Education World® : School Issues and Education News: Wire Side Chat: Making Inclusion the Norm

Zane starts preschool in the fall. Though he will attend a private preschool, the staff there has been open and welcoming to have him attend as the first student with significant disabilities. I love their open-mindedness. However, we anticipate a struggle when he moves into the public school system two years down the line.

See, our small town ships kids like Zane twenty miles away (a forty-five-minute, one-way drive on our winding and often snow-coated and iced-up roads) to the next neighboring town to attend a center-based program. Once you get into the math, Zane would spend the equivalent of 6 ½ full work weeks riding mindlessly on a bus. In a nutshell, the district struggles with inclusion. Even worse, it expects parents and students to be happy about being excluded from our own community. I have one word for this: unacceptable.

Knowing how quickly two years can dissolve away, I am beginning my research to build a case for Zane and for other differently-abled children in our town. I found this wonderful article while searching for research-based evidence of success to center-based programs.

I welcome any comments or suggestions…and thanks for checking on Zane.


Education World® : School Issues and Education News: Wire Side Chat: Making Inclusion the Norm