[bright piano music]

"Special Students, Ordinary Classrooms," a TV6 News report on inclusive special education.

Hi, I'm Dale Hemmila for TV6 News. For years, special education has taken most handicapped children and placed them in a special setting away from the mainstream of our schools.

There is a new proposal now, though, that could change the way special needs students are educated. The program is called inclusive education, and it's already being initiated in some school districts in this country and being studied by others.

Inclusive education means every child in a school district has the right to attend their neighborhood school and attend classes with their peers regardless of handicap or special need.

The program is a simple and as complicated as that. Inclusion is being studied by the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District for possible implementation locally.

Part of that study took an MAISD group from the UP to the Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario, area where inclusive education is fully in place at the Waterloo Region Roman Catholic Separate School District.

Much of what you will see tonight was taped there where inclusion has been practiced for the past three years.

[bright piano music]

Anybody that's in Chris L's group, get your binder.

What you're seeing may not look like one of the most radical programs in special education, but it is. This is the St. Francis School in Kitchener, Ontario, and they have been involved with inclusive education for the past several years.

Basically, the reason we felt it was necessary is that we began in the teaching profession not to teach, rather, but not to reject.

The baggage that the child brings to the school in some sense is irrelevant. I mean, what the child brings is a being, is a presence, and we have to--we deal with that. We don't resist or reject.

Inclusive education means students--all students--regardless of physical or mental handicap attend their home school in their home neighborhood.

They attend the class that is age-appropriate for them. That is, if they are the age that would place them in seventh grade, then they attend seventh grade classes with their peers. For this school, entrance requirements are simple, and there is no student they feel should be excluded.

My gut feeling is no. I'm not saying that the different situations aren't more difficult than others but that if you truly believe that everybody is welcome into your community is that you can work out ways to work through the problems that are going to arise and that will arise.

Our entrance requirements here are very basic. If you can breathe, you can be in our school, and it's a lot easier that way.

There are no labels here. One of the big beliefs in this school system is that children are children--not meant to be separated from other kids but instead integrated into the classroom to learn from and interact with other students their own age.

Yes, give it a hug. Give the puppet a hug.

I'm going to do this.

Uh-huh--oh, pet it.

Terry Young and Laura Reedle have been buddies since Laura joined Terry and her classmates in the fourth grade three years ago.

Laura, look at the monkey, and can you tell me what that is?

Nose.

Right. Where's my nose? Point to my nose.

In fact, all special needs students moved from segregated classrooms to ordinary classes at the same time. And I think that made a big improvement on the children's behavior and what they were learning.

Does it bother you in the classroom that they're in at all?

No, I think it's great. I really like them in there because…it just wouldn't be the same without them.

The feeling here is, there has been dramatic improvement for special needs kids without wholesale disruption of classrooms. In fact, teachers and administrators here are impressed with the change in everyone.

I feel that, as a teacher, I've developed professionally. I've been able to accommodate these children into my classroom.

The gains for children who we would call those with challenging needs have been enormous, and I think, as a school, we've grown to be a much more caring and sensitive community. Before it was a good school. Now it's like home.

When we come back, I'll look at how inclusive education can benefit both special and regular education students.

Time for the boots--yeah, think you'd get that one?

"Special Students, Ordinary Classrooms," a TV6 News report on inclusive special education.

[bright piano music]

How has that been going? Have you guys been doing it?

Do we need to practice it some more? Has Sylwek been using it?

It's lunchtime at the St. Francis school in Kitchener, Ontario, and, though mentally impaired, Sylwek Magallon is dining with some of his classmates.

Are there any other gestures or things that we really wanna work on that would--extra useful for Sylwek to learn to tell us? Like, can you think of anything like--

This is much more than just a normal meeting of seventh graders though. This is Sylwek's circle of friends.

It's a group of kids who are his peers and kids in his class who volunteer to be in his circle and help us deal with issues that come up that we need to help Sylwek out with. It can be academic concerns at school.

It can be things that happen outside of school. What about this one of time? Remember we talked about that?

Mm. Like, now it's time…

To eat.

To eat.

Sylwek is one of the students integrated into normal classrooms here as part of the district's inclusive approach to education. The circle of friends is part of that program. It not only benefits Sylwek but it also helps the other members of the circle.

There's been some positive effects for Sylwek in terms of--he's been provided with some role models. The other kids have taken on responsibility for being a member of somebody's circle that they have a real sense of wanting to help out and work with Sylwek and be with Sylwek and to be his friend.

