Observation of Middle School Inclusion

7/28/2019 Observation of Middle School Inclusion

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RUNNING HEAD: OBSERVATION OF MIDDLE SCHOOL INCLUSION 1

Observation of Middle School Inclusion

Terri L. Meadows Armstrong

Azusa Pacific University


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OBSERVATION OF MIDDLE SCHOOL INCLUSION 2

Abstract

This paper explores the connections between the text used in Azusa Pacific Universitys Special

Education Class 521 and the observations made of a middle school special education student in a

general education elective. The articles are referenced as connections are made to what actions,

accommodations, modifications and social relationships are documented. In the paper, the

Special Day Class (SDC) was not specifically observed, but visited briefly and discussed. The

observation took place on one day in a middle school, primarily in the Speech and Drama class,

secondarily in the Band classroom. The general education teacher was interviewed regarding her

role in the collaboration; the special education teacher was consulted regarding how the Speech

and Drama class assignments meet the students Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals.

There is a personal connection to the classroom observed because it is the former classroom of

the report writer from 1999, when inclusion at Jepsen Middle School was far less formal and

more voluntary.


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Before The Observation

A couple of weeks ago, I was spending time with my Mother in my hometown and made

arrangements to go back to my previous classroom to observe the Speech and Drama class.

They are still doing inclusion with the county SDC that we did fourteen years ago. The special

education teacher has since changed since my time as a teacher at Jepsen Middle School. The

district has improved quite a bit since my early days in that they are pushing for even more

inclusion and are rallying for a more blended mix of general education and special education

students. When I was teaching, we had what Snell and Brown would call inconsistent access to

inclusive classrooms in that my first experience was a voluntary situation and wasnt part of my

students IEPs (2011). I always felt they had a very strong Special Education department in the

district office, and it seems they have really embraced the inclusion movement. According to

Smith, Polloway, Patton, and Dowdy, that under IDEA, schools are required to seek out and

implement appropriate educational services to students with disabilities, regardless of the

severities, and they are to be education with their nondisabled peers as much as possible and

involve general education teachers directly in their education (2012). This has clearly been a

massive improvement since 1999 when teachers were just integrating their classrooms on a

voluntary basis.

In 1999, I had my first classroom in my hometown of Vacaville, California. I taught 7th

grade English and the Speech and Drama elective. The Solano County Office of Education had

been in the process of rearranging assigned schools with the various districts within the county

and my school had recently added a Special Day Class. As a young teacher, I was open to trying


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anything and learning. The SDC teacher, Cindy, and I thought wed trybringing in a couple of

students from her class into the Speech and Drama class. We took a very fractured approach,

according to Snell, and I was certainly mislabeling what we did as inclusion (Snell and Brown

2011), but at the time, I didnt know that to be the case. It came from a good place and it was

appreciated. My student with autism had very happy parents, one a special education teacher

himself, and they sent me a very heartfelt letter which I still have today.

My first inclusion experience was a very informal experiment that turned into something

very special for the class, the SDC students, Cindy and me. The general education kids were

introduced to two special needs students, one with autism and the other with a traumatic brain

injury. It was quite humbling for them and it was the first time many of them had spent any

quality time with a special needs individual. Cindy loved it because it gave two of her students a

chance to get out of their own classroom and to be exposed to new people and situations. And

for me, it led to setting up similar informal situations in the other public school district I later

worked in and to finally getting the Special Education credential. I was thrilled to be able to

return to the school I had attended as both a student and a teacher, to observe a student from the

SDC included into the Speech and Drama class. Snell and Brown make the case that progress is

too slow and the treatment of special education students is primitive in comparison to the

progress made in general education. Is a special education just being present in the class? Are

they separated and taught primarily by the paraprofessional? Are they just dragged through the

motions? What is the value and consistency in what they are learning? (2011). My student will

be an interesting case study in how his education stacks up to Snells observations.


