Inclusionin a Middle School setting

Definitions

Full Inclusion• students receive their entire education within a general education setting with or without supports

Partial Inclusion• students only spend part of

the day in general education classes and are pulled out to separate classes during some of their education.

Inclusive School • “a diverse problem solving organization with a common

mission that emphasizes learning for all students. It employs and supports teachers and staff who are committed to working together to create and maintain a climate conducive to learning. The responsibility for all students is shared. An effective, inclusive school acknowledges that such a commitment requires administrative leadership, on-going technical assistance, and long term professional development. Within inclusive schools, there is a shared responsibility for any problems or any successes for students in the schools. (Lipsky, 1997 p. 99-100)

Mainstreaming• Students who are mainstreamed

should be able to keep up with other students with no specially designed instruction or supports. These students should not need a special education teacher’s help except for consult for several minutes each week.

Integration• Integration refers to students

being put into school with regular functioning children. For instance even very low functioning kids are integrated into the school, but are not in classes with other student without disabilities.

Accommodations• small changes in services or presentation that do not change the learning outcomes of the students.

Modifications• Changes in the curriculum to fit the student’s ability

Inclusion Background

History

• 1852 Massachusetts created a compulsory education law that excluded students with handicaps

• 1896 separate classes in RI for Mentally impaired students

• 1905 first school in NY for “incorrigible” students• 1945 suggested by Council For Exceptional Students

that educably retarded be included in general education• 1960 began to look at whether they should be included• 1970s – right of students with disabilities to have a free

public education• 1975 PL 94-142 Education for all handicapped children

act of 1975 - LRE

Placement considerations

• Individualized

• Based on availability of full continuum of services (regular education through residential schools)

• Consistent with least restrictive environment

Case of Hendrick Hudson District Board of education v. Rowley –

1982 • “…the standard for being appropriate could be

met by a program developed in a procedurally correct manner, individualized, and reasonable calculated to provide the student with educational benefit. The degree of benefit is determined on a case by case basis….When the students is placed in a regular classroom, all necessary aides and services are to be provided to enable him or her to achieve passing marks and legitimate passing from grade to grade.” 21 p. 495

Deciding if a student should be included

– Student should be able to complete grade level assignments with accommodations

– Student needs a sufficient degree of self motivation

– Student can become productive socially

– Student wants to be in the class

– Student will be able to follow class rules and routines non disruptively

Deciding where a student should be included

– Peers will accept the student socially

– Parents are comfortable with the placement

– The teacher accepts the student in the class

– The teacher allows the student to complete tasks at different rates and levels

Components of Inclusion

• Accessible

• Normalization

• Diversity• Natural proportions – same as

general population – 10-12% - 3 students with disabilities for every 25

Starting an Inclusion Program

• District wide conversion

• School

• Case by case

• One year at a time

Types of Inclusion

Co teaching

• Teachers teach side by side or take turns

• One may do enrichment while the other re-teaches

• One may teach content while the other teaches social/behavior/study skills

• Teachers must decide roles

Advantages Disadvantages

• Special Education teacher gets to teach

• Students work together

• Students learn from the example of the teachers working together

• Need time to plan together

• Lack of content training for S.E. teacher

Parallel teaching

• Both teachers teach in the same room

• Special education and regular education are split

• Teachers plan, instruct, assess on own

• Special education curriculum is linked to regular education

Advantages Disadvantages

• Students are still in the same room

• Teachers do not need as much time to plan together

• Less interaction between students

• Confusing with two classes happening at once

Supported Instruction

• Special education teacher may not always be in the room

• Special education teacher pre-teaches, creates activities, reviews

• General education teacher is in charge of assessing and grading

Advantages Disadvantages

• Students still get individual help

• Special education and general education students side by side

• Need time to plan together

• Need extra time for the special education teacher to work with students

Consultant Model

• One special education teacher assigned to each team

• Helps to design behavior and teaching strategies

• Creates modifications/acommodations

• Meets once a week with team

• Aides used to help in classes

Advantages Disadvantages

• Less teachers needed• Students taught with

regular education students

• Students can be put into classes by natural proportions

• Higher student teacher ratios

• Special education teachers burn out

• Need good relationship with all five teachers

• Special education teacher not always readily available

Case Studies

Coral Springs Middle School

• Took all students and dispersed them throughout classes in natural dispersion on teams