The two-way benefits of inclusive education may be one of the biggest surprises and selling points of this special ed program. As one official said, "It's got to be a win-win situation, first for the handicapped students"…

The special needs kids now have friends that are their peers. Their language has improved. Their behavior, in many cases, has improved. And they're just generally happy.

"And for the regular ed students."

They've become much more tolerant with each other and with the handicapped child. They seem to realize that we are not all born equal and that we're here to help one another.

They've learned that it's okay to be a little bit different and that everybody's accepted and that everybody can be accepted for who they are and not on the basis of what they can or cannot do.

[singing in French]

Here at Our Lady of Lourdes School a few blocks away in nearby Waterloo, Ashley McDonald, despite being totally blind, attends classes with other first graders, and her presence in the classroom is an asset not a hindrance.

She has so much to give us, and we, in turn, have a lot to give Ashley, so it's a benefit on both parts.

We give her her hand, and then we take her somewhere because she's blind.

Uh-huh. How 'bout you?

Well, we tell her what's happening in the picture.

She plays the piano.

She plays really good.

A piano, yeah.

The piano very good.

Yeah--you guys like that?

all: Yeah.

She can play "Jingle Bells" on it.

It's hard to find anyone in this school district not in favor of inclusion or, as it's called here, integration. From top to bottom, administrators, teachers, and students say the program works.

Here, three years after its inception, integration is looked on as just a simple fact of life.

To us, it's very normal, everyday things. Students live here. They belong in the regular classroom in their home school, and programming should be provided for them. That's our basic philosophy.

While inclusive education is looked at as a progressive approach for special needs students, this type of program isn't implemented without problems, concerns, and questions.

The Waterloo Separate District has had to work through all of that, sometimes on a day-to-day basis, and they seem to have found a way to work through many of the problems presented so far.

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When you first mention the concept of inclusive education to teachers, parents, and others, the initial reaction to this type of program is it can't work. The fears expressed, in many cases, are valid, honest concerns.

Regular ed teachers aren't prepared. Student needs--both special ed and so-called normal students--won't be met. Handicapped students will be a disruptive force in the classroom, and so on and so on.

Picnic.

Right, good for you. Good memory. What'd they have for the picnic?

Here in the Kitchener, Ontario, school district, though, inclusion is in place, and, after three years, those involved can look back on their own concerns and find that, for the most part, the fear has disappeared.

The fears that we had, I think, are very natural--fear of the unknown. But, in the course of time, the fear goes away and you're able to adjust to what you need to adjust to and feel the joys of success that are being reached for our children.

It'll help you, as a teacher, to grow and to adjust your programs, and that's the way education is going. It's individualized programming anyways, so this child with handicapped needs--you just have to meet their needs too.

Here this program appears to be quite successful, but it's not done without a lot of effort, a lot of problem solving, and, at least, a lot of support for teachers in the classroom.

We're not talking integration in the sense you take a kid and just plonk them into your classroom. There has to--that's not integration. There has to be supports in place for the children and for the teacher as well.

Teachers, understandably, can be a little fearful of major change, and what we need to do is support teachers with good in-service, good preparation, good planning, and day-to-day support through the use of auxiliary assistance.

While inclusion seems to work here in the Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario region, the question remains whether this type of program can transfer to other school districts. Certainly, integration hasn't been a smooth ride all the way here, but a lot of those questions and concerns have been answered.

For instance, how to deal with students who just aren't capable of spending an entire day in the classroom. Some students here are drawn out of class at times to take care of special needs.

A handicapped student may spend all day in class, or he may spend only about 45 minutes there, but the theory remains the same. The student is attending his home school in his home neighborhood with his peers, and the original concerns have been overcome.

The barriers aren't youngsters who don't know how to read or don't know how to talk or maybe don't know how to walk or maybe shut out because of some communication disorder.

The barrier is in teacher's minds. I think what we need to think about is providing needs-based education for children rather than asking children to fit our needs.

People come and see and say, "Like, that's great what I saw, but, you know, back home-- and those are the "yeah, buts, and if you don't want to do it, there are a million yeah, buts," you know?

You can find a million reasons not to do it, but if you are convinced it has to be done, all those "yeah, buts" begin to disappear, and you find that they can be dealt with.

Locally, the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District is looking at just what they would have to deal with to implement inclusion here. Coming up, we'll see how a pilot program is working in two local school districts.

[concert band music]

TV6 News Report on inclusive special education. It seems it always works best to learn to walk before learning to run. That appears to be the approach to local application of inclusive education.

While this program is in full force in some school districts in this country and in Canada, the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District is moving slowly to see how the program can be adapted here.

