_base_d training bus by 1000. We will use it to go to the public library every three weeks (I keep track of the library cards, send everything home with the kids with a paw, collect it back, track it down if late/lost, check on fines/replacement costs and then get/pay them); bowling once a month; additional activities on other Fridays. Library days will be followed with classroom cooking and a language experience story is typed on the computer in the afternoon for all of the parents to read. 1030-1130 do whole group/ theme related activities w/ DaLVTy - this means use a Big Book to tie together their language, reading, math, etc. functional skills OR do umpty million 30 sec. activities with JDi to cover all of the skills they barely touch in kdg.       1130 - lunch buddies - remember to prompt buddies for TyDi about his behavior and her meds. Prompt everyone to TALK. Ms. L has 2 lunch duties, I have 1; when everyones at lunch bolt down your food in 20 min. (we had to go to lunch w/kids until lunch buddies started, I spent my lunch time this week running back to the other bldg. to put up PP Wall of Fame (2 there/1 in my bldg.); Meet returning lunch buddies at door & give prize; send everyone to bathroom. 1210 most afternoons - Ms. Smith might be going to lunch after duty (I lose lunch on my duty day) or taking DiJ or VTy to cultural arts in the other bldg.; some days we have to play musical students and run someone over to the other bldg. and bring someone back; meanwhile I supervise/prompt hygiene skills and work on individual activities with students. Lots of buddies will start coming p.m. so they need to be instructed, monitored and reinforced. Cultural arts schedules vary everyday with who and what time. Only DaL go with a buddy. 1300 - all students still in room get to go to recess with a 4th grade buddy. Hopefully, enough come and they come on time! If Ms. Smith is in room she will go out to monitor/prompt good interactions. With my few minutes of peace & quiet I write individual notes about the day to all parents in each students notebook. Parents are supposed to write me a similar note everyday about home. Im supposed to find time to talk to everyone using the info. the parents gave me. Anything going home is collated and sorted - On Mondays I send home a homework folder (kept for a week) with a variety of flashcards (sight words, pictures for language, etc.), flashfacts (personal info., functional info. to memorize), manipulatives (lacing, beads, _link_s, etc.), trace/copy writing (traced out by me for each one), and teacher-made matching games. I also send 4 different kinds of reading activities (I can read, bedtime storybooks, books on tape, beginning chapter books, etc.) with paws attached (to mark their use and give credit for the Pizza Hut BookIt program) to be used all week. On Friday, a PP has to be chosen with a certificate and our mascot stuffed/roaring puppet readied to go home. Meanwhile, Ty only gets the note because any thing else is torn up or ignored by his family. A drawing from all of the weeks buddies is done and the winners name is delivered to the office for an announcement (winner gets a special prize). 1330 - reinforce recess buddies and ask them about their activity. Do individual activities with students. A lot of buddies will show up and need assistance (this assistance will fade as the year progresses.) Buddies will assist with computer skills, using the video painter, books on tape (& help draw a picture afterwards), read aloud (w/picture), creative arts (paint, playdoh, using stencils/crayons), helping with folder games, building w/ legos, using puppets, playing cars on a mat, etc. Some need a lot of prompting to be a buddy and interact. 1400 - first of 4 buses begins to arrive. Get everyone ready to go and keep them appropriately engaged in something until they leave. Last bus may not come until 1430. 1430 - Clean it all up and get ready for the next round. Talk to Ms. Smith who gets to leave at 1445. Run to the other bldg. and talk to kdg./lev. 4 teacher, if needed; talk to speech teacher; talk to cultural arts teachers - try to run back before the custodian locks all the doors. Remember to do any big xeroxing projects on the big copier in the other bldg. Fancy laminator and letter cutter is also over there. Run back and talk to 4th/5th gr./lev. 4 teachers if needed. Everyday there are individual skill sheets to trace out, laminated sheets to wash off, lunch buddy names to mark and make a drawing ticket for, materials to take out/modify/store away/make, plans for the next day to sketch out. On Monday, make sure that all take-home materials were returned intact; on Friday, prepare all of the take-home materials for the next week. A week ahead plan for Friday cooking activities so a list can be sent home for stuff needed (and if its not sent, run to the store on Thurs. afternoon and get it.) Monday is also faculty/grade group meeting day. On Friday, create a lunch buddy list for the following week that rotated all students in all 4th. grade classes with all 6 of my students (30 buddies a week). Remember to send it to the office each morning to be announced. All activities