WEBVTT

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I was a good student. I worked really hard…
I\'m also kind of a complicated memory…

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I learned always pass by… Doing something so…
I didn\'t like things that I had to remember.

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I\'m not an auditory learner at all. And
things came very easy in the gifted programs,

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didn\'t really have to work too hard. I had to put tremendous
amount of time (inaudible)… …Liked to looking at the chalk board.

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I learned today that writing… I was
an average student (inaudible)…

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…Twice as long as some of the other
students. (inaudible). If you were to now

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moving me back 50 years I would end up being
(inaudible), having a learning disability.

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In the mid \'80s, the US
department of mid education,

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started asking the questions,

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\"What\'s happening to our special education
students as they graduate?\" The study was

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rather uh… discouraging. It revealed that

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most students who got out of special
education entered adulthood

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unemployed or unemployable, very isolated,

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experiencing a lot of problems
and adjusting with society,

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lot of them had some kind of
encounter with the judicial system.

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One other things that became obvious
in this analysis of the data was that,

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the group that was having the most success was the
group that had spent the most amount of their time

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in regular education environments. Over all
other variables that people looked at,

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the only variable that was
predictive of success in adulthood

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was the amount of inclusion they
had experienced as children.

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[sil.]

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A good inclusive program
is going to make sure that

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every child knows that we learn it all on right, that
we\'re good at some things, we\'re working on others,

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and that\'s true for everyone. The
program, the administration,

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the teachers, and the other families have made a
commitment to be inclusive of all sorts of differences.

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Ronen is the first child with Down syndrome

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who has been enrolled at Brown/Fox Point.
And he is in a room that roughly maps out

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the demographics of the
society that he will enter

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and inclusion in that sense is
seeking and education for Ronen

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that helps him go be in the
world he\'s going to be in.

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We fully expect Ronen to be a positive
contributing member of society.

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In order to be able to function in
society, he\'s going to have to compensate

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for certain qualities that he may not have
with the other qualities that he has.

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No, Daniel. Nate, instead of throwing them,

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just put them inside just like that. Yes.

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(inaudible) got some Michael. You
don\'t want them in your coat.

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See that, Ronen is picking them out for you.
If he\'s off in a special education program

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where he doesn\'t interact with
members of his society at large

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then he\'s never gonna develop those skills
that he needs. It\'s really nice Ronen,

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to help tie out like that.

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Nate\'s helping you too. The
world that Ronen\'s gonna enter

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does not accommodate all of his issues
related to his different disabilities.

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That means that we want Ronen
to get used to self advocated

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in situations where he must determine
how to get those accommodations.

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That may mean a communication issue, it may mean an
access issue, it could mean any of the number of things.

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But the way we think about inclusion
is grounded in that notion

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that we want Ronen to be in a room, with his peers,
who are learning from him and he is learning from,

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about the way our world works.

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Ronen? Ronen?

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Ronen, (inaudible) on the floor. Come
on, down. If you need something,

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you need to ask another child.
You need to use your words.

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Allow me. (inaudible).

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Andrew, are you listening to Ronen\'s words?
A marble please.

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[sil.]

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No.

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Andrew, did you want Ronen
to sit in your seat?

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No. Then you need to use your words to tell him that you did
not want him in that seat. I don\'t want you in my seat.

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Ronen, you need to listen to Andrews words.
Come on back over to your seat.

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If you wanna play with Andrew\'s structure,

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you can use your words to ask him,
and it\'s okay for you to use it.

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Andrew, please.

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Andrew, please.

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Andrew, did you hear Ronen? He asked if he could use
that also, please. He may use it but don\'t break it.

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Ronen, you need to just keep it together.
This is Andrew\'s structure.

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Ronen, if you want you may put
your marble in the top, Ronen.

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Ronen, you want to put one right here?
Reach up, put in there.

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[sil.]

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All education is social.

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He learns from social process. Interacting with other
people weather it\'s our teacher or classmates.

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And so then there is certainly is a
social element to uh… inclusion.

