Tips for IEP Discussions on Inclusion

When you are attending your child's IEP Meeting it is always a good idea to get prepared. Think about what you would like to discuss, get reports and information in advance, talk to someone for help (like the Parent Liaison) and know your purpose and focus. Here are some tips on preparing for a discussion on inclusion for your student, click here

5 Tips For a Successful IEP When Inclusion is the Target

By Tiffany Wilson, MA from Special-Ism

As IEP season is upon us, it is always good to remember these helpful hints to ensure that your child’s IEP goes in your favor when requesting that he/she be included into a general education placement with typically developing peers.

1. Educate Yourself

• Become educated about special education law, specifically, the Individuals With Disabilities Act (IDEA).
• Your child is entitled to be educated in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). This can be an inclusion setting at a child’s home school with his/her siblings and neighborhood friends!

2. Be Prepared to Advocate for Your Child

• Have a friend or consultant accompany you to your child’s IEP for support.
• Sometimes a school is unable to effectively include a student with autism into the typical classroom without some support from outside agencies specializing in inclusion or behavioral intervention. This type of support may be needed in order for your child to have a successful inclusion experience.

Read more HERE.

"Be The One"

"Be The One" {Music Video} from Life Stage Films on Vimeo.

Adaptation Fair for Inclusive Education

All are invited!  Inclusion Support Teachers, General Education Teachers, Parents, Prospective Teachers! 

WHEN:       Tuesday, November 13, 2012                         

                        4:30 - 7:00 pm

WHERE:    California State University CSUEB

                   Library Biella Room (when you

                   enter Library turn right, room is on the left)

RSVP:        by Monday, November 12, 2012

Email Jacki Anderson at   

jacki.anderson@csueastbay.edu

                                     

Bring examples and copies of:

•  Systematic instruction for students with disabilities within general education classrooms/lessons

•  Adaptations that allow students with disabilities to participate more independently and interact with their peers

•  Curricular adaptations (all subjects and grade/levels)

•  Information on commercially available materials as well as materials you and your colleagues have developed

NOTE:  We will have a computer & LCD projector and access to the internet so bring any materials/websites needing the above for display. You may wish to bring your own laptop or ipad/tablet to display and share those applications you are finding useful in instruction as well!

Hanby's inclusiveness provides an education- Hanby Middle School in Oregon

Joyce Rogers said that beginning with her daughter's first day of kindergarten, it was important she be included in a traditional classroom environment.

Now 14, Rogers' daughter Ariel, who was born with Down syndrome, spends more than 80 percent of her day in mainstream classes with her peers at Hanby Middle School in Gold Hill.

"We really wanted an inclusive program from day one," said Rogers. "And she is doing what every other kid is doing."

Hanby Middle School was recognized by the DSASO earlier this month with an Inclusion Excellence Award for its work with students such as Ariel.

Rogers, who works as a reading specialist for the Down Syndrome Association of Southern Oregon, said that her daughter spends each day in the classroom as any other teenager would, a practice that isn't as common in neighboring school districts.

"I can't imagine not running a school this way," said Scott Dippel, Hanby's principal.

Dippel said that while he believes all schools likely make an effort to integrate students with intellectual disabilities into mainstream classrooms, the effort isn't always simple.

"It does at times take a lot of work, and faith," said Dippel. "Some parents are hesitant."

Dippel said Ariel's case was the perfect combination of willing parents and an inclusive school that trusted Ariel would be comfortable in a regular classroom.

"The association told us we were very unique," said Dippel.

Read more of Teresa Ristow's Mail Tribune article HERE.

The Inclusive Class

From Special Needs Talk Radio

Hosted by Nicole Eredics, founder of The Inclusive Class, with co-host Terri Mauro, About.com guide to Parenting Children with Special Needs. Nicole is an elementary educator who has spent over 15 years teaching in an inclusive classroom setting. Through her experience, she has solutions and strategies for supporting the inclusion of special needs children in the classroom. Terri Mauro is one of the most recognized experts on special education and special needs parenting on the net. She is the author of 50 Ways to Support Your Child’s Special Education and The Everything Parent’s Guide to Sensory Integration Disorder. Together, Nicole and Terri will explore the issues around the promise and practice of inclusion. Their unique points of view will allow educators and parents to gain a better understanding of what inclusion means, strategies for successful inclusion and the role of parents in inclusive education. The Inclusive Class Radio Show will give listeners the information they need to help provide the best possible education for their child.

Visit Website >>

Visit Terri’s Website >>

Every Friday at 09:00EST on BlogTalkRadio

Join us for a free screening of the award-winning documentary, INCLUDING SAMUEL and discussion with the author

The Child Care Inclusion Challenge Project Presents

Including Samuel - A film by Dan Habib

Tuesday, January 10 - 6:00 to 9:00 pm

The Bay Theater at the Aquarium of the Bay, Pier 39

The Embarcadero and Beach St., San Francisco

Including Samuel chronicles the Habib family’s efforts to include their son Samuel, who has cerebral palsy, in every aspect of their lives. The film also portrays the journeys of four other individuals with disabilities and their families. Including Samuel is highly personal, passionately photographed film that captures the cultural and systemic barriers to inclusion.

