Special Edge Newsletter: Winter-Spring 2023: Working Toward the Promise of Inclusion and A Family Inclusion Story

URL: https://www.sipinclusion.org/2023/05/23/the-special-edge-newsletter-winter-spring-2023/

The Special Edge is a publication of Supporting Inclusive Practices (SIP) under the Special Education Division of the California Department of Education. The stories in this issue of The Special Edge are about changes in California’s educational landscape. They are stories of process. Each narrative captures a moment in time that emerged from our past successes and even (or especially) our failures. And as you read this, the events and efforts the stories recount are already directing and shaping the future. I am convinced that the changes explored in these pages promise remarkably improved conditions and opportunities for students with disabilities—and thus for all students.  Heather Calomese, Director Special Education Division California Department of Education.

This edition of the Special Edge includes two articles by Cindy Arstein-Kerslake, Coordinator of the MAP to Inclusion and Belonging… Making Access Possible Project. “Working Toward the Promise of Inclusion” explores current efforts underway in California that may help to expand inclusive options for children with disabilities. “A Family Inclusion Story” describes the success of Lori Dotson, certified Inclusion Facilitator, in including her child with multiple disabilities in an inclusive general education setting in the same elementary school where their child without disabilities was attending. The story highlights the positive impact of inclusion on the child, family and other children.