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But the real reason I think that

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children need to be included is that they
need to learn, not just social skills,

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they need to learn
functional, real life skills

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in the context of normalcy. Their
peers, they\'ll correct them,

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their teachers expect a lot of them, they\'re
giving instruction, they\'re corrected,

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they\'re redirected, they\'re though
about how to work with other people.

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When a student with significant disability
is in a self contained environment,

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none of those things are going out.

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Look, Ronen, when you lean on this,

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it starts to fall over and pin\'s
head is right there. Okay?

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You got it. I think also that clear
inclusion, the bar is set a lot higher,

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the standards are higher for the individuals
who have disabilities and that they acquire,

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they get so much more, not only
cognitively but just like the nuances,

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the social nuances, umm… you
know, between peers, you know,

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a typical developing peers, you model, umm…
you just in indeed with that, you know,

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so think every aspect of their classroom
is on the level that you want your child

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to gain those skills. The
expectations are just there.

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(inaudible) gonna read a story.

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[sil.]

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When parents are exploring the inclusion of their
children disabilities they need to think about

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the fact that educational experience
is only part of life experience there.

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All of us have, I\'m concerned
when parents think that

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just inclusive will prepare their child

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for real life functioning, there is gonna
be work that they\'re going to have to do

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to build on that learning that
occurred in regular environment

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and now transfer that into the
regular community to the real world

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that their neighborhood and families
aren\'t prepared to do that.

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I think the benefits of inclusion
in school become more limited.

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So other things that families need to do is that they need to
recognize, they\'re really making kind of life long commitment here

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for a different way of living, a way
of living that\'s much more focused

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on the child\'s need for normalcy

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as supposed to focusing on the child\'s
uniqueness or specialness or disability.

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If they can do that, then all the research shows
that the children are gonna do quite well as adults.

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Who (inaudible) story back yesterday?

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We were on trip yesterday? (inaudible).

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There are particular thing about Ronen that are
charming, there are particular thing about Ronen

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that are teeth crunching in that way, he is like every other
four and a half to five-year-old kid in the entire building.

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Ronen, Ronen is Ronen. Ronen
has likes and dislikes.

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He\'s not very shy and he can
basically make himself fit in.

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He\'s very cheerful. He is agreeable. I think
Ronen is a very hard working student.

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He\'s a loving and fun child.
He is willing to try anything.

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He knows what he wants. You know, like any kid at
times, he misbehaves. Very sociable, very warm.

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He gets excited about new activities. Part
of the problem in answering the question,

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what kind of student is Ronen? Is it Ronen
just happens to be a child with Down syndrome?

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That\'s not the lens through which we few Ronen all the
time. Even though there are elements of Ronen\'s program

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that we connect it to his disability,
the disability just define who he is

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nor is the disability necessary to think about what
those challenges are because there are other children

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who have the same types of challenges. Inclusion
is just a name for doing the right thing.

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Good schools are already inclusive.
Good classrooms are already inclusive.

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The way that they\'re inclusive is learned who their
children, they learn what their children need to grow

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and they provide their children with those things.
It\'s not rocket science. It\'s fairly straight forward

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and good teachers have been
doing this for generations.

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I think inclusion has gotten a
bad wrap from the beginning.

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Because I think when it first started
there was no support network

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for the general education teachers. Okay,
Monday morning you walk into school,

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you get to class list, and all of a sudden you have
a child with some special needs in your classroom.

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No help, no nothing. They just appear.

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So I think unfortunately, that\'s the way it
started and lots of teachers still think

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that\'s the way it is. What do we put
on our papers first? Our names.

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I think that one of the biggest
concerns for teachers who hear that

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they\'re gonna get a child special needs or that they\'re gonna
have to work in an inclusive setting is basically the work load.

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But something that you hear when you\'re at, you know,
in college or taking classes as a professional.

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It is hard work but when
inclusion is done correctly

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there is also more support
and more resources dedicated

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to kind of spreading that work. If
you\'re working in a school system

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that has kind of a culture of not
doing that of not supporting people

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and then you bring in the need for inclusion
you\'re gonna feel some resistance

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because culturally the school staff is
not used to working in a different way.

