School Inclusion in Lebanon: Integrating Research on Students with Giftedness and Learning Disabilities Into Practice

This book addresses the impact of inclusion on the performance of students with and without special needs in Lebanese schools. It examines the performance of regular students to the performance of students with learning disabilities (LD) and gifted students as perceived by them to identify the population that is best served by inclusion. The book investigates three domains affecting student performance in inclusive settings: management and organization. Teaching and learning, and student support and school ethos. In addition, it compares the ways in which these domains affect student performance for each population.

In addition, the book presents a detailed description of the inclusive practices that affect student performance and the indicators that contribute most positively to fostering the performance of regular students, gifted students, and students with LD. Finally, it describes the inclusion model applied and proved empirically to affect the positive performanceof all student groups as a response to the increasing call for inclusive schooling in Lebanon.

• Inclusive education, social justice, and equity in Lebanese schools.
Student perceptions of inclusion in Lebanon.
• Inclusion of gifted learners and students with learning disabilities.
Comparison of student performance among different populations in inclusive settings.
• Domains affecting student performance in inclusive settings.
Proposed model of student inclusion in Lebanese schools.

School Inclusion in Lebanon is an essential resource for researchers, professionals and policymakers, and graduate students in such interrelated fields as school psychology, inclusive education / educational psychology, and social work.

Nidal Jouni, B.S., in biology and a teaching diploma in special education for learning disabilities. She co-founded a K-12 school in 2001 and served as the school’s principal until September 2017. Ms. Jouni then joined the American University of Beirut (AUB) to duplicate her special education diploma, with a second track in gifted education, and to pursue a Master’s degree in Education. During these years, she established the first inclusion program in South Lebanon for learners with disabilities within her school and a program for gifted students, among the first in the country. She is Lebanon’s delegate at the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children, an accredited trainer of several programs for gifted children, and has presented more than a hundred workshops on different subjects related to general education, special education, and educational leadership. In July 2017, Ms. Jouni became a fellow at the Middle East Initiative for Professional Learning (MEPLI) at the graduate school of education at Harvard University (HGSE). In 2020, she won the Fouad Haddad Award for the best thesis at AUB.

Anies Al-Hroub, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Education Psychology and Special Education and the former Chairperson of the Department of Education at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Dr/ Al-Hroub completed his Ph.D. and MPhil in Special Education (Giftedness and Learning Disabilities) from the University of Cambridge and his M.A. (Special Education) and B.A. (Psychology) from the University of Jordan. He was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Connecticut (2018-2019), the British Academy Visiting Scholar to the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge in 2010, and a Visiting Scholar to the School of Advanced Social Studies (SASS) in Slovenia. His publications appear in leading international gifted and special education journals. In addition, he has published three books entitled, Theories and Programs of Education for the Gifted and Talented (Shorouk, 1999), ADHD in Lebanese schools: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment＂ (Springer, 2016), and Giftedness in Lebanese Schools Integrating Theory, Research, and Practice＂ (Springer, 2018). Dr. Al-Hroub’s research interests focus on gifted and talented education, special education and learning disabilities, twice-exceptionality, creativity, vulnerability, educational assessment, and school counseling. He is an elected member of the executive committee of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children (WCGTC). Dr. Al-Hroub has led several educational projects sponsored by UNICEF, UNRWA, UNESCO, the British Academy, USAID, World Bank, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI), and Welfare Association. He also served as an adviser to the Asfari Foundation, the Center for Civic Engagement and Community Service at AUB, and the Middle East Professional Learning Initiative (MEPLI) at Harvard Graduate School of Education.