As an educator, I was determined to scour the city's schools for the best possible setting in which Declan could learn. For many families whose child is struggling with seizures, this is an enormous hill to climb. Many children with epilepsy have one or more developmental delays and/or learning issues, and req uire some form of support to reach their optimal potential. I have learned so much along the way and would like to share what I have learned with you. I will tell you the sinuous route we took with Declan in the hopes that you will get to where you need to go faster.
When Declan entered preschool at the age of three, we managed to have his SEIT (Special Education Itinerant Teacher) from Early Intervention go with him for the entire school day. This was an incredible arrangement, as Dec had his own special educator adapting the curriculum and encouraging language and social skills as the teachable moments presented themselves. If we could have, we would have continued with a SEIT for his entire school career; but because it is a costly solution, the Board of Education was not willing to continue the service. As a result, when Declan turned four, we chose to send him to a private center-based school. The school was gorgeous, had all of the amenities, all of the therapists, and two teachers per classroom. Declan had his worst year ever. Why? We learned that he needed to be in a classroom with strong peer models. In the center-based school, he was only with children with similar or more severe issues, and no one but the teachers were able to demonstrate strong social skills. At the end of that year, we took him out and never looked back. We knew from then on that we would never place him in a setting that did not have typically developing children to help Declan to see more typical academic and social behaviors. When he was five, our argument was adequate for placing Declan back into a regular ed room, again with a full time SEIT. It was not easy to get, but we pushed hard for it. The decision paid off, and Declan had a much more successful year year. Not only did he accomplish more academically, but he was able to have playdates with peers who could teach him a few things about play. When it was time for kindergarten, however, we were back to square one. We were no longer dealing with the CPSE; instead, it was the CSE we had to contend with, and they were very unlikely to allow a full time SEIT. That is when we turned to a CTT classroom, and that is one of the main ideas I would like to leave with you today.
CTT stands for Collaborative Team Teaching. This is a classroom that has both a regular education and a special education teacher in the room full time, and approximately a third to a quarter of the students have IEP's. The rest of the children are typically developing students. This is the golden standard of inclusion practices right now, and it is tremendously effective. Many people who hear about it for the first time are skeptical. For instance, parents of a regular ed child placed in a CTT room might ask, "How will my child be challenged in such a classroom?" And the parents of a child with special needs placed in a CTT room might say, "There is no way my child's needs can be met with so many different learners in one room." I have been a parent and a consultant to these kinds of classrooms for many years, and I can safely say that by the end of the year, these parents are often the same ones we find actually requesting a CTT room for their children in subsequent years. What they don't know and quickly learn is that the teachers in a co-teaching classroom become absolute masters of differentiation; that is, they are able to meet the needs of every child regardless of where they are because they have the resources and training to do so. Further, these rooms, given the nature of their diversity, end up having the kind of classroom community that neighboring classrooms come to envy. I could go on talking about co-teaching for a very long time, and will talk about it again in the near future, but for now, take a look for yourself. I suggest you visit the ASCD website. ASCD is an organization that all good educators will know. It's very role is to help advance best practices in educating every learner. Here's the link: http://www.ascd.org/
Correct ideas come from social practice.It is the key to any skill .
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