Support Services and Best Practices

DR. EDILBERTO I. DIZONDR. EDILBERTO I. DIZON

The “purists” - sticking to the original guidelines - do not favor the presence of support persons other than the regular classroom teacher in the regular class.

They also frown at practices that pull out the child from the regular class for SPED class or one-on-one intervention/remediation sessions.

All these according to them, defeat the purpose of inclusion as they highlight the child’s differentness.

Considering the severe backlash and intensely negative feedbacks resulting from mishandling inclusionary programs (primarily due to lack of teacher and staff training and negligible/meager preparation), many practitioners have taken the matter of adaptations/modifications upon themselves to address concerns/issues/problems.

Among these adaptations are the accommodation of support persons in the classroom; the shift from highly academic to more psychosocial concerns; and, the shift from achievement tests to multisource evaluation, including performance-based measures.

The clamor for pass-up promotion – not just move up – that which will do away with retention/failure/grade repetition will continue to prevail. This must not, however, send the wrong signal for rewarding mediocrity!

After all, the bottom line of this all is exercising intelligent inclusion. This puts now the classroom teacher in the forefront/at the helm toward success or failure of the child.

The involvement of other professionals especially in auxiliary-services centers like therapy centers, speech or behavior clinics will continue to be helpful to CSEN provided a system of collaboration is established and pursued.

Ancillary services (within-school support system) may not be as palatable especially when done inside the classroom as these generate labels and stigmas and differentiate them from their regular peers. All these do not synchronize with the concept of “pure” inclusion.

The home remains pivotal in The home remains pivotal in

pursuing the goals of pursuing the goals of normalization. Parents and home normalization. Parents and home members, therefore, need to members, therefore, need to collaborate with the school so that collaborate with the school so that they get to provide the child with they get to provide the child with normalization experiences in the normalization experiences in the community.community.

As mentioned earlier, we are not inclined towards segregation of the child in school. It is, however, still a parent’s decision to pursue a transition program for the CSEN: employment, further job training or further education through schooling.

As the child grows in age, wisdom and maturation, the prospects of employment, marriage, and raising a family come to the fore. We educators and parents aspire as much as the child does, even much more.

The prospects of housing, health concerns and the good times/prosperity get much nearer to achieve. The proximity between dreaming and actualizing has become much closer. Before, we kept special-needs children away, even hid them in attics, closets and even in cages!

We rarely got them to enjoy life’s amenities, nay, have their grand

times in malls, beaches, video arcades, parties and moviehouses.

Some were doubly unlucky as they

had to age in institutions.

But not anymore! Community living with provision of work training/apprenticeship, recreation/respite, further schooling, employment and still remain with their families (and even marriage and raising a family!) has become a reality.

It is now normalization from womb to tomb!

I have come to a frighteningconclusion

That I am the decisive element

in the classroom.

It’s my personal approach

that creates the climate.

It is my daily mold that makes the

weather.As a teacher, I

possess a tremendous

powerto make a child’s

life miserable or

joyous.

I can be a tool of torture

or an instrument of inspiration.

I can humiliate or humor,

hurt or heal..

In all situations, it is my

response that decides

whether a crisis will be

escalated or de-escalated and a child

humanized or dehumanized

Haim Ginott