Inclusive Education

1. Nate Higby Inclusive Education

2. What is necessary to ensure a successful inclusion in normal classrooms?

3. What is inclusion? • “While mainstreaming is the process of placing a disabled student in the classroom, inclusion is the removal of barriers to academic and social success” (Stuart Jackson). • Inclusive education provides services to disabled student within a normal classroom to the fullest extent possible without having to remove them for remediation (Clark/Breman).

4. Language Arts Assessment Ouryay assignmentway isway otay describe ofway away book atthay ouyay eallyray enjoyed. Isthay ancay oneday ithway away paragraph, a icturepay, orway othbay. Otay pass isthay assignmentway, ouyay must oday othbay away awingdray andway away aragraphpay. Ouyay must incorporateway ethay following intoway ouryay ojectpray: ethay ettingsay ofway ethay orystay, ethay emethay, ethay ainmay aracterchay, andway away avoritefay artpay ofway ethay ookbay. Ouyay illway have ivefay inutesmay otay oday isthay assignmentway. Onway ethay ottombay ofway ouryay aperpay, itewray ouryay astlay amenay. • Language Arts Assessment • Your assignment is to describe of a book that you really enjoyed. This can be done with a paragraph, a picture, or both. To pass this assignment, you must do both a drawing and a paragraph. You must incorporate the following into your project: the setting of the story, the theme, the main character, and a favorite part of the book. You will have five minutes to do this assignment. On the bottom of your paper, write your last name.

5. Debrief • Who were the students going through inclusion? • What happened during the simulation? • Did you notice any barriers or obstacles for inclusion? • How did it feel for those students? • Was this a successful inclusive education?

6. Why Should We Care? • Since 1977, number of disabled students attending public schools has doubled (Margaret McLaughlin). • Inclusion practices applied to all students results in disabled students feeling less stigmatized (Jennifer Breman). • Inclusive education achieves better results • Inclusive education results in better society (Kids Together Inc.).

7. Why am I interested in this topic?

8. Personal Experience • Born profoundly deaf • Implanted with a cochlear implant at age 3 • Enrolled at Tucker Maxon Oral School at age 4

9. Exclusion • The belief, idea, or concept of educating disabled students amongst other disabled students • While at TMOS, received strong education in communication and social skills • Everyone had a disability • Closest experience to exclusion that I have had http://www.tmos.org/

10. Transitioning • Left TMOS after third grade • Enrolled in Riverdale Grade School for fourth grade • One of very few kids with a disability http://chatterbox.typepad.com/portlandarchitecture/2009/05/time-for-regime-change-riverdale-preservation-may-hinge-on-this-months-school-board-election.html

11. Mainstreaming vs. InclusionWhat process did I go through? • Mainstreaming- • Student benefits from general classroom exposure • Little to no additional classroom support (Keren Perles) • Materials are adjusted so that they are appropriate • Pulled out when general classroom are not “appropriate” for student • Inclusion- • Stuart Jackson, licensed clinical worker at Portland Public Schools, “… one step more than mainstreaming.” • Student receiving same education as peers • Has support team helping adjustment to general classroom

12. Included Student Schedule 1st period- English (receive adjusted homework assignments) 2nd period- Science (Assistance by teacher aid) 3rd period- Art (pulled out of class to visit counselor) Lunch in cafeteria 4th period- History (work with partner) 5th period- Math Schedules • Mainstreamed Student Schedule • 1st period- ½ of English, ½ of special education • 2nd period- special education • 3rd period- Art (teacher assistance) • Lunch in special education classroom • 4th- History (teacher assistance) • 5th- special education

13. I went through the process of inclusion into the general classroom

14. My Inclusion • Received accommodations • Classroom microphone for teacher to wear • Speech therapy once a week • Teacher to follow guidelines (ex: facing the class at all times, writing homework on the board, closed captioning on movies) • Seating priority

15. What barriers are there to a successful inclusion? • No Child Left Behind • Balance between individual education and test education • Players not doing their parts

16. No Child Left Behind • 2001 • Purpose- Have every student be proficient by the end of 2013/14 school year. • Yearly progress reports required from subgroups (Mary Ann Clark) • Results from tests will impact funding for schools and teachers (Education Week American Education News Site of Record)

17. How does this impact inclusion? • Pulling out students was the traditional way of providing special services. Now it is a difficult undertaking (Clark) • Teachers unwilling to let students be pulled out of class. They need their students to be successful on the NCLB tests • Teachers request that child be pulled out of recess, art, lunch, music. These classes tend to be the “highlights of the day” for disabled students (Breman)

18. Players involved in Inclusive Classroom • Teachers • Parents • Counselors • Peers • Disabled Student

19. Teachers • Balance accommodations with academics • Appropriate individualized materials • Expert on student classroom behavior • Advocates for student in meetings and in school setting (Stuart Jackson) • Hold higher expectations for disabled students (Paula DeHart)

