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Inclusion of Special Needs students in School Events 

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Inclusion of Special Needs students in School Events 

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Okay, this is our very first post! As the title mentions, this will be about ways we can figure out how to include special needs students in our school events and classroom. On top of that, I will attach a video of how you can add to discussions and interact with one another. You can either like and respond to someone's post or click the plus icon to create your own. Comment on other posts, give feedback, and feel free to post helpful ideas!

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Goals For Inclusion of Special Needs students in School Activities 

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Goals For Inclusion of Special Needs students in School Activities 

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Here are some the goals we are aiming for, please ask any question or add to the list.

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. New Jersey currently has a 45.1% inclusion rate

.Resource rooms and self-contained classrooms were developed around the idea that student-to-teacher ratios were of paramount importance.

.The concept posits that smaller class sizes in homogeneous environments will allow the teacher to provide more individualized and intensive support"

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New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education

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What is inclusive education?

Inclusive education is a pairing of philosophy and best educational practices with a strong foundation in law, supported by over 30 years of research as to its benefits to children with-and without-disabilities.

Inclusion as a Civil Right

The roots of inclusion came out of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1954, the Supreme Court observed in Brown v. Board of Education that, "[s]eparate... facilities are inherently unequal..." The same arguments, originally applied to race, were repeated on behalf of children with disabilities in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Brown became the springboard upon which parents of children with disabilities in Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania fought successfully in court to end the exclusion of their children from their local public schools. It led directly to the passage of Public Law 94-142 in 1975, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Educating children with disabilities in schools and classrooms with non-disabled peers was a principal objective of Congress in passing IDEA, the ultimate goal of which is to, "Ensur[e] equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities" 20 U.S.C. § 1400(C)(1). IDEA's least restrictive environment (LRE) provision entitles every child with a disability to an appropriate education in classrooms with non-disabled peers, as much as appropriate.

Inclusion in the Courts

To ensure LRE, Congress added placement rules to IDEA allowing removal of a child with disabilities from general education classrooms to "special classes or separate schooling" only when his/her/their education could not be achieved satisfactorily in general education classrooms despite the use of supplementary supports and services. In order to prevent removal for other than educational reasons, the federal law further prohibited a school from removing a child based upon the category of the disabling condition, the availability of space, staff, or services, administrative convenience, or any perceived attitude of non-disabled peers or teachers.

The courts have found general education settings to be the environments most conducive to practicing and generalizing those social, communication, and academic skills which children need to live and work in a primarily non-disabled world. This basic presumption toward inclusive education as a civil right has been supported over and over again by the federal courts in such landmark cases as Daniel R.R. v. State Board of Education, Greer v. Rome City School District, Oberti v. Board of Education of the Borough of Clementon School District, and Sacramento City Unified School District v. Rachel Holland decided by the Fifth, Eleventh, Third, and Ninth Circuit Courts, respectively.

Consistent across all the decisions is the holding that, before denying a student the opportunity to be in an inclusive setting, school districts must demonstrate that placement in the general education class with appropriate support services and supplementary aids will not result in benefit for the student.

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied review of the Holland decision, suggesting that these appellate court decisions will be the standard for some time to come.

Inclusion in Educational Practice

The word inclusion was actually coined in the late 1980s to distinguish placement in the general education classroom with appropriate supports from placing a child into general education classrooms without any supports, a practice commonly referred to as "mainstreaming."

But, today, inclusion is not just about children with disabilities. The kinds of research-based educational practices which support students with disabilities in classrooms such as universal design for learning, differentiated instruction, collaboration, are part and parcel of what experts consider best practice for all children in our increasingly multi-ability classrooms. The focus is on bringing together resources and expertise to meet the needs of all children.

As one example, when we differentiate materials and practices in a classroom to support students with disabilities, we are also thinking about supporting learners who may have English as a second language, whose learning is being impacted by stress at home, and those who are way ahead of the rest of the class and need opportunities to delve more deeply into concepts.

All inclusive practices and supplementary supports and services are portable to any classroom. Placing children with disabilities in natural proportions in general education classrooms, with supports following them into those classrooms, is the approach that inclusive schools strive to achieve.

