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Case Study

SPELLING INCLUSION SUCCESS WITH FOUR C'S IN CONIFER COUNTY

Community
The office of Special Education in Conifer County builds its own sense of community within the special education staff. However, the staff is continually expanding its resources, casting a wide net to attract a variety of community resources, both internal and external.

Within the school setting, the special education staff is involving their school counselors and school psychologists in teaming and collaboration efforts with the general and special education staff. In classrooms where behavior issues are prevalent, special educators have enlisted the support of school counselors to set up class meetings within inclusion classrooms.

Class meetings are designed to benefit not only the child exhibiting inappropriate classroom behaviors, but also their typical peers. For example, during class meetings children are able to express their feelings about other students' behavior with which they are having an issue. Children are not allowed to use other students' names; rather they focus on the problem behavior. The students are then able to decide upon a consequence for the behavior if it should arise in the classroom again.

School counselors and school psychologists have also played an important role in instituting peer coaching in Conifer County schools. As the Director of Special Education said: " Peers help the child understand he has friends. They compliment him for good behavior. This way (being in an inclusive, collaborative environment) we could avoid a more restrictive placement. It's amazing what we can do in our schools!"

Conifer County district staff have not forgotten their most important internal community resource, the parents of children with special needs. The special education staff is dedicated to hearing from parents of children in their school district. To achieve this goal, Conifer County developed parent meetings for children involved in special education programs.

These meetings are called "Making Action Plan"(MAP) meetings, and provide information extending beyond the traditional IEP meeting. For example, the dreams and fears of the parent, realistic expectations of the child, and the child's transition plans are discussed. As the Linking Agent points out "parents feel nervous wondering if their child will receive the necessary attention as he or she transitions from elementary to middle school. MAP meetings outline a plan for how students' needs can be met, and decide who is responsible for making sure each part of the plan is carried out." This type of plan addresses supports that help the child go through his or her day; getting from the bus to the classroom, and to the cafeteria at the appropriate time. MAP meetings also address a child's social connections, and put supports in place in a "pro-active and positive" way. They are designed to alleviate the fears of parents who wonder how the child's school experience will differ from year to year as the child progresses with typical peers, meeting new teachers and making new classroom friends.

What types of external resources are most helpful?
In Conifer County, the special education staff goes out of their way to draw in community resources from external venues as well as making use of resources within the district. For example, the connections Conifer County has made with nearby Pinehurst College has made the transition for new teachers in the county more smooth. Conifer County receives many of its new special education teachers from Pinehurst College. Therefore, the district met with college administrators to brief them on the type of electronic IEP systems being used in Conifer County. Now every college student hoping to earn a special education certificate or degree from Pinehurst College is taught the electronic IEP system. Additionally, the students are spending more of their training time in classrooms in Conifer County, so they come to the county as teachers with hands-on experience in the county where they have chosen to begin their teaching careers.

In addition to training student teachers to use the electronic IEP program, Conifer County has committed to training all teachers to clearly understand inclusion principles and practice. As noted above, the county has developed a three-credit inclusion course, which counts towards the credit a teacher needs to renew his or her teaching certification.

How are additional community resources being utilized?
Community outreach has become an enormous asset in the success of special education programs in the county. The Linking Agent has made a consistent effort to enlist the support of community agencies and businesses to enhance students' life skills courses. A nearby senior center has agreed to hire students who are involved in special education life-skills programs. The Linking Agent describes her experience involving special education students in the community: "My first severely disabled, fully included student is now in High School. She has a job at a senior center half the day. She assists Center staff in all daily activities. The other half day she is learning life skills in school. We create programs to match the community need." Special education staff has pushed the necessity of forming partnerships with businesses in the community. The benefit is mutual, particularly when businesses work with the school community to explain what qualifications they look for in candidates for hire when children graduate from school. As the Linking Agent says "Special education is able to capitalize on these connections already in place." The program brings in parents' input when considering students' transition plan, and parents' expectations of where the child will be after high school.

With this in mind, special education staff has developed a career fair that has seen increasing success over the past few years. The fair is held at the Conifer Community College. The district provides transportation to the college, and lunch for the students. The career fair has become an exciting "field trip" of sorts, to allow students to explore the many options available to them after high school. For example, there is a panel of special education students who have gone on to community college, and the department of rehabilitative services is present, offering information about career choices and job placement opportunities. Over time, the Linking Agent says, the career fair has evolved into a big event, that special education students and their parents look forward to attending.

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