It isn't Rocket Science...But it is Just as Important

I keep thinking about the girl I wrote about in my first post, the 16-year old who couldn’t get into a single international school in Singapore.  It made me mad and frustrated all over again and I felt like posting all sorts of stories like these with the names of each of the schools that have discriminated against amazing kids like this…but then, the other day, during my daily quiet time in God’s Word, I came across something that really got me thinking.  I even “tweeted” about it…

Would you prefer to compromise JUSTICE or LOVE? 

I can’t get that out of my head.  What good would it do to showcase the discrimination we see on a regular basis?  What JUSTICE would prevail?  If I show my LOVE and GRATITUDE to these schools for the few students they are willing to help, for listening to what we have to say, for considering our efforts, for reading this blog…will that get us further towards our goals?  Certainly.  Although I believe in JUSTICE, I don’t want to compromise LOVE to get it, so I will take my frustrations into a different direction and build them into something for good.

Let’s start with the basics first…always a good place to start.  There must be a reason why I am so passionate about educating children in the mainstream and why we have an entire company of 70+ employees and growing who share in that passion.  Before, however, we can understand the “why” I think we need to understand the “what.”  What, exactly, is inclusion?

Inclusion is the practice of educating children with disabilities in the general classroom with their non-disabled peers for much of their school day.  It is a philosophy whose purpose is to allow students with disabilities to learn in the same schools and classrooms as their peers without disabilities.  For the past 30 years educators and researchers have analyzed the negative effects of separate classes for children with disabilities (McLeskey and Waldron, 2000) and movements across the world have leaned in the direction of including these children to the maximum extent possible. 

Inclusion, in its most basic form:

• All students share the same classroom space
• Some students may be completing assignments or doing activities that are different from their peers 
• All students belong and are accepted as an integral part of the community 
• Students with special needs are supported in “creative” ways

These basic truths are what we hold to be the backbone of our organization and are at the heart of our initial trainings with perspective staff.  We explain to them that this isn’t a job to “fill time” or to just earn a paycheck.  There has to be a fully committed heart to the passion and belief of this concept; of this philosophy.  We certainly celebrate our staff members’ diverse backgrounds, cultural differences and varied levels of experience but one thing we won’t compromise on…the one thing that can’t be diverse, is the basic belief that although ALL kids may not be appropriate for the mainstream, many, MANY more should have the opportunity to be there and it is our job to make sure we give it the best effort to make that happen successfully.  Effective inclusion truly is “proving we can dream with our head in the clouds and our feet firmly on the ground.”

EFFECTIVE INCLUSION…now those are the key words.  There are plenty of examples of how a child was thrown into a classroom without appropriate support, with untrained staff and teachers who either didn’t buy into the inclusionary concept or had no training in the “how.” 

As part of our initial training at Live and Learn we discuss how children can be a “victim of the mainstream” and discuss a real life situation in where inclusionary practices were implemented without proper planning, training or staffing.  Laura Johnson, an American mother of a child who was mainstreamed in the US without proper support or a transition plan stated,

"At this point, we're about halfway through the school year, and she hasn't learned anything." "It's not fair for her to go to school and sit there and be teased because she doesn't understand what they're teaching her."  (deVise, 2008)

Can it go wrong? Can it be implemented ineffectively?  Can it be the wrong decision for some children?  Absolutely.  That is why professional, knowledgeable and experienced professionals in this field are pivotal towards the successful inclusion of children with needs in our mainstream classrooms.  

What we have found, however, is that it starts with a belief.  It starts with the philosophy that inclusion is right for most kids and it is our job, it is our ethical responsibility, to make sure we do everything we can to make it work.  

I have found that finding staff members who have the conviction of inclusion as part of their ethos, can certainly be trained by us and we can mentor them on the “how to” and the “strategies” as it really isn't Rocket Science, afterall. 

References:

McKleskey, J and Waldron, N (2000).  Inclusive Schools in Action: Making Differences Ordinary.  Alexandria:  ASCD.

de Vise, D (2008).  In The Mainstream but Isolated.  Washington Post, March 18, 2008, B-01.

Giangreco, M and Ruelle, K (2002).  Absurdities and Realities of Special Education:  The Best of Ants...Flying...and Logs.  Minnetonka:  Peytral Publications.