Inclusive Education in New Jersey

New Jersey was one of the first few states to require that school districts provide support for students with disabilities. However, this support was not inclusive- students with disabilities were sent to special education institutions to support them, which resulted in a large amount of segregated educational settings across the state. Other states built supports within their schools.

This method of support led schools in New Jersey to the idea in NJ that "separate is better" (i.e. My child will get more at a separate school for...).

Additionally, resource and self-contained classrooms were designed to reduce the student-to-teacher ratio so more intensive instruction could occur. After the passage of IDEA in 1975, these segregated spaces were designed to help with the integration and initial schooling of students who had prior been placed in institutions.

Resource rooms and self-contained classrooms were developed around the idea that student-to-teacher ratios were of paramount importance. The concept posits that smaller class sizes in homogeneous environments will allow the teacher to provide more individualized and intensive support. However, this concept has no actual support in research.

Think of it this way: Can one teacher provide individualized instruction for 6 hours each day to 12 students each having significant or different support needs?

New Jersey was considered a "model" state in the development of self-contained programs. Many of the districts in New Jersey have not moved past the idea that self-contained or segregated spaces are better than inclusive placements. The rest of the country has.

But, the Least Restrictive Environment Lawsuit in 2007 ( Disability Rights NJ, Education Law Center, Statewide Parent Advocacy Network and ARC of NJ v. N.J. Department of Education) shined a spotlight on the need for change to bring students with disabilities into their neighborhood schools.

Today, New Jersey currently has a 45.1% inclusion rate according to the Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2020. We define "inclusion rate" as the percentage of students ages 6 through 21 (students in K-12) served under IDEA, Part B and educated in general education classrooms 80% of the day or more.

In 2020, the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education, in partnership with the Montclair State University Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health and the New Jersey Department of Education, launched the New Jersey Inclusive Education Technical Assistance Project (NJIETA). The project, which is an $8 million, 5½-year grant through the New Jersey Department of Education's (NJDOE) annual allocation of federal funds from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, will be used to promote the inclusion of children with disabilities into PreK through 12th-grade general-education classrooms in New Jersey public schools.

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About Inclusive Education - New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education

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Inclusive education is a pairing of philosophy and best educational practices with a strong foundation in law, supported by over thirty years of research as to its benefits to children with, and without, disabilities. Read about the history of inclusion in the US school system.

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Students with Special Needs Growing Through Sports

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What's the reason to have Gen ed. and Special Ed. to build planes together?

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. It is easier to break the ice and work together

. View how students interact with each other

. Make sure students plan and help each other out

. Students hopefully she this experience and pass it along their friends and parents

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. All school staff makes sure that each student is a full member of the school community

. All learners are presumed competent (the belief that anyone can learn and positively contribute)

. See people as people not their differences

.Special education teachers collaborate with general education teachers to plan for all students

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Above is a video talking about why it is important to have inclusion in schools. The protagonist talks about growing up with a special needs cousin who he loves dearly. He talks about how being around his cousin all his life made him appreciate others with special needs. He talks about the bullies that his cousin and the new kid at school he befriends in the video have to deal with because they don't understand that people with special needs aren't much different from everyone else. If all children were taught about inclusion and how not everyone's the same from an early age, especially in a school setting, the bullies in this video probably wouldn’t exist. Another thing I like about this video is the protagonist briefly mentions SLPs and how because of his cousin, he was able to recognize the new students who also had an SLP and what their job was.

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According to this article, there are four benefits to focusing on inclusions in classrooms. Of course, there are more than just four benefits, but these four are extremely important. The article explains each benefit in depth.

1. Helps all students learn

2. Helps normalize that some students learn differently and that there's nothing wrong with that

3. Supports all students

4. All students are given high expectations

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Inclusion classrooms, also called inclusive classrooms, can benefit all students. Learn about four ways being in an inclusive class can help kids.

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SPAN (founded in 1987 in New Jersey) works to provide help and aid to parents of special needs children. They are committed to supporting families that have children with disabilities or special needs, families dealing with poverty, and families that deal with different kinds of discrimination. They offer advice, resources, and advocacy to these families.

The link above lists several beneficial websites that talk about the importance of inclusion and tips and strategies that families can use when it comes to inclusion.

