Mia’s Story: An Inclusion Experience (Video)

Jun 2019 | Length: 8:20 mins
From the Inclusion Collaborative-The Child Development Center at San Jose State: Within 2 months Mia was included in this preschool classroom, she had learned her classroom expectations, built academic & social skills, and made an impact on everyone in her classroom. Her teacher, parent and preschool coordinator shared their insights about strategies used to make this happen.

Dad’s Don’t Count Chromosomes (Video)

Jun 2019 | Length: 4:09 mins
“We knew we’d never be able to match the mums’ ability to tug on the heart strings of the world so we went for some good-humoured competition instead! Dads who have children with additional needs are extremely under-represented and under-supported in this world and play a huge part in advocating for our children. We wanted to take the opportunity to shout from the rooftops how much our children are loved and welcome in our lives and how, just like the mums, we wouldn’t change a thing.”

ED Talks: What Success Looks Like (Video)

Mar 2019 | Length: 20:59 mins

Excellent story worth the time to watch. Explains why every kid no matter how complex the disability belongs with his friends in his home school in regular ed classrooms. Success story or inclusion! CAK
How can we create success for children and youth with the most complex needs? Drawing on a lifetime of stories and experiences, Jennifer talks about the magic that happens by simply establishing a new paradigm of strength-based thinking. This new way of thinking can support children who historically have been placed in self-contained, segregated settings to be successfully included in general education classrooms.

What Success Looks Like by Jennifer Sommerness was part of the March 2019 #EDTalksMN event on Creating Inclusive Classrooms.

Elementary school students are learning sign language to support their classmate (Video)

Jun 2019 | Length: 2:39 mins
Believe it or not, at Dayton Consolidated Elementary, the public school, talking like Morey has become all the rage. Kids there have started to learn sign language.

Axel (Video)

Published: Dan Habib, 2013 | Length: 16:39 mins

This short film focuses on Axel Cortes and the staff at Idelhurst Elementary School in Somersworth, NH. Axel is a fifth grader with autism who is non-verbal and exhibited significant behavioral challenges when he arrived at school. Axel came to Idelhurst during his 5th grade year from another school where he was exclusively in self-contained settings and was being taught preschool/kindergarten level. Through effective implementation of supports – including AAC, UDL, RtI, social stories, visual schedules and positive behavioral supports – Axel was able to learn 5th grade general education curriculum in a general education classroom within a few months. His challenging behaviors also decreased, and he thrived through interaction and engagement with ‘typical’ peers. Once Axel had an effective means of communication, the staff found that Axel was was bilingual and bi-literate (his family speaks Spanish at home).

This film illustrates the potential for students with significant cognitive disabilities to achieve high academic outcomes. The film has received support from the National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC).

Free Spirit Publishing

Whether at home, school, or out in the world, all kids face challenges in their lives. No matter how many choices, changes, and opportunities young people encounter, Free Spirit has had the same mission for more than 30 years: to provide children and teens—and the adults who care for and about them—with the tools they need to think for themselves, overcome challenges, and make a difference in the world.

I’m Happy-Sad Today: Making Sense of Mixed Together Feelings by Lory Britain
Happy and also sad. Excited but nervous too. Feeling friendly with a little shyness mixed in. Mixed feelings are natural, but they can be confusing. There are different kinds of happy—the quiet kind and the “noisy, giggly, jump and run” kind. And there are conflicting feelings, like proud and jealous, frustrated and determined. With gentle messaging and charming illustrations, a little girl talks about her many layered feelings, ultimately concluding, “When I have more than one feeling inside me, I don’t have to choose just one. I know that all my feelings are okay at the same time.” A special section for adults presents ideas for helping children explore their emotions, build a vocabulary of feeling words, know what to do if they feel overwhelmed, and more.

Supporting Inclusive Practices (SIP) Project

We are funded by the California Department of Education, Special Education Division, through Riverside County Office of Education and El Dorado County and Charter SELPA. We also partner with various university and technology partners to provide the best in research and technological support to our grantees. SIP’s purpose is to provide support and technical assistance to local education agencies (LEAs) to increase the amount of time that students with disabilities are included in general education settings, especially in preschool. For 2018-19, SIP has 8 grantees who are designated as ‘Exemplar’ and 28 grantees who are committed to moving towards a model of inclusion. The Exemplar grantees are assigned a group of up to 3 other grantees to mentor and guide on the path to inclusion. For a complete description of the SIP see the Edge Newsletter Spring 2018 (PDF).

A Critical Assessment of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study at 20 Years

June 2019
This year marks the 20th anniversary of publication in this journal of the first of many articles on the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) research by Drs. Felitti, Anda, and colleagues.1 As we celebrate the impact of this seminal research, it is also imperative to assess critically its serious limitations: an unrepresentative study population and narrow operationalization of childhood adversity lead to undercounting adverse experiences and misrepresenting their social distribution. Placing ACEs research—and the movement it has generated—in the wider contexts provided by the social determinants of health framework,2 and by the rapidly growing biology and neuroscience of early childhood adversity,3, 4, 5 can enrich ACEs research and extend its impact to shaping primary prevention policies that address social and economic conditions producing adversity.

Embedded Instruction for Early Learning: Tools for Teachers – California

The Embedded Instruction grant connects the DRDP (2015; California Department of Education 2016) assessment to curriculum and instructional practices to strengthen the relationship between assessment and instruction and provide planned and intentional instruction for children with disabilities during everyday activities. Local educational agencies (LEAs) within California will work with experts and researchers in the area of embedded instruction to pilot these techniques and practices in their early childhood programs.

Inclusion from Square One

This website launched in April 2019 connects a group of inclusion advocates, including Inclusive Class, ParaEducate, and Think Inclusive. This proactive group promoting inclusion reaches out using the hashtag, #BetterTogether, through social media to reach the audience of people outside of inclusion and disability awareness. #BetterTogether is an opportunity to share resources between all of our different organizations and strengthen the community of inclusion in education in the United States and Canada. The website holds thoughtful commentary and recommendations for inclusion. Below are a sample of posts.

Mia’s Story: An Inclusion Experience (Video)