The Madison Metropolitan School District has been a leader in creating inclusive educational opportunities for children. Since the District’s closing of Badger School in 1977, there has been steady progress toward fully including our children with disabilities in the general educational experience in our schools. Most children with disabilities now attend their neighborhood school where special education and classroom teachers work collaboratively to ensure that the learning experience is appropriate for every child in the classroom.
The sense of community and relationships between students with and without disabilities that develop in the school setting set the stage for many of our disabled citizens to join a pluralistic society as adults. Our community at large is enriched by providing valuable opportunities for children with disabilities to move into the world of work and be productive citizens.
6 thoughts on “Education for ALL Children”
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Yet there is a pervasive attitude, even in our fair city, that disabled kids detract from the classroom. I’ve had parents tell me “those disabled kids keep the class from progressing at a pace that suits my child” and “it upsets my child to watch special ed kids melt down”, and I’ve overheard such comments as “why does (insert their child’s name here) always have to have a special ed kid as a science partner?” and “when I was a kid they sent all the disabled kids to a separate school where they belong.” In fact, I heard that last one at a fundraiser during last spring’s school board elections. I could go on forever about the crap that we parents of special ed kids have to deal with from other parents (and grandparents), but I will point out that it’s been MY experience with MMSD that they provide a very high quality experience for differently-abled students. And, it’s not just the MMSD’s responsibility to help special ed kids succeed- just like regular ed kids, the parents are the key to success!
I’ve had a bit of experience with differently abled students in the MMSD. My oldest son is dyslexic and I have a 22 year-old nephew with Down Syndrome who was a student at East. There definitely are some terrific staff and programs available within the district.
There are three areas that have bothered me over the years. The first is the debate over inclusion vs. pull-out that has turned into a struggle for the high ground regardless of what actually works with individual students. In our experience, there were times when pull-out was the most effective way to deliver instruction. In others, inclusion worked very well. Some of it was developmental, some of it was circumstantial. At the end of the day, this mom simply wanted her child to learn.
The second is the repeated cuts to teachers in recent years, which I believe can have a bearing on how things go in the classroom. I distinctly remember board meetings c. 10 years ago, when the speech and language therapists were targetted for “downsizing.” Since then, we’ve seen wave after wave of cuts to psychologists, social workers, special ed teachers. All of this means higher work loads and greater risk that children who are able to learn will fall through the cracks.
The third area is the decision to go to “cross categorical” teachers. I have worked with a number of special ed teachers since the transition, and am impressed by the results. But I also know that learning disabilities are not ‘one size fits all.’ They tend to be very specific, and there are times when the most progress can be made by having someone who specializes in a particular area of disability matched to a particular student’s need.
These issues are particularly important for students whose families cannot, for financial or other reasons, access the cottage industry in private tutors, specialists, and others who are now meeting the learning needs of some students.
Recently, I attended a special ed. meeting with a parent where she was told that the district does not recognize Dyslexia as a spec ed category. Lucy, how were you able to use this term with them?
Interesting development, Barbara. Did the district indicate what terms they DO use? Anyone reading the blog have more information?
I confess that I use dyslexia as a shorthand, and I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t appear in any of the IEPs that were created over the years but I may be wrong. I kept all of the documentation, so will take a closer look and get back to you.
The answer to your question is long, so bear with me.
I do know that when I went through the in-school M-Team process c. 1992 I was pushed – hard – to have him labeled ADHD even though I had two pediatricians and a psychologist who were saying “not even close.” Note: he is an African American male. (This is the short version)
I recall that much of the 1992 M-Team discussion focused on his grade level vs. where he tested. When I asked what the nature of his disability was, I was informed that “It’s impossible to know exactly which synapse is not working properly.” As a result, I declined services until we knew the nature of the disability and the appropriate approaches to addressing that disability.
I finally had him tested – privately – c. 1994 thanks to generous insurance coverage that I had at the time. It turned out that he had serious speech and language deficits that should have been identified and addressed at the time that he entered kindergarten in 1991.
I was highly aware that the district had just cut a number of speech therapist positions in the school, so chose to work with the referral that we now had to the Speech and Hearing Clinic at UW. Again, the insurance helped to cover it. I had no reason to trust that the schools had the staff to deliver the services that he needed and he was now over four years short of the help that he should have been getting.
By the time that we started working with district LD services c. 1995 (again, I would have to check the documents for specific dates), I had a sizeable stack of reports documenting the disability and the steps necessary to get him closer to grade level. (We also continued to work with the UW clinic to make stronger progress – I think it was over two years including summers all told.)
Part of me is wondering if the district is holding to the 1999 legal decision that ADA doesn’t cover “correctable” problems, which has been construed to cover dyslexia. (My son was diagnosed c. 1994.)
Some related links include:
The International Dyslexia Association:
http://www.interdys.org/servlet/compose?section_id=2&page_id=149
An article on the implications of the 1999 decision:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/06/23/MN28470.DTL
Also, I can’t cull this site right now, but the DPI Special Ed Division site is at:
http://dpi.wi.gov/sped/index.html
I believe that dyslexia typically falls under the more broad category of learning disability for IEP purposes.
Another excellent resource is ldonline.org The very first article in this latest edition is “Achieving Good Outcomes in Students with Learning Disabilities.”
Thanks, Beth. This is incredibly helpful
I confess that I was startled by Barbara’s query but then again, it’s been a few years since we’ve had to work with MMSD on appropriate accommodations so can’t remember the wording.
I also want to note that we ended up working with some terrific, hard-working, highly skilled staff at East. The journey to get services was hard, but the staff we worked with once we had them were terrific.