Rethinking inclusion and its conditions: A reply to Giangreco, Doyle & Suter (2012)

This paper offers a contribution to the debate raised by Giangreco, Doyle and Suter (2012), regarding the inclusion of pupils with disability and/or other special needs in normal schools.The main issues to be discussed are: the dependence of the number of “disabled” children on the methodology of diagnosis and on the definition of disability; the need to consider the duration of time spent in schools as a relevant statistical variable; the categories of personnel involved in “inclusion”(teachers, assistants, others); the pupils with different special needs, but not certified as having a “disability”, who have to be considered also for inclusion and therefore necessarily require special support.In conclusion, some psycho-social variables interacting with inclusive processes will be outlined that have to be taken into account in research and/or intervention.