Most parents of children with special needs want their child included in the general education classroom for either all or part of the school day. Thanks to IDEA and No Child Left Behind, we have law to back up this desire, however, how it is implemented and the acceptance of our children by all can still be a challenge. In a recent seminar I attended by Michael Remus - Great Expectations for All: Count Me In! Mr.Remus asked an important question: Do you believe in all children?
On the surface, everyone would mostly likely say, “Yes.” But … there’s always a but, isn’t there?
There are those who still believe a child with special needs is best served in a separate classroom specially designed for learning disabilities. They believe by putting a child with special needs in the general education classroom, the child becomes a distraction to the other children and takes too much of the teacher’s time to the detriment of the “typical” children.
Although it is not a simple matter of plopping a child with special needs into a classroom with a para (an adult who sits with the child and assists him), it can be done. And, when it is done well, it not only benefits the child with special needs, but all children in the classroom.
Often, when a child is disruptive, it is because he is bored or frustrated. Consider the typical toddler who has not yet learned to speak. When frustrated, she may lash out and hit someone or yell because she does not have the words to express herself. The same can be said for a child with special needs who is placed in a general education classroom but not really included as part of the class. At some point, he will get frustrated and act out.
Before jumping to the conclusion that it is not working, the team (child’s parents, general ed. teacher, special ed. teacher and others including, if possible, the child himself) should consider why this is happening and see if there is a solution other than moving the child out of the classroom.
How is the child being involved in the lesson plan?
Is she just sitting in the back of the room or to the side doing mundane repetitive activities that make no sense to him like counting bears over an over as the para keeps dumping them out of a cup or is the counting exercise incorporated into what the other children are doing, such as counting the items that she picks up at clean up time? The learning activity should make logical and real life sense to be beneficial. All children would agree to this. How many times did you ask in school, “When will I ever use this in real life?”
Consider this real life example (only one of many) that was shared at Mr. Remus’ seminar: Third grader Billy (not his real name) has profound intellectual disability and only repeats what others say. In math the class is learning to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions. In order for Billy to understand the concept of fractions, he will watch someone pour different fractions of water into a measuring cup. However, because several of the other children were having trouble grasping the concept of fractions, they were included in Billy’s group to get the visual education they needed to help them with the classroom assignment.
Because Billy’s team was willing to accept the challenge of keeping him in the general education classroom, not only did Billy meet his goal, but he was included in a way that also helped his fellow classmates.
I realize it is not always easy to keep a child with special needs in the classroom and there are times when it is in all children’s best interest (both the “typical” children and child with special needs) to pull the child out, however, this should not always be the first option. This is not a simple subject that can be covered in one post and I plan to explore many other issues raised when our children are included in the general education classroom. I hope you will continue to follow these posts and keep an open mind to the possibilities and benefits for all our children.
So I pose the question one more time: Do you believe in all children or just the ones that don’t present any exceptional challenge in the general education classroom? (Frankly, I think it would be pretty dull without those challenges.)
Note: These series of posts are based on training and seminars I have attended through the Down Syndrome Guild of Greater Kansas City. I have credited the speaker for his/her ideas however, I have also added my own interpretation and understanding of the information provided.
10 comments:
Excellent post and I am looking forward to the rest of the series. I have a 3-month old who has been diagnosed with Down Syndrome so these are issues that I will have to think about in the near future.
Thanks for you thoughts!
i am LOVING these posts debbie!
you are really making me think about the situations that we are dealing with here.
captain adventure has a few children with special needs in his class...the one i mentioned before with the behavioral/emotional issues and another with special physical needs (who also has behavioral issues). both children have a para who work with them. the second boy was born deaf and has a cochlear implant. he does not speak, but is learning. he and captain adventure were also in preschool together...i believe it has been a benefit to both children. CA has a friend who has special needs and had learned sign language along the way (which he has taught to us). this child has found a kind and patient friend in CA...CA accepts this child as is and knows that there are special needs. it has been a beneficial relationship.
there have also been trials along the way...this child used to be very aggressive physically...even towards CA. i think CA didn't know what to do or how to handle it...we talked about it and i encouraged him to talk to this child and say "i don't like it when you hit me or hurt me. if you act like that i don't want to play with you." we went to school and the para helped CA tell this child these things with sign language. the child understood and there haven't really been any problems since then.
am i rambling? :)
i gotta go take care of sick kiddos. i really do love these posts. have a great tuesday!
kate
I understand what you are saying. The doctors and what not told my sister's sister-in-law that her child would never talk, walk, lift her head, etc... At one point they decided to put her in regular daycare instead of a special disability daycare. Well, that little girl bloomed in regular daycare and she is starting to talk and eat solid foods. She will never be like you and me but she is going more than they ever thought she would do.
I didn't know you were back to blogging? Welcome back! I have Gabi in a special needs classroom for most of the day. I actually prefer it that way because she would drown in a regular setting! But of course that is what works for us!
My kids go to a school in which only the most severely (learning) challenged are in a separate classroom (and I don't know how they measure this). The majority have integrated into "typical" classrooms and learn alongside their peers with the help of paras. I have absolutely NO problem with that and view it as beneficial for both sides.
