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9+ Ways to Advocate For Inclusion: Become an Inclusion Marketer!
“Your son is not ready to be in the general ed
classroom.” “Your daughter’s skills are so
far behind the others, it wouldn’t be fair to her, the teacher, or the other students to be in a regular classroom.” “Your child will learn so many more skills in a less distracting environment.” How many times and ways have you heard “No.” to inclusion? It is frustrating and heartbreaking for parents, damaging to children, and a tragic loss to our communities as a whole, when students are segregated and told they don’t belong. Have you tried reciting what the federal law, IDEA says about the Least Restrictive Environment, given benefits of
inclusion, or maybe brought in articles for staff to read about inclusion and still don’t have your child included in general education classes? If you’ve tried a number of things and haven’t been successful getting your child included, that just means we need to try a different way. I believe the critical features of Inclusion are: - Students attend the neighborhood school they would attend if they didn’t have a disability.
- Students learn and interact with their same aged peers in general education classrooms and other typical general
education places (Media Center, Computer Lab, Art room, etc.)
- Services and supports are brought to the child instead of pulling a student out to segregated rooms.
- Natural proportions are adhered to (if 10% of the students have disabilities in the school, there should not be any more than 10% of the students with disabilities in general education classrooms)
- All students are valued, have a sense of belonging, and are recognized for their strengths, and have individualized learning outcomes.
Families and educators across this county have worked together to achieve inclusive schools. Yes, there are some schools in some districts that value students learning side by side of each other, provide training and coaching for staff to implement researched based instructional and behavioral strategies.
Other parents have struggled with convincing schools that their child deserves and needs to be included in general education classes. Today we’re going to explore 9+ ways to advocate for inclusion.
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Look for other parents, adults with disabilities, teachers, therapists, community members, administrators, school board members, college professors, and anyone else interested in making sure all students receive the education they deserve. Gather these allies and work as a group. Collaborating will help energize everyone, provide more resources to tap into, give additional hands to do the work, and supply a variety of ideas to try. One idea is to take turns going to every school board meeting – you need to show up even when you don’t have
a pressing issue. The relationships you will develop with board members and administrators by being at school board meetings will be very helpful. |
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2. Develop a marketing plan. |
Yes, think like a marketer with a goal of creating positive change in your school district. Begin with story telling – have people see, feel,
understand and care about how things are currently. Then share a story of how things can be.
Be aware of the objections that different
stakeholders will have and be proactive - address them even before they are brought up. School board members may be most concerned about the cost of inclusive education, principals may worry what impact having students included will have on the building’s test scores, teachers may be fearful of inclusion because they don’t feel confident in their skills to help all students be successful.
Explain the features of inclusion (see bulleted list above) but “sell” the practical and intrinsic benefits of inclusive education. Examples of
benefits of inclusive education:- higher levels of engagement in learning
- increased
social interactions with peers
- enhanced communication skills
- more reciprocal
friendships
- significant development and academic
goals
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3. Serve on existing district-wide and school-level committees/organizations (District Accountability Committee, PTOs or PTAs, etc.). |
Stop identifying yourself only as a “parent of child with a disability”. This sets you apart from other parents and discourages working together to create schools that benefit
all students.
When parents contribute to existing committees instead of forming “special needs” parent committees, the emphasis is on “we are all in this together”. If we want others to care about our children, we need to care about other students. Any recommendations from these committees need to be judged
through the lens of how every student will benefit. |
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4. Start a book/video club. |
Focus on disability studies, inclusion, and how to eliminate ableism (belief that "able-bodied people" are superior to people with
disabilities). Push each other’s thinking into new directions, share stories and resources. But you also have to remember to have fun - have food and adult beverages for everyone. Check out What’s On My Bookshelf on my website. Click here. DVDs you may want to purchase:
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5. Call for school reform. |
Make sure the reform is based on: - changing cultures
- staff training that includes peer modeling and coaching
- Universal Design for Learning
- schools and districts learning from each other
Parents have tried a variety of strategies with
different amounts of success to get their child included in general education classrooms. When a group of parents use the strategies above with a combination of approaches below, they will be 10x more effective at impacting change. |
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6. Identify Inclusion as a Social Justice issue:
Share how all students belong and deserve to be educated with their peers. Norman Kunc, a self-advocate has produced an excellent video,
7. Least Dangerous Assumption:
Explain how it will not harm students to presume their competence and have high expectations for their achievement. We need to know the differences that exist aren’t deficiencies. Many people, parents and teachers included, make very dangerous assumptions about people with disabilities. This can lead to very low
expectations and result in a student not learning as much as they are really capable of.
We need to switch our thinking, let go of the prejudices we have learned about students with disabilities and start making educational decisions based on assumptions, which if incorrect, will have the least dangerous effect on the likelihood that the student will be
successful as an adult.
(Share these two articles with teachers: Click here to read Cheryl M. Jorgensen’s article, The Least Dangerous Assumption. Zach Rossetti and Carol Tashie’s article, 'Outing the Prejudice: Making the Least
Dangerious Assumption, click here to read it.) 8. Legal Aspects of Inclusion:
Refer to laws, regulations, and court cases that define the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). If you don’t have my latest free eBook, How Does The New Supreme Court Decision Impact Your Child’s Education? make sure you download your copy. Click here
9. Share Researched-based Studies:
Cite studies that show the
benefits of inclusion for students with and without disabilities. Click here
One of our Facebook fans, Marian Ronan, shared an excellent strategy to use when advocating for inclusion, “Including my child at the meeting and having her voice heard helps get the team on board. It's harder for the team to dismiss the needs/goals when the student is the one advocating for themselves.”
I want to close with 5
questions that Dr. Cheryl Jorgensen asks in her Least Dangerous Assumption article:
1. How would I want to be treated if someday I was unable to communicate or demonstrate my competence?
2. How would I want others to treat
my child if he or she were in the same situation?
3. What do adults with disabilities tell us about their educational experiences and how they want to be treated?
4. What does research tell
us?
5. What does history tell us?
We need to have a new shared belief that all children are capable! Change is possible. Let's make it
happen!
As an advocate my goal is to have you accept what is right for your child. I’m here to help you have that happen!
Take
care, |
P.S. Save The Date for next week’s show, Thursday, April 27th our guest will be Dr. Julie Causton. This show will air at 2:00pm Eastern Time and 4:00pm Mountain Time. Julie is a professor at Syracuse University and author of many books on inclusive
education. You don’t want to miss her insights and your chance to ask her your questions.
***************************************************** Let's Stay Connected!
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