Post on 21-Jan-2015
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Inclusion – What is It? Why Do We Do It?
How Can We Be Successful?
Presented by Dr. Alicia Brophy
Dr. Hiam Ginott Quote (Milwaukee Public Schools)
“I have come to frightening conclusion that, I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.”
Four Beliefs
1.All individuals are capable of learning.2.The teaching talent to help all students learn according to their potential exists in most schools today.
3.The knowledge gap between what is known about effective teaching and what routinely is practiced in classrooms is enormous.
4.All students need a safe, caring, and positive learning environment.
Be able to define inclusion and related terms◦ What is inclusion? (inclusion vs. full inclusion)◦ What is mainstreaming?
Gain an understanding of Federal Law with regard to inclusion and its history
Identify characteristics that have been identified as important to and supportive of inclusion
Identify strategies that can be used to support students within an inclusive classroom
Objectives
Please take a moment to complete the K part of the KL chart provided
K (What you know) L (What you learned)
Assess Current Knowledge
Has anyone in this room taught in an inclusive classroom before?
Students taught in this type of classroom environment?
Assess Current Knowledge
Inclusion is a term that describes the ideology that each child should be educated in the general education environment in the school that they would regularly attend, to the maximum extent possible.
It involves providing the support services to the student rather than bringing the student to the services, and requires that the student will benefit from being in the class rather than having to keep pace with other students.
What is Inclusion?
Full inclusion is the belief that technological supports and instructional practices are currently available to provide accommodations to all students, regardless of whether or not they have a disability, in the classrooms and schools they would regularly attend.
What is Full Inclusion?
This term refers to the selective placement of students with disabilities in one or more general education classes.
The idea is that students will be “set up for success.”
It is assumed that in order for a student to be successfully mainstreamed, they must posses the ability to keep pace with their general education peers both academically and socially.
What is Mainstreaming?
The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (as amended in 2004), does not require inclusion. Rather, the law states that children with disabilities should be educated in the "least restrictive environment.”
IDEA stipulates that the process for determining the "least restrictive environment" should begin with placement in the general education classroom.
Federal Law and Inclusion
IDEA does recognize that it is not appropriate to place all children in the general education classroom. ◦School districts should have a “continuum
of placements” available, extending from the regular education classroom to residential settings, in order to accommodate the needs of all children with disabilities.
Federal Law and Inclusion
Why Do We Do Inclusion?
◦Use of the “continuum of placements” concept makes it more probable that each child will be appropriately placed in an environment that is specifically suited to meet their needs.
◦The degree of inclusion should derive from what the student needs (as determined by the IEP team), not by the parents’ desires or school district’s convenience.
Federal Law and Inclusion
Continuum of Educational Placements
Section 504 is significant in the legal mandate of Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and the use of supplementary aids and services for students with disabilities because it was used to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of disability.
Because the categories of disabilities covered by the IDEA have expanded during the past two reauthorizations in 1997 and 2004, Section 504 is used less often to provide access to public education for students with disabilities.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1975
Oberti v. Clementon (1993)◦The Federal Court upheld the right of students with disabilities to be educated with their nondisabled peers in general education classrooms. This judicial decision required that school districts need to provide an explanation as to why students with disabilities are educated in separate settings and why this placement is the best option for said students.
(Baker, Wang, & Walberg, 1995)
Court Cases Involving Inclusion
Board of Education v. Holland (1992, 1994)◦ The 9th Circuit District Court defined LRE as a strong
Congressional preference. This opinion combined factors from several previous decisions to determine what the least restrictive environment is. Those factors dealt with educational benefits in a regular classroom; non-academic benefits for the handicapped child in a regular classroom; the child's effect on the teacher and other child in the regular class; and the cost of supplementary aids and service to mainstream the handicapped child. The Court said cost is only a factor if it will significantly affect another child in the district.
Court Cases Involving Inclusion
Hartmann v. Loudoun County Board of Education (1996)◦ A Virginia federal district court ruled that a
nonverbal student with autism should attend a regular education second grade class with appropriate supplemental aids and services. However, when the case was appealed, the 4th Circuit Court concluded that the inclusion efforts were sufficient with staff training and help on behavior issues, reduced class size, and class composed of independent workers.
Court Cases Involving Inclusion
Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garret F. (1999)◦ The Supreme Court ruled that taxpayer-supported
schools are responsible for the costs of providing continual care for disabled students under a federal law that says all children must receive "free, appropriate public education." Under the Court's reading of the IDEA's relevant provisions, medical treatments such as suctioning, ventilator checks, catheterization, and others which can be administered by non-physician personnel come within the parameters of the special education law's related services.
Court Cases Involving Inclusion
How Can We Be Successful?
Cooperative Learning Experiences◦ Think-Pair-Share◦ Peer Tutoring◦ Small, cooperative learning groups
Philosophical Orientation Defines Special Education as a Service, Not a Place
Provision of Adaptations and Support◦ Only as needed◦ Follow accommodations and support that is
expressed in a student’s IEP paperwork
Characteristics of Successful Inclusive Classrooms
Inquiry-Based Learning Experiences Classroom is Student-Centered and has a
Collaborative Learning Environment◦ Identification of students’ strengths and areas of
need◦ Students have mutual respect within the learning
environment◦ Students help to create the classroom rules and
are expected to follow them◦ Students have a responsibility for developing their
community
Characteristics of Successful Inclusive Classrooms
Teachers Teaching Teachers◦Collaboration between general education
and special education teachers is required.◦RTI◦Strategies for increasing consultation time◦Collaborative consultation◦Assistance teams◦Coaching◦Peer collaboration◦Cooperative teaching◦Communication skills for collaboration
Characteristics of Successful Inclusive Classrooms
Parent Teacher Collaboration◦Establish cooperation◦Develop culturally responsive relationships
◦Parent-teacher conferences◦Parents as teachers
Characteristics of Successful Inclusive Classrooms
Focus on time for learningEnsure high rates of student success
Provide positive and supportive learning environments
Plan and maintain a motivational environment
Instructional Variables to Facilitate Successful Inclusive Classrooms
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
High Quality Inclusion in a Diverse Society
Positive Behavior Support
Tiered Models in Early Intervention
Promising Practices to Support High Quality Inclusive Practices
An educational framework based on research in the learning sciences that guides development of flexible learning environments that accommodates individual learning differences
What is UDL?
Since the way individuals learn can be unique, the UDL framework, first defined by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) in the 1990s, calls for initially creating curriculum that provides:
Multiple means of representation to give learners numerous ways of acquiring information and knowledge
Multiple means of expression to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know
Multiple means of engagement to tap into learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn
What is UDL?
Descriptions of Intervention Levels of Multi-tiered Instruction
Primary or Core
Universal instruction for all students to promote behavior and reading achievement
Secondary or Supplemental
Targeted small group or individual instruction for students who need additional support or assistance to successfully learn to learn to read
Tertiary or Intensive
Individualized or small group, intense, specialized instruction for students who despite previous instruction and intervention efforts experience marked difficulties in learning to read
Funding for Early Interventions
IDEA 2004 addresses the use of RTI ◦Created the option of using up to 15% of federal
special education funds for “early intervention” for students not been identified for special
education For students who need academic or behavioral
support to succeed in general education ◦IDEA funds
Professional development Scientifically-based literacy programs and
assessments Support services
Please take a moment to complete the L part of the KL chart provided
Assess What You Learned
K (What you know) L (What you learned)