More than "High-5 Friendships" all the way to College!

....."developing friendships is important for her students. She thinks young people with disabilities often make "high-five friends" with traditional students. That is, friends who might greet them enthusiastically in a hallway but not invite them to a movie on a Friday night."......

Developing Friendships beyond the High-5 Friends in the Hallways of our schools....developing REAL Friendships that go outside of the School Classrooms...that's what REAL Inclusion is all about. How can we help with this? How can we as teachers, administrators and parents help true friendships go beyond the school building? After-school clubs and activities. Making sure all students are included by inviting students with Unique Learning Challenges to the FUN stuff everyone does after school and over the weekends. This is what fosters life long friendships and allows everyone to benefit from being around those that are a little different than you. 

College Campuses today should be an extension of what all students going to College should be used to doing because more and more students with Disabilities were sitting in the same classrooms all throughout Elementary, Middle and High School....hopefully. College should not be the first time students are sitting in the same classrooms as a student receiving Special Ed Supports & Services. By College age...it shouldn't be such a big deal to see a student with Down syndrome, Autism or any other one of a kazillion syndromes out there to be sitting beside you in a classroom at college. 

Come on everyone.....let's change our attitudes about INCLUSION NOW! Everyone wants to have friends, everyone wants to be accepted and asked out to be part of any of the  group activities going on. Everyone should be allowed to attend college of their choice and be provided every opportunity to LIVE THEIR DREAMS of going to college to land that DREAM JOB! That includes being able to obtain any of the funding sources available to anyone else too! To not always have access to receiving the same grants, loans and other means of being able to finance a college education. Families need to have the same options open to them as the next person. No discrimination attached to those with 'learning challenges' to apply for grants and loans! 


My daughter already knows she wants to work at a Vet's office or in and around the Medical Field. As her parent it is my job to help make sure she gets there! It is up to "her community" to do their part as well...to accept & fully include her every step of the way. She needs her teachers and 'friends' of today to help and encourage her along the way. 


Won't you be a more than a "High-5 Friend" in the hallway this year and maybe one day even have someone like her as your college roommate? Wow....now that would be a REAL FRIEND!!! It's about making a friend and being a friend.....and some friends we have are for a lifetime! 

For me to imagine a Roommate for my daughter who has Down syndrome all the way into the future is hard to imagine today, she is only 12 years old. To know for a fact that she will go on after High School to attend College is absolutely a Dream we have for her and she has for herself! To have hopes and dreams of her getting a GOOD JOB of working alongside other co-workers at a Vet's office is her Dream job. It will take more than her mom & dad wanting this for her, it will take MANY helping her along the way.....starting with friends, teachers, administrators in how they thoughtfully include students with disabilities today. The saying, "It takes a Village to raise a Child" is so true!!

Included below is a nice news article about more students with intellectual disabilities, such as Down syndrome, Asperger's and Autism attending College.....because of the REACH PROGRAM. There are more and more Colleges creating similar type programs today for students with disabilities. 

To read more about the REACH Program...click on the link below to the original news article.  http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/aug/21/disabled-reach-college-dreams/

Disabled reach college dreams Charleston Post Courier When Sam Hazeltine was born, nobody thought a child with Down syndrome would  ever be able to attend college. But the 21-year-old sat in the kitchen of his family's  home on James Island last week wearing a maroon College of Charleston T-shirt  showing off the new laptop he would use for college work…

New Teacher with a New Attitude!

Once she was settled into her new classroom, her new homeroom teacher, Mr. Allagood started emailing me after school every day letting me know how things went in class that day. I was thrilled that not only did he email letting me know what the class lesson was about, but he let me know how he accommodated the lessons so she "got a piece of the pie." I have always said that inclusion is about allowing for lots of flexibility in lessons and how the presentation is provided in certain ways to particular students. For example, if a delicious apple pie was set out on the table for everyone, do they all have to eat the whole pie to know that they like and want more of that pie? If they were given a slice of the pie and or even ate just a piece of the pie, they would know that they liked it and maybe wanted more....even if someone was given just a smaller bite of the pie, they too would know they liked it and wanted more as well. 

Inclusion is much like that, a student should be given the opportunity to have at least a small bite of the apple pie. Being provided just a small bite of that delicious pie is enough to know you like it, you know it's good and you want more! Classrooms today are not a one-size-fits-all or at least I hope not. It's not about getting all students to eat the whole pie. It's about being given a piece of the pie and trying it! It's about doing the best you can with what you can handle. It is about being offered an opportunity to show that you can do your best, if you are provided the support and positive encouragement. It's about sharing so everyone gets a piece of that wonderful delicious apple pie! Everyone deserves a taste of the pie of knowledge!

Because of Mariah's articulation errors and language delays, she isn't always able to come home and tell me what she did at school. The first couple of emails that Mr. Allagood sent to me was a clear indication that things were now moving in a more positive direction with better collaboration and communication between school & home. He was willing to work with me and accept me as a parent that needed better school-to-home communication. He was able to accept me as an equal partner in educating my daughter. Together we were partners in helping Mariah learn as much as she could this school year.