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Inclusion now is asking
adult to adult interaction.

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Not every teacher has those skills. You
need a teacher, who has a desire to do it,

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then it will work. Because then
they can go get all the other keys.

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The teachers that are forced to do
this, it doesn\'t usually workout,

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it\'s not a team effort and
it\'s not a good situation.

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In that case any minister who has to work very hard
to cultivate a sense of trust with that teacher

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and specifically in skill are real commitment
to self reflective practice with that teacher.

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If you don\'t have that attitude of
admitting when you are having a hard time

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and things aren\'t going so well, then it\'s really
hard to correct, make adjustments and to move forward

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with the sense of optimism that
comes from doing everything right.

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[sil.]

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I\'ve been teaching approximately
15 years, this was actually

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my first year of full inclusion where everything happened
in the classroom which was really exciting for me.

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We all were very excited about
having Ronen in our classroom

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and we were all willing to learn and read and work
together and talk things out and find out what\'s working

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and what\'s not working. Ronen,
are you listening? Yes.

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Thank you. Would you raise you hand? Me. Okay,
great. We\'re ready. Each child is so unique

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that I have to say that for this
situation I believe full inclusion was

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definitely the best situation for Ronen.
But I would say that you have to look at

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each individual child and decide when they\'re gonna
flourish and where they\'re gonna feel successful

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and what\'s gonna work for them. There were
various programs for us to choose from,

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weather they were special education in
integration program or inclusion program,

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but we felt that Ronen had demonstrated
that he was able to succeed

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in the inclusive program based
on his day care experiences.

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First we were a little confused because we were used to
thinking that a children who has disabilities needed to attend

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special education classes so that they
would cater to their specific needs

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and then we listen to this new philosophies, and
philosophies for us and when we questioned it to learn,

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how would it work, how would a
child who can\'t quite perform up

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to par with other classmates come cognitively
be able to, you know, sit in the classroom

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and the parents had explained to us
that, you know, adaptations are made

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in the curriculum so that, even though
my child may not be responsible

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for the way the project is actually described for
the rest of the class, he can still participate

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and whatever the project may
be and still learn something.

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[sil.]

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When we are planning up to reach for the
week, we\'ll think about some of the kids

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who are counting really high or like I said can
right the number the words, we\'ll think about them

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when we\'re planning the activities but we are also
thinking about some other kids in the classroom

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who have English as a second language.
When we do things in the classroom

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it\'s not just with Ronen in mind
but we\'re thinking of several kids

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of kind of on different ends
to the ends of the spectrum.

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We\'ve made slight adaptations throughout
the year on different lessons,

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that has been facilitated
with the help of Carol,

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we prepare our lessons a week prior and ask her to
look out them and see if she would come up with ideas

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that would help Ronen. In Ronen\'s classroom
I have a combination of a consult

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and also a direct service provider \'cause I
get a chance to determine along with them

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if there is any need for adaptations with that
particular lesson (inaudible) for the entire class.

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So now we\'re gonna use this and this to make a
house. Okay. Because that\'s what I\'m doing.

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I go in this classroom and used to get all kids to write their
names and some of them were able to do it at the end of the year

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and some were not. One thing that we
found that helped Ronen with that,

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was this system where, he would put
one letter in each box and R-O-N-E-N

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and this was made into a smaller sheet of
paper and added in all different areas.

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So he knew, when he saw this piece of paper
that we wanted him to write his name.

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While tracing butterflies and this
pattern was a little complicated

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umm… some of the children who are at the younger
four levels still write now had trouble with this.

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So basically we took down the ears we put
a piece of tape and we took the head off.

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So that (inaudible) Ronen, (inaudible), he took
about five seconds to put a piece of tape on this

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and take out, you know, the
complicated ears and head

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and he was able to trace this, you know, in blink
of an eye and due to so everyone else did.

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And as I said some of the typical children
in the classroom who are at the younger age,

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then the most of the children were had a hard time
with this and we also gave them that benefit,

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the folding aspect and
taking the heads out.

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Is that yours? Yes.

