Discrimination & Segregation still happens most often to students with Down syndrome.

Inclusion is a discussion most families are not talking about at the dinner table in most households. Unless you have a Child with Down syndrome the topic of Inclusion is talked about often. We know what being excluded and left out is all about. As parents and caregivers we know why it's important for our Children with Down syndrome to be Accepted and Fully Included into general education aka regular classes, sports and all the fun clubs and activities at school and just about everything in and around the Community we all live. 

It doesn't feel good to be left out, not called on, not asked or invited to do what others are doing. Everyone wants to have friends and be accepted for who we are, just as we are. Inclusion is a way of thinking that many in society just do not get. Society still has a long way to go in accepting people with disabilities. Acceptance and Inclusion of People with Disabilities in all aspects of living is the CIVIL RIGHTS of today.

Inclusion and being part of the group is the right thing to do! 
No one wants to be Excluded!

How would you feel if your name wasn't called and you were left out of what everyone else was doing? No one wants to be forgotten or left to always be last at being picked or not picked at all. How would you feel if you didn't have a BFF? We all want to be LIKED! We all want to be ACCEPTED. Discrimination, doesn't feel good, especially when it's happening to you! Being left out or turned away and not being called on or invited to 'the things' going on is hurtful and insensitive. People, wake up and look around your world, ask yourself: 

"Have I ignored or made someone feel discriminated against?"

"Did I make someone feel left out and alone because they have a disability?" 

"How can I be more helpful and accepting to those that are different than me?"

"Am I a friend to someone that could use a real friend?"

"Do I have any friends with disabilities?" (If not, why not?)

Let me guess, you clicked on this blog because you have a child with Down syndrome and the school doesn't want to allow your Child to be educated in the regular general education classroom. Your school district wants to segregate & have your child "go" somewhere else. A different classroom or a separate special needs school just for students with disabilities. I am only guessing, but this seems to be the way it goes for many (most) of our children sooner or later.

Being your Child's Advocate so they are accepted and part of whatever group or activity is going on is all we can do. We need to continue to Advocate for Inclusion for our Children. We can't make people become friends and like our children, but we sure can do what any good parent would do to make sure our Children are provided any and all opportunities that life throws our way from day-to-day. It means we do all we can to have our Children involved in all sorts of things that make our Children HaPpY! 

INCLUSION IS AN ATTITUDE! 
Inclusion is Natural~by Katie Snow
http://www.disabilityisnatural.com/

Oh how I wish I could take the hurt away I see when my own daughter is left out or forgotten. I so wish that discrimination and segregation wasn't allowed to happen today to anyone that has DIFFERENT ABILITIES! Why can't people see the discrimination and the hurt it causes others? Until it happens to you or someone you know and love, most will never really know what discrimination feels like and what it does to the core of a person's heart. It leaves a scar.

What can YOU do to make a difference in someone's life that is different than you in some way? We are all unique and wonderfully made. Be a better friend to that boy or girl you know is lonely and left alone by others or not called on and included in what everyone else is doing. You see those students that are Segregated in your school, reach out to them. Do the right thing and INCLUDE and become friends with someone new. Everyone wants and needs friends!

You may be the ONLY Friend they ever have! 

Inclusive Schools Week Dec.5-9, 2011

11th Annual Inclusive Schools Week Dec.5-9, 201

http://inclusiveschools.org/files/116/

11th annual Inclusive Schools Week is Dec. 5-9, 2011!

Inclusive Schools Week is an annual international event celebrated the first week in December. It is a time when schools and communities can begin or continue the journey toward providing a quality education to all children regardless of differences in ability, gender, ethnicity, language and health status. The Inclusive Schools Network offers Activities and Resources for Schools, Classrooms, and Families. Get your kit today!

Being thoughtfully Included into all Gen. Ed Classes

Having my daughter Included thoughtfully in all General Education Classrooms with a Gen.Ed Teacher teaching her, has not always been easy for everyone to understand what it really 'looks like' or how it is done. 


For me it is about teaching one teacher at a time, one principal at a time. Having my daughter included in a general education classroom has always been important to me since before she was even of age to attend Kindergarten! When it was time for her to attend a "regular classroom" which seems to be the terminology most people use...."a regular class". Yeah...for "regular kids!" My daughter is a regular kiddo and is entitled to be in any class anyone else is allowed. It's basically simple like that! 


