https://padlet.com/enmacintosh1/qrsqqbr65t4397ux en-us 2023-02-24 17:43:16 UTC 2025-09-27 16:31:02 UTC hello@padlet.com enmacintosh1 https://padlet.com/enmacintosh1/qrsqqbr65t4397ux/wish/2494194132 What stands in the way of fully including ALL students in your school and general education classroom communities?

Untrained general education teachers are a large barrier.  General education teachers cannot solely rely on special educators and special education paraeducators to assist students with disabilities - they need to learn how to implement support and differentiation within their own classrooms.  We also need to train all staff in a school how to work together and collaborate in a total inclusion school-wide program. 

McDonnel and Hunt (2014) discuss that there is no example for schools to model after.  There are very few, if not none, total inclusion school-wide models that we can learn from and model programs after. If we can develop an exemplar, a model school, we can grow from there.]]> 2023-02-24 17:47:30 UTC https://padlet.com/enmacintosh1/qrsqqbr65t4397ux/wish/2494194132 enmacintosh1 https://padlet.com/enmacintosh1/qrsqqbr65t4397ux/wish/2494194306 What does it mean to be an inclusive school community?

McDonnel and Hunt (2014) define inclusion as full-time placement for students with disabilities within age-appropriate grade-level general education classrooms. 

An inclusive school community is full integration, with no separate special education classrooms but all students in classrooms together with the support of a general education teacher. The special education teacher co-teaches and supports as needed to meet the specially designed instruction times on each individual student's IEP. ALL students participate in every aspect of the school day together: academics, electives, leisure, mealtimes, etc. ]]> 2023-02-24 17:47:40 UTC https://padlet.com/enmacintosh1/qrsqqbr65t4397ux/wish/2494194306 enmacintosh1 https://padlet.com/enmacintosh1/qrsqqbr65t4397ux/wish/2494194591 How would you apply the "appropriate" in FAPE when making educational placement decisions?

I agree with the Supreme Court that we need "appropriately ambitious" progress for our students with disabilities but this feels like an impossible task when, in my opinion, it always boils down to funding and what resources are available to you. (Kamenetz and Turner, 2017)

If I were the administration for a school building and I had to give direction to my teachers on what FAPE looks like, I would have a clear idea/definition of what it looked like with the classes and staff that we currently had. I hate to say that FAPE looks different in different places, but the brutal honesty is, it does and until we provide the same for all districts, all states, across the board, that inconsistency will continue. ]]> 2023-02-24 17:47:59 UTC https://padlet.com/enmacintosh1/qrsqqbr65t4397ux/wish/2494194591 enmacintosh1 https://padlet.com/enmacintosh1/qrsqqbr65t4397ux/wish/2494194834 Reactions to the Michale Giangreco Podcast

I am currently hiring a one-on-one assistant for one of my students, so I wasn't sure how I would feel about this podcast but my situation is a little different than what the podcast discussed.  My student is getting a one-on-one because she needs constant supervision for safety; she has some mental health and behavioral concerns.  

I agree with the podcast that we are using paraprofessionals inappropriately by placing them with one individual with disabilities and expecting them to act as the bridge to an inclusive setting.  I have also seen a one-on-one para be with the same student for years and as the podcast discussed, that became counter-intuitive.

The issue, in my opinion, has always been - we give our special educators and staff ALL the training, sometimes training that we could teach ourselves because we have done it so many times, but we are not providing the same training to our general educator peers.  Why aren't our general ed teachers taking professional development on assistive technology or Autism?  How are we expecting these teachers to be inclusive when we aren't teaching them what they need to know to help ALL students?]]> 2023-02-24 17:48:14 UTC https://padlet.com/enmacintosh1/qrsqqbr65t4397ux/wish/2494194834 enmacintosh1 https://padlet.com/enmacintosh1/qrsqqbr65t4397ux/wish/2495523996 Kamenetz, A., Turner, C. (2017, March 22). The supreme court rules in favor of a special education student. NPR Ed. https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/22/521094752/the-supreme-court-rules-in-favor-of-a-special-education-student

McDonnell, J., Hunt., P. (2014) Inclusive education and meaningful school outcomes. In M. Agran, F. Brown, C. Hughes, C. Quirk & D. Ryndak (Eds), Equity and full participation for individuals with severe disabilities: a vision for the future (pp. 155-176). Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. 


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