ParentSquareInclusion
Inclusion
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guarantees all children the right to free appropriate public education. That includes education for disabled students in the least-restrictive environment possible—not segregated and sequestered away from their peers.
Inclusion involves supporting students with disabilities through individual learning goals, accommodations, and modifications so that they are able to access the general education curriculum (in the general education classroom) and be held to the same high expectations as their peers.
Research shows that students with and without disabilities benefit both socially and academically from inclusion. Inclusion has benefits for students, teachers, and families. High school students with disabilities achieve better outcomes in inclusive academic settings: Study examines results of special education placements in Indiana schools (Indiana University, Sept. 15, 2022)
Watch this video to meet Lily & Jordy, two students with special needs who have thrived while participating in an inclusive environment.
so we've been including students with disabilities for over 30 years we continue to develop that and we continue to see fantastic results here at Discovery Middle School we value inclusion because it's one of the best parts of what we do here this year we're really fortunate to have a student on our seventh grade true living Squad her name was Lily she just happens to have an exceptional need Lily is a very big ball of energy in practice in games she's always smiling they always spend time with my sister
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friends and want to hang out with you guys and and I love you so much right before we perform for our big competition she made everybody feel like we would do amazing on that very special day and on the bus she was really funny um what's your favorite song Lily Let It Go in Frozen [Applause] [Music] Jordan or Jordy to most people is at Bittersweet Elementary and he is a fourth grader he has something called spina bifida so Jordy wanted to be able to use the GaGa ball pit and on the first probably week of school we
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discussed him not being able to get into the GaGa ball pit due to the lack of accessibility I did some research and found that there is an accessibility gate so I approached the PTO and they were happy to contribute the funds to fund our gate I'm a previous special ed teacher so that's very close to my heart so is that we all kids can access playground equipment and it allowed us to provide an opportunity to be able to do that for all students so all the students at Bittersweet can access the
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GaGa ball pit which is like the favorite playground toy he wants me to come out and play with him so I'm going to have to take a minute or two out of my my daily routine to come out here and play learn how to play Gaga pit because I never never did it before [Music]