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Discussion of Bob

The student I observed is an 8th

grade male with Downs Syndrome. He is a delightful

person who loves hotdogs, playing cymbals in the school band and Spongebob Squarepants. For

purposes of referring to him throughout this paper, Ill call him Bob, inspired by his Spongebob

Squarepants t-shirt he wore on observation day and backpack he carries. I think he would like

that. He has a warm sense about him and is joyful. Statistically, he will likely not add any other

classes outside of electives. According to Turnbull, Turnbull, Erwin, Soodak (2010), Bob is

part of the limited 18% who are receiving any general education instruction, despite the spirit of

the IDEA. However, Bobs continuum of services meets the plan laid out by Smith (Smith et al.

2012) as his range of placements include general education, special education and he is placed

in the least restrictive environments while at school.

Academically, he benefits from praise, encouragement and positive reinforcements. He

does require redirection, but takes it positively. He performs stronger with frequent feedback

rather than occasional recognition. Functionally, he is independent at a primary grade level, but

he doesnt seem deterred by that fact. He is comfortable with others reading to him, stopping

frequently to summarize what has been read. The special education teacher, Melinda, is very

positive, yet firm. She applies a very hands-off approach, allowing Bob the independence to

make his own behavior choices. He can be a bit stubborn, and often prefers to walk slowly

enjoying the sun or rain instead of being in class.


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In the Speech and Drama class, Bob is learning about public speaking and dramatic

presentation. Some who question the usefulness of inclusion may wonder why this would be an

important skill for Bob to learn since he is still struggling with responses and self-expression

beyond six words long. One of the strongest suggestions from Snell and Brown is that idea of

shedding the notion that the student must participate at the same level or necessarily should have

the same learning outcomes as his or her classmates without disabilities; the spirit of IDEA and

the heart of special education refers to the individualized ways in which we provide instruction

to students in an effort to respond to their unique learning characteristics resulting from their

disability (2011). For his Speech and Drama class, Bobs material output is part of an IEP goal

to follow a sequence of three things and to use 4-6 word sentences to communicate. He can also

practice his reading and writing skills. His measureable goals and short term objectives are

specific to an improvement in his writing and written expression. He is also working on

sequencing pictures into a cohesive story. To increase his reading, he is practicing sight words,

which, when used in the Speech and Drama class, are added to his index card stack.

Bob has a small cardboard strip, approximately 3 inches by 6 inches, with a Velcro strip

running down the center. Throughout the class, he selects a picture representation of what is

happening and places it on the Velcro strip. Later, when he returns to work on his goal of

sequencing, he will tell about what happened in Speech and Drama class using this prompt. This

is a variation on the suggested schedule prompt by Snell and Brown (2011).


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I was very impressed with the classroom. It clearly meets Smith et al. (2012) standards of

sound organizational and management systems and clear physical, procedural, instructional and

behavioral management. When one enters, they instantly understand that a lot is expected of the

students because a lot has gone into the room to make it successful. The teacher, Jeanine

Thiessen, keeps it organized, neat and is in full control of the class. There is not a collection of

paper clutter and the old fading bulletin boards of a teacher who has given up. The room is

vibrant and there has clearly been thought put into the structure and layout. The whole room is

very appropriate for learning and clearly mindful of a special needs student who may struggle

with extra distractions. The desks are kept clean and in orderly rows that form a U-shape with

the teachers podium and stool the focal point. Everything is conductive to supporting student

learning. She is also quite mindful of Bob at all times. His desk is in the front row, right by the

front door. When giving directions, she will try to stand in front of Bob. If she is able to repeat

her steps in a more modified approach for him, she will. If not, the special education teacher,

leans in and repeats the directions very clearly, no more than three steps, and allows Bob to work

his way through the directions.