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No, that one is not yours. Where\'s yours?
Which was right

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? Is that one yours, Sam? Are you sure?
Look at, look at the name. No.

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Okay. Where\'s Ronen\'s? No, this is Ronen\'s.

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I think yours is over there. You name starts
with R too. The full inclusion program

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that we ran in our classroom this year meant
that all services were given to Ronen

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in the classroom and as part of the group. So all
our services providers came into the classroom

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and we were the part of the teaching team.
Carol Carr, who is his resource teacher,

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his physical therapist, his occupational
therapist and the speech therapist,

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all four of those people see Ronen on the weekly basis.
All of the professionals and power professionals

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in the school or with the
administration, Ann, Penny, and David

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decided at the beginning or the year that we are gonna
advocate for him to stay with the Acron classroom

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no matter what they were doing at any point and time in the
day. He needs to feel like he is a part of this classroom

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and I think that when children
are pulled out even aside

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in the classroom, if we\'re doing a right activity
and Ronen wants to pull a table to a side,

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children notice that and makes him different. Every child in
the classroom is very different, but we don\'t want to make him

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stick out any more. So we are writing our
names. First Elizabeth and then (inaudible)…

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Remember guys (inaudible) names where the
lines are, so that you have lots of room

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to draw your picture. Because of the way Brown/Fox
Point has actually setup their program,

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Ronen is included in a group of children.
So when we go into the center

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we know what we\'re doing, we know that the group we
have to work in and we know Carol\'s gonna be there

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on a Tuesday and Thursday. Okay. (inaudible)
And so your name David (inaudible).

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
R-O-N…

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
Up…. Up…

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
In order to help facilitate lesson, you know, and
if Ronen gets stuck, then I\'m there to help,

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
not to do it for him, but to do
it with him but I\'m also there

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
to help the other kids. And my name?
There\'s no C in your name

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
but there is… I think the inclusive process, they
adjust more seamlessly. It just flows, it just flows.

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
Not that we always don\'t have a bumps every once in
a while but overall it\'s just nice smooth process.

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
With Ronen, he\'s benefiting academically
from being in an inclusive setting,

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
but he\'s also getting a lot of socialization
and a lot of those social pragmatic practice

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
that he needs to be an actual communicator.
(inaudible).

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
Oh, I don\'t know. Look at your friend.
She wants to go first.

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
So you wanna go first? Yes.

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
All right, can you be polite, please?

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:53.000
(inaudible).

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
Take it back.

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
I do know that he benefits
from not being called out,

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
because of the interaction and the social
contact he\'s getting in a therapeutic context

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
with me being in the classroom with him.
So we\'re able to practice

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
just what he needs to do where he needs
to do it. It makes him very functional

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
and very hands on and it makes it
easier for that skill to carry over.

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
[sil.]

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
I enjoy working here.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
It\'s a great group of teachers, you know,
they\'re very kind to not just in the…

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
the follow through and they\'ll ask me
questions. It\'s a great setting for him.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
Right now, he is playing in the sand box. He is very involved with
the other kids. That\'s why I\'m not gonna pull him away with that

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
and try to get him to play basketball, you know,
sometimes he just goes off and does other activities,

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
then I try to put myself into that.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
The physical therapy, it
depends on what their need is.

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
In his case, it\'s mostly
general strengthening.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
There are some things he give up
like intensively paying attention

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
to what he can do and can\'t do. Sometimes he
can\'t do that if you\'re working with, you know,

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
you got five or six children there
but it\'s so important to have him

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
uh… included in what they\'re doing. He really
does watch what the other children are doing

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
and try to follow what
they\'re doing, quite often,

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
it\'s a very good thing.

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
Lots of clean up in the sand box.

