Character Education and Students with Disabilities

Abstract

The national effort to strengthen character education for all students can benefit from and is a benefit to students with disabilities. The inclusion of ordinary students with disabilities and their relationships with their peers without disabilities can serve to enhance character education efforts by serving to illustrate the complexities of ablesim and by providing opportunities for and creating a climate of personal rsponsibility, kind acceptance, and thoughtful citizenship. Providing opportunities for students with even the most severe disabilities to participate in character education provides a context where teachers must expand their repertoire of effective pedagogical methods. Further, while the character education curriculum used for teaching students should be used for teaching all students, some with disabilities have individualized program goals focusing explicitly on aspects of character education, making their inclusion in the curriculum even more pressing.