There seemed to be a tremendous ease amongst the class. I believe this is a direct result

of the district pushing toward inclusion. I consider myself very fortunate that I was able to

observe a situation that is supported and successful. The general education students are quite

accustomed to special education students being together in the same classroom. A quote from

the Turnbull text is especially apropos: when youre in a school that has a lot of special


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needs kids the entire staff has a different kind of outlook. It is a fairer idea of how to look at

[those] children its part of the schools culture (Turnbull et al. 2010)

This has changed greatly since Cindy and I informally included two students. Im not in

any way suggesting that Cindy and I started some transformative movement. I am just pleased to

see the transition to a more formal inclusion that is happening and the connection to the IEP

goals. The Foods teacher at the time made it clear she didnt want any special needs children in

her class for sanitary reasons. I dont see that attitude being tolerated at Jepsen today.

According to Smith et al. (2012) the percentages of students who support special needs

students in general education classrooms is quite encouraging. 88% say students with intellectual

disabilities can make friends with nondisabled students and the same number see them

participating in sports; 57% believe in their special needs peers academic abilities and feel they

can learn the academic subjects easily; there are high percentages who feel that there could be

distractions and loss of teacher focus on general education students, but students like Bob can be

a catalyst in bringing those numbers down.

In fact, according to a study by the University of Utah (McDonnell, Mathot-Buckner,

Thorson and Fister, 2001), there is a growing research base on the positive social and educational

benefits of serving students with moderate and severe disabilities in general education classes.

They also found that students without disabilities can be effective in teaching a wide range of

academic and developmental skills to this group of students. So, although one might understand

a general education parent who, such as in the example presented by Turnbull et al. (2010) had


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concerns about the disruption of her daughters second grade class by a special education student

who disrupted multiple times per hour, the research shows that when these students reach middle

school age, the blending of special and general education is actually a benefit to all, not just

some.

Observing Bob

The first activity was to take roll. Every student says present when their name is

called. Bob was very quick to respond to his name. He was so focused, he anticipated his name

and called out present just as she said his name. Next, she read a couple of housekeeping

items for the students regarding extra credit and other general classroom business. From there,

she moved into a quick review of what they had recently learned, including a few vocabulary

words. As she said the words, Melinda (who is sitting in a chair to the side of Bob) would put an

index card with that word in front of Bob. He would quietly read the word to Melinda. Next,

Jeanine did a quick review of the class group assignment, her expectations for behavior and

progress on the project. At that point, the students began gathering their things and moving

desks. Melinda looked Bob directly in the eye and gave him three very clear directions: Take

your backpack. Find your group. Sit with them. She repeated the directions a second time, then

sat back and allowed Bob to process and attempt. He needed some assistance to find a chair with

his group, but he did work quite independently.


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That ease is was quite evident during my time in the class. The students had already

completed their study of mystery and had previously been broken into groups of five in order to

write their own short skits to perform for the class. They had been given a situation and a

general outline, but they had to fill in the story, add the characters and write the lines. This

sounds a bit harder that would normally be expected for a middle school class, but there is a lot

of discussion with the teacher. She encourages conversation and experimentation.

When I heard the days assignment, it immediately occurred to me that Bob may be

essentially sitting there for over half an hour. I was curious how that would be handled; Will

Bob be guided in by one of the teachers, or will the students bring him into the conversation? As

the group work began, the students pulled their desks into a group, naturally including Bob. He

still sat quiet. One student asked him what name hed like his character to be named. He

answered Bob. The same student said to make up a different name, but he still responded with

Bob. Melinda, the special education teacher, leaned into the group from her chair behind Bob

and rephrased the question. Referring to Spongebob, she said that this is a character and his

name is Spongebob. She explained that Bob would be playing a character and that it is important

to give that character a name. He then said Sam.

Per the University of Utah study, there is a suggestion among the findings that a

classwide peer tutoring program, combined with a multi-element curriculum and

accommodations would improve the academic levels of Bob (McDonnell et al. 2001). As time

progresses and he reaches his communication goals, I would be quite curious to evaluate the


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roles the Speech and Drama class, blending of the classmates and teamwork of the educators and

support of the parents that led to the level of success attained by Bob. As a current 8th

grader, he

still has a number of years left to reach higher levels of self-expression and responses.

