Inclusion! What's In It For Everyone?

Oliver and Micah

When I was a second semester senior in high school, I was definitely ready to move on to life after high school.  I was ready to be out.  When the school social worker asked me if I wanted to earn a half-credit by being a peer tutor for a tenth grader who had a cognitive disability and was included in the general education science class, I gladly accepted.  Truthfully I wanted a blow-off class, and this definitely sounded like a great option.

My responsibilities were to assist Micah in reading and writing.  It took some time for me to understand exactly what that meant.  When I would read from the textbook, he would get bored easily and his eyes would wander out the window.  As time went on, I realized that Micah was not really absorbing much of the material.  He needed something else to stimulate his mind.  Thus, I began using real-life examples and talking about science and how it relates to our everyday life.  If we were talking about velocity in science class, I talked about the speeding cars in the school parking lot.  If we were talking about solids, liquid, and gas, we went to the drinking fountain and let the water run over our hands.  Micah began to understand the basic concepts of science as we know them today.  As time when on, I realized that I was not just teaching Micah, but rather Micah was also teaching me.  Micah was challenging me to learn about him and the ways he comprehended the material.

Although my sole focus in the beginning of the semester was to assist Micah in science class, I began to learn about Micah as a person.  We began to spend time together outside of class.  I began learning that Micah had the same needs as me and that we shared a lot in common, especially sports (Go Pistons!).  This might sound strange, but I believe that when kids with disabilities are not included and actively participating in school, general-ed students never learn how to develop relationships with them.  You get a very narrow picture of who they are.  They are just the “spec ed” kids.  They are just labels – someone you might say “hi” to, but that’s about it.

Being with Micah opened my eyes and I guess my heart, too.  I now know how important it is to get to know the person.   To start from a place that recognizes that all human beings share the desire to have friends and hang out.  I learned that you can only become friends over time, over conversation, and being involved in real activities.