I still remember the afternoon when an apprehensive mom, her wide-eyed, 6 year old curious son and I walked a little anxiously into an elementary building. We were wondering if this would be the school that would nurture this young boy's desire to learn and be liked.
Would this be the school where teachers saw his potential and not write him off because of the suspensions, seclusions, and failure of a behavior point system that he was subjected to in kindergarten?
Our question was soon answered, while touring the self-contained special education classroom when the special education teacher declared, "When he can look like and act like a normal first grader, he could spend a little bit of time in the first grade classroom."
That stunned and stung us.
The belief that kids have to look, act, feel, and be a certain way is the biggest gate-keeper to students being included in our schools.
Jonathan Mooney, author, speaker, and social justice advocate knows the feelings of despair when being referred to as the "stupid, crazy, and lazy" kid. Recently at the PEAK Parent Center Inclusive Education conference Jonathan he shared his stories of why the idea of normalcy must be rejected and replaced.
Replace normalcy? Replace normalcy with what? Jonathan implores us to reorient how we think of diversity, differences, abilities, and disabilities. You can continue to learn from Jonathan and his brutally honest stories as he also gives us hope for a new way of thinking about differences with his most recent book, Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, And Thrive Outside The Lines.
May your child not have to "overcome" their disability but instead see their disability as an important part of themselves. May your child's teachers recognize all that your child has to contribute and encourages creative ways to learn and show what they know.
May the reign of Normalcy be replaced with the research of Neurodiversity.
Here are resources that some speakers at PEAK Parent Center's Inclusive Education Conference shared:
Dr. Patrick Schwarz shares 7 specific tools teachers can use to bring back the art of teaching. Parents will also be interested in the Student Dream Inventory, Promoting Self-Determination, and others. Check out his book, From
Possibility to Success: Achieving Positive Student Outcomes in Inclusive Classrooms.
Angela Frome and Angela Jarvis-Holland from the Northwest Down Syndrome Association shared examples and researched outcomes of their successful Kindergarten Inclusion Cohort. A must-see video, We All Belong would be a great addition to a parent and/or teacher training.
Michael McSheehan is the man to go to when you need data to show the benefits of inclusive education for all students. He has been working with SWIFT Schools, a national technical assistance center that helps school districts and communities build capacity to increase the academic and behavioral outcomes of all students. Teachers and
families will find a variety of useful resources on their website. Check some of them out.
Thurs., Feb. 27th Ricki Sabia from the National Down Syndrome Congress will be our guest. We'll be talking about How to Advocate to Include Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities.
Do you ever hear the “gap” is too wide between what your child and other students are learning and therefore the general education class wouldn’t be an appropriate placement?
If you’ve been frustrated with this kind of roadblock to having your child with significant cognitive disabilities successfully included in general ed. classes, tune in on Thursday, Feb. 27th.
Thurs, March 5th will be our Q & A show.
Thurs., March 12th Beth Tolly, author of The Problem With Behaviorism is our guest.
Thurs., March 19th Julie Causton will be sharing about Inclusive IEPs
You don't want to miss any of these shows! Click here if you'd like to get a reminder from Facebook messenger a few minutes before we go live.
Take care,
|