Mariah has been attending the same school for over 9 years now! Many of the same teachers are still at this campus, which is a good thing! That means all the teachers are aware of Mariah being a student with Down syndrome on their campus and each year they knew she could possibly be one of the students on their list of students for the year. I know some teachers hold their breath and had their fingers crossed that my daughter would NOT be on their class list. There have also been some really wonderful teachers that have actually asked and wanted to have my daughter in their class. It's those teachers that volunteer and request to have those extra special students included in their General Education Classrooms that I want to praise and THANK~!


Mr. Allagood is one of those teachers that actually had Mariah in his Math Special class a few years ago. I did an observation of him teaching Math Special (which at our school it was an extra dose of Math for all students) with Mariah in his class. The way he teaches and the way he talks to parents is what makes him a great teacher.


I just saw it listed on the outside school sign that Mr. Allagood is our TEACHER OF THE YEAR at Stephen Foster Elementary! I knew he was all along for several years! He is that kind of teacher that really takes an interest in all his students and will freely talk to the parents. He even talks to the parents whose children are not even in his class! That is a sign of teacher that just practices good communication no matter who you are!


Mariah has had some really lovely teachers that have taken on the task of working with Mariah over the years and helping Mariah reach her IEP goals and more. Some teachers had no problem communicating to me in her planner or on her school papers. Then there of course have been some teachers that always seemed to just give the most minimal of communication or actually none and actually seemed too busy to bother with Mariah's mom, and sometimes with Mariah too! Those are the teachers that still need help with the whole inclusion thing and believing in all their students they are given each school year. 


Some of Mariah's teachers that seemed to do inclusion  the best were the ones that were open with me as a partner in my daughters learning and education. These are the teachers that welcomed me to come into their classrooms as a volunteer. These are the teachers that wrote in her planner or emailed me to keep me up-to-date on what she did that day. Having a teacher you can talk with and ask questions to, so you both can help your child is so important to making inclusion work best. It's also what makes education better for all students and parents! 


Mr. Allagood and others have made Mariah's Inclusion in all general education classes what it is today because of the communication & collaboration that has to take place to make it work right. If this piece is missing, then it leaves the parent partner out of the process. If the parent isn't part of the process on a regular basis and is left out, the parent doesn't get the whole picture of how a day of learning or a week of learning or even an entire month's worth of learning went or how they can help on the other end, which is at home. The homework piece struggles and what the child is actually learning while in school the  parent is left to just trust that things are going OK without really knowing what is going on in class each day. 


When classwork isn't brought home or their isn't any homework given...that is a clear indication that not much is happening at school everyday. If my daughter didn't have homework sent home, she still had HOME Schoolwork to do! I created my own for her to do, daily! I became a part-time home school mom...because I had to and because Mariah needed so much help!


My being able to have good communication on a daily, weekly and monthly basis is what has helped me the most in being a full partner in my daugher's inclusive education. I'm sure the teachers and the principal have had their talks about 'this mom's emails & written communication' over the years as there have been many notes & emails back and forth! Thank goodness for being able to BLOG my thoughts now! Now I can share with others what has helped or not helped me with having Mariah thoughtfully included in all General Education classes at her school. 


Mariah is part of the general ed curriculum and is exposed to grade level academics. Is she on grade level work and can she pass the grade level State exams? The answer is yes and no....yes she is able to do some of the grade level work if presented to her in small bites with audio, visual, manipulatives and alternate ways of presenting to her the content. She cognitively is behind what her same age classmates are so easily able to do, but she absolutely does understand if presented to her in a different way or even repeated and worded differently. She gets all the extra supports and accommodations she needs so that it levels the playing field for her. She is ABLE and very much CAPABLE of learning grade level academics...is small bits & pieces. 


Inclusion is not so easy for those teachers that have an outdated mind-set about it, or an attitude that they didn't become a teacher to teacher 'those kinds of students'. It's those teachers that have the most difficult time with Inclusion.....mainly because they don't believe in the Child first of all (because they have a certain type of disability) and they don't believe in Inclusion or know what Inclusion is! It's those teachers that absolutely should have training on how to create an inclusive classroom for all students. Today we have Differential Instruction and the classrooms are now being set up to provide learning for all sorts of 'learners'. Classrooms are now being set up so teachers are able to teach ALL students.