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Instructional Supports to Facilitate Inclusion

In this video, presenters from the START EPSD Project discuss the guidance with respect to inclusion during remote learning and Identify strategies to help students participate in remote settings. Participants learned how to adapt IEP goals to facilitate inclusion in remote settings and Learned strategies to advocate for more inclusive placements

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Instructional Supports to Facilitate Inclusion In this video, presenters from the START EPSD Project discuss the guidance with respect to inclusion during remote learning and Identify strategies to help students participate in remote settings.

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Below are links to resources for Inclusion in the classroom

https://www.njcie.org

https://www.nj.gov/education/standards/dei/

https://inclusiveschools.org/inclusion-resources/

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An easy way to get children involved with learning about inclusion while also having fun is by having them participate in fun activities that include everyone. Above is a website that lists thirty-three different activities, but some of our favorites include:

1. Storytime using diverse characters

2. Creating disability awareness projects

3. Role-playing

4. Having a disability awareness day

5. Working disability awareness into lesson plans

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Activities to Teach About Disabilities

What better day than today to publish this post! Today is the first day of Developmental Disabilities Awareness month.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 1963

We're not quite there yet, are we? As far as teaching non-disabled children about their disabled peers?

According to the US Department of Education, 15-20% of our school children have IEPs. Why are we not teaching kids about disabilities on a regular basis? We owe it to our kids, both the non-disabled and disabled ones.

They have to learn how to interact, how to live and work together. This is their future.

Get the list: 25 Amazing Inclusion Books for Kids

Disability Awareness Month Activities

March and April are here. Disabilities Awareness Month and Autism Awareness Month. Both are great months and great conversation starters to start to share with the rest of the world how great our kids are.

Teaching kids about disabilities isn't that hard. It is important that we engage the actual disabled people in explaining disabilities to students. They should be the ones to determine the message conveyed.

Disability Awareness in Schools

I am proud to say that I approached my non-disabled child's preschool and asked her to include this in the upcoming months. Teaching preschoolers about disabilities is an opportunity not to be missed. Create understanding now when kids are young to avoid bullying and fear later. We met, we chatted online, and they are doing it!

His school does a bunch of MLK Day activities, and about people who are different from you. And, in February they do a whole thing on love and friendships and it will be discussed then. She (the preschool director) then shared with me a book she found in their library that they are going to use, and the whole thing inspired this post. {note, this post is frequently updated, he's not in preschool anymore!}

So here you go, not only do you approach your school or church or scout troop and say "I'd like to encourage you to teach kids about kids with disabilities, and I will help if you'd like" but now you have some resources to send to them as well.

Note, this is about teaching inclusion and teaching acceptance, and tolerance. This is not a teaching strategy for an inclusive classroom. This is to answer questions that kids may have about other kids who are different.

Understanding is the first step and it's OK for kids to be curious.
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So here you go, I combed the web and found many printables and downloads, and websites for you to use. I did not create any of these, merely sharing them.

Teaching Kids about Disabilities

When readers find this post, I am often asked about disability awareness activities for adults. Definitely needed! I hear you. But I was unable to find any disability awareness activities for adults, so you may want to adapt these to an older audience. I know it is very needed in the workplace.

1. Disability Awareness Packet (note: This packet is good, but it contains some outdated language and concepts. It contains the phrase "mental retardation" because that is the language used then. Adapt to modern philosophy as appropriate)

2. Learning About Disabilities- from Teaching Tolerance; different disability lesson plans for different age groups.

3. Disability Awareness Tips from the Huffington Post

4. Hasbro recently came out with some pretty cool stuff to teach empathy to kids

Teaching youth to share and accept each other's differences is part of building an inclusive culture that shields students with disabilities from bullying.
https://onlinegrad.baylor.edu/resources/teaching-children-disabilities-inclusion/

Disability Awareness Lesson Plans

Disability awareness in schools is starting to become more common, but there are limited resources out there. I am working with a few other moms and teachers to develop a disability awareness curriculum . When it is complete, I will definitely share.

Until then, here are some special needs lesson plans and activities that you can use and adapt for your classroom or setting.

