It’s no secret that I am a huge believer in inclusion in all parts of school life. Therefore I often notice mistakes that are made in all parts of the inclusion process during and after high school more than others. I understand each decision is made with good intentions as no one ever wants to see students fail, however, many students I believe could be having more in their inclusion experiences.
For example, students with an NVLD and similar disabilities should never be placed in any academic courses that are just for learning-disabled students. One reason for this is that students are known to improve their social communication skills through observation so being in a true full inclusion setting will optimize their improvement in this area. In addition, these students are often prone to face self-esteem issues, and being with just learning disabled students increases the likelihood for this to happen. Thankfully this placement appears to be less common today as it proves to be a negative.
Next, students should continue to be placed in academic courses beyond their state’s graduation requirements. This doesn’t mean you need to take real challenging courses like Physics; many schools offer less intense science and math courses . Doing this increases the likelihood for personal connections with your non-disabled peers to continue as they mostly continue taking academic core courses beyond graduation requirements. In addition, doing this helps students to see their true abilities through being able to challenge themselves. Most importantly though this increases the likelihood you will attend a college that is right for you like your other classmates typically do. Despite popular belief, inclusion does continue in college and finding the right college makes that happen.
Next is for inclusion to continue successfully in college, students with an NVLD and similar disabilities need to attend a college with coordinated or comprehensive level support. This is because coordinated and comprehensive support provides the type of academic and personal support that many need. Unfortunately many students attend colleges where only basic support is offered which causes inclusion in college to fail. Sadly today some counselors and resource room teachers don’t understand how important this is. In fact, the vast majority of disabled classmates from my school dropped out of college because they attended a college that offered only basic support. Yet, I experienced great personal and academic success by having comprehensive support at Dean College and then attended Curry College with coordinated support. While it’s true colleges with coordinated and comprehensive support sometimes are more expensive, you need to be realistic about how much support you need for inclusion to be successful in college. A good percentage of students need academic, personal, and social support for inclusion to continue successfully and this happens with coordinated and comprehensive support never basic. Basic support is strictly the federal mandated academic accommodations.
Unfortunately some districts still don’t understand that inclusion also provides you with the opportunity to find yourself and not just focus on your disability, being connected in the social world, and being able to challenge yourself like your non-disabled students. As a result, their students’ inclusion experiences can be limited to just taking the state’s main curriculum . Previously my high school was one of these schools as they placed many learning disabled students in the lowest level courses and what made it worse was the English and History courses they were being placed in were for resource students only. Unfortunately, this was not true inclusion as it limits the student’s opportunity to connect with their non-disabled classmates.
Furthermore, I was only one of three Learning disabled students in my class that took academic courses all through high school. This was because my parents understood that part of inclusion is earning the opportunity to challenge yourself academically. The colleges our counselors’ recommended for disabled students didn’t follow inclusion with how limited the number of colleges recommended were compared to the non-disabled students and furthermore they didn’t have the support most needed. Non-disabled students are always going to have choices but there are more great opportunities for us than some think. Luckily, my family found the right college(s) for me where I saw immediately that inclusion can be successful in college.
Now to wrap up Part A, making decisions for inclusion is never easy so it’s important to speak up about what you want your inclusion experience to be. I do believe your support team will be very supportive of your decision. The good thing is more districts are understanding what inclusion really means so more are individualizing plans for each based on both their academic and behavioral abilities. Doing this people will see that students with an NVLD and similar disabilities can expand inclusion to a deeper level than some previously thought.
Eileen
Eileen is a Project Social Ambassador and blogger for The NVLD Project. She loves helping others understand they can achieve their goals and dreams through hard work and dedication.