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
The best part about working in
inclusion is being on the team

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
that\'s working together to help a child and
at the same time, the biggest challenge was

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
setting up a system of communication
that worked for everyone involved.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
We\'ve devised a system early on
where we have a note book system

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
that works really well because I do always get a chance to talk to the
physical therapist, I don\'t always get a chance to occupational therapist,

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
not always get a chance to talk to
a, you know, to Ronen\'s parents.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
Parents I find to be extremely important in order
to make this work. So it\'s nice to know that

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
we have this notebook. I write in it saying
what I\'ve done that day, what we needed to do

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
in order to accomplish a task. They write in it too,
the other support staff. So there is a collaboration

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
so we know what\'s happening. I think that\'s why
this classroom works as an inclusive setting.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
There\'s the 0, there\'s the 0.
They come into our program

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
and what they do needs to be
reinforced by what we do in the room

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
and therefore vice versa. It\'s a coming
upon me in particular to make sure that

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
I\'m communicating effectively with the people who are
providing those extra services that come from the district.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
That is actually have been a pleasure this year because
we\'ve actually been able to integrate a lot of the things

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
that they\'re using to support Ronen in our general
curriculum. Every four-year-old needs to learn

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
how to jump on a trampoline, every
four-year-old need to learn how to pronounce

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
ending consonant sounds. These are things that Ronen has been
working on but there are things that other children in our center

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
are working on too and all the
children benefit from incorporating

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:25.000
these precise responsive
strategies into the classroom.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
[sil.]

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
How\'s the traffic report? It\'s good.
It\'s good? We have four teachers

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
in the room that Ronen is in which is one
more teacher that in all the other room.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
That\'s because the school district at
Providence provides us with the salary benefits

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
for Emily Martin, who is Ronen\'s assistance
teacher and that the extra person in the room.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
We need someone extra to help because Ronen does have
additional needs involving toileting and some other things.

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
The independent learning is a key
for the child and we\'re read a lot

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
and learned a lot but seeing a lot too, that
person cannot become the child\'s best friend.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
This year has been wonderful in that Emily
has stepped back and out of that role

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
and the children in the classroom see her
as another teacher in the classroom.

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
When I first started
interviewing everyone was quite,

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
I thought in independent learning to
somebody who kind of just followed

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
and child would develop (inaudible) around
and there wasn\'t much space or independence

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
for the child. She was trained by me

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
and some other folks in response to the research
so that we understood that her role was

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
not to be in the way of Ronen\'s
education, she was not there to

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
umm… interact with other children for him, she was
not there to prevent him from ever being challenge.

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
She needed to learn a way to interact with Ronen,
but also be respect about the other children.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
So she was an effective teacher in the classroom center.
Zoo, zoo, zoo. Yeah, you have the Zoo book, don\'t you?

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
That\'s the animals. I\'ll read it when
I\'m done with this book, if you want?

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
Okay? I work with all the children,

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
not just with Ronen. I establish relationships with
other children, Jessica and Donna planned for me

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
to do needing once a week with the kids,
just so they wont see me as Ronen\'s teacher.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
Not one the children have ever
asked, \"Why does Ronen have Emily?\"

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
or think of it that way. From what I\'ve been able to perceive
all your loyal. All the children will go to her for help

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
or with questions just like they would
come to me. So that has been wonderful

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
and helping Ronen be part of the group, part of
the community and not being seen differently.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
One other things that parents joke about is

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
the \"Independent Learning\" aids were \"Velcro Aids\"
that they\'re kind of like stuck to your child

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
so that your child can\'t explore and
make the friendships on their own.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
Parents have a lot that they could do about this. They can
give the message. I\'m looking for really important change

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
in my child and I know the way
that change is gonna occur,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
is going to occur as result of interaction with a
lot of people. Not just the one on one person.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
There are no guide books for this. She
has to figure that out on a day-to-day,

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
week-to-week, month-to-month basis with
input from administrators, other teachers,

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
parents, resource people, researches she\'s
doing, classes she\'s taking, you name it.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
It was really hard at first and people
had to, at the beginning they tell me,

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
\"Emily, you need to back off, you need to give
him space.\" And now I think I finally learned

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
when Ronen needs help and
when I should be backed away,

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
working with the other children and doing something else around the
classroom. Supporting that person is an incredibly important part

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
of an illustrator\'s job, but it\'s also
important that we recognize that person

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
is the most crucial person in the equation.
If she is getting in the way,

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:05.000
then that child is not gonna get any
of the benefits of the inclusion.

