Daniel’s teachers have learned much more about child development as they have seen even the tiniest of changes in what he does. With many other children, they progress so fast that these changes go unnoticed; such as the way your entire body has to learn how to walk up stairs, not just your legs. Or in the way your mouth, arms, hands and trunk of your body has to mold itself and build up muscles in order to drink from a straw or an open cup. This has allowed the teachers to creatively help other children who are struggling, know exactly what tips and tricks to use to help the others in the classroom as well as Daniel. They have realized that nothing we do is automatic, that our bodies adjust to even the slightest changes and as teachers, we can promote these changes in order to help with development.

Daniel’s friends (his classmates), benefit from this since their teachers are more aware of how a child physically develops. Many of them are learning to help Daniel, by holding his hand and looking out for him even though he is quite capable of doing most things on his own. They realize that Daniel isn’t exactly like them, just as each of them is different from the other. Is Daniel thought of as different or special? No, he is a part of their circle of friends and accepted be each person. This is what inclusion is all about; if acceptance starts with the little ones, then it will be part of the big world.

This semester, I’m taking a communication class and a mental health class, and I’m taking an independent study on computers.  I get help from my peers, and I get help from the teachers in my program.  My peer helpers will send me emails, or help me to make flash cards and talk to me on the phone.  I can meet with the professors and go over notes with them, too.  When I take tests and exams, someone reads them to me.

I also get to complete assignments in different ways.  For example, in one class I had, all the students had to write a paper about the Bush versus Kerry election, and the teacher asked me if I wanted to do a videotape instead.  So I did an interview with Elizabeth Bauer of the Michigan State Board of Education about her job.

Jan Boyd

I am reminded of an incident during one school year when a new student arrived and was not only new to the district, but also new to the culture of the United States, having lived in a different country prior to moving here. The Circle of Friends befriended him and asked him to join their meetings and activities.  It was this group of youth that helped him feel welcomed in a new environment.  This was a wonderful example of taking the term “special needs” to a new dimension…I think that these young people understand that there are many forms of special needs that need to be addressed and nurtured.

Matthew Weinger

I moved to suburban Detroit from out of state toward the end of fifth grade, when I was ten years old.  I found myself as the much maligned new kid amongst 75 or so children who’d been together since kindergarten.  What easily could have meant disaster for my self-esteem instead became a love affair with my new friends.  I was almost immediately embraced, welcomed, and included by Micah and his peers, a group known as the Circle of Friends.

It turns out that being the new kid is a blessing in disguise.  I’m sure Micah at the time thought little of what he had done.  But look, that’s the whole point!  To him I was merely a new friend.  A quick display of friendliness and compassion on his part meant the entire world to someone else, that being me.  I won’t ever forget that day…Circle of Friends more than opened my eyes; it opened my heart and opened my mind.

I no longer see the world the way I used to see it.  No more cool kids and weirdos or jocks and dorks. No more retards.  Micah, his family and his circle have taught me to view and accept people as individuals without classifications.  Just because someone stutters doesn’t mean they aren’t worthy of conversation.  A blind man would certainly enjoy being read aloud to.  Someone who can’t run so fast may still get satisfaction from being a member of a track and field team.  A child who has poor penmanship could well be a magnificent writer.  Luckily, the standards by which society measures people are evolving, if ever for the better…

Thanks to Micah and his Circle of Friends, I feel as though I am a better friend, a better person, leading a better life.

Mike Boyd

I met Micah in the first grade, and that day we met will stick out in my mind for the rest of my life.  You see, my desk was kitty-corner to Micah’s, and Katie’s (still one of my best friends today) was right next to his.

One day we were all sitting there at our desks, and Micah got sick, real sick.  It ended up on his desk, my desk, Katie’s desk and so on; I think you get the point.  Just about every single person in the class started laughing and saying “sick, ughh,” but I didn’t.  At that time I had absolutely no clue who Micah was, but that was not the point.  I didn’t know Micah had what some may call a disability or wasn’t able to read or write like most of us were learning, to me he was just like everyone else.  To this day I feel the exact same way, he is just like everyone else…different.

No, Micah can’t read as fast as you can, but when you read something to Micah he will remember it better than you will.  That is what I wanted to explain my whole entire life to people who look differently at Micah.  They see this kid, and some just don’t want to give him a chance, but Micah has made me want to succeed.  My whole life he has looked up to me, acted like me, and in no way could I ever let him down.

After first grade we didn’t really meet again until third grade when Circle of Friends was started.  Circle of Friends was an after-school program created to give students an opportunity to interact with Micah.  Each year a different group got to hang out together, but each year is was the same idea, to have fun.  We did many things such as community service, visited a local tv news broadcast station, went to sports events, and so on.  We met at least one time a week after school to discuss with the school social worker things we felt Micah was doing good with and things we felt he needed to work on.  After the talk we went on to eat, play, and have fun with one another.