When your Child has a teacher that refuses to have a simple conversation with you and keeps putting off a parent/teacher conference and you have tried all you can to make things work, when weeks have gone by and it's becoming more and more strained....it is so overdue time to put in for a request for another teacher that will! That was WHY I had put in for an immediate teacher change request. Mariah had originally started the school year out with a teacher that refused to talk to me and wasn't willing to be even a little bit collaborative. If some teachers are not going to even try to have any form of communication or any type of collaboration or provide the simplest back and forth collaboration, then it is obvious that something has to change. Requesting for a different teacher is not something a parent expects to have to do, it's not expected that a teacher will ignore you or put you off, but when it does...don't wait more than a month!  It's not fair to you as a parent of a student and it certainly isn't good for your Child, especially when they may be the only student in that teachers classroom that has a significant learning challenge! NO PARENT should be put off by a teacher when a parent wants to be involved in their Child's education. Parent Involvement is the big buzz word today....so what happens when a teacher doesn't do their part in nurturing a good 'involved parent' partnership? Put in for a request for a new teacher!

Mariah was thrilled to be in a NEW classroom with more of her classmates she had been going to school with since Kindergarten. Some of the students in her new classroom attend the same Girl Scout Troop she does. It was all good once we switched to a new teacher that was willing to include me in my daughters education, by keeping me informed about how and what went on in the classroom. I am an involved parent ~ I want to be able to help my child be successful in school ~ I want to be able to have a good working relationship with my Child's teacher or teachers. The classwork and the homework assignments that started coming home now were more in-tuned with my daughter's abilities and what I had been hoping to see! I was now able to begin to focus on a good school year, instead of being disappointed at how things had been turning out for the first 2 months of her 5th grade school year!

Mr. Allagood was willing to provide a quick written email everyday, he gave me little snippets of her school day and what the lessons were about and how he included Mariah into the lessons and what or how he had her work on things, what student helped her that day. Now that I was getting FEEDBACK coming home from school thru Mr. Allagood's emails everyday, there was absolutely better communication about what she did while in school each day. I was now able to see the big picture of what she was learning at school. The words she would try to say and the conversations we would have while riding in the car to her after-school daily activities & appointments now made better sense to me! Mariah was excited about the things she was learning, she wanted to share with me all the new things that were being talked about in school! She wanted to tell me about the friend that helped her in class that day. She loves school and wants to do well and learn new things and do her best! My daughter has dreams and goals of working in a Vet's office as a Vet Assistant or a Vet Tech. She knows she needs to do good in school....she's motivated to do well in school!

I asked for a set of classroom books to stay at home. To finally have a school text book to follow along with the daily lessons at home certainly made her homework much easier for us figure out and to do. Mariah is a visual learner and was able to take me to the exact pages and show me the pictures of what she worked on that day at school. The homework assignments made much better sense once we had a copy of the textbook at home! Mariah was now able to actually SHOW ME what she did at school. The excited look on her face when she would share with me during our homework session what the class talked about and what she learned that day in school are moments in time I will not forget! Her trying to explain things to me became easier because now we had the schoolbook! Now...we were all on the same page!!

With a quick little email coming into my INBOX everyday with a little snippet of Mariah's school day and how she was included or how the lesson of the day was accommodated for her to get a piece of the pie....made Mariah's 5th grade school year an absolute delight! It was such a simple thing for a teacher to do....to communicate and share with me how my girl did at school. Of course I looked forward to getting my daily email from Mariah's teacher everyday! 


I knew Mr. Allagood was going to be a wonderful teacher match for both Mariah and myself because in the 10 years with both my Children attending this same school, he would always say hello to me, even though neither of my two Children were ever one of his students. Mr. Allagood is a natural and does a fantastic job of being friendly to ALL students and to ALL parents he sees on campus. Mr. Allagood loves being a teacher ~ and it shows!

Thank you Mr. Allagood for all you provided to me as an 'involved parent that wants and needs to be involved' in my daughters education. Your daily "little snippet" emails helped keep me in the loop of what was going on in school everyday. Mariah has told me several times over the summer...."Mr. Allagood taught me that!"

.....THAT IS A SIGN OF A GREAT TEACHER!!

Inclusion....really? Not for THOSE kids!

Inclusion is NOT a place.
Inclusion is NOT a teacher.
Inclusion is NOT a program.
Inclusion is NOT a separate school.
Inclusion is NOT a separate classroom.
Inclusion is NOT done at the back of the class.
Inclusion is NOT a desk off to the side of the class.
There is NOT an inclusion teacher.
There are teachers!


Inclusion IS natural.
Inclusion IS a concept.
Inclusion IS for everyone.
Inclusion IS about tolerance.
Inclusion IS about friendships.
Inclusion IS about acceptance.
Inclusion IS about helping others.
Inclusion IS about being included.
Inclusion IS about belonging to the group.
Inclusion IS about accommodating everyone.


Need I say more?


