Move Over - Here Comes Inclusion, DCPS!

Tonight I attended a Chancellor's Forum held to discuss the state of SPED in DC. Inclusion was the focus of the program. I think the general attitude of central headquarters is the same as that expressed by Richard Nyankori specifically, when he said, "I won't force inclusion (on any one person) but I will force the issue (that children should not be segregated)." He also stated that the model of inclusion he was envisioning was one in which teachers trusted each other enough to share the responsibilities and where service providers enter the classroom and work with teachers and all needy students.

I will include more details about this meeting tomorrow, but now I am sleepy and in bed.

Speech Therapists and Inclusion - ASHA's position

Here is a powerpoint presentation about inclusion for Speech Language Pathologists. It includes ASHA's official position regarding inclusion, and you can view it here to find out what that position is. If you're an SLP, please way in on how or why inclusion/pull-out is better for your students.

Multiple service providers in the classroom

Someone asked a few weeks ago, what can be done if there are 3 different service providers in the room trying to work on the same student at one time?

First, the inclusion model is meant to benefit all children, not just SPED kids. Service providers may try broadening their views on how they can assist in the class. For example, I saw one occupational therapist go into a first grade classroom and pull aside a group of children to work on fine motor skills during choice time. Only one of the children in the group was a SPED kid.

If there are multiple service providers in the room at one time, that signifies a scheduling conflict. The service providers and teacher(s) should meet to determine when each service provider will be most beneficial in the classroom. Maybe the occupational therapist can be most helpful during writing time, and maybe the social worker needs to come in during transitions or group discussions. The child may have problems that manifest themselves throughout the day (as in the case of many ED children), but the service provider should look for a good starting point.

Some people don't believe children should ever be taken from class for any reason. I don't subscribe to that view. I believe children CAN still be taken out for individual or small group therapy AT TIMES. However, many times or most of the time children can be served in the regular classroom, and that's what inclusion aims to make happen.

One Teacher's Measure of Inclusion "Appropriateness"

Thank you, Melodie, for letter me use this article which you posted on the website "Teachers Helping Teachers."

FULL INCLUSION MAINSTREAMING
GRADES 1-12

Today's popular catch phrase for special education students is "full inclusion." What no one seems to address is that some students are ready to attend regular education classes and some students need more individual attention to prepare them for entry, or reentry to the regular program.

"Full inclusion" assumes that with minimal assistance, a special education student will be successful in a regular classroom. This is true for SOME students, but certainly not all!
When thinking about moving a student back to the regular program, many issues must be considered when determining the most appropriate placement:

Is the student on grade level, or near grade level, for everything? If so, and the student's behavior is appropriate, full inclusion could be the best answer.

Is the student on grade level for one or two subjects? If so, mainstreaming for only those subjects would be most appropriate, is the student's behavior is not an issue.

Is the student below grade level but able to help much younger children? If so, allowing the student to be a peer tutor will not only raise his/her self-esteem, it will also reinforce the basics for the student.

Is the child so far below grade level that he/she can not tutor, however, the student's behavior is good? If this is the case, this student can be mainstreamed for recess/nutrition, lunch, art, music and PE.

Is the student's behavior such a problem that it is extremely disruptive to others? If so, then this student may not be ready to mainstream, or may need to "earn" mainstream situations in his/her favorite area.

Whatever you choose to do with your students, be sure that you choose whatever is appropriate for each individual--DO NOT simply choose a system because it is the current "thing" to do! The 1970's law, PL-91-142 has a statement about "least restrictive environment as appropriate to the student." We must remember this when making decisions to help our students.

MELODIE BITTER
LORNE STREET SCHOOL
LOS ANGELES, CA

Inclusion Horror Stories

I got the idea for this post from another blog, The Washington Teacher. This area is for people to share specific times when inclusion did not work for the child, the teachers, or the parents. Maybe eventually the administration will get a hold of these stories and use them to shape DCPS' policy on inclusion - which appears to still be evolving.

Inclusion Success Stories

This spot is for people who have stories of inclusion that worked for the child, the teacher, and the parent. These can be one day incidents or they can describe a whole school year. Maybe others will get some ideas that will bring them success as well.

Pull-out is not the only answer.

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.