Sharing what you have learned and articles, and information that support your philosophy with the educators can go a long way to fostering their support for inclusion.
I took handouts from seminars I attended, articles about inclusive topics, evidence-based research and I printed them out. I created a 3 ring binder 3 inches thick and had it divided by topic. This notebook was provided for Sean’s teachers to give them some critical information on inclusion and I also updated ‘Tips for Working with Sean’ each year as different behaviors emerged.
This was the cover page for the binder:
This Notebook and it’s Contents are the
Property of Sandra McElwee
(If found or you have any questions please call _____)
The information contained within are articles written
about Inclusive Education, or Down syndrome and are being provided to anybody that is interested in more information about either.
Permission is granted to photocopy anything contained within this notebook, please do not remove anything permanently.
Contents
- Tips for Working with Sean
- Some Facts about Down syndrome
- Frequently Asked Questions about Inclusive School Programs
- Paraprofessionals in the Classroom: What Role do They Play?
- Neverstreaming
- The Special Edge; Dr. Alice Parker, Director of the Special Education Division of the California Department of Education endorses Inclusion
- Improving Education, The Promise of Inclusive Schooling
- Stocking the Pantry with the Essential Ingredients to Create and Maintain Inclusive Education (2 parts)
- Guidelines: Teaming For Successful Inclusion
- Building Inclusive Schools
- Checklist for Inclusive Schools
- Our School Doesn’t Offer Inclusion and Other Legal Blunders
- Friendships: Hell-Bent on Helping: Benevolence, Friendship, and the Politics of Help
- Research Supporting Inclusion
- National Down Syndrome Society’s Inclusion Study
- National Down Syndrome Congress’ Position Paper on Inclusion
- Teaching Methods and Measurements for Reading and Math
- Going Against the Norm
- Integration: Being Realistic Isn’t Realistic
- The Need to Belong: Rediscovering Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- People First Language; It isn’t Politically Correct, it is Politely Correct
- Teaching Children about Disabilities
- A Universal Design Process for Differentiating Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
- Steps for Modifying the Curriculum
- Example of Adapting Graphing Lesson
- Tying Shoes
- Typical Learning Differences
- Why Can’t you Understand What I am Saying? Speech Intelligibility in Daily Life
- Several Stories, photos of Sean and other miscellaneous items
I added to it each year, and at the end of the school year, before summer began each teacher ceremoniously passed it to the teacher for the following year—Summer Reading! When school started in the fall they didn’t have to figure this whole thing out on their own—which would be a huge learning curve and only delay Sean’s learning further. I had the information, it was critical to share it with the educators so they would have it too. I was educating the educators, and guess what? THEY appreciated it…in elementary school.
For your notebook, there are so many more studies than there were when Sean was in elementary school, and the Internet is a rich library. Find the items that apply and support your child, and start your own binder.