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Summer is over. Fall will soon be here. School is in full motion and everyone is adjusting to the new normal. Which, in Arkansas, now includes a plan for full inclusion of students with disabilities into the general education classrooms. (Notice, I didn’t say ALL students with disabilities.) This idea of change has been talked about for a full year by DESE leadership and all summer by frantic parents. The concept has been shared and re-shared on social media, with entire pages set up to fight the new guidance.
My own student with autism spent 10 years in a self-contained classroom. From third grade to his final moments as a senior he was schooled in a segregated setting with limited access to non-disabled peers. He was safe there. He was comfortable in his surroundings. He had a routine set in granite. I loved it at the time. Looking back now I can see much more clearly that while he received an academic education, he did not steadily improve in areas of communication. He did not build on his limited social skills. He was not challenged to grow as a person. Because he was with a small group of students and two wonderful teachers who knew his cues and body language, he did not have to utter a word if he didn’t want to. His school days were spent with the same classmates, an identical routine from one day to the next, with very few changes or stimuli. Safe, comfortable, and opposite of progressive. It’s no wonder he was prone to flip a desk or chair now and then.
Change is sometimes scary, and growth can be challenging. New concepts are sometimes hard to embrace in the beginning. If we settle for routine comfort without trying new things, we might miss out on something wonderful.
-Shelby Knight, Executive Director
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