Micah Fialka-Feldman

My name is Micah. I am 25 years old and I want to tell you about my life and my dreams.  In first grade I was in a special ed classroom because I had a cognitive disability.  I was not in the same room as my friends.  After about four months, I told my parents, “I want to go in the same door as my friends.”  That was my first dream for myself.

My parents listened to me. They helped me to get my dream to come true.  I was moved into the class where all of my friends were and I stayed with my friends all the way through high school.  It was cool. My friends helped me and we had fun. Sometimes they would write down what I wanted to say in my journal because I didn’t write. I had a great Circle of Friends and we did fun things together during recess and sometimes after school.  Some of them are still my friends now.  I got help from my teachers too.

In high school, I still went to the general ed classes.  I learned other ways to do some things. Because of my disability I don’t write. I have a lot of sight words, but I don’t read like most of my friends. I use special software like “screen reader” which reads whatever is on my computer screen. I also use Dragon Naturally Speaking ®. I talk into my microphone and the words I say go on the screen. I can read and send my own emails. I can learn a lot by using the computer. All kids like me should know about these things.

Since 5^th grade I was a part of my IEP meetings (Individual Educational Planning). My friends would come for the first part to talk about what they thought I was learning.  Sometimes I did a power point of my dreams and what I wanted to learn in school.  It was cool to have my friends at the meeting because they had good ideas to help me. They didn’t stay for the whole meeting., they thought it was kind of boring!!!

In high school, my parents wanted me to run cross country. At first I didn’t like the idea, but I got use to it.  I could only run about a block in my freshman year. When I was a senior I ran 2 miles in 23 minutes.  I was proud….and tired.

I still learned a lot in high school. Sometimes I didn’t write a paper but I would interview someone on a topic and video tape it. I would give this to the teacher and it would be my paper.

I will tell you more about my life in another blog.  There is a lot to tell you. I travel all around the country to speak at conferences about my life and how other kids can be included in their schools. I tell teachers and parents to help the kids have big dreams.

micahff@aol.com

www.throughthesamedoor.com

Madison McKnight

Majoring in Early Childhood Education has provided me with many opportunities in which allowed me to broaden my horizons. However, I feel that the most beneficial experience I have had was when I worked at the RISE School of Stillwater. The RISE School is a preschool where children with disabilities attend school with children who do not have disabilities. I did a field experience there and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my college career. The overall lesson I took from working at the RISE School was the importance of inclusion in the classroom. Inclusion, to me, means involving every child in every aspect of learning that is provided in the classroom no matter what the subject matter or content area. Never have I seen a better job example of this than at the RISE School.

Throughout the day at RISE, children participate in breakfast, music therapy, centers, art, circle time, outside play, and lunch. Every child is given the same amount of attention no matter what their physical or intellectual level may be. When I first started observing and working with the children I thought that this might hold back the children who do not have a disability but what I noticed is that it was actually helping them. Those children who did not need as much one-on-one help or guidance were helping those children that did. I noticed this especially during centers. The children would all be playing as if they were all the same person. The children could not tell a difference and I believe this is because the faculty and staff at the school did such an amazing job with inclusion.

Along with doing group activities, the children were all taught self help skills. Every 3- and 4-year-old needs help learning how to wash their hands, throw their trash away, and take their plates to the sink. The teachers in the classroom spent time with each child showing and guiding them along throughout their daily activities. Each child got a turn during meals or snacks to help pass food out and during circle time, each child got a turn to do the activity. Inclusion, such as that demonstrated by the RISE School, is missing out of so many schools today. I saw the importance of including every child in every lesson and in the 14 weeks I was there I could visibly see a difference in the children with disabilities. They liked being challenged and were learning and growing from it. Include every child in your lessons, you could be the guidance and support they need.

Deborah Conn

I must admit, a smile literally spread across my face as I watched six small groups of early care and education workshop participants from Santa Barbara County, California talking animatedly and quickly filling flip charts with lists of ideas. Their task was to brainstorm the benefits of inclusion for children with special needs and their families, children without special needs and their families, program staff, and the community. I was smiling because this was such a stark and wonderful contrast to the first time I’d led the same activity twenty years earlier in the same building. Even then, people could think of a few reasons why inclusion benefited children with disabilities, but it was hard for them to come up with ideas on how inclusion benefited others. And, sadly, there were a few then who actually verbalized that children with disabilities had no place in a preschool classroom with children who were typically developing.

A common theme that ran through these small groups today was “respecting and celebrating differences” – not just accepting or tolerating differences. The groups concluded, independently, that adults who grew up prior to special education legislation and the Americans with Disabilities Act were learning to value inclusion from their own preschool children. Just a few of the many other benefits noted from the various groups were: learning to work together to accomplish a goal, mastering skills by helping peers, gaining leadership skills, feeling less isolated, learning new information and skills, increasing awareness, becoming valued members of the community, being able to stay in and contribute to a community (rather than having to move elsewhere to find inclusive settings), learning adaptations that help all children, and improving honest communication.