Once he had selected a name, Melinda wrote the name Sam on an index card and had

Bob copy the word, then read it to her. She then took a blue highlighter and had Bob trace his

characters name. As the other students discussed their skit, Melinda made a couple of

vocabulary index cards. Anytime the word pertained to Bob, she had him trace the word in blue

highlighter. These words will become vocabulary words that Bob will learn to use in

conversation. For example, Melinda will ask him What is your characters name? To answer

her, Bob will look at the blue highlighted word cards until he can find his answer. Then he has

to respond in a complete sentence. In this scenario, Bobs expected reply would be My

character is named Sam.

The group work continued. The students came up with character names and traits, which

they wrote down in their notebooks. Bob was asked what his character likes to do. He replied

Spongebob. He was prompted again by the natural leader of his peer group. Finally, they

were able to get him to say, Play cymbals. On a piece of paper, he drew a picture of him

playing cymbals. Instead of writing, Bob draws pictures of his traits. He will write his character

name and decorate it. As the group continued, they asked Bob if he wanted to story to take place

at daytime or nighttime. He said At night. Essentially, the general education students

organized the process and allow Bob to dictate specifics through prompted questions. When


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there was approximately ten minutes were remaining of class, Jeanine gave a quick tap on her

class bell and the students moved the desks back into place and took their seats. Bob ably

participated in the clean up and returned to his desk. The teacher then told them what they

would expect for class tomorrow and by then, it was dismissal.

Later in the day, I stepped into the band classroom to listen to Bob play the cymbals. He

has his own music stand and photocopied music, which happens to be highlighted in the same

blue highlighter. This is not typical practice for marking music. That is generally done in pencil,

but clearly Bob feels secure with the blue highlighter. During band, Melinda is far more hands

off. She brings him to the class and returns for him ten minutes prior to dismissal as the chaos of

students disassembling instruments, putting away their band folders and navigating around

easily-toppled music stands would be difficult for Bob.

Before I left campus, I went to Bobs SDC room. He showed me his index cards. He

was practicing writing the words in his notebook. I spoke with Bob a bit and asked him to tell

me about his Speech and Drama class and how he liked playing cymbals. Specifically, I asked

him wh word questions, as Melinda indicated this was a goal he was working on. I asked him

what he liked about each class, how he learned to play cymbals and who are some of his class

friends.

The Interview

At the end of the school day, Jeanine was able to sit down with me and conduct the

interview. I had previously emailed her the questions, to which she responded in writing. She


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also referenced the questions as she instructed her class. What follows is a collection of her

interview responses paraphrasing the written, class comments and one-on-one conversation:

Question:What is the students disability and grade level?

Answer: Bob is an eighth grade student with Downs Syndrome.

Question: What accommodations/modifications are in place for this student? Textbook/core

curriculum, audio, visual, etc. How is the curriculum adapted?

Answer: He has his own SDC as his homebase, so anytime he feels overwhelmed or tired, he

has the choice to return. The textbook is accessed minimally, used more as a jumping off point.

The students rely heavily on portions of published stage plays and readings of speeches. When

he gets bored, he will often start talking to neighboring classmates, and the general education

students will not always know how to react. Theyve been counseled on how to model behavior

for him, but they are all 13 years old, so they cantbe expected to be models for him. They are

young students themselves and often need their own behaviors redirected.

Because of the active nature of this class, it has been a great place for him to relax open

up and work on verbal skills. During the first quarter, the class watched videos of various

speeches and read famous speeches. Students took turns reading these speeches in class after

hearing the recordings. He had a hard time sitting still through some of the longer videos, so the

special education teacher took the opportunity to work on learning to sit still, when to speak in

class and how to sit quietly. The general education students selected various subjects, wrote

their speeches and presented them in class. With the assistance of his special education teacher,


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in his SDC to meet his writing goal, he worked on a short paragraph about his favorite things

(hotdogs, playing cymbals and Spongebob) and read it to the class. He did have some prompting

from the special education teacher, but he did a very nice job. The kids applauded and cheered.