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
Max, put your book away.

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
Ronen, put your book away.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
Kevin, put your book away, line up.

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
Put the book away. No.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
It\'s not a choice. We\'re cleaning up.
Put it away. Ronen is a smart guy.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
He is figuring out how to interact in the world, and
as he figures out how to interact in the world,

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
he\'s learning that there are
people who will cuddle him,

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
they will put his coat on for him, they will carry him downstairs,
they will give him what he wants, if he finds effectively.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
That is exactly what he should be doing
developmentally. It\'s how he learns socially,

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
but our responsibility as
parents and as teachers both

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
is to set limits and make very
clear what expectations are

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
to hold the bar higher than he or any other child
may think they can get over. Finish cleaning up.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
The values that you have for typically developing
children need to have those same values

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
for your child who has a delay. You can only make an
attempt, you can only make an attempt to teach them

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
and you make excuses for then
they\'re never going to learn it.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
If we didn\'t treat them in the same as everyone else, then
this could be very manipulative. We would have a child

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
who is, you know, who knew that he could manipulate
the system, and then he can manipulate us

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
as his parents. Our expectations for Ronen

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
are the same as everyone else. The rules are the
same. Nothing changes if you\'re talking for example

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
at morning meeting, you got a couple chances
and then you have to wake the (inaudible).

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
He knows now the rules and routines of the classroom which
is something that we all hoped for in the beginning of year

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
but didn\'t really know that was gonna
happen. Andrew and Jessica, you can choose.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
Turn around, sit down,

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
sit on your bottoms till I call your name.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
Nate and Erik, you can choose. Ronen,
stop, look at me. Ronen, five minutes.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
If the teacher is very accepting and expecting a
lot, the other children will pick up on that.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
And they\'re aware of that, you know, we expect
Ronen to do everything else, everybody else does

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
and the children wants that and so
he\'s treated as peer and as an equal.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
You need to be sitting. (inaudible). Sorry.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
Daniel and (inaudible) I can choose.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
At the beginning of the year,

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
personally I struggled with making sure that I
treated Ronen the as same as any other child,

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
so what I did, in my head was to
substitute another child\'s name

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
every time I was dealing with Ronen, and this was
when Ronen\'s really good friends names Andrew,

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
so I would say, \"How would I do this if I were
Andrew, how would I react if this was Andrew?\"

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
and that\'s how I did it, but it worked
really well for me. To make sure that

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
I didn\'t give Ronen that special treatment that
you\'re very tempted to do. The template is closed,

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
choose a different area. Yes.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
Ronen, that\'s not okay, choose it… No,

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
you may not touch anyone else\'s name,
that\'s Andrew, he is your friend.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
You may not move this name.
Later, choose a different area.

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
Then go to (inaudible).

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
It is very hard because I think
Ronen, thugs at the heart.

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
He\'s just really special kid
and I care about him deeply

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
and I knew that, me treating
him like the other students

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
would be best for him and
that\'s what I wanted.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
What would you like to use, cards,
blocks, okay, put your name in box that.

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
Go find (inaudible) and Daniel.
Pretend, play later.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:15.000
[music]

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
I was looking back over the
year, the biggest challenge was

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
when the children started to question, why Ronen
was different. So we met along with Chris

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
to brainstorm what we could do in the
classroom. Donna, and Jessica and I

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
decided that we\'d have a meeting with the
children and we\'d make a list of everything

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
that the kids were working on. So for example we said,
\"Andrew, what are you working on?\" and Andres said,

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
\"May be I\'m working untying my shoes.\"
And Ronen was working o his speaking

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
and another child was working and learning to ride a
bike. Everybody had something they were working on.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
And that kind of explained it more to
the other children that we all have

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
things that we try to build up on.
You can\'t pretend that

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
there is not something that\'s different.
Trying to appear calm and relaxed about

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
things with the kids, and trying
to have a conversation with them

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
about it is a lot better than dictating how they
should think or how they should feel about Ronen.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
We are not all friends in life but
we have to respect each other.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
So that\'s our rule and the sunshine room is,
it\'s not about being friends with everybody

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:35.000
but about being respectful.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
Aim for that high bar
with receptive language

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
\'cause he\'s there, so we should be talking to
him like we would together for (inaudible),

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
I just wanted to… I just wanted to clarify that.
Chris, our director, is very involved in this with us.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
He ran numerous meetings on
inclusion with us in the fall.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
It takes a lot of preparation at the beginning.
Most successful inclusive initiatives

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
that are school wide or district wide

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
are actually led by people that I was
concerned pretty visionary administrators.