I recently took the opportunity to talk with some Head Start teachers about how inclusion has benefited them personally. Michelle Valencia shared, “Having children with special needs in my classroom really helped my confidence and has made me a better teacher for all children.” Michelle explained that she has now taught a number of children with significant disabilities and that her successes working with them helped her become more outgoing. In fact, she has even done presentations with her program’s disabilities coordinator. I visited Michelle’s classroom recently and saw first-hand the confidence that she talked about as she worked with a very diverse and lively group of children, including a little girl with spina bifida, who was fully included in all the activities that were going on.

In another classroom I visited, Mary Flores, a center director, talked about the positive changes that she has seen in adult family members of the children without disabilities. Three preschoolers who have significant visual impairments and two children with Down syndrome are enrolled in her center. A few parents expressed concerns at the beginning of the school year about whether their own children would get enough attention and whether the curriculum would be “watered down.” Mary proudly reported that the families soon saw that curriculum is easily adapted and individualized so that all the children can participate. These same parents have told Mary that their own children have become more helpful to others in general and more empathetic since being in the program. A couple of the concerned family members are now volunteering at the center and work with all the children. In fact, one mother wants to go to school to become a special education teacher.

Although work still needs to be done to educate teachers, administrators, legislators, and the community on the benefits of inclusion, and there are surely battles that still need to be fought until all children with disabilities and their families are fully included in our schools and communities, it is heart warming to see how many people today are demonstrating that inclusion works but that everyone benefits from inclusion.

Janet Fittry

My name is Janet Fittry and I have an 8 year old son who was diagnoised with an anxiety disorder known as Selective Mutism. Selective Mutism is an anxiety disorder to where children and adults are afraid to talk, like some of us are afraid of mice, spiders, and snakes. My son Ryan now in the 3rd grade has been in the regular classrooms since he started school in 2005. Through out the years, the children in my son’s class has always known Ryan not to talk, and often told others Ryan was the kid who didn’t talk. From the start of my son’s school year in 2005, I often worried how others would see him, if they would target him, and bully him, or would they over look the not talking part, and want to be his friend. I was always told from different teachers how good Ryan get’s along with others and has many friends. I got my chance to see for myself one year when Ryan was in 1st grade.

I had attended my son’s class Christmas party, along with other parents, and was very surprised to see how well my son communicated non-verbally with other children in his class. The children had learned to look at Ryan, and ask him things in a yes and no form, so Ryan could reply by nodding his head. I was amazed how Ryan would get others attention by tapping on their shoulder, and pointing, and showing them what he had, and actually use his own techniques to let others know excatallly what he was telling them. The children would understand, and they would actually carry on conversation with Ryan. It makes one wonder how a child with out a voice could tell others so much information without making a sound. As I watched, I knew that Ryan was telling them he had the same type of car at home, but a different color.

I feel that my son and the children in his class have both benifited from this experience. A child with an anxiety disorder, such as selective mutism, is a very painful experience for the child and the parent. The last thing Ryan needed was to feel different, or to be left out because he was different. The children have shown Ryan great support through out the years. The children in his class have learned a new way to communicate with someone first hand who was afraid to talk. A new way to make a friend, and be a friend.

Ryan is now in 3rd grade, and went back to school this year with a voice for the first time. If it wasn’t for the support of the children in his class, I truely believe it would have been a hard task for Ryan to return to school with a voice, that he was ready to share!

The most important aspect of inclusion is the commitment of the learning community, and the larger community to work together to create an inclusive-accepting environment for all children. Parents, educators and community who are committed and willing to work together to provide the best learning and child development environment for all children. Studies are conclusive and clearly indicate that the earlier “challenged” children are included into the population, the greater opportunity they have to maximize their potential.

Abby has CP which has manifested itself in visual perception issues. Through strategies developed and implemented by her educators she has for the most part conquered her visual perception issues leaving only some physical challenges that have been lessened through several surgerys.

While volunteering in my daughter’s classroom it was wonderful to observe the generous spirit and empathy of the other students. On one occasion during a PE kickball game a boy kick the ball soft fully to Abby. Later I heard him commenting to some boys he kicked if softly but should have kicked a little harder because she threw him out. Inclusion brings out the best in all children with proper supports and continued related services

It was gratifying to see throughout Abby’s education how important modeling of appropriate behavior by peers was and how important and beneficial the interaction was for all students. Those children who are not challenged learn also, they learn the positive attribute of “acceptance” which will benefit them greatly in their later years and in their soon-to-come working years. But mostly, all children can learn that there is much to be offered and learned from all people, regardless of their challenges.

Our learning communities and educators benefit from inclusion. Children who are included from an early age become an accepted part of their community. When I spoke to my daughter about inclusion and about writing this article and her opinion on the matter was “I’ve never known anything else”. “I’ve never been excluded so I really can’t imagine anything else, I can’t understand why anyone would be excluded!” I can only hope all children will have the opportunity to be included, so they don’t have to know how it feels to be separated and isolated from their community.

Our world should be one of inclusion, once students graduate from high school most will not be in sheltered environments. It is important to prepare all children to continue their education, work, and live together.