During this quarter, the class has learned about the three main genres of stage: comedy,

drama and mystery. After reading examples of each and watching some videos of stage

productions from each learned genre, the students get into groups and write their own skits. He

is a part of the group. They will ask him if he likes this or that and respect his response. They

do write lines for him, but with the assistance of his epecial education teacher, he will write his

lines on an index card (much like his speech) and when prompted, will read his lines.

Question:What is the students grade level? Instructional level?

Answer: For the core skills of reading and mathematics, he can read independently at a first

grade level and can understand and complete some second grade skills if guided in a one-to-one

setting. He can express basic understanding about the main character and one or two facts. For

example, recently he read a story about a girl who rides around town on her bike, meeting

different friends and doing different things with those she meets. When asked who the story was

about, he could answer the girl and when asked what she did, he responded ride her bike.

He is not able to give more details without prompting, and his answers from prompting are

typically yes or no responses. He will often say I dont know as a buffer to allow him

time to formulate an answer.


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He has some general science understanding, but at the basic level, such as magnets attract

and the seasons. He understands he lives in a community, and that his school and classroom are

also communities. His family is also moderately active in a local support group and he has

friends there, so he understands that this is also a community.

He can express his needs and wants. He gets along well with this classmates in both his

SDC class and his two inclusion classes- the Speech and Drama class and the band class in

which he plays cymbals.

Question: How does the student participate in general education?

Answer: He has two general education classes. He has played cymbals in the band all year long

and has been in the Speech and Drama class this semester. The class is only a semester long.

Because he did so well in the band, the thought was to introduce another course just to work on

his socialization skills. However, the teamwork and planning of both teacher has allowed Bob to

bring some of the general education work into his SDC through writing and practicing his line

from the skits.

Since his writing is covered in his SDC, his class participation is focused mainly on his

social skills. Since coming to the Speech and Drama class, he has begun to make stronger

choices in when it is ok to talk. He is becoming more aware of how the other students behave in

class and has been very good at copying what he sees in them. He seems to be doing the same

thing in band. He enjoys it and tells his classmates about how much he likes the cymbals.


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Question:How are the students day organized differently than other students in your

classroom?

Answer: This is a middle school, so all the students move from class to class throughout their

day. For his core courses, he is in a SDC. For two elective periods a day, he goes to a general

education class- band and Speech and Drama. If, for whatever reason, he is having an off day

and not adjusting to the general education environment, he can always return to his SDC and

participate in his special education class. Both classrooms are always optional for him, but he

still has a place to go that he feels comfortable.

Question: Pull out/related services? Social skills training?

Answer: In his IEP, he receives APE, OT and Speech. The special education teacher has a

social skills component to her curriculum and one of the main purposes for this class is the social

skills, in addition to the verbal skills and writing. Even if he was unable to stand in front of the

class and read his sentence or participate in the skits, he would still welcomed into the classroom

so he could be with students new to him and make some school friends among the general

education students.

Question: Does the student have any behaviors that impede learning? If so, does the student

have a behavior support plan?

Answer: His behaviors are not remarkable in that sense. He has a very positive demeanor and

is able to get along well with others. He has a sweet nature and the other students are drawn to

him. He is well liked and the other students have respect for his great efforts.


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Question:What is the students preferred learning modality?

Answer: He seems to gravitate towards auditory, which makes sense considering how much he

enjoys the band. He likes to repeat what he hears you say. When an instructor has directions to

follow, it works best if they will say one at a time and he will repeat them. He seems to follow

them better when he does this. One of his current goals is to hear three simple directions and

follow them in that order. For example, one might say stand up, walk to your group and sit with

them. When directions are kept clear and very precise, he does well. There are times when the

other students will give him more than he can remember in sequence. Over the semester, the

students have gotten better about respecting his accomplishments and being mindful of not

confusing him.

Question: What support or training has the teacher received prior to the having this student in

his/her classroom?

Answer: At her previous school, there were several SDC classrooms. Jeanine was open to joint

activities. She also has a cousin with special needs and deeply admires special education

teachers. She claims she doesnt have the proper disposition for such a classroom, but wants to

support those who do.

