Effective Inclusion Activities for High School Students with Multiple Disabilities

Abstract

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) states that schools have a duty to educate children with disabilities in general education classrooms. In the past, older students with multiple disabilities, who were also blind or had low vision, spent the majority of their day in self-contained classrooms, receiving specialized services and instruction. IDEA and the Virginia Department of Education require more inclusion in the regular classroom. IDEA states that each state must establish procedures to assure that, to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities ... are educated with children who are not disabled, and that special education, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. (20 U.S.C. 1412 Section 612 [a][5]). It can be a challenge to provide meaningful learning opportunities for students with multiple disabilities in the general high school curriculum. To support the mandate for children with disabilities to be educated with children who are not disabled, two high school students with multiple disabilities, including blindness, enrolled in an 11th-grade U.S. History class. They were supported by an instructional assistant and a teacher of students with visual impairments. The parents of these students were adamant that their children should not be required to sit in class and listen to lectures or to memorize the history text. They agreed to allow their children to participate in this class if they could engage in activities they enjoyed and not be ridiculed by the regular education students. Both sets of parents were interviewed about student-parent goals using Choosing Options arm Accommodations for Children (COACH): A Guide to Planning Inclusive Education (Giangreco, Cloninger, & Iverson, 1993). The main goals that both sets of parents wanted their children to achieve were greater independence in daily living skills. THE STUDENTS Mary, aged 18, has cerebral palsy, a severe visual field loss, and a traumatic brain injury as a result of a fall at age 7 months. She spends three hours a day in a self-contained classroom for students with multiple disabilities. Mary complains that school is boring and gets frustrated with repetitive tasks. Although she can recognize signs in the environment (such as for the restroom and the elevator), she cannot read. She enjoys participating in orientation and mobility (O&M) instruction, shopping, eating, and listening to music. She also enjoys going to Goodwill for prevocational training in the afternoons. Her mainstream activity is lunch. Carol, aged 17, is totally blind because of complications of retinopathy of prematurity and has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Although she tikes the routine of the self-contained classroom and enjoys prevocational sorting tasks, she refuses to participate in braille reading or writing. Like Mary, her mainstream activity is lunch. Carol enjoys O&M and the opportunity to listen to music. Both girls have experience putting together Power Point presentations that include pictures and music. THE CLASS U.S. History was selected as an appropriate inclusion class because it offers so many learning opportunities that do not have to be defined and presented in the traditional pencil-and-paper and chalkboard manner. The classroom teacher was enthusiastic about a cooperative learning experience for her students and believed that there is always a functional application of major points in the curriculum. She and the teacher of students with visual impairments selected six major themes: Native peoples, colonial America, the African American experience, westward expansion, immigration, and America at war. …