Join us and enjoy these Program Highlights

• 6:30 film screening followed by Q&A with Dan Habib

• Child Care Providers receive 2.5 hours of Professional Development

• Learn about the “I am Norm” national inclusion campaign

• Preview of Habib’s new film, Who Cares About Kelsey?

• Get a copy of Essential Best Practices in Inclusive Schools

• Light refreshments

RSVP for this Free Event

• Online at www.childrenscouncil.org/?q=samuel

• By phone to Maiysha Dickerson at 415.343.3309

Thank you for your support

• Children’s Council of San Francisco

• Support for Families of Children with Disabilities

• San Francisco Recreation & Parks

• Aquarium of the Bay

• Union Bank

About the Filmmaker

Dan Habib is the Filmmaker in Residence at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire. Including Samuel was broadcast nationwide on public television stations in Fall 2009. It has been screened at universities, national conferences and independent theatres across the country. The DVD is available in 17 languages, with closed captioning and audio description.

Top Ten Ways to Tell if Your Child’s School is Inclusive

By Nicole Eredics Special Education Articles

Inclusion, as special education experts agree, is the ideal way of educating students with special needs. Students with special needs are placed in general education classrooms along side their same-age peers, despite physical or academic ability levels. Often, however, inclusive education is a term that is misused and misunderstood by parents, teachers and staff. Here is a list of top ten ways to tell if your child’s school is truly inclusive:

1. School Community – the school community (staff, PTA, parents) is friendly, encourages parent-school communication, welcomes volunteers, and celebrates student learning through bulletin boards, newsletters and school-wide events.

2. School Design – the building has ramps, large doorways, paved walkways, drinking fountains, sinks, storage spaces and coat hooks that a child with special needs can use.

3. School Spaces – the lunchroom, library, playground, bathrooms, and gymnasium (or Multipurpose Room) can be easily accessed and used by a child with special needs.

4. School Routines – lunch hour, recess time, assemblies and school-wide activities include all the students.

5. School Support Staff – professionals such as Speech Language Therapists bring their services to the special needs child. The goal of support professionals is to support the child’s learning as well as help him/her remain in the classroom.

6. Paraprofessionals – Paraprofessionals are available to support the student (depending on child’s needs) in the classroom, during school routines and school activities.

7. Classroom Placement – a student with special needs is placed in a regular education classroom with same age peers despite his/her academic and ability level.

8. Classroom Arrangement – the special needs child has a desk or work area that is integrated into the class-seating plan. There is enough space for the special needs child to move around, a variety of learning materials are available and class materials can be easily accessed.

9. Teachers – Teachers plan lessons and activities in all subjects (not just Music or Art) to include the child with special needs. Lessons are modified and adapted so that the special needs student is actively participating in the learning process.

10. Students – ALL the students have opportunities to interact with one another both in the classroom and on the playground, help one another, work together and contribute to the well being of each other and the school community.

Nicole Eredics is an Elementary Educator who has spent over 15 years teaching in inclusive classrooms. She is also an advocate and has led parent support groups in the community. Nicole currently hosts The Inclusive Class Radio Show with Terri Mauro on the Special Needs Talk Radio Network on Blog Talk Radio (every Friday at 9 am EST). Nicole has developed and discovered many valuable resources for parents, teachers and schools that she shares on Twitter at @Inclusive_Class and on Facebook at The Inclusive Class. More information can be found at http://inclusiveclass.blogspot.com/

Article HERE.

Fear Factor: Getting over the biggest obstacle to inclusion

By Timothy Villegas, Special Education Articles - SpecialEducationAdvisor.com

Even under the best of circumstances, there is always a bit of trepidation when starting something new. Think about the first time you rode a bike, drove a car, your first kiss, or really anytime you have ever taken a risk. The thrill and terror of it all can be overwhelming. I liken this feeling to the first time I took one of my students (a boy with severe autism and challenging behaviors) and put him in a 4th grade general education classroom. It was my first teaching job, in a self-contained classroom for students with autism in California and I was challenged by one of my professors at Cal State University Fullerton to begin the process of including my students in general education. At this time, there was little support for inclusion at my school (not even for Art, Music or PE – mainly because we did not have those programs due to budget constraints). Even so, I believed it was the right thing to do and began trying to change the hearts and minds of my colleagues. It was not easy at first, but after explaining that I was not simply going to “dump” my students off in their class, they were definitely more receptive.

This tends to be the biggest fear of people who are opposed to a “full inclusion” model. There are different definitions of “full inclusion” but one I prefer is apparent when we talk about the idea of Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). What is the environment that will least hinder the student from being educated with their typically-developing peers while still accessing the general curriculum (what everyone is being taught) in a meaningful way? There is no one-size-fits-all approach to inclusion just like there is no one-size-fits-all approach to general education (no matter how hard we want there to be). But…I am getting ahead of myself. In regards to my 4th grader who was now going to be included into a Math block in general education, I began to feel the anxiety creep up in me as the day approached. Would he keep his challenging behaviors in check? Would the class accept him when he started to script movie lines? Would the general education teacher think I was crazy for putting her up to this?

