Some teachers in DC schools complain that inclusion is not working because there are not enough SPED teachers in a school, and you can't be in two places at once.
I know there's a dearth of training and information in DCPS about how inclusion should theoretically work. Also, I don't doubt that many schools don't have enough teachers. Nonetheless, inclusion requires more than just having more SPED teachers. I was in a school that tried to do inclusion, and appeared to me to have plenty of SPED teachers - who all had no clue about what the inclusion model looked like.
They tried, though. They went into classrooms and pulled SPED kids to a back table and tried to teach them there. They seemed to think inclusion meant "just do what you normally do, only do it around the GEN ED kids." Their intentions were sincere.
At several schools and in many IEP meetings I heard general ed and special ed teachers say, "What he needs is more one-on-one and small group instruction." That suggestion seemed to be the main intervention used in East of the Park schools that I worked in. Yet, many kids didn't progress even when placed in smaller settings.
I'm learning that there's more to educating a child with disabilities than separation from the rest of the class. Educators should focus on what STRATEGIES teachers will use. At one school that I worked in, a 4th grade boy could not read the word "the" and his SPED teacher had no success teaching him. When he reached 5th grade and got a new SPED teacher, he read around the 2nd grade level by the end of the year. Same pull-out setting, only the 5th grade teacher had STRATEGIES for teaching reading.
WTU Peterson Slate: Not a 1 Woman Dictatorship
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ReplyDeleteNo one said pull out was the only answer. But it sure beats poorly executed inclusion, or pull the kid over to a corner of the room inclusion or try to team teach inclusion or you're the inclusion teacher in the room now so I'll go talk on my cell model or I don't want you here intrusion model or we never have time to collaboratively plan so let's wing it model or maybe my favorite, you're the stronger teacher so what do you have planned and can you make copies model.
ReplyDelete"No one said pull out was the only answer."
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I've met some teachers who seem to think that, even if they only say it with the way they carry out their work. There are some teachers who honestly just want the SPED kids out of their rooms. I think they fit under the "I don't want you here" intrusion model.
The I don't want you here intrusion model was referring to teachers who don't want inclusion in their classrooms and want the SPED/ESL teacher out, and doing pull out. The I don't want you here was referring to the mentality of the classroom teacher to the othr teacher coming into his or her room.
ReplyDelete