Mishawaka school in ninth year of full inclusion

BY CINDY BEVINGTON

Kendallville News Sun, October 22, 2000

MISHAWAKA - As the parents of 7-year-old Benjamin Sutton battled with
Lakeland School Corp. over their son's special education placement last
week, the Mishawaka/Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation - located
two counties to the west - continued to educate its students with special
needs in a fully-inclusive environment.

It's been nine years since the school system adopted the program in an effort
to better meet the needs of their special education students.

It's been nine years since they worked to convince parents and teachers such
a system was best for the children involved.

And, according to Pamela von Rähl, executive director of Joint Services for
Special Education, it's been a great nine years.

The move reflected Penn-Harris' philosophy that integration is better for all
students, and that all students belong in their neighborhood schools, said von
Rähl.

"I first thought about suggesting a change when it began to haunt me when I
heard teachers talking about what kids were not capable of with self-
contained programs, that they do not bring the kids to higher levels. And, we
had so many students going to South Bend for the self-contained programs.

"Before you talk about inclusion, though, you have to understand that
inclusion in every school district means something different. In fact, in my
mind, full inclusion doesn't mean 100 percent of the day - whether that is for
instructional purposes or dignity purposes, such as taking a child away from
the class for painful physical therapy.

"That's because, no matter how you present it, you always have issues you've
never encountered before - and that leads into problem-solving and deciding
what makes sense. In our schools, we simply decided it made sense for
these kids to go to their neighborhood schools."

Penn-Harris-Madison studied inclusion models for three years before
designing its own program.

Once the study group decided to recommend inclusion to the school board, it
faced another challenge: convincing teachers, as well as parents of disabled
children, to embrace the change.

"We had kids with severe and profound disabilities being transported to
South Bend," von Rähl said. "We had some with visual and hearing
impairments. We did a lot of training with teachers, explaining everything,
basically that we believed kids belong in their neighborhood schools. We did
the same with parents because many parents felt very, very safe with a self-
contained program.

"We had one parent who was very much against his son leaving that
program. He was convinced the child would never fit in a regular classroom,
would never be able to do things 'normal' kids do.

"The general education teachers were really afraid of it at first. We had
teachers who said that, if they wanted to be special ed teachers, they would
have gone into special ed. But I really believe the day and age of special
needs kids being segregated from the general education population has
gone by.

"So, we addressed those things, and we put language in contract
agreements about working together on this.

Orientation meetings with teachers, parents and school-wide assemblies
informed everyone of what was going to happen. Video presentations added
to the acclimation process.

Next, special education students began visiting their new classrooms and
meeting their new peers. "The kids were great," von Rähl said. "We took
students with the most significant disabilities first. The kids were caring and
compassionate and wanted to interact with them.

"They even wanted to push their wheelchairs."

Special needs in class Mishawaka Penn-Harris schools, a "program
assistant" is assigned to every special education student. The assistant is an
aide, not a personal assistant - meaning the child isn't locked into being with
an adult all of the time.

The assistant may help the child in a variety of ways, from helping with in-
class assignments to assisting him in toilet training or eating. This frees the
classroom teacher to teach, and gives the special needs child the specific
help he or she needs.

The time an assistant is with the child depends on the child's needs. A child
who needs help with toileting, eating and mobility may require the assistant
up to two-thirds of the school day, von Rähl said.

Despite the assistants, von Rähl said when the school adopted inclusion nine
years ago it found some cost is offset by the savings of not having to
transport students outside their neighborhood schools. Schools shouldn't
assume it costs more, she said. "You just use your resources differently."

The successes of Penn-Harris' program are apparent: the child whose father
was against inclusion now is the high school football team's manager.

"And, his dad is tickled pink," von Rähl said. "Other successes, we'll see in
the kids, later, when they grow up. The special needs kids will be challenged
more to their potential, and the others will be different adults; they will be
people who are cognitive of special needs people when they vote, and when
they make laws, it will be people they think of, not 'disabled.'