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
It had to start from the top. If the
administrator of the day care had start

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
whatever is not in support of
it, it\'s not going to work.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
Plain simple cut dry. In this
instance its working because

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
the administration wants it to work, and they\'re willing to
have this command, they\'re willing to have a dialogue with us.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
Chris also helped in opening up
conversations within the staff

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
and what was going on in the classroom. We have
to have the… the support of administration

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
which we had and we needed to meet,
we need to go talk for 20 minutes,

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
extra help would come in and so that we could
do that. More so at the beginning of the year,

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
and then as the year went on. We became a
community in the classroom, not just the children

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
but the teachers also. I
got my job two years ago

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
and when I got it, I was told that there
was a child who is enrolled at school

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
who had had a pretty rough year. There
were lots of concerns and conflicts

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
and discussions going on and at
that point my job was to figure out

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
how to help a child enrolled at our school
get the best opportunities to learn.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
The first two weeks that
I started confronting

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
what was happening in my program around inclusion
were by far the hardest because it seemed

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
an (inaudible) problem. People were arguing
with each other, there was a very little trust.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
It made inclusion seem like one of the
most impossible things in the whole world.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
As soon as I started talking with
people it became very clear that

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
those challenges weren\'t the problem, the problem
was communicating effectively and collaborating

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
in solving those problems. So under
strengths so far I have personable, happy,

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
enjoys books and music, inquisitive and willing to
try new things, shows empathy towards his friends,

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
is persistence. Finally I think that
administrators can support teachers

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
by making it really clear to all the
parents and all the other teachers

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
and everyone else in the community, why we\'re doing,
what we\'re doing and what the benefits sorted are

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
so that they can stay focused on the
matters of teaching them and learning

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
and not have to be taking on the political role which is
pretty honest for a teacher to be handling on a daily basis.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
Good morning Michelle.
Good morning Michelle.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
Tuck your feet in please.

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
7, 8… I think that biggest myth
that exist concerning inclusion

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
could be called the contagion myth, which
is that if a child with Down Syndrome

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
is in my room, what will happen to my
child as if there is something contagious

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
about down syndrome as if the quality
of the construction will be lowered,

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
as if the academic opportunities will be
lessened. Parents says to me, \"Your child,

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
your child with special needs is gonna take away from my
child.\" They often have a lot of preconceived notions

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
about what it means to have Down syndrome,
what children can and can\'t do.

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
Unfortunately, I think that lot of families still tend to think
that children with Down syndrome could be more dangerous,

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
or that there could be more a aggression and so on.
A lot of these parents, younger than me, obviously,

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
grew up in a time where
it wasn\'t happening,

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
you know, their age is the most part when I started in 1977, when
you had those classes that were all you know, self contained,

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
so it was us and them. It\'s one to
those sad chapters of US history

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
that the lessons that we are
learning now are indicating that

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
in fact the limitations that supposedly
people with Down syndrome have

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
are not in fact limitation of the syndrome
but rather limitations of our society.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
The unfortunate fact is that families who
meet, 40 or 50 or 60 year old people

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
with down syndrome see someone with down syndrome.
They don\'t see someone with down syndrome

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
who perhaps has been institutionalized much of his
or her life may never had been given the opportunity

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
to read or write because they could not
learn how, all of the societal prejudices

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
were part of the obstacles that prevented people
from attaining just what the could attain.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
What we fight against
in a program like this

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
is a general societal notion that
academic achievement is the only measure

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
and that quantifiable assessments
of child\'s performance

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
are the only meaningful ways to determine whether
children are learning. What we know from our program