related to the Big Book have to be created. Most activities/games will be put in a zip-loc with directions for use printed on the outside. Students will take these home. The bags are kept at home in a PP treasure box (made at school) and used by parents with their kids. While quitting time is officially 1515, I have not yet left before 1700 yet. This is the schedule of an optimum inclusion program with only 6 kids and 2 teachers. While the 2 bldgs. is a problem for scheduling, we are going to manage it. If I get more kids, especially with differing age/ability from this group, it will fail. At no time (hopefully!!!!!) will any of our students be sitting somewhere unengaged in a productive activity or doing old busy work. All inclusion is done with an aide/teacher present to guide/prompt/adapt. I have no real planning time during the day when all of my students are out of the room (recess time is
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This letter, from an inclusion teacher, is a wonderful example of the difficulty that former special education teachers have in accepting and facilitating change.  I, too, am an inclusion teacher (although, in my school I am called a support services teacher).  I support 18 children in grades K-6, six of whom have down Syndrome.  I have 6 full time aides.  Several of the chidren that I support fall into the severe range of disability, and some have severe behavioral concerns. This letter, from the inclusion teacher, shows a lack of understanding of the basic principals that should be employed when designing and inclusion model. 1.  Inclusion models that are succeeding have moved from a philosophy of remediation, to a philosophy of support.  I, too, have taught for 17 years, and my original education, in university, taught me to remediate in a self contained classroom.  Support requires a much different approach.  It should be stressed that support in no way changes academic, mothoric, speech, or social instruction....it is just taught in a different way. 2.  Models of inclusion that are working, generally have a support teacher working as a consultant and manager, rather that delivering direct services.  That is not to say that the support services never works with children, they just don' run that regularly scheduled DISTAR group they way they used to. 3.  Inclusion models that are working generally have building inclusion teams that communicated and collaborate together.  Their is shared decision making among staff.  Problem solving is done together and facilitated by the support services teacher.  This teacher appeared to be very alone in her position and ability to problem solve. 4.  Inclusion models that are working generally redefine the skills they hold important for a child to learn.  That is not to say that academics etc... aren't important.  It simply means that other skills, primarily social skills, become equally important.  Collaboration with classroom teachers and parents in developing IEP's may redefine how the inclusion teacher delivers services, and what supports should be in place. I fully understand the difficulty in transitioning from being a self contained teacher to an inclusion teacher.  You must redefine who you are and what you do.  You are doing a job you never trained for.  But the bottom line is that it works for children.  Nowhere in the letter from the inclusion teacher did I hear about childrens successes.  In our school we have them, and celebrate, daily. It is so safe to stay in your room with your six kids.  It is so hard to get out there and be an integral part of a large community...yet this is exactly what a support services teacher must do...and the reason we must do it is because it is the right thing to do.  We need to take the time to learn HOW to do inclusion correctly.  Our schools model is _base_d on a great deal of research into the models that work, and the current research and literature.  If the time is taken to examine this information, you will not end up with a model like the one described in the distraught teachers letter.  You will end up with a model that teaches ALL children to value each other and be caring parts of a community. Barbara This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Barbara

Our school is Centennial Elementary in Mt. Vernon, WA.  We began with a self contained program for primary aged children and, over the last 5 years have evolved into an inclusive educational model for children in grades K-6. We evolved through a few years of integration ( the children were in my room for part of the day, and in a regular classroom for part of the day), and, for the past 2 1/2 years we have been fully inclusive. I have gone from being a self contained special education teacher , to being a support services teacher.  Currently, I support 18 children in the moderate to severe range of disabilities, in grades K-6.  I support 6 children with Down Syndrome, 3 children who are labelled multiply handicapped, 1 child labelled MR/Deaf/Blind, 1 child who is traumatic brain injury, 2 children who are PDD/Tourettes/OC disorder, and 5 children without specific labels but functioning within the moderate to severe range of disability. My role has changed dramatically.  