Currently, there is a pilot program taking place.

The results from that program could go a long way in determining the future of inclusion in this area.

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For Laura McCombie, seventh grade is different than any of the previous years she's spent in school. Laura attends classes with other seventh graders at the Bothwell Middle School in Marquette.

She is part of a Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District pilot program for inclusive education in this area. So far, for Laura, the program seems to work.

She's participated in all the concerts and playing tests, playing assignments. She's doing everything that all the other students are doing at this point.

She has formed some new friendships, and she's relating to her peers in a more natural way in a more normal situation. She has some good role-models--children her own age who are out there doing things.

One more sentence to go, Laura.

Laura also learns computer keyboarding skills, takes science, and has a silent reading class. She also has friends to help her.

I thought, "Well, maybe she won't fit in with other kids a whole lot," but then, once the class started a couple days, I realized that she fit in with everybody else.

She's shown us that, really, with the right kind of help and a little bit of peer tutoring, that it's available for everyone, and I guess, really, that's what we're trying to do right now is we're trying to make it more inclusive for all students.

And spend about an additional hour. We have to arrange our own transportation.

Laura's education also includes the support of a circle of friends.

Laura, going to be--Cliff is going to get you involved spending the night--leaving on Monday morning, coming home on Friday night--and I guess I would like the circle…

To this point, Laura would have carried the label of trainable mentally-impaired or TMI, and, while still handicapped, Laura's future does seem much brighter.

In the isolated situation of the special ed classroom, she was learning some very good skills, but sometimes they weren't meaningfully transferred out to the real world or to real life.

But it's not just in a large school district like Marquette where this pilot program is working. Here at the Superior Central Schools in Eben, a similar experiment has met with success.

Darci Tyner is in the ninth grade here. This is her first year in this program, which eliminated a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Marquette for special ed classes. So far for Darci, the change has been worthwhile.

I've seen a lot of progress. She's come a long way since I've started with her. I think the kids have the biggest part to do with it. She wants to do what the kids do. She likes to be just like them, so if they start something, then she wants to do the same thing.

She's talking more. She's just doing, you know--she just loves being here. She loves going to school.

Did you have any concerns going into it that maybe the kids here might tease her, make fun of her?

Oh, yes. Yes, I worry about that. I do.

Has that come about?

No. Uh-uh. No, the kids have been so good to her that--I'm sorry, I would cry if I was to tell you how good they are to her.

Darci also receives the support of a circle of friends who have noticed a change in her.

She's learning to cope with other people and be around--and groups of people. And learn how to get along with other people instead of putting her own needs first all the time.

Before, she was a lot more hyper. She'd like to move around more. And her vocabulary has expanded.

So does this mean the time is right for inclusive education? Well, Bruce Rockey coordinates the pilot program, and he believes this is something to be built on with some help from…

Parents and students and school districts who are receptive to the idea of inclusionary ed and that all people belong and that it is possible to provide appropriate education within the local school districts for all students in that school district.

When we return, a final look at inclusive education from the perspective of the representatives from the Intermediate School District who traveled to Canada to observe how inclusion works there.

I hope you will enjoy this region--Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge.

A TV6 News report on inclusive special education.

A few weeks ago, about 40 people from Marquette and Alger counties boarded a bus and struck out for Canada. The idea behind the trip was to allow representatives from the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District to see how inclusive education works in the Waterloo Separate School District in Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario.

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The tour involved about 40 people from the two counties and included administrators, teachers, parents, and students. It was an opportunity for those affected by inclusive education to see for themselves just how it was practiced in a school district with a commitment to the program.

Those people who have perhaps had a negative attitude about it have learned some things through their observations here that modified that idea and see some reality now as to what's possible.

In fact, attitudes were changed, especially among those who carried a healthy dose of skepticism with them across the border. Their attitude was affected by this district's point of view that handicapped children deserve the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.

I came her skeptical, but I have to say that I see that point of view, and I can't deny it.

I was very skeptical about what I might find down here, but--

What did you find?

Well, I found out that there are other alternatives to servicing the special needs students within the school district and also within the regular classroom.

Lori Henrickson and Coreen DesArmo are sophomores at Munising High School, and they were impressed by how the so-called regular kids pitched in.

Just how much the kids help out and everything. It was just somebody that volunteered to, I don't know, bring the kids to classes and bring them where they need to go.

And not only in school but out of school. They seem to, you know, take 'em out. You know, go to the movies or whatever and just more socialize, you know?

We want to pull together a collective statement as to what we saw, our observations.

