When Inclusion Starts With Hope and Ends in Silence
I have seen this happen many times. A mainstream school enrolls a child who requires special education support. Everyone is excited. The school wants to “get it right.” They contact a special education consultant. Meetings are held. Parents feel relieved. Hope enters the room. For a moment, it feels like inclusion is possible. Then a second child is enrolled. Then a third. And slowly, something begins to fall apart. 😕 How the System Quietly Breaks Down At first, the intention is good. But intention alone cannot sustain inclusion. What usually follows is painful and predictable: 🔶 Parents begin to do the school’s job. They explain strategies, follow up on interventions, remind teachers, and sometimes even design learning plans. 🔶 Teachers become overwhelmed. They are expected to teach, document, intervene, report progress, and still manage full classrooms ... often without enough support. 🔶 Progress reports suffer. Not because teachers don’t care, but beca...