Alternates to the general curriculum

In schools there is often debate regarding the issue that all students should be accountable for the same curricular outcomes.

• Provide a convincing argument to adjust the general education curriculum for students with moderate to severe special needs to an administrator who is unwilling to allow teachers to do so.
  
• Assume then, that the administrator is not convinced. What should you do?

There are many teachers I would not want to have to adjust their curriculum to accommodate inclusion of students with certain learning disabilities. It has been my observed experience and it appears to be the actual experience of many in this discussion group that the idea, while good in theory, does not always come to pass for students. Some teachers are too “old school” to make the accommodations, others are unwilling for unknown reasons, and others simply don’t want to (prejudice?). So, having said that, I will attack this from the standpoint that I have a teacher who agrees with me that inclusion with an adjusted curriculum can work, and this teacher is willing to work with me in seeing it happen. Heck, I would have thought this was all common sense before this class. Teach me to think. *wink*

Dear Mr. Supervisor (Of course, in real life this person would have a name.)

I am writing regarding the curriculum plan for Liz Brown. As you know, Liz has cerebral palsy, seizures, and severe mental retardation. Liz has been in special education classes for her entire life and has therefore grown up separate from the “normal” community. Since she is only six years old, she has been very fortunate because she has had great amounts of training compared to many mentally disabled children her age. Her parents, and I agree, think that continued segregation would be unfair to Liz. Liz is “school age” now and we would like to see her given the chance of having as normal a childhood as possible. We believe that Liz should have some of the same social and personal opportunities as other children, and these opportunities are simply not available in schools without a true variety of children. It has been the history of this school to not include students such as Liz in the general classes because these students can not do the work which is required. While I agree that there is nothing which can be done which will make it so Liz will able to do the same work as the other students, this does not mean that Liz does not have many, impressive capabilities. And if given the chance, I believe she will grow in capabilities beyond what we can currently imagine. All she needs is support, training, and a chance.

Of course, Liz will continue to need special education classes, and I am not proposing that these not be made available to her. However, she does not need this to be here full curriculum. Her parents and I feel that there are many times of the day in which Liz can be included in a normal classroom, while at the same time, have different expectations. This will give Liz the opportunity to work in the presence of other students, eat lunch and have recess with her peers, and live as normal of a life as possible. Additionally, this will be a great benefit to the other students in her class, as they will be given the opportunity to develop compassion, understanding, and tolerance by working in Liz’s company from such an early age. Looking back, I am sure the other children will be thankful to have had class with Liz, because they will be better people because of it.

The first grade teacher, Mrs. Lizteach, has already expressed her willingness to work with Liz in her class. Also, Liz and Mrs. Lizteach will be able to make use of the services of Mrs. Lizaid, the special education teacher. Liz has already proven many skills, including basic communication with pictures, basic hygiene, and she can follow one step directions directly. Liz has proven that she has a viable base on which even greater skills can be built. In the presence of her peers, Liz will be able to develop skills in a specifically designed curriculum tailored to her unique needs. If we were to make Liz follow the same curriculum as the other students, she would fail. But if we work to instruct her to what we know she can learn in the midst of those other students, Liz has the opportunity to be a success, and isn’t success the true goal for all of our students?

I look forward to meeting with you to discuss Liz’s placement in Mrs. Lizteach’s first grade classroom. Mrs. Lizteach and Mrs. Lizaid would be happy to meet with us and Liz’s parents as well. Let me know your thoughts,

Sincerely,

David Profitt
School Psychologist

Ok, that’s what I have so far. The second part of this discussion is to tell what we would do if the supervisor denies our request. Not knowing the hierarchy of most schools, I am not sure what options beyond further explanation and argument would be available. I am curious to know what my fellow students would see as possible reasons for rejection to my above request. This will give me the chance to consider those reasons and consider possible responses.

Filed under: EDC 541 Curriculum and Instruction for Diverse Learners
Copyright: June, 2003 - David Profitt