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April 27, 2014
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This is what an inclusive classroom looks like: Children with
disabilities sit next to ones who've been deemed "gifted and
talented." The mixing is done carefully, and quietly. Students don't
necessarily know who's working at what level.
Despite a court ruling 25 years ago that gave children with
disabilities equal access to general education activities, change has
been slow.
Today, about 17 percent of students with any disability spend all or
most of their days segregated. Children with severe disabilities can
still expect that separation.
Presidio Middle School in San Francisco has been pushing for more
integrated classrooms. But even champions of an inclusive model
can have difficulty balancing students' varying needs.
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Proving Grounds
At Presidio, about 10 percent of the school's 1,200 students have
special needs. That covers a broad range: from a mild learning
disability to moderate and severe physical, emotional and mental
disabilities.
Principal Tony Payne is in his second year at the school, and in that
time he and staffers have pushed to do more to integrate special
education children into the general education classrooms.
Looking at one seventh-grade math and science class, "you can't
necessarily tell me who's the gifted kid and who's the kid with the
disability," Payne tells NPR's Eric Westervelt.
There are some 30 kids sitting in four rows of wooden desks. All are
using old — but functioning — school-issued laptop computers. A
higher-performing student sits in the middle, says teacher Grey
Todd.
"And so she sits with kids on either side of her that might need extra
help, so they can just turn to her and ask for help," he says.
Todd "co-teaches" this math and science class with a special
education teacher. Both teachers say new software and technology
have greatly enhanced their ability to custom tailor lessons to each
student and expand inclusion.
Their class is one of only a handful of mixed classrooms at Presidio,
but Todd says so far, it is working and changing lives.
"We're seeing kids that in my day would have never been in a
classroom like this showing that they're perfectly capable," he says.
He recalls one student who was very high on the autistic spectrum
and had trouble communicating with people, but was one of the
top-performing students academically in the whole school.
"He probably wouldn't have had that opportunity had he been sent
to a special day class," he says. "When he's able to be accepted ...
and not ostracized or sent to a separate room, I think it makes him
that much more viable to himself to the community."
Breaking It Down
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But even at a school district such as San Francisco Unified, which is
making an effort to expand inclusive classrooms, administrators and
teachers here say there are still limits.
On Presidio's ground floor, eight kids with more severe disabilities
have their own classroom. It's reserved for children with moderate to
severe physical, emotional and intellectual challenges.
This segregated classroom is the traditional mainstay of special
education. But even with these more challenged kids, Presidio is
including them every day in gym class, art and other electives.
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socialization, but if you want functional, living
skills, or you want survival skills, then you have
to break it down," Holvoet says.
After two years of inclusive classrooms, Presidio
Middle School is still trying to figure out where
the limits are. Two of the kids with disabilities in
Todd's math and science class will have to
move downstairs to that separate classroom
next year. With math skills at the third-grade
level, he says, they're just too far behind to stay in the inclusive
class.
The Opportunity Of Inclusion
Dan Habib, with the University of New Hampshire's Institute on
Disability, is an advocate for inclusion. His son Samuel has cerebral
palsy. Samuel is 14 years old and about to go into high school.
Habib says his son and their family have reaped the benefits of full
inclusion.
"That inclusion in school transfers to the relationships and the
support he gets from friends outside of school," Habib says. "He's
also had a tremendous impact on his peers. His peers now see
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Learning With Disabilities: One Effort To Shake Up The Classroom : NPR
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disability as part of the natural diversity of our world."
Changing special education requires altering systems that have
been in place for a long time, Habib says, systems that many
teachers and administrators are familiar with. Doing so is a lot of
work, he says.
"But if we know it's going to yield better outcomes for kids with
disabilities, it's the only way to go forward," he says.
Habib says parents are entitled make whatever decision they feel is
best for their child, but says that he thinks there is more opportunity
for students with special needs in inclusive environments.
"I want Samuel to get a regular high school diploma, I want him to
have the opportunity to go to college, I want him to have meaningful
employment, I want him to have relationships; all of that is possible,"
he says. "But I don't see it being possible if spends his whole school
education on a separate track."
Habib says as a matter of public policy every school needs to give
every child access to the general education curriculum; he says they
need to give kids that opportunity.
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