20. Ms. Popick • Fourth Grade teacher • Adapted to microphone usage • Developed a communication system

21. Parents • Be involved in student’s education. Schools are more willing to listen to involved parents (Harold Parette). • Volunteer in classrooms to observe student (Terry Mauro). • Provide assistance to teacher • Eliminates worry of being pulled out of class • Encourage extracurricular activities • Be understanding and acceptable if the child needs something else

22. My Parents • Kept in contact with teachers • Encouraged engaging in extracurriculars • Researched available accommodations • Did not volunteer in class

23. Counselors • Educate student in areas that teachers cannot. • Speech therapy • Physical therapy • Find times to pull student out that is approved by both the teacher and the student (Mary Ann Clark). • Be a support system. • Teach organizational and communicational skills • Work with teachers, parents, and students

24. Ms. Smith • Speech therapy twice a week • Pulled out of recess, art, literature, Spanish, music, and P.E.

25. Peers • Peer Advocacy (Mary Falvey) • Establish a “buddy system” • Attend IEP meetings • Aid transition from one school to another • Support system • Bully resistance • Educate • Disabled students listen to peers more than they listen to their teachers

26. Student • “The student is it’s own best self advocate” –Stuart Jackson • Know the rights that disabled students have • Be involved in establishing accommodations • Be open-minded and understanding • “Construct relatively confident hopeful sense of themselves as legitimate participants in the mainstream school culture.” (Tim Loreman).

27. Keep in mind that this video took place before NCLB http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hPTCDt3iu8 This news clip was recorded in 2001. Apply what we just learned to this video

28. Service Learning Project • Interviewed Stuart Jackson • Taught hearing impaired fifth graders at TMOS. • Talked to them about mainstreaming into regular schools • Several issues students were concerned about: • Bullying • Curiosity about implants • Lack of ability to comprehend teacher • How to advocate for themselves

29. Benefits for disabled student: Friendships Increased social initiations, relationships, and networks Peer role models for academic, social, and behavior skills Increased achievement of IEP goals Enhanced skill acquisition and generalization Increased inclusion in future environments Greater opportunities for interactions Higher expectations result in higher performance Increased school staff collaboration Increased parent participation in schools Families with disabled student more intergraded into society Pros of Inclusive Education • Benefits for general student: • Meaningful friendships • Increased appreciation and acceptance of individual differences • Increased understanding and appreciation of diversity • Respect • Prepares child for adult life in inclusive society • Opportunities to broaden horizons • Greater academic performance Kids Together Inc.

30. Cons of Inclusive Education • Expensive! • Special education kids cost up to twice as much as a general student

31. What is necessary to ensure a successful inclusion into normal classrooms?

32. Many things! • Individualized education • Effective support system that includes every player in an inclusive classroom • Allow disabled students to be fully immersed into the general classroom

33. What can we do to improve the quality of education for disabled students?

34. Thank you for being such a good audience! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChwWWCDzK6k&feature=related

35. Work Cited • Cohen, Matthew D. A Guide to Special Education Advocacy: What Parents, Clinicians, and Advocates Need to Know. London: Jessica Kingsley, 2009. Print. • Johnson, Mary. Make Them Go Away: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Reeve and the Case against Disability Rights. Louisville: Advocado, 2003. Print. • Falvey, Mary A. Believe in My Child with Special Needs!: Helping Children Achieve Their Potential in School. Baltimore, MD: P.H. Brookes Pub., 2005. Print. • Cimera, Robert E. The Truth about Special Education: a Guide for Parents and Teachers. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2003. Print. • Mauro, Terri. 50 Ways to Support Your Child's Special Education: From IEPs to Assorted Therapies, an Empowering Guide to Taking Action, Every Day. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2009. Print. • Mech, Edmund V., and Carrie Che-Man. Fung. Preparing Foster Adolescents for Independent Living: a Comparison of Disabled and Non-disabled Youth. Urbana, IL: Children and Family Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998. Print. • DeHart, Paula, and Kim Beloin. The Wisconsin Rural - Urban Whole Schooling Research. Rep. Print. • Benefits of Inclusive Education." Kids Together Inc. (TM) Disability, Inclusion, Rights, Information & Resources. Web. 14 Dec. 2010. <http://www.kidstogether.org/inclusion/benefitsofinclusion.htm>. • Clark, Mary Ann, and Jennifer Crandall Breman. “School counselor inclusion: a collaborative model to provide academic and social-emotional support in the classroom setting” Journal of Counseling and Development 87.1 (2009): 6+. Educator’s Reference Complete. Web. 1 Dec 2010 • "Research Center: No Child Left Behind." Education Week American Education News Site of Record. Sept. 2004. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. <http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/no-child-left-behind/>.

36. Photographs Cited • http://www.tmos.org/ • http://chatterbox.typepad.com/portlandarchitecture/2009/05/time-for-regime-change-riverdale-preservation-may-hinge-on-this-months-school-board-election.html