Mariah has made wonderful gains in her education because of being Included into the LRE~Least Restrictive Environment which is a regular classroom. She has made some really nice friends over the years because of being Included in Gen.Ed classes.


I support Inclusion for all students into the General Education classrooms. But it is a learning process to make it happen the right way for our little ones. It's one person at a time you have to help along the way in how to make it work and how to do it right. It includes good communication & collaboration on a regular basis.


Mr. Allagood started out as Mariah's Math Special teacher a few years ago and then last year he was just her Science teacher. Nine weeks into the school year last year, Mariah was switched to be in his class as her full homeroom teacher. She had another teacher that refused to provide any type of communication with me as a partner in my daughters education, no that wasn't good, or fun to deal with at all for me. This is now Mariah's 2nd year with Mr. Allagood being her main homeroom & Science teacher. He is the best at daily communication and letting me know how her day went. He emails me everyday and gives me just a little snippet of what she did in school that day and any accommodations to the lessons. Because of his daily little snippet emails of what she did in school that day...at home I am then able to have conversations with my daughter about school and carry her classroom lessons over at home. Knowing what goes on at school, helps parents at home and gives us peace of mind that our children are being taught and included in the lessons and learning wonderful things everyday! Thank you Mr. Allagood for not being afraid to email me and communicate with me on a daily basis! It has been a dream come true for this mom!


This blog was created with Mr. Allagood in mind and in honor of him as an awesome, fantastic, wonderful, understanding, easy to talk to, flexible, caring and involved teacher that wants and allows parents to be involved partners in education. Mr. Allagood is Teacher of the Year at her school this year for a reason! He is doing something right and other teachers would benefit if they took notes on how he works with his students and their parents! 


THANK YOU Mr. Allagood for being such a great teacher and making Mariah's 5th grade school years the most packed with learning! You will be a hard act to follow for sure!


This BLOG is for you!

Aniah ~ Breaking down STEREOTYPES 4 Kids w/Down syndrome!!! YEAH ANIAH!!!

Aniah ~ Breaking down STEREOTYPES 4 Kids w/Down syndrome!!! YEAH ANIAH!!!

http://childrensdiagnostic.org/2011/10/4-year-old-breaks-down-stereotypes-for-kids-with-down-syndrome/


Aniah is Mariah's 'little sister'!!! 


You go Little Princess....you let the whole world know how it really is today!!


Congratulations Jeannette...it's a beautiful story as you both are!

Letter #1 from Lissette M.

What I learned from having Mariah in my class was that even though someone is different you treat them the way you want to be treated. 


At first I couldn't quite understand what Mariah was going through. 


Mariah has been such an inspiration to me. I hope in the future I'll see her again. Till then good luck Mariah!


Your Friend,


Lissette M.
June 1st, 2011

Crews Lake Middle's initiatives in special education working - St. Petersburg Times

Crews Lake Middle's initiatives in special education working - St. Petersburg Times ~ direct link

Crews Lake Middle's initiatives in special education working

By Jeffrey S. Solochek, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Thursday, September 8, 2011

*click highlighted link above for complete article 


This looks like something we all should keep an eye on how 'they are doing it'....looks good!!

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!!

Starting inclusion in the right PLACE!

She started attending Stephen Foster Elementary School at 4 years old because there was the ESE Preschool PLACE classroom on that school campus. The ESE Preschool class was called; PLACE. Which at the time I believe the acronym stood for: Preschool Language And Classroom Experience or Education, either way it was only for students identified as having a learning and developmental delay or disability. My daughter was the only student with Down syndrome that was in that Preschool PLACE classroom. It was a perfect classroom set up for her at the time. There were two classroom assistants that helped the teacher with the little ones, especially during potty time and feeding time. My daughter wasn't potty trained still and very much needed the extra help in learning that while in school, so as a parent I was thrilled to know that her new classroom would have the extra helpers. Her PLACE classroom had everything for my daughter to learn all that she needed to learn to be ready for Kindergarten the next year.

I was excited for my little girl to start Kindergarten the next year and concerned about which teacher she would have. I was a nervous Nelly about making sure she had 'the right teacher'...one that was going to be open to having a little girl with Down syndrome in their classroom, one that would accept her and teach her like all the others.

