Getting started

This blog is being created out of a need to help educate those that work with students with Down syndrome in classrooms.

Parents & Teachers alike will appreciate the information and ideas provided.

It all starts with HIGH EXPECTATIONS and a desire to work together as a COLLABORATIVE TEAM. No one way of doing things is the only way, trying new ideas and ways of presentating information to students with Down syndrome is the focus.

When parents are interested in being equal partners with teachers in their Children's education, teachers need to do all they can to make sure frequent back and forth communication is established. When there is minimal communication between school & home a large piece of the whole educational experience for their Child is missing.

Let's first make sure we look at how everyone is working together to make sure the collaborative piece in place. Communication on a regular basis is so important. It makes everyone feel like they are part of the process and their input is valued.

In writing this NEW Blog ~ Down syndrome Inclusive Education, my desire is to show and tell real life experiences not only from my own journey with my daughter Mariah's inclusive education, but from others we have met along the way. Sharing real life experiences in working together with parents, teachers and school principals, staff and entire school districts! I hope to be able to encourage others to try new ways of doing things when it comes to educating our KIDDO'S with Down sydrome in inclusive classrooms.

I see this as a global need - to help show parents & teachers that working together on a daily basis is going to be the only way true collaborative inclusive education can take place. It's a two way street that takes time to develope and nuture so good communication is helping to enhance the daily educational experience of our Children! Communication & Collaboration between parents and teachers many times has been the missing piece in working together for the common goal and benefit our Kiddo's. Having good parent-teacher conferences that take place not only when things aren't going so well, but also at times when things are going great! Having opportunities to have face-to-face conversations needs to happen as often as possible! Phone calls can happen quick and cover a current topic of concern or issue. With todays ease of technology, emails work wonders with keeping current with daily classroom situations and units of study going on, so things can be carried over from school to home. Written notes in planners or spiral notebooks is quick and easy to jot down basic information so both parents and teachers are kept in the loop of what to expect, homework assignments and daily updates. Whatever the means of daily communication...it needs to take place on a regular and consistant basis.

The basis for starting this blog has come out of working with many families in teaching them how to be effective & confident advocates for their Children when they are faced with creating and working together with school Individual Education Plan(IEP)Teams. For the most part, parents send their children to school to be taugh how to read and write and do math, to get a good education and for some, to be able to go on to higher education so in the future they can get a good job and be successful in whatever they want and dream for their future. Communication between home & school needs to be happening on a regular basis with information that keeps parents and teachers up to date with what is happening at home and in school.

Attending IEP meetings with many families with all sorts of different unique learning needs has shown me too many times that there seems to be two different 'sides' to those IEP teams...the parents of course and those that work for the school system. Parents are nervous at these meetings and don't always really know the whole IEP process or what to expect during some of their IEP meetings. Sometimes with over 10 and up to 20 SCHOOL EMPLOYEES attending those intense IEP meetings for their Child! (*I have never understood why SO MANY SCHOOL PEOPLE get invited to our Kiddo's meetings! So intimidating!!) On the other hand the school side absolutely know what is going to go on and happen at IEP meetings and they absolutely know what they want to accomplish by the end of it!! It has been my experience that some school people have a really bad attitude about including our students with Down syndrome into the General education classrooms and programs...still today and this is 2011! Seems there is the one side trying to just make sure the Child/Student has good educational goals written in the IEP document and seems the other side always wants to say, "well we don't see that happening at school."...so they make goals that the Child/Student is ALREADY DOING at home and can do! With goals that are many times almost nothing goals...parents feel things will go at a snails pace in teaching their Child and leave the IEP table feeling let down with so-so expectations from the school side in educating their Children.

HIGHER EXPECTATIONS and HIGHER STANDARDS need to be happening more today!

Segregation is still alive and well with our students with Down syndrome and most other Special Needs students. The mind-set to educate our students in seperate and segregated classroom is still what most 'good teachers' and administrators still believe to be the best way to educated many of our Special Needs students. With TEACHER MERIT PAY now becoming the norm, it is only making INCLUSIVE EDUCATION even harder for our UNIQUE LEARNERS to be educated in GENERAL EDUCATION CLASSROOMS! We have to find a way to make this work for everyone! Especially for the student!

It doesn't really matter what the unique learning challenges, teachers and staff are working harder to educate all students and then to have one or several students in their classrooms today that requires more one-on-one attention or assistance, it does make teaching more DIVERSIFIED. Teachers can not teach today with the mind-set that one size fits all anymore. A new attitude towards students with significant cognitive disabilities being educated alongside classroom peers without disabilities IS the new norm and a federal right.

Below is the basis for my wanting to create this NEW Blog for you:

Schools who let one criterion, such as a specific disability, automatically
determine the placement are likely to be held in violation of federal law.
~ Supreme Court - Board of Education v. Rowley ~

"Inclusion is a right, not a special privilege for a select few".
~ Federal Court - Oberti v. Board of Education ~

"Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal"
~ Supreme Court - Brown v. Board of Education ~

All children with disabilities are to be educated to
the "maximum extent" with children who do not have disabilities.
~ Federal Law I.D.E.A. Sec. 612.5 (A) ~

Elementary & Secondary Education - What is Inclusion?

Elementary & Secondary Education - Tips for Teaching Students with Down syndrome

WELCOME to my new blog! Become a follower and share with others! Please comment on my posts and let's make this an interactive COLLABORATIVE blog for all of us to benefit from!

Nancy Linley-Harris
nancy.harris@dsadvocate.com
DS Advocate
www.ds-advocate.com