Diffusing and answering the inevitable questions was the big key into alleviating everyone’s fear. I spoke to the class before we started and explained my student, while having some differences in the way he experienced the world, was still a 4th grade boy who liked movies, music and playing on the computer. He liked Math, which is why we decided this was the best time for him to join his peers. It was also important to take the uncomfortable questions of “why does he do this,” or “why does he do that,” and answer them with the utmost respect and dignity to their new classmate. Perhaps honest communication is the best way to gain his peers’ trust…kids are too smart and usually know when you are trying to put one over on them. Once we got that out of the way, acceptance was the easy part.

Next, was giving him adequate support. I had already promised the teacher he would not be flying solo, so we used one of my paraprofessionals for the time he was in the class. We also collaborated on adapting any materials we thought he would benefit from (larger number cards, color coding, etc). He sat in front of the class and by the door in case the classroom was over-stimulating and needed to make a quick escape for relief. Knowing what the class was working on beforehand helped us to pre-teach or prepare him for accessing the general curriculum when he went into the classroom.

We were consistently surprised at what our 4th grader could do, in terms of keeping his behaviors under control and accessing the content. By giving him the opportunity to interact with his peers we opened up another door for communication and camaraderie. Even now, years removed from that first grand adventure of inclusion, fear is present in the back of my mind as we move to include more students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in general education. Though this time, it reminds me that it is not something to be terrified of…but revered. Inclusion, at its very heart is a noble cause because it brings dignity to human beings when it otherwise would separate those who need love the most. Fear may be an obstacle but it certainly is not an excuse.

Timothy Villegas lives with his fetching wife and adorable children in Marietta, GA by way of Pasadena, CA. He has been a special educator for eight years and enjoys every bit of the drama of inclusive education (and is an obsessive user of parenthetical expression). Follow him on Twitter: @think_inclusive or to peek inside his brain…peruse his Tumblr: http://thinkinclusive.tumblr.com/ He promises to be nice.

Article HERE.

More Inclusion in Detroit Ends Four Years of Sanctions

For the first time in four years, Detroit public schools are meeting state and federal special education requirements.

The school district said Thursday that as a result, the district will get $4.8 million in special education money withheld from the district last school year.

To reform its special education program, the district boosted the number of students spending at least 80 percent of their school day in general education settings from about 28 percent in 2006 to 38 percent last school year.

About 12,000 of Detroit's 73,000 students are in the special education program.

The state began monitoring the district in 2008 because just 31 percent of its students spent at least 80 percent of their time in regular classes while the state average was 57 percent, according to The Detroit News.

At times, the work of treating students with disabilities, even those with mild needs, in more mainstream educational settings was difficult.

The district also developed handbooks and written procedures for working with students with disabilities and trained staff extensively in a number of areas, including how and when to suspend students with disabilities from school. Part of that effort included revising the Detroit school discipline handbook.

Federal law requires that students with disabilities be placed in the least restrictive environment at school. That means most students should not be totally isolated from students without disabilities for most of the day.

Read more of Nirvi Shah's On Special Education article HERE.

Top Ten Ways to Tell if Your Child’s School is Inclusive

Inclusion, as special education experts agree, is the ideal way of educating students with special needs. Students with special needs are placed in general education classrooms along side their same-age peers, despite physical or academic ability levels. Often, however, inclusive education is a term that is misused and misunderstood by parents, teachers and staff. Here is a list of top ten ways to tell if your child’s school is truly inclusive:

1. School Community – the school community (staff, PTA, parents) is friendly, encourages parent-school communication, welcomes volunteers, and celebrates student learning through bulletin boards, newsletters and school-wide events.

Read more of Nicole Eredics' IEP Daily article HERE.

Inclusive Approach For Special Students Pays Off For All At Hub Elementary

At the Henderson school, where up to 35 percent of the 228 students have a disability, there are two certified teachers in every classroom — one in general, elementary education and one in special education. The school’s academic philosophy is that “it’s not the students who are disabled, but the curriculum,’’ and that it is the job of teachers and administrators to help students learn through digital textbook readers, visual arts, or movement.

Read Akilah Johnson's Boston Globe article HERE

Jewish Disability Awareness Month Inspires Community

In recognition of Jewish Disability Awareness Month, Jewish Child & Family Services (JCFS) invites synagogues across the Chicagoland area to embrace this opportunity to increase awareness of the needs and strengths of people with disabilities in our communities. Held in February, Jewish Disability Awareness Month was created by The Jewish Federations of North America and a consortium of Jewish Special Educators to raise awareness and support meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in every aspect of Jewish life.

Read more HERE.

Including Students with Disabilities in General Physical Education

by Martin E. Block, Ph.D. University of Virgina, Charlottesville

Read manual HERE.