Inclusion on the final frontier: a model for including children with emotional and behaviour disorders (E/shBD) in Canada

Abstract

Despite a general move and support for inclusion of children with exceptionalities in the regular classroom, children with emotional and behavioural difficulties are often excluded. The paper describes an ecosystems model to facilitate the inclusion of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties in use in some schools in Canada. Results of a survey revealed that in general while teachers in this model did not believe the students' behaviours changed, they were confident in having these children in their classrooms. A more detailed study comparing schools with and without this model uncovered a complex pattern of effects. Children in the inclusive ‘team’ model schools were exhibiting more internalizing behaviours and more off‐task behaviour relative to children in comparison with non‐team schools. However, in contrast, children in team schools had more positive views of themselves and personally reported experiencing less internalizing feelings (sad, withdrawn), and parents had significantly more positive views of their children in team schools. Discussion focuses on the difficulty in evaluating outcomes in the inclusion of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties

Notes

Nancy Lee Heath is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Her research interests focus on understanding resilience and adaptive functioning in youth at risk (children/adolescents with exceptionalities). Correspondence should be addressed to Nancy Lee Heath: Faculty of Education, McGill University, 3700 McTarish Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y2, Canada; e‐mail: [email protected]

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nancy Lee Heath

Nancy Lee Heath is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Her research interests focus on understanding resilience and adaptive functioning in youth at risk (children/adolescents with exceptionalities). Correspondence should be addressed to Nancy Lee Heath: Faculty of Education, McGill University, 3700 McTarish Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y2, Canada; e‐mail: [email protected]