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Case Study

SPELLING INCLUSION SUCCESS WITH FOUR C'S IN CONIFER COUNTY

Character
When inclusion began in Conifer County, not every teacher agreed with the philosophy behind the practice. As the Director of Special Education mentioned, some teachers felt over-extended when children with disabilities were brought to their classrooms, saying, "I didn't go to college to become a special education teacher, so why am I having to deal with special education issues in my classroom?" This was not an unexpected reaction. The county administration and staff addressed these issues initially by emphasizing that participation in inclusive settings was voluntary. In this way, they were not forcing resistant teachers to become involved in the new program. Conifer County began by allowing teachers to volunteer, and by supporting them with LRE teachers in the regular education classroom.

The role of the special education teacher is vital during the initial process of inclusion. Character and the acceptance of personal responsibility for inclusion's success in each classroom mark the largest indicators of successful innovative practice. Conifer County's Director of Special Education relays her story of inclusion when she first began working as a special education teacher in a general education classroom with the general education teacher.

I volunteered to go into a first grade classroom because I had three or four students in there. Rather than pull them out, I chose to work with the classroom teacher. It was easy because we had worked together in the past. We needed time to plan together, and a very supportive administration. These two pieces were critical.

The regular education teacher and I worked in alphabetic phonics (the special education strategy in which I was trained). I wondered how I could provide that strategy to the entire class, and how to infuse the multi-sensory instruction throughout the day. Once the teacher saw how all her students loved the multi-sensory approach, she wanted to try it herself.

When a regular education teacher sees how kids love a special education approach, he or she will get hooked on it. I agreed to observe and offer feedback. There was such a sense of pride in being able to reach all the students!

For a special education teacher, being able to reach one teacher in his or her classroom marks the beginning of a much larger innovation. Once the news of success spreads to other teachers, they will be likely to ask the special education teacher to come into their own classes the following year.

In this case, success was measured with student assessments. Children were tested using a phonics assessment, and all but one student passed! In previous years, many students at the first grade level, regardless of special education status, were not able to pass the assessment. In the case described, the general education teacher was able to learn to use a multi-sensory approach to meet the needs of all students in her classroom, and the special education teacher was able to learn more about curriculum content.

The following year the special education teacher moved on to another first grade class, and a fifth grade classroom. Word of the collaborative success spread thanks to the regular education teacher. The special education teacher offers this piece of advice " People don't listen when a special education teacher talks about successes, but if you can get a general education teacher to talk about successes, then you've really hit pay-dirt."

Special education teachers should be willing to work in a general education teacher's classroom on equal ground. For example, a special education teacher may want to offer to grade half of the student work assignments, in addition to offering support, and being available for planning meetings. This type of support goes a long way towards leveling classroom responsibility between the two teachers.

What do districts do now to implement the Least Restrictive Environment requirement of IDEA?
Conifer County Linking Agent and Director of Special Education agree that districts must have people available to provide support for the programs that are being implemented. Whether you call staffing supports facilitators, coordinators, LRE teachers, or something else, these supports must be in place, even if there is resistance to them at first.

Beginning an inclusion program is more of a challenge today. We do not have time to wait for teachers to volunteer to participate in inclusion classrooms!
The success of inclusion classrooms in Conifer County has depended upon the administration's willingness to allow the program to spread slowly through the county, based upon successful classroom experiences.

Both the county Linking Agent and the Director of Special Education agree that today it may be more challenging to begin an inclusion program. Inclusive programs based upon teacher volunteers and individual willingness to accept students with disabilities is difficult because IDEA regulations require student inclusion to the greatest degree possible, and state that measurable goals and objectives must be designed to enable the child to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum [Section 300.347(a)(2)].

However, the Conifer County inclusion program is still developing even today and, therefore, continues to face many contemporary challenges of program implementation. The Linking Agent suggests a heavy dose of up-front staff development and training to help teachers build background information on the topic of inclusion, and to understand what it may look like in their own classroom. The Director of Special Education added:

We could go into any school in this county and have people line up along a continuum. On one side you'd have the people who believe in inclusion, and on the other those who were adamant that inclusion is just not right. You'd have people all along the continuum. But after staff development, you'd have a change. You would see a shift in peoples' perception, and in who was willing to accept inclusion.

Conifer County offers its teachers a 3-credit course that serves as teaching re-certification credit from the State Department of Education. The Linking Agent credits county teaching staff's knowledge of inclusion, the laws associated with inclusion, and best research based practices to having attending courses such as this one, saying "Teachers all come with a different level of understanding of what inclusion is. They have heard of it, and after a course like this they are ready to go on to the next level." Teachers begin to feel that "these kids belong here and we are going to teach them."

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