12 Cathy Little
Inclusive practice can occur in any number of settings: leisure activities,
community participation, employment, personal care routines and in education.
Dybvik (2004) stated, “the idea behind inclusion [in education] is that every
child should be an equally valued member of the school culture” (p. 45). This
quote reinforces a prominent theme in the inclusion debate, that inclusion is
not simply being a part of a place or setting, rather it is a concept grounded in
access and active participation for all students with a diverse array of needs (Swain
et al., 2012). Distinguishing between inclusive pedagogy, inclusive practice and
inclusive education within the specific context of a school and its community is
problematic because the term inclusion is so broadly defined (Florian and Black-
Hawkins, 2011). Humphrey (2008) proposed the use of a four-pronged defini-
tion of inclusion, that of “presence [of all pupils], participation, acceptance and
achievement” (p. 42). He argued that this definition gave opportunity to consider
inclusion as an ongoing process rather than “the rudimentary ‘inclusion as the
placement of pupils with special education needs (SEN) in mainstream schools’
definition” (p. 42).
The increasing numbers of students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder in
mainstream classes has posed several challenges for educators. The most common
challenges involve knowledge of effective and appropriate teaching approaches
(Frederickson, Jones and Lang, 2010; Odom, Cox and Brock, 2013), adjustments
to and accommodation of the curriculum (Shaddock, Giorcelli and Smith, 2007),
specific knowledge of the disorder (Swain et al. 2012), up-skilling and professional
development of teachers (Boud and Hager, 2012), and availability of appropriate
support and resources (Lindsay et al., 2014).
In recent years there has been more emphasis on the notion of social inclusion,
referring to a student being included beyond academic and classroom activities.
This emphasis has emerged as a result of the increased numbers of students with
disabilities accessing mainstream, or regular education classrooms. “As the prac-
tice of ‘mainstreaming’ students with disabilities in the general education environ-
ment gained momentum, it became apparent that simply moving children with
disabilities from segregated special schools and classrooms to the regular education
environment did not ensure their social integration” (Siperstein and Parker, 2008,
p. 120). The concern for students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder is that due to
the very nature of their disability, placement in a regular class may result in ‘exclu-
sion’ because the teacher, the classroom and the school are not meeting the student’s
individual social needs.
White, Scahill, Klin, Koenig and Volkmar (2007) highlight the lack of consider-
ation afforded to students’ social abilities when considering class placement, with
Segall and Campbell (2014) asserting, “Consistently, researchers have found that
cognitive ability is highly associated with regular class placement for students with
ASD” (p. 32). If teachers are to actively support the social engagement of students in
their classes, then the consideration of students’ social needs as part of the placement
process must become a reality.