I asked the school principal if he would mind if I could have an opportunity to have a little chat with each of the five Kindergarten teachers so I could be part of the choosing which teacher would be a good match for my daughter the next year. He agreed that if each of them didn't mind, then he didn't mind at all either.

My principal was very workable with my request to be able to meet and talk with each of the Kindergarten teachers before hand. I'm not saying that everyone needs or should do this same thing, because we all know not all principals are going to be that workable! I really needed to wanted to know the personalities of the teachers cause after all none of them were teachers used to having a little student with Down syndrome in their classrooms. I needed to know my daughters Kindergarten teacher was going to be someone that both my daughter and I would feel comfortable with.

So I meet four of the five Kindergarten teachers and knew without a doubt which teacher by the 4th one! When I walked into Ms. Ashworth's classroom, her students all greated me with happy friendly smiles and questions. Her classroom seemed a tad more 'busy' than the other 3 classrooms I had observed, and more than anything it was her students that set her classroom and her teaching style apart from the other 3 classrooms. Ms. Ashworth without hesitation was friendly and glad to talk with me, was talkative and made great eye contact with me and proceeded to open up to me about herself and her little family and spoke about her own four children. It was great that she was a mom herself and had that many children of her own. I felt we instantly bonded within my first 10 minutes of meeting her! When someone is that easy to talk with and has a smile on her face and opens up and freely shared with me...and made 'eye contact' with me...those qualities were big green lights for me to go by! I knew she was going to be the right teacher for my little girl to spend her days at school with! (Thank you Ms. Ashworth for being so easy to like that day!!)

I could breath a little easier. Now that I knew which teacher I wanted to 'suggest' to my wonderful Principal, which one would be the best choice to be Mariah's Kindergarten teacher the next year. I had found the perfect Kindergarten teacher for her!!! It felt good to know she was one that was easy to talk to. She told me she had never had a student with Down syndrome before and it didn't seem to be any big concern that Mariah had Down syndrome, it wasn't a big deal to her.

Kindergarten was a FUN year for sure!

References for including students in your classroom....

Great references to helping those with Down syndrome be included in the general education classroom today.... pass it on to those you know that may have a student with Down syndrome in their classrooms.

http://www.down-syndrome.org/practice/149/ You can copy & paste this link into a new search window if you are having trouble viewing this wonderful link that needs to be shared with educators. *Don't know why I can't get this link to be posted so easy here right now....will deal with it later. For now just copy & paste it.

Whiz-Kid Cloe Kondrich

Whiz-Kid Cloe Kondrich


She may only be seven years old, but Chloe Kondrich has a resumé more impressive than most adults. She’s met Sen. John McCain and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, had a press conference with former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell and has been on the floor of the senate.

She’s graced the cover of magazines and the book "Making a Case for Life," played baseball with former Pittsburgh Pirate Andy LaRoche and her smile has even lit up Times Square in New York City.

Chloe’s charmed life is the result of her parents’ belief that she can do everything any other child does. In fact, from the minute she was born, her parents Kurt and Margie decided that Down syndrome is only something their beautiful daughter has: it’s not who she is.

“She’s Chloe. She’s bigger than Down syndrome. We’re so used to it, that it’s not important to us anymore,” Kurt said.

Spend some time with Chloe and you realize her parents are right. She’s a typical seven year old girl. She can be shy one minute and hug you the next. She loves eating spaghetti and going to the beach, and idolizes her older brother, Nolan.

Chloe is also exceptional in many ways. She learned to read at age three, and her reading is on par with her classmates at Eisenhower Elementary. She has a maturity beyond her years and can talk to just about anyone, no matter their age. And unlike most of us, Chloe’s childlike innocence and wonder can never be corrupted.

Kurt and Margie did not know their second child would be born with 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46, but they were smitten with their daughter from day one. In fact, Kurt refused to let anyone into the hospital room who was not there to celebrate the little bundle of joy.

Baby Chloe was only four weeks old when Margie began taking her to therapies.

“It was a lot of work. But I knew I had to find the best people to get her the best help or I’d live with regret,” Margie said.

*To read the entire article please click on the link here.
Become a FAN and Learn more about Chloe and her life by reading her BLOG, visit her at: www.chloesmessage.blogspot.com

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

HaPpY April 1st Fools Day!

This is no joke! HaPpY April 1st Fools Day!