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