What IS happening out there in the school system both public and private schools is NOT Inclusion at all but what schools WANT Inclusion to be at their schools. Students are being denied a right to go to class and schools where their neighbors attend. Classrooms are set up with only students receiving Special Education supports & services. Teachers are given several Special Ed students in their classrooms because they are being tagged as the Inclusion teacher and are good teachers with more patience for those students! Many teachers leave the teaching to the Special Ed students Para Professional or Unique Aide that is assigned to their only Special Ed student in their classroom. Special Ed students desks are often times set up in the back of or off to the side of a General Education classroom. Entire classrooms are comprised of all the lowest performing students with or without IEP's. Classrooms are called Intensive Academics or Varying Exceptionalities but are really just another name for a Cluster class. Students are being pulled out of their General Education classrooms to go into a Special Ed room for academic help and to work on their academic IEP goals. Many students are NOT going to graduate and receive a High School Diploma after 12 or more years attending school! Certain disabilities are being denied ever being educated to Federal & State Academic Standards. Students are being put on the Non-Diploma track as young as 5 years old!


Parents are being deceived and lied to. Special Ed students Matrix numbers that provides for the extra funding that is needed to help educate them are being spent on everything and anything else but the supports & services that are needed to help them be successful in school. Special Ed students are being left out of being able to join clubs and extra-curricular activities. After-school programs say they can't provide for the extra care sometimes needed for the Special Ed student, so they are sent off to another school that provides only for Special Needs students, again Clustering them with only with other students with disabilities. Being denied even an INCLUSIVE setting during AFTER SCHOOL time!


Need I say more?


Inclusion is a COMMUNITY! Our community is still prejudist. Most of society still segregates and practices discrimination towards those that are different. Inclusion is NOT happening in our schools still today.....why???  Because it is the norm today still to exclude "THOSE" students, especially certain disabilities and certainly those with Down syndrome because they look different and many times talk funny. Why is there such discrimination towards people with Down syndrome still going on today....it's 2011!!? Unless you know and love someone with Down syndrome, people just don't care! Not all people...because I certainly have come across some really WONDERFUL TEACHERS and STUDENTS that 'get it'........but I certainly have come across several and have helped my share of parents with school issues of just trying to get their Child with Down syndrome into KINDERGARTEN even!


I could insert any disability into my writings and not just single out Down syndrome. My daughter has Down syndrome, many of my daughter's friends have Down syndrome, most of my girlfriends have a son or daughter with Down syndrome. Most schools EXCLUDE people with Down syndrome from their schools and DO NOT WANT THEM TO ATTEND 'their school'...saying they don't have THE PROGRAM FOR THEM!!!...really...the program?...how about you have a classroom and teachers that TEACH!! We (parents) just want you to TEACH OUR Children to READ and do Math and learn to write and all the other stuff any parent wants for their Child when they send them off to school everyday!


Most teachers have never had a student with Down syndrome in their classrooms. Most people think that Down syndrome people are dumb. ....OK the word is RETARDED (yup I said it!...that's the word we are all trying to get everyone to STOP saying all together!!)....most people think our Children CAN'T LEARN!! Most people shy away from being a REAL friend to someone with Down syndrome! *A REAL FRIEND!...outside of school!  Down syndrome is not contagious. Down syndrome is still very much misunderstood. Teachers didn't go to school to teach those kids. Therapists make lots of money off our Children with Down syndrome. Schools bring in LOTS of extra money when they attend their schools, but they don't always provided the very much needed extra support to educate our Children!


Why do I write mostly about Inclusion pertaining to those with Down syndrome ? Because it is needed and is not always happening for an entire population of people that 'look different' and they absolutely  are entitled to the same support into a 'regular classroom'. Our peeps with Down syndrome deserve and need to be included into GENERAL EDUCATION CLASSROOMS across the Nation! Many times and more often students with Down syndrome at schools are being provided less than everyone else when it comes to being educated along side those without a disability. People with Down syndrome are more alike than different than you!


If you are a parent of a person with Down syndrome...please comment and let me know....was INCLUSION provided or easy to get? Was Inclusion really what you thought it was going to be when you found out things may have looked 'good on paper'. Finding out the teacher really didn't and wasn't INCLUDING your son or daughter like you thought they were? During your IEP meetings when discussion of PLACEMENT came up...was it recommend and encouraged that INCLUSION into a regular GENERAL EDUCATION Classroom as the FIRST PLACEMENT OPTION?


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Have a delightful day!!


Below is a BLOG POST from one of my best friends, Mary Pringle. She has also been fighting the good fight to have her daughter "thoughtfully" INCLUDED! Kaitlyn was successfully INCLUDED all throughout Elementary school. Middle school absolutely had it challenges and curve balls to say the least and now she is going on into High School. I think her recent post deserves to be spotlighted here on my blog! What this well informed parent has to say about what is happening out there for many of us trying to get our Children EDUCATED and ready for the real world of working after High School is what is the TRUTH OF WHAT HAPPENS to most of our Children once they reach High School and certainly what happens when starting into Middle School. Please take the time to read her post and FOLLOW her blog as well! Lots of great stuff pertaining to SPECIAL NEEDS ADOPTION and how things are going for her raising her kiddo's with disabilities and trying to get them EDUCATED via our Public Educational System.
3 2 1 Reality Rocks by Mary Pringle
http://pringleadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/2011/07/action-plan-2012ignite-torch.html