My responsibilities now include: 1.  Collaborating with 6 parapro's and 12 teachers re: each childs     program needs. 2.  Testing and assessment 3.  Facilitating varied team meetings:  IEP, MAPS, Inclusion Team, Para     Team 4.  Supporting parents and children in whatever way necessary to insure     classroom success 5.  Teaching ALL children in our school about the issue of disability...     creating an understanding and awareness in all children 6.  Managing and procuring resources as needed (aide time, volunteer     time, materials, consultants.....) 7.  Facilitating friendship circles for included students The basic components that seem to be necessary for a successful inclusion model are: 1.  A building inclusion team (ours is made up on inclusive classroom teachers, para's, principal and myself).  We follow the same agenda each week, which I type and disburse ( Success Stories, Housekeeping, and Concerns).  I comp teachers for time in meetings through a schedule in which I have the opportunity to teach in their classrooms for 1 hour each week.  During this time I have an opportunity to see and feel how included children are doing in that classroom environment.  Sometimes I team teach, sometimes I teach the whole class, sometimes I work 1-1 or in a small group...it varies. 2.  We take minutes at all team meetings.  I then type these minutes and disperse them to everyone in our district (superintendent on down).  This has been an extremely important communication tool...everyone shares in our successes and concerns. 3.  I meet weekly with each classroom teacher to talk about individual student concerns...they know that they will see me every week at an appointed time...if they need to talk they can. 4.  I meet daily with each para to discuss individual student progress and programming.  We can plan adaptations and parallell instruction as needed during this time. 5.  We take actions on concerns, always addressing them in a timely manner.  We try to learn from our mistakes and listen to criticism constructively.  We have done some great fine tuning this way. 6.  Each childs program looks different, because each child needs a different type of support.  Our IEP's are a true collaborative effort, being done much differently now, than when we were segregated. We have employed several resources in our program development.  They include Project MESH, Dr. Charles Peck, WSU, The Centre for Integrated Education and Community, Toronto, to name a few.  We do futures planning in the spring of each year, using the MAPS process (McGill Action Planning System).  We build Circles of Friends, which are active throughout the year. This is such a brief synopsis of our program...but it gives you an idea of what it looks like.  We discourage 1-1 aides, except where medically necessary.  We have found that they can get in the way of inclusion. Rather we try to analyze each child day and look at where they need aide support...and then we provide it during these times.  This varies from child to child. Our program is not perfect...but it is working well.  It has not always been easy.  Our biggest battle has been changing preconceived notions and rprejudices of teachers.  BUT...we have done it.  Our teachers are now comfortable with inclusion...because supports are always in place (that's my job).  They see the tremendous gains, across the board.  Our success stories are too numerous for me to share here.  The bottom line is good teaching is good teaching...for all children.  The old addage two heads are better than one seems to apply here. The teacher, parents, and I do it together...it is a team effort.  It should also be noted that peer support is extremely important.  It has been interesting to watch it develop in children over time.  Our fifth graders, who have been in inclusive settings for some time, as excellent peer helpers.  More importantly, they are sincere friends. Our school was featured in the September 1993 issue of Exceptional Parent...you can see some pictures there.  Please let me know if I can be of further assistance. Barbara This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

This is the schedule of an optimum inclusion program with only 6 kids and 2 teachers. While the 2 bldgs. is a problem for scheduling, we are going to manage it. If I get more kids, especially with differing age/ability from  this group, it will fail. Anybody who has been paying attention knows there is *nothing* in that schedule even resembling full inclusion . We aren't told, but I bet this is not the neighborhood school that would see the children if they did not have disabilities; certainly this is not the classroom they would attend (unless the community has no non-disabled residents). This sounds to me like the usual: integration as an imaginary dancing of segregated people at the edges of the real world. I hope someone eventually enlightens the poor soul assigned to dance along that she can leave any time she wants; the children are condemned to stay until the system is forced to change. This is not inclusion, and it seems absurd to dignify it with comment further.