The types of kids I see distracting the teacher from the rest of the students are those "typical" kids with behavior challenges. My son has just such a child in his class, and he (the other child) often has outbursts - throwing desks, yelling, trying to hit the teacher. It's frustrating for the teacher, and it's scary for the class. The little boy obviously needs help other than being sent to the principal's office but, unfortunately, there's no one to give it to him other than the teacher, principal, and social worker who might speak to his parents.
Great post.
I am pretty sure this what as happened this year. Max is now in Resource 3 1/2 hours a day. He was being disruptive & couldn't follow along w/ the class. I won't start ranting about this right now. But I am giving it a try to see if MAX likes this better. It's only been about a month or so right now. We'll see...
"Do you believe in all children or just the ones that don’t present any exceptional challenge in the general education classroom? " Ans: All
I think I've mentioned that my daughter's elementary school is an inclusion school and that my girls (older one is now in Jr Hi) have always had the blessing of at least 1 'special needs' student in their classroom.
DD2 came home the other day with an exceptional example of how the mainstream students can learn from the special needs student. Our PTO has a "Santa's Workshop" store for one week each winter before Christmas. This is a shop where the kids can come to buy things for relatives or whomever they want (it's typically dollar store stuff). The girl that is in DD2's class this year needed to shop in the store. She had money and a list of family members that she was going to buy for. My daughter (who wasn't going to buy anything) was asked to help Mary with her purchase choices. Through helping Mary with the list and asking questions about likes and dislikes they were able to get gifts purchased.
This was a lifeskill lesson for April, as last year at the same shop April just picked out the first thing she saw, without thinking if the person she was buying for would like it. She had X dollars and Y people and she just got whatever. This year, she helped Mary pick the best gifts for the family... as this was important for Mary... a matter of pride to be able to buy gifts for family without Mom's help.
Now, I'm sure my daughter would have learned this valuable skill some day... but because of Mary she learned it sooner.
Kayla goes to a private special education school. It's what works best for HER since she functions emotionally, physically and cognitively at the age of an 18 month old. You wouldn't send an 18 month to Kindergarten, so I don't send Kayla to the regular school. We're a rural district with few resources. And in spite of all the posturing that the districts can't use funding as an excuse to not provide services, the reality is that services do have to be paid for. Sitting in on a budget meeting will really open your eyes to that. Still, I volunteer in the local school and they do the best they can and have successfully included several kids with Down syndrome, autism, and severe learning disabilities. However, Kayla is beyond even THAT and the school where the is going (paid for by the school district at a cost of around $100K) has an excellent reputation working with the severely disabled and I'm very happy she got in. Kayla hasn't even been able to walk into the local school building for the past two years without falling to the ground, curling up in a ball and screaming her head off. And I had been taking her there once a week to pick up her big sister from Brownies. Obviously it would not have been an appropriate placement for HER.
I love this post. While we feel that our children (I do this myself sometimes) are not 'ready' to work on a particular task; we limit them and slow their learning.
I have to continually remind myself to let my children 'try' even if I know it will end in a mess or take twice as long.
Having a child with learning disabilities or maybe hurdles is a better word, in a class with 'all the rest' lets them feel included, and provided that child with true to life challenges.
And, that is what learning is about, right? Living and how to live.
My son and I have struggled so much with 2nd grade; you know my frustrations from FB. One or two other children in the class are struggling but not to the same level. The boy can build anything and instruct you on how to start and manipulate a duel wheeled tractor.
I can't do that.
Yet, together we are dealing with a concept of understanding, a hurdle.
So, I totally agree with you. And, YES. I believe in all children. (Though, I take issue with bullies).
This is a great post! Thanks for sharing your perspective on it. I get so irritated with the notion that special needs kids somehow "hold back" or interfere with the rest of the class, when in fact every child in every class will have their own individual strengths and weaknesses. Attitudes like that completely ignore the fact that children who struggle in some areas have something to contribute to the classroom too, whatever it might be. Our boys have a hard time with social skills / communication / fine motor skills and they have sensory issues but they excel at math and reading and have been given opportunities to help tutor their peers in those areas. This helps their classmates and also is a boost to my boys' confidence and helps them with their social skills in the process :).
We had a bit of a rough start in pre-k, Bearhug's teacher was struggling with his behavior and her first response was to try to have him moved from her class to a special needs class. She just didn't know how to handle his meltdowns and seemed overwhelmed. (clearly he was overwhelmed at the time too). We ended up having him go to a special needs class 2x a week and he stayed in her class the other 3 days with a resource teacher. With the appropriate support, he blossomed and by the end of the year she was telling me he was one of her best students!
Both of our twins have been in a regular ed class full time (with resource support and some pull-out but less of that over time) since Kindergarten. Bitty spent a little over a year in a self-contained special needs class. This year he wasn't quite ready to join a "regular" pre-k class but we and his teachers felt he would benefit from more time with "typical" peers so he is now in a head-start class that combines "neurotypical" 3 yr olds (he is 4) and a few 3-4 yr olds with special needs. We're not sure what kind of placement will be best for him in Kindergarten, we'll see how he's doing later this spring.
Guess I rambled a bit... this is a topic close to my heart as I know it is with you too :).
Post a Comment