeling are summarized as follows:
(I) Labels shape teacher expectations. Imagine what your reaction would be if the principal informed you that the new student in your class is mildly mentally retarded. Studies on teacher expectations have demonstrated that what teachers believe about student capability is directly related to student achievement.
(II) All children have some troubling behaviors. Labels can exaggerate a student's actions in the eyes of a teacher. A teacher may overreact to behavior of a labeled child that would be tolerated in another.
(III) Labels send a clear message: The learning problem is with the student. Labels tend to obscure the essence of teaching and learning as a two-way street. Some students placed in a mild disability category have nothing wrong with them. They are the unfortunate recipients of ineffective schooling.
(IV) Labels perpetuate the notion that students with mild disabilities are qualitatively different from other children. This is not true. Students with mild disabilities go through the same developmental stages as their peers, although sometimes at a slower rate.
(V) Teachers may confuse the student with the label. Labels reflect categories of disabilities. Categories are abstract, not real, concepts that are general enough to incorporate many different individuals. More than two million students may be identified with specific learning disabilities, but as individuals, each is a unique human being. When a student is placed in a category, a teacher who knows some of the characteristics of a category may ascribe all known characteristics to each labeled child. This is stereotyping. Stereotypes harm students when teachers rationalize low achievement by citing characteristics of the label. An example is the teacher who explains away a teaching-learning problem by stating, "We can't really expect Mary to remember too much math because she is 'intellectually disabled.' "
(VI) Students cannot receive special education services until they are labeled. In many instances, the intervention comes too late. The need to label students before help arrives undermines a preventive approach to mild learning problems.
(VII) Diagnostic labels are unreliable. Educational evaluation is filled with quirks. States use different descriptive criteria for the same categories; many evaluation instruments have questionable validity and reliability; specific labels go through trends (for example, at one time learning disabilities was considered a white, middle class category and African American students were overrepresented with mild intellectual disability)
(VIII) Labels often put the blame (and the guilt) for a student's learning problems squarely on the parents' shoulders. In many cases, this is unjustified because students may be mislabeled or teachers may not fully understand the many different causes of mild disabilities.
Conclusion
Whatever the word is that is used, labels are often used as a way to describe characteristics in just one word. The problem with this is that it creates stereotypes for what that word means and then people use that word to insult or describe others and it creates stigmas. The terminology gets misused, people get offended and then we’re looking for alternate ways to describe something that will be less offensive. Then the new label often gets misused, stereotypes occur, and again we are looking for a new way to describe the same thing.




2) The meaning of the term Inclusion as used in education
    Inclusion, in education refers to the a model where in special needs students spend most or all of their time with non-special (general education) needs students. It arises in the context of special education with an individualized education program, and is built on the notion that it is more effective for students with special needs to have said mixed experience for them to be more successful in social interactions leading to further success in life.

 Reasons to the use of Inclusion in Education
     Over the years, the reasons to the provision of an inclusive education to all children have been shown. The following are some reason to the use of Inclusion to the children;
(I) Differentiated Instruction
   All students learn differently. This is a principal of inclusive education. One key teaching strategy is to break students into small groups. By using small groups, teaching can be tailored to the way each student learns best. This is known as differentiated instruction.Teachers meet everyone’s needs by presenting lessons in different ways and using Universal Design for Learning. For example, they may use multisensory instruction. In math, that may mean using visual aids and manipulatives like cubes or colored chips to help kids learn new concepts. Some classrooms may have an interactive whiteboard. On it, kids can use their fingers to write, erase and move images around on the large screen. This teaching tool can also be used to turn students’ work into a video, which can be exciting for kids and help keep them engaged.

(II) Supportive Teaching Strategies
    In an inclusive classroom, teachers weave in specially designed instruction and support that can help students make progress. Kids may be given opportunities to move around or use fidgets. And teachers often put positive behavioral interventions and supports in place.These strategies are helpful for all students, not only for students with learning and attention issues.

(III) Reduced Stigma
    Inclusive classrooms are filled with diverse learners. That lets kids talk about how everyone learns in their own way. They may find that they have more in common with other kids than they thought. This can go a long way in reducing stigma for kids with learning and attention issues. It can also help kids build and maintain friendships.

(IV) Effective Use of Resources
    In more traditional special education settings, many kids are “pulled out” for related services, like speech therapy or for other specialized instruction. An inclusion class often brings speech therapists, reading specialists and other service providers into the classroom. These professionals can provide information and suggestions to help all students. If your child isn’t eligible for special education, but still needs some extra support, it can provide him with some informal support.

(V) High Expectations for All
   If your child has an Individualized Education Program, his goals should be based on the academic standards for your state. Those standards lay out what all students are expected to learn in math, reading, science and other subjects by the end of the school year. Differentiated instruction and co-teaching in a general education classroom make it easier for students with standards-based Inclusive Education Program’s to be taught the same material as their classmates. In some schools, only certain classrooms are inclusion classes. In that case, schools may assign general education students randomly to inclusive or non-inclusive classes. Other schools may choose students who benefit from the emphasis on meeting the needs of all learners at all ability levels.

Conclusion.
   Inclusion gives special education students the support they need and allows them to stay in the least restrictive environment where by general education teachers and special education teachers work together to meet the needs of students hence, all students can benefit from the additional resources and supportive techniques used in an inclusion classroom.

 

References
1. Fein, S.; Nuehring, Elaine M. (1981). "Intrapsychic Effects of Stigma: a process of Breakdown and   Reconstruction of Social Reality". Journal of Homosexuality. 7 (1): 4–6. doi:10.1300/j082v07n01_02.
2. Snowman, Jack (1997). Educational Psychology: What Do We Teach, What Should We Teach?. "Educational Psychology", 9, 151-169
3. Scheyer et al. (1996). The Inclusive Classroom Teacher Created Materials, Inc. The Inclusive Classroom
4. Zelkowitz, Alyssa. "Strategies for Special Education and Inclusion Classrooms"