Three Ways to Make Schools More Inclusion-Friendly
I started my education in the 70’s at an elementary school in south Louisiana. I was especially intrigued by the special education classes. There were kids with a variety of disabilities that attended my school. Some students were in wheelchairs, other students had physical or developmental disabilities. I was very curious about these children who were my age but were obviously different from me and were separated from the rest of us students in the school. I’d never been around anyone with a disability, so I took every opportunity to sneak a peek at them when I saw them. I remember feeling great empathy for them because they were not able to be around the rest of us and that made me sad because I did not think it was fair. This blog post is about the inclusion of children with disabilities and why it is so important to our society.
I only saw students with disabilities when I would venture out of class to go see what they were doing. They did not have lunch with us, go on field trips, play on the playground, or even ride the same bus as us. They were located far away from us. I never understood why I could not play with them because they always looked like they were having fun.
Fast forward twenty years, while working for a vocational training program for adults with disabilities noticed John from elementary school was a participant. We became very good friends and he would come into my office every morning and talk for a few minutes and would come tell me goodbye at the end of the day. He is extremely smart and can fix almost anything. I later found out that he was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, which caused some physical abnormalities but his cognitive functioning did not seem to be significantly impaired. Knowing John now, I know we would have been friends when we were younger. This makes me sad for missed opportunities for individuals like John and clearly illustrates that inclusion is important for the development of not just the student with disabilities but also to their peers.
Fast forward thirty years when my daughter starts elementary school. I was in graduate school and teaching full-time, so I was unable to visit her school. I was always sure to ask her about her day and she would tell me the funniest stories about her friend Tony. At the end of the school year, I chaperoned their annual field trip. My daughter finally introduced me to Tony, her friend she was always talking about. I was surprised to notice that Tony had physical characteristics much like John, which made it obvious that Tony had a developmental disability. My daughter never mentioned anything that would indicate her awareness of this, and we never talked about it. They continued to be close friends throughout elementary school and still keep in touch via social media.
What a difference 35 years make! We still have a long way to go but progress has been made. We continue to make progress in creating learning environments that are conducive for all students to succeed and in creating inclusion-friendly campuses. What can we do to continue moving in this direction? Opportunities for meaningful connections are key to building inclusive learning environments. Students with disabilities want ownership of their environment just like everyone else and to feel like they truly belong and are wanted, instead of just being merely tolerated. I grew up seeing up close and personal how people who are different are treated and I knew when I was a young child that it was wrong just as I know it is wrong now. Inclusion is not just a hashtag, it is a culture of acceptance despite our differences.
My daughter, whose friend had a disability, was not aware of their differences but focused on their shared interests while giving each other the freedom to be themselves. We can learn so much from these five-year old children who instinctively knew how wrong exclusion was. We should start seeing each other through the eyes of little children only then can we move toward creating an authentic culture of inclusion. We can do this by doing three things:
Plan activities that allow all students to share more about themselves. When appropriate, get to know all students by incorporating their likes, dislikes, and various perspectives in the learning process. That information can be used later on to make meaningful connections to your students. They will see that they are more alike than they are different.
Always use heterogeneous grouping to allow students to take responsibility for their own learning and that of their peers, creating productive struggling and problem solving which fosters community-building. Peer Assisted Learning is an evidence-based practice used in heterogeneous groups that is proven to help students effectively learn from each other.
Co-teachers should model collaboration, mutual respect and appreciation for what they contribute to the learning environment. They should consider all students their students and not separate the students receiving special education services from those that are not. Don’t say, “My students,” or “Your students,” when referring to the students in your classroom. If you separate them, surely they will too.
Inclusion is a way of being. There is never a good reason to exclude anyone from anything designed for everyone, such as the classroom activities or school programs. Inclusion is not just for students with disabilities, it is for everyone because when people grow up accepting and appreciating each other, it makes us all better and is of the greatest benefit to society.