• Six full time co-teachers – one for each team– help with any and all students who needed extra assistance –

sped or not– co teachers worked differently with different teams

• met periodically to define roles• Remedial teachers served as co-teachers• Teachers agreed that it was not right for everyone –

students who could not read at all, extreme behavior and social problems

• Teachers appreciated having a say in creating their own inclusion program

Hammond Public Schools, Indiana

• Listed pros and cons and wrote site based reconstruction plan

• Aide hired for every 10 special education students

• Special education teacher in charge of writing schedule

• Collaborative planning on a weekly basis and substitute hired for this

Kentucky’s Statewide Collaborative Teaching Model

• Complementary instruction – general education teacher is responsible for subject area material, other teacher works with mastery of specific skills based on the subject matter

• Role reversal teaming – if both are certified in subject area they both plan and implement material

• Supportive learning style – both teachers plan, but gen ed teacher provides basic instruction on the essential content and the sped teacher designs and implements supportive and supplemental materials, activities, and instruction

Roles

Administration

• Provide vision and path for inclusion

• Restructure school day or job assignments

• Get parents involved

• Provide time for planning and periodic meetings to revise inclusion plans

TeachersThe general and special education teachers

need to discuss and decide roles

General education

• Masters in field• Provide curriculum• Understand student

needs

Special education

• Provide information on disabilities

• Accommodations• Create strategies• IEP

Both Teachers

• Show acceptance of all students

• Creative

• Positive

• Make sure students reach IEP goals

• Help all students

• Show confidence

• Use good communication skills

Advantages of Inclusion

Regular Education

• Extra adults in the room to help all students

• Greater acceptance for students with disabilities

• Students are members of the classroom before being members of special education

• Studies have found no significant loss in instruction time in successful programs

Special Education

• Social gains

• Higher achievement

• Teachers expect more from students

• Kids are no longer categorized as “yours” or “mine”

“ESE [exceptional student education] kids now get cream

instead of the 2% milk they [were] getting [when they were in special education classes]”

Mortimer Adler( p. 46 Muir, 2002)

Disadvantages of Inclusion

• Inclusion students are more disruptive

• Over 5 grade levels can be represented in one room

• Schedulers tend to group with lower functioning students

• Lack of planning time provided

• Chance of teachers not getting along

• Do not get individual attention and small class size they may need

Why inclusion fails

• Lack of communication

• Lack of planning

• No staff development and/or training

• Teachers resist change

• Students placed in class without supports

• Teachers or aides hover over special education students and do not help all students

Successful Inclusion Practices

To be successful….

• Classes should not have more than 28 students

• No more than 25% of the students should have IEPs

• A full continuum of services should be available

• Aides are assigned to classrooms, not students

Administration should….

• Allow teachers to have a say in inclusion

• Provide time for joint planning

• Provide time to meet and evaluate the inclusion program

• Provide disability awareness to the entire staff

• Supply resources for staff and parents

Teachers should…

• Keep a positive attitude• Practice effective communication skills• Adapt to student learning styles• Teach students how to work together• Use peer tutoring to help students learn from

one another• Teach higher order thinking skills• Provide time to help with organization• Provide social skills training

Cooperative learning

• Assign each student a role

• Give students with special needs a one on one explanation of his or her role

• Include students of varying ability

• Keep groups the same

• Directly teach students how to work in groups

Peer tutoring

• Choose tutors from those who willingly volunteer

• Provide training for tutors

• Pair with personalities in mind

• Switch every 6 to 9 weeks

• Allow those with disabilities to be tutors

Social skills training

• Dowdy suggests a social skills training program with six steps

Session 1

• Listening

• Meeting people

• Beginning a conversation

• Listening during a conversation

• Ending a conversation

• Joining an ongoing activity

Session 2

• Asking appropriate questions

• Asking favors

• Seeking help from peers and adults

• Following directions

Session 3

• Sharing

• Reading body language

• Playing games

Session 4

• Suggesting ideas to others

• Working cooperatively

• Offering help

Session 5

• Giving and taking compliments

• Saying thank you

• Rewarding themselves

Session 6

• Apologizing

• Understanding the impact of their behavior

• Understanding other’s behavior

Different Disabilities

Specific Learning Disabilities

• The student’s IQ is normal, but there is a gap between their IQ and achievement

• Deficit in basic literacy and/or mathematic skills

• Inadequate survival and interpersonal skills

Mentally Impaired

• IQ below 69

• Deficits in adaptive behavior skills

• Problems with social requirements

• Immature behaviors

• Need more details in explanations

• Memory deficits

• Have their own personalities

Memory Deficits

• Make associations

• Use acronyms

• Draw pictures

• Give rules

• Repetition

• Chunking

• Pictures

Autism

• Occurs in 5 to 15 out of every 10, 000 births

• Deficits in communication, socialization and leisure activities

• Sometimes repetitive body movements

• Laughing or crying for no reason

• Sustained odd play

• Little or no apparent fear of danger

Autism (cont.)

