For this week’s challenge we’d like to invite you to have your own conversations with people within your community about inclusive education. Find out how they feel about including children with disabilities in schools and discuss your country’s policies (from the previous step) with them. Talking to people is your first action towards implementing inclusion!
Former headteacher:I have definite opinions on children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms. First is that children should whenever possible be given the opportunity to have as normal life as possible with their peers. This is their right! Also children without disabilities should be given the chance to develop friendships and learn to care for those friends who have disabilities. My experience in this area makes me aware that when given the opportunity to form these friendships enriches all the children involved. I have found that the children with disabilities in a normal classroom are very protected by their classmates and visiting adults are often confronted by these protectors when they consider their friends are not being given the treatment they are used to!
When I was teaching in a primary school in England there was a Special school a short distance away where the children had severe disabilities. We had the chance to bring the children into the infant school one afternoon a week. It wasn't viable to have them in full time but the time they spent in the school was very valuable on both sides and for the staff as well.
Former Headteacher 2:
When I left Shetland I worked in a special school and part of my remit was to help pupils from this school with the transition to secondary. This soon showed me that in spite of all the many years we have talked about "Inclusion" unless the child with additional needs is accompanied by something visible....I mean a wheelchair, a white stick, even a visible syndrome like Downs, still after all this time and all the enlightenment of those like me with a Diploma in Special Educational Needs -if it's not visible then it is very difficult to persuade the classroom teacher that the child isn't being lazy or disruptive. Young folk with learning difficulties have a hard time of things on a daily basis.
Child Care Worker:
I think all children should be included in mainstream schools, while I understand that it's not always easy to include them I don't think that's a good enough reason for them to be excluded. I do like specialist schools or departments as they can provide better resources to meet the needs of those with additional needs, I believe that pupils in these schools/departments should also spend some time in a mainstream classroom with their peers. I think it's a benefit to both the child with additional needs as it can help them learn to cope in different situations but also to other children as they can see that those with additional needs are part of the community and are people too.
Parent (rural island)
My daughter both a special school and main stream. When we moved there was no special school so she went to the mainstream one. The same school who took an autistic child and brought a dog pen for him for playtime ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1325796/Cage-autistic-pupil-removed-Nicolson-Institute-Stornoway.html ), My daughter went there went there and they sent her to the college as fast as they could as they didn't have a clue with special needs children. (QUESTION - So in your case the special school was the much better option?) Totally, higher number of teachers, greater empathy ,had plans for individual children catered to their needs. One size doesn't fit all even within disabilities there are different needs and abilities.
Learning Support Assistant:
The secondary school I worked at had all the children in the area with disabilities there as one child from the catchment area went there and a lift loo etc were installed ,so they sent children from outside the catchment though same CC, though I was well paid I am of the opinion they disrupted lessons by arriving late ,leaving early, as one lift taking one wheelchair and 5 wheelchair bound children, caused resentment by allowed to front of dinner queue etc all taken to the school by taxis, changed venues of trips etc as no wheelchair access though shouldn't happen now, things like experiments in science woodworking,metal work I had to do for my child (Muscular dystrophy there was another child with this and one with muscular atrophy the 2 girls had use of upper body) In college there was a girl doing a teaching assistant course, she could neither read nor write but the college gets paid extra for disabled student she gave up after a month, a lady doing an art course managed to walk up 3 flights of stairs after having an assistant for 3 months this same lady had an electric wheelchair and lived in subsidised housing . But I also worked with a child with behavioural issues from being abused, I was with him in class and playtimes and another person at lunchtimes as he was often wrongly blamed by other children over arguments in the playground sometimes when he was indoors with me,give a dog a bad name! we had a good relationship and he is still a friend on Facebook . His brother ended up in a youth detention centre , I like to think I helped him hope this helps though may put the cat amongst the pigeons!
Parent (urban area)
I have 2 kids with autism, high functioning in mainstream school. They both get a taxi to school as the school bus is too chaotic. Primary school did not understand autism and made many things horrid and nightmare for my two. Now in secondary there is full understanding leading to a massive difference in both my kids. They can access a base if they need it but require no further support in class except to leave 5 mins early for lunch to miss rush. They both have communication passports which they have created detailing their needs. They created fun ones which the council pass out as exemplars. I also work part time in a complex needs school office and am very interactive with the pupils as part of their IEPs. I also do supply Pupil support assistant there. I can only work part time as 2 ASD kids need lots of research and prework to understand issues then create strategies.
Also local charity called Perth Autism Support kids, siblings and parents with activities, research etc. I encourage all parents to seek out carer discounts wherever. This allows us to afford to create lots of social experiences without breaking the bank.
Secondary school teacher:
I taught several children with autism in mainstream schools and they were no more challenging than non-autistic children (thanks in part (for one of them) to his lovely support worker), just had specific issues that once you got to know, it was easy to incorporate into your teaching style. I also think that it *can* benefit all the pupils of the class as it exposes them to difference within their 'clan' so possibly makes them into more tolerant people. I observed this during teaching too: One child in one of my classes was a lovely girl, brain damaged at birth due to oxygen starvation, her memory was affected such that she could often not remember things from one lesson to the next, so while she understood some of the work at the time she did it, she could not remember doing it by the next lesson. Her form were fiercely protective of her and would help her when she needed it, she was an attractive force within that class, holding them together, uniting them against anyone who gave her a hard time. She obviously appreciated the support but I don't think the rest of the class realised just how much she gave them by uniting a very disparate group behind her.
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