Once the two days of visits were completed, the group sat down to summarize their observations.

We come up, now, with a statement and just discuss this within about five minutes.

I rated that higher than this number of not totally an observation.

A final report on the trip offered an overall positive evaluation of what was seen in Canada and what could be done here with the proper commitment and support.

It really has to have a big commitment, and that's time, that's money, that's people. The support seemed to be the basic item. If the support was there, the model was workable.

It could work anywhere if people wanted to make it work. You have to want it to work. That's the only reason it works here.

It doesn't work here because there's anything magic. It's that the people want it to work, and they believed it would, and it is.

So does inclusive education work? 00:19:45:13 00:19:47:01 Well, in the case of this district, 00:19:47:02 00:19:48:14 it apparently does. 00:19:48:15 00:19:51:01 It works with a lot of effort and a strong commitment 00:19:51:02 00:19:53:06 to individual rights and the belief 00:19:53:07 00:19:54:25 that everyone deserves the best shot 00:19:54:26 00:19:56:09 at life they can get. 00:19:56:10 00:19:59:25 And for the educators here, the effort has its rewards. 00:19:59:26 00:20:01:09 - The attitude change that has taken place 00:20:01:10 00:20:04:10 in our system in almost four years now 00:20:04:11 00:20:06:11 is incredible. 00:20:06:12 00:20:07:27 It could not have been anticipated, 00:20:07:28 00:20:09:02 could not have been planned for. 00:20:09:03 00:20:10:15 As a matter of fact, quite honestly, 00:20:10:16 00:20:14:06 I didn't dream that what we've done so far 00:20:14:07 00:20:15:14 was even possible-- 00:20:15:15 00:20:17:16 talking about the way people treat one another, 00:20:17:17 00:20:19:07 the way they work together-- 00:20:19:08 00:20:21:08 really dramatic and positive change. 00:20:22:24 00:20:24:22 - But is Upper Michigan ready for this change? 00:20:24:23 00:20:27:07 Well, that depends on who you talk to. 00:20:27:08 00:20:28:24 Inclusive education still has 00:20:28:25 00:20:30:15 something to prove to its skeptics, 00:20:30:16 00:20:32:11 but one thing is for certain, 00:20:32:12 00:20:34:05 nearly everyone who saw inclusion work 00:20:34:06 00:20:36:00 at the Waterloo Separate School District 00:20:36:01 00:20:38:10 came away with a feeling that it could work elsewhere, 00:20:38:11 00:20:39:22 including here. 00:20:39:23 00:20:41:12 To do that, though, there would have to be 00:20:41:13 00:20:44:00 a shift in attitude and a commitment similar 00:20:44:01 00:20:46:29 to what's taken hold in the Kitchener-Waterloo region 00:20:47:00 00:20:48:24 There it comes down to respect 00:20:48:25 00:20:51:01 and simple, fundamental human rights. 00:20:51:02 00:20:54:06 That is children, all children, have the same rights, 00:20:54:07 00:20:56:18 and just because a child may have a handicap, 00:20:56:19 00:20:59:10 it shouldn't keep him or her from realizing 00:20:59:11 00:21:02:01 their own capabilities and a chance for a shot 00:21:02:02 00:21:04:05 at whatever their dream may be. 00:21:04:06 00:21:07:06 Perhaps all it really takes is looking at special education 00:21:07:07 00:21:09:01 from a different point of view. 00:21:09:02 00:21:11:09 For all of us here at TV6, good night. 00:21:11:10 00:21:13:01 [Carly Simon's "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of"] 00:21:13:02 00:21:17:00 - [singing] Don't look at yourself in the same old way. 00:21:18:05 00:21:19:29 Take another picture. 00:21:23:06 00:21:28:12 Shoot the stars off in your own backyard. 00:21:28:13 00:21:30:22 Don't look any further, 00:21:30:23 00:21:33:22 And you will see 00:21:33:23 00:21:39:00 It's the stuff that dreams are made of. 00:21:39:01 00:21:43:27 It's the slow and steady fire. 00:21:43:28 00:21:49:09 It's the stuff that dreams are made of. 00:21:49:10 00:21:54:21 It's your heart and soul's desire. 00:21:54:22 00:21:59:23 It's the stuff that dreams are made of. 00:21:59:24 00:22:05:01 It's the sails against the sky. 00:22:05:02 00:22:10:03 It's the stuff that dreams are made of. 00:22:10:04 00:22:15:11 It's the reason we are alive. 00:22:22:11 00:22:28:08 The feeling here tonight.