• Insensitivity to pain

• Little or no eye contact

• Preference to be alone

• Stimuli may have a different effect than the rest of the students

• Consistency is important

Behavioral Disabilities• inability to learn that can’t be explained by

intellectual, sensory, or other health factors• an inability to build or maintain satisfactory

interpersonal relationships with peers or teachers• a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or

depression• inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under

normal circumstances• or a tendency to develop physical symptoms or

fears associated with personal or school problems

Behavioral Disabilities

• Consistently act inappropriately (as observed by those in authority)

• Conflicts with peers and adults

• Extreme and chronic

• Does not include students who are socially maladjusted

• May be withdrawn

• Challenge boundaries

Behavioral Disabilities

• Students may need to be phased into inclusion• Preferential seating • Appropriate challenged work• May need to ignore• Determine signals• Avoid using threats• Try time outs• Do not ignore students who have non-overt

behavioral disorders

ADHD

• Not actually Special Education• Need structure• Simply stated rules (under 6) that are

posted• Daily schedule• Have students finish one task before

moving to next• Establish expectations for assignment in

advance and don’t change them

ADHD

• Alternate between tasks the student is more and less likely to complete

• Get rid of distracters• Allow non-distracting items for tactile gratification• Contracts if needed• Quality v. quantity• Shorten assignments• Break up activities

Don’t give up

• If students are too disruptive– Communicate with the Spec. Ed teacher– Examine the curriculum– Examine the environment– Try changes within the classroom– Change classes if needed

Accommodations/ Modifications

• Students should not get blanket modifications

• Be consistent between teaching and assessment

Materials• Reduce need for written responses

• Highlight texts

• Provide study guides

• Use NCR paper to get copies of notes

• May need Braille materials

Type of Instruction• Individualized, small group• Aide• Specialized instruction• Give directions in a way besides only

auditory• Highlighted text/study guides• If possible work with small groups while

others are doing something independently

Curriculum• Is not done much because of “No Child

Left Behind”

• Working off grade level

• Reduce content or details

• Alternate content for those with severe disabilities

Assessment• Environment/setting• Scheduling – break up over the day or allow more

breaks• Presentation – shorten, read to student provide prompts,

cues to focus, use open book/notes• Response changes – change to multiple choice, allow

oral answers, enlarge bubble sheet• Give directions in small steps, one at a time if possible• Read or tape record directions• Avoid taking off points for spelling errors and

penmanship if that is not the main idea of the activity

Assessment (cont.)• Use questions from test as study guide• Highlight key words in questions and

directions• Give small quizzes rather than just exams• Teach students test taking skills directly• Provide extra space on test for answering• Allow the students to write on the tests• Give open book/notes tests

Assessment (cont.)• Give feedback during the tests• Do not handwrite your tests• Eliminate unnecessary words and confusing language• Provide word banks• Provide definitions and have the student fill in the word• Provide examples of test questions they will be

responsible for on the exam• Have students take test in a small group with the

inclusion teacher• Allow students to attach work to the test so they have

more room

Assessment (cont.)• Allow the students to retake the test orally to add extra

points on to the test• Tape tests if needed• Give partial credit• Do not make students copy from the book or board

before answering if they have writing problems• Do not try to trick the students• Write multiple choice questions vertically rather than

horizontally• Color the process signs on math tests• Allow calculators on math test if problem solving and not

computation

Grading• General and special education teacher

need to decide

• Send home a letter about how students will be graded and who parents should contact

• May use IEP to grade

• Should mark report card if student has accommodations

Assignments• Response mode – oral/written, recorded,

dictated, no spelling penalty, communication device

• Length• Amount of time• Rewrite directions at an easier grade level• Provide a sample of the finished product before

giving the activity • Omit assignments requiring copying in a timed

situation• Keep a copy of school texts at home

Presentation of lesson

• Vary verbal style with pitch and tone• Increase amount of modeling and guided practice• Increase wait-time to 5 minutes before asking students

to respond• Speak slowly and face class when talking• Increase student response opportunities• Write major points on the board• Provide an outline or overview of the lesson • Relate information to background or interests• Pause to allow students time to discuss content