This video is a bit dry, but it's all I could find. He has some good thoughts and ideas.

Even if your own child's teacher or troop leader won't do this, don't get discouraged. If you have non-disabled siblings in the home or nieces/nephews, the opportunity will present itself and you can use these tips then.

How to Teach Kids about Disabilities

As appropriate, let children be curious. Children are always learning, even if you are not consciously teaching them. So let's make sure they get the right information.

Focus on your (disabled) child's strengths. And what they like; find common ground with the other kids. Create understanding.

Allow them a safe place to ask questions. So they don't create fear-based hate later on. Allow open conversations in your own, invite them.

Disabilities Awareness Month Activities

Disability Awareness Activities are great to do in schools. However, real change begins at home.

Just yesterday, my family was at Longwood Gardens and I noticed several toddlers and preschoolers starting at Kevin. Teaching preschoolers about disabilities is important too!

Explaining disabilities to students at home can go a long way to improving a school's climate.

1. Move past awareness and into acceptance. I'm updating this post for 2015 and this one is going to the top! Let's move past awareness...is there anyone who is not aware that autism exists, or that there are children and adults living with either disease or disability? We don't just want you aware....we want to be accepted and included. And inclusion means contributing! Not just passively watching, participating.

2. Make an effort to change your vocabulary. It's not a matter of being overly PC. It's about being sensitive and respecting children. I'm not just talking about the R-word, though that is the next thing on the list. There are other phrases that also get said that are really cringe-worthy if you are a parent. Think about phrases like "they said she might only ever be a vegetable" or "they say she has the capacity of a 2-year-old" (and the child is 15). Now imagine what it would feel like if you were that person or parent! You know what, ask. Most special needs parents would rather open up the communication instead of having you guessing about what to say.

3. Take the pledge. Spread the Word to End the Word has an online pledge and other information to read and share. This is not an item up for discussion anymore. Plain and simple, it's not OK to say it. Don't try to justify it, just take it out of your vocabulary.

4. Offer to run an awareness program at a Sunday school class, scout troop, or other related groups. I did this with my son's preschool director. She actually helped me with some of the resources and they are going to do it as a unit at the preschool. How cool is that? Literally, hundreds of preschoolers in our community will be made aware of others' differences, which is just so awesome. You can make this happen in your community too.

5. Amazon.com Widgets Reach out to a special needs mom. This can be a very isolating life sometimes. I get tired of only talking about IEPs and medical appointments and would love to just talk about normal stuff or shop for an afternoon.

6. Make an effort to reach out to a neighborhood family or one you see at church and try to include them. Our kids don't often get invited to birthday parties and play dates. Our kids often lack the skills to make friends but would very much enjoy being around typical children even if the play doesn't look like normal play.

7. Add bullying and differences to your dinner table conversation. Bullying seems to be on everyone's radar these days so bring it to your dinner table conversation. Are your kids seeing other kids (who are different) being made fun of? Encourage them to reach out and be a friend, be a hero. Sometimes all it takes to end a pattern of bullying is for one strong person to stand up and say something. Encourage your child to be that person.

8. Support a charity and not necessarily just money! There are many ways you can support a cause. Of course, monetary donations are always welcome but it's not just money. You can sometimes collect bottle caps, Box Tops for Education, run a 5k or 10k that supports a charity, use a search engine (like GoodSearch) that supports a charity...even Amazon now has Amazon Smile which supports charities when you shop on Amazon.

9. Remember that everyone is better for this. There are many studies that show that children who are aware of the differences of others, who do participate in inclusive classrooms and extra-curricular activities, and who are the friend instead of the bully....they are better at life. Everyone, not just the child with disabilities but the typical child too, does better academically, and psychologically and scores better on overall happiness tests as compared to those who do not make the effort. Inclusion works, it really does!

10. Be You! Not everything you do is related to disabilities. Bust through those stereotypes and get out there, and show your community that your family is just like theirs most of the time. Being a positive role model and advocate is one of the most useful things you can do.

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25 Disability Awareness Activities for Kids of all Ages

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How to teach non-disabled children about their peers with disabilities: Awesome assortment Disability Awareness Activities and Lesson Plans for Kids.