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
and what lot other research seems to point
out is that in fact children benefit more

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
from having a child in their
room that has disabilities

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
because they are able to learn how to interact other
people. The program is usually very self reflective

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
about the instructional practice. And in general,
people are all committed to making sure that

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
every child is getting a lot of opportunities to succeed
and grow. My job is to help them recognize that

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
having a child with Down syndrome in
the room benefits their own child

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
in ways that they will probably
never get anywhere else.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
There have been many people
who have come before us

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
and it\'s almost like a bridge builder,
everybody builds the bridge a little further.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
As we are doing also so that the people will come
after us will have a little bit of an easier time.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
Each generation going forward
is accomplishing more and more

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
and we don\'t know what the ceiling is, we don\'t know
what the potential is. My very first day of (inaudible),

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
you know, in 1977 was
at a class of children

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
who were (inaudible) trainable mentally
retorted. That\'s what we called

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
kids who had a label, trainable or educable.
They were in self contained classrooms,

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
they avoid any typical developing kids.
So now 27 years later,

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
I have, you know, a child with Down
syndrome fully included in his day care

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
making great games. Children and parents
can think and say what they want about it,

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
but having Ronen in our
classroom shows that it exists,

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
that people are in society function
society with Down syndrome.

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
And I think especially for kids at this young age, who aren\'t
always gonna go home and have this huge conversations about it.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
Having something that\'s in their
environment that they see all the time,

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
that for them is just the lesson in itself.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
The Invisible Man, written by Ralph
Allison, that just at opening segment,

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
kind of a prolog, where he talks
about how being in visible

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
is do damaging. It\'s so true

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
for people with disabilities.
If all we ever see

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
are the disabilities of people, they\'re
future is really pretty sparse

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
and are risk, but if people
get to see the real person

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
that happens through inclusion,
through interaction with people,

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:20.000
I think their future is
gonna be pretty good.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
I had a child at Brown/Fox Point

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
three years ago. He has not
moved on to the second grade.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
He had a significant speech impairment.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
So for the longest time I was
carrot, I was carrot, I was carrot.

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
He would see me coming, he would give me great big
hug, he come running, \"Carrot, carrot, here.\"

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
Well, he learned (inaudible) and the
first time I heard him say Carol,

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
I was like so disappointed, because
I wasn\'t a carrot anymore,

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
I was Carol and I don\'t know if I had that experience
at any other place except did in inclusive setting

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
One interesting anecdote

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
that really demonstrated how
will inclusion is working was

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
one of his teachers came and told us that they
were very happy with it, and we were happy too

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
that a girl in his class came up
and told him that she hates him,

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
you know, just, that\'s what kids say to each other,
sometimes just say, you know, like, \"Oh, I like you,\"

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
or \"I hate you,\" you know, that\'s still
inclusion because his been included

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
in the negative aspect as well as the positive
aspects and that\'s exactly what we want.

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
In November of this year, something
happened that made be really believe

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
that inclusion was working. There were
three sunshines one of them was Ronen,

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
who were interacting. One of the sunshine\'s
said to the other sunshine something

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
and got in the of that sunshine

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
and Ronen threw his shoulders back, threw
his chest out, stepped between the two boys

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
and said to the boy who was getting
in the way of the other boy,

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
you can\'t do that, very angrily.
Ronen has never confronted

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
at other child (inaudible) aggressive
way, Ronen has never asserted himself

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
using angry language like that, Ronen
in that moment displayed a host of

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
social and emotional developmental items. After
class that the several of us were talking

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
and one of started crying because we recognize
that this was absolutely (inaudible) improve

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
that there were things happening in
Ronen\'s interactions with his peers

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
and in their interactions with him that meant that he
was included, that meant that he was asserting himself,

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
and that meant that he was responding
to the social world around him

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
with strategies that made sense. Now do we want to
(inaudible) telling each other, of course, we don\'t,

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
but do we want children asserted themselves in demonstrating
that they have a sense of who they are and what they need to do.

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:05.000
You bet (inaudible) and that\'s
what happen in that day.