Question:What are the school sites attitudes/beliefs towards inclusion of students with

moderate to severe disabilities in general education classrooms?


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Answer: The school is incredibly open. The SDC classrooms are not in trailers hidden at the

back of the school. Instead, they are intermingled amongst the general education classrooms.

The special education students have the same lunch period as the general education students.

Unfortunately, there are always those teachers who have countless excuses why a special needs

student wouldnt be successful in their class. They are resistant to change or perhaps they doubt

their own strengths and abilities. Regardless, it is disheartening to know any student who wants

to try would be rejected, but when a teacher harbors resistance, they are not forced to oblige the

request. There are also parents who are not pleased that a special needs student is in their childs

general education course, for countless reasons that we know not to be necessarily true.

However, if a parent proves to be difficult enough, the school will work with them to find a

situation they prefer for their child.

Question: How does the teacher teach and promote disability awareness in her classroom?

School wide?

Answer: Prior to his attendance in class, the students received a lesson on what Down Syndrome

is exactly, what makes someone have Downs Syndrome and celebrated all that someone with

Downs is very capable of doing. They were also reminded them that there is an actress on Glee

with Downs. In general, it seems the students are familiar with the students in the SDC classes

because the district in general has been strong about blending the students and not hiding the

special education kids away.


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Question:What are the other students attitudes regarding the fully included students

participation in the general education classroom?

Answer: Due to the districts strong Special Education department in the district office and the

very common occurrence of inclusion in various stages throughout the district, the kids seem not

to be concerned. They are quite use to the blending of general and special education, which is

quite nice. Naturally some students seem to be more nurturing caregivers and fawn over him a

bit, but in general the students dont seem to regard him as anything different than classmate.

In Conclusion

In order to successfully blend special and general education, it is important to look at the

cons expressed. On a philosophical level, the inclusion model has been widely accepted,

however, also according to Smith et al. (2012), general educators are likely not trained nor have

collaboration skills necessary to successfully blend; there isnt a lot of data to support the model

working; the blending may take attention away from both student types and the special education

student may not receive the services they deserve; and, quite frankly, are general educators

trained enough since there are two separate credentials for special and general educators.

This particular assignment was quite meaningful for me. I was so thrilled to see how

supportive a district can be toward their special education students. Since 1999, I have been a big

proponent of inclusion and took every opportunity to blend my general education students with

special education students. Being back in that room brought back such warm memories for me of

my early teaching days and my two special boys from Cindys class that opened up a whole new

career for me and warmed the heart of some pretty rugged kids in my Speech and Drama class.


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It is empowering to watch Bob walk down the path paved by the Turnbulls and by the hard

battles Jay Turnbull experienced (Turnbull et al. 2010). While there are still quite a few roads to

be built, the ground has been laid and the students who are continuing the pave the road are

setting precedents that will greatly benefit those who follow.


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References

McDonnell J., Mathot-Buckner, C., Thorson N., Fister, S. (2001) Supporting the Inclusion of

Students with Moderate and Severe Disabilities in Junior High School General Education

Classes: The Effects of Classwide Peer Tutoring, Multi-Element Curriculum, and

Accommodations.Education And Treatment of Children. Vol. 24, No. 2, May 2001 page

141-160.

Smith, T., Polloway, E., Patton, J., & Dowdy, C.A. (2012). Teaching students with special needs

in inclusive settings 6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Allyn and Bacon/Pearson page 8-12,

17-18, 20, 22, 26.

Snell, M. E. & Brown, F. (2011).Instruction of students with severe disabilities, (7th ed.). Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Pearson page 9, 149-150.

Turnbull, A., Turnbull, R., Erwin, E.J., Soodak, L.C. (2010). Families, Professionals, and

Exceptionality: Positive outcomes through partnership and trust, (6th

ed.). Prentice Hall

page 78- 80, 109-110, 120-121, 178.

Documents

Observation of Middle School Inclusion