Pace or time• less problems at a time

• extended time

• breaks

• vary activity often

Multi-sensory presentations

• taped lectures

• graphic organizers

• interpreter for the deaf

Assistive Technology

• highlighted notes

• spell check

• calculator

• Braille

• magnifier

Re-enforcement• positive feedback

• repeated comprehension checks

• directions

• peer tutors

• study guides

Environment• Seating• Room arrangement• Physical space for students within rooms• Behavioral rules/consequences• Minimum audio/visual distractions• Special lighting• Display of daily schedule• Adaptive furniture• Define concrete areas

Memory• Chunking - grouping items• Clustering – organizing into categories• Mnemonics – idiosyncratic methods for

organizing information• Coding – varying how material is presented

(kin, vis, aud)• Use preexisting information• Utilize instructions – ask the students to

reword or use pictures to display directions• Use cuing

Homework• Assess homework skills• Involve parents• Schedule a consistent time and routine to

assign collect and evaluate homework• Clearly give consequences for not

completing the assignment• Coordinate with other teachers as to not

overload• Present instructions clearly

Homework (cont.)• Have classroom based incentive programs

• Have parents sign and date homework

• Recognize why the homework is given

• State the relevance of it

• Make sure it is completable

• Do not use homework as a punishment

• AGH Associates, Inc. (1999). Newslink. Retrieved March 20, 2005, from http://www.schoolhousedoor.com/media/agh/newslink1001.htm.

• Blenk, K. (1995). Making school inclusion work. Cambridge: Brookline Books.

• Dowdy, C et. al. (1998). Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in the classroom. Austin: Pro-ed.

• Eggert, D. (2001). Grading Students with Educational Disabilities. Retrieved April 15, 2005, from http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/5-03/Eggert9-01.html.

• Horne, M. (1985). Attitudes toward handicapped students: Professional, peer and parent reactions. Hilsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

• Inclusion: Yours, mine, Ours. (2000). Retrieved March 21, 2005, from http://rushservices.com/Inclusion/suggestions_for_special_educator.htm.

• Kilgore, K. et al. (2001) Restructuring for inclusion: A story of middle school renewal. Middle School Journal, 33 (2),44-51.

• King, I. (2003). Examining middle school inclusion classrooms through the lens of learner-centered principles ,  Theory Into Practice, 42 (2).

• Lipsky, D and Gartner, L. (1997). Inclusion and school reform: Transforming America’s classrooms. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company.

• Mathieson, K & Price, M. (2003). Better behaviour in classrooms: A framework for inclusive behaviour management. New York: Routledge/Falmer.

• NYC Department of Education Special Education District 75. (2005). Retrieved April 10, 2005, from http://schools.nycenet.edu/d75/home/default.html.

• NYC Department of Education Special Education District 75. (2005). Retrieved April 10, 2005, from http://schools.nycenet.edu/d75/home/default.html.

• Project Choices: An LRE initiative of the Illinois State Board of Education. (2004). Retrieved April 10, 2005 from http://www.projectchoices.org/contact.aspx.2004.

• Ring, M. & Teetz, L. (2002). Grading students with learning disabilities in inclusive middle schools. Middle School Journal, 34 (2), 12-17.

• Sailor, W. (2002) Whole school success and inclusive education. New York: Teacher College Press.

• Shapiro, A. (1999). Everybody belongs: Changing negative attitudes toward classmates with disabilities. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.

• Shore,Kenneth. (1986). The special education handbook: A comprehensive guide for parents and educators. New York: Teacher College Press.

• The Renaissance Group. (n.d.). Preparing for inclusion. http://www.uni.edu/coe/inclusion/preparing/administrators.html.

• Waldron, K & Allen, L. (1999). Successful strategies for inclusion at the middle level. Middle School Journal, 30 (4), 18-27.

• Western Regional Resource Center. (2002). Educating Students with Disabilities in General Education Classrooms: A Summary of the Research. Retrieved April 9, 2005, from http://interact.uoregon.edu/wrrc/AKInclusion.html.

• Wong, B. (1995). Learning about learning disabilities. New York: Academic Press.