A decade ago, most special education students got little preparation for the real world.
They were tucked in a classroom, away from their peers, and little was expected of them.
Often, that was a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Today, across the country, more schools are including special education students in regular classes.
Locally, the transition got a boost in the mid-”90s, when the Center for Special Children closed. Housed on the Mississippi University for Women campus, it served children throughout the area.
Back then, everyone wondered, “”What”s going to happen to out special education children?”” Anthony Brown recalled. “What happened is, they”re in the regular classroom, and they”re doing great.”
Districts first worked to add special education programs to their own campuses. Then they worked on full inclusion programs.
Brown, assistant superintendent for federal programs at Columbus schools, began teaching special education in 1978, when students were in a self-contained classroom.
Students would stagger in, waiting for their fellow students to get to class before walking into the class.
“There is a tremendous stigma attached to being in a special education program,” said Brown. “There are students who would rather get a tardy than be seen walking into a special education classroom.”
Inclusion takes away that problem, allowing them the chance to “fit in,” which is important, especially in adolescent years, said Christi Laird, who is in her 29th year as a special education teacher.
More importantly, inclusion challenges teachers to differentiate instruction, teaching to their most challenged students, as well as their most high-achieving students. And special education students are able to pick up on social cues they can use for the rest of their lives.
In Julie Ford”s eighth-grade English class at Lee Middle School, she and Laird transition seamlessly from Ford leading the class to Laird leading the class. Each of them also take turns helping individual students — impaired and not — with understanding the lessons.
“Who”s got one?” Ford asked, after telling her students to write the second line of a haiku.
“I do!” one student declared. His hand shot up, and he proudly read the poem aloud, including his seven-syllable addition to it.
Years ago, the he likely would not have been asked to write Japanese poetry nor be required to know what a haiku was.
Today, no one would know he”s a special education student.
“It helps the children succeed,” said Laird. “It helps them get on track, to get ready for the next grade.”
It also helps them get ready for the real world. They learn behavioral skills, social skills, time management and study skills, Laird said, skills valuable well beyond the classroom.
“What happens to a (special education) kid when they leave school?” Brown asked rhetorically. “There”s not a special education in the real world.”
For those who think inclusion is a detriment to traditional students, Ford says it helps them.
“Sometimes, they can have the same questions or be just as confused as the (special education) kids,” Ford said. Laird “empowers them” by asking the questions for them and making sure they all understand.
Jennifer Bell, a fifth-grade teacher at Cook Elementary Fine Arts Magnet School, agrees inclusion is good for all students.
“I love it,” Bell said of inclusion. “I get to see so much growth and accommodate to different learning styles.”
Whether students are visual, auditory or hands-on learners, she and Abby Moon cater to their learning style.
In Bell”s fifth-grade class, Thursday, students were in several different centers: There were students on computers working on math activities, students at a table getting one-on-one help with math problems, students huddled together working with multiplication flash cards and students seated at their desk taking turns working on the Promethean interactive board on advanced math like long-division word problems. Special education students were peppered throughout the groups.
“Centers are very important with IEP (individualized education plan) students and high achievers,” said Bell. “There”s nobody left behind. We”re able to adapt instruction with those students sitting right in front of us.”
At the Promethean board, for example, Bell went over three different ways to solve the same problem. And children were offered a small dry-erase board on which to work problems.
“Every teacher should be doing differentiated instruction. No child learns the same,” Moon said. “Being in an inclusion classroom, you have students at the top and at the bottom (of achievement level), so I”ve grown as a teacher by being able to teach to all levels.”
“Differentiation is good for everybody, including your high-achieving students. They also need to be pushed to their highest potential,” echoed Andra Brown, director of special education for Lowndes County schools.
Columbus and Lowndes County schools strive to include special education students in the regular classroom, as much as possible, though there are students with severe impairments who have to be in a self-contained classroom throughout all or most of the school day.
“The majority of the (special education) students are in the regular education classroom for most of the day,” Andra Brown said.
What inclusion amounts to is two highly qualified teachers in one classroom co-teaching and offering more one-on-one attention to both special education and traditional students, Anthony Brown said. It”s proven to improve achievement for all students, Laird said, and it offers special education students a formerly rare chance to achieve on the same playing field as traditional students.
“Once they get a taste of that success, there”s nothing like it,” she said. “This inclusion has given them a real chance at that.”
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