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Enjoy New Ideas, Stories and Concepts
Send us your ideas, articles, stories and concepts. We will place your story on our web site and will consider publishing the work for if we and others are interested. The Spirit of Inclusion : Watch this intriguing YouTube Video. You will need to watch it twice! Heading for Inclusion (small word doc) Submission to the 2007 review into Primary Education. Heading for Inclusion is an organisation of education leaders dedicated to the principles and practice of inclusive education. Heading for Inclusion welcomed the opportunity to contribute to a discussion on the future of Primary Education. 'Our simple message is that all children have the right to receive a world class education at the heart of their own community – in a fully inclusive local community school (Even the United Nations shares our view!)'. Nigel Utton: 2007 The All Age Centre for Independent Living (small word doc) If you are interested in attending a meeting to take this further contact: mich@michathome.wanadoo.co.uk Undercover Teams (web link) : (Bill Hubbard: New Zealand) A low-intrusion restorative approach to bullying. Undercover Teams are a restorative adaptation of the influential and far-sighted work in the early 90’s of Barbara Maines and George Robinson of the UK. They labeled their support group approach to addressing school bullying as “No-Blame”. At the time and for years later, some people believed that this process was the single answer to school bullying that everyone had been looking for. Undercover Teams represent a unique tool that fits within the family of 'restorative responses' . Undercover Teams are a 'targeted approach to - repairing relationships. Viewed using a restorative perspective, Undercover Teams (UTs) may not be regarded by some practitioners as ‘fully restorative’ because the victims of bullying and the offending students are not brought face-to-face as part of the process however this fact alone should not undermine the worth of UTs. Rather, UTs can represent a niche process for supporting young people who may be fearful at the prospect of participating in a restorative conference situation. For students who have been bullied for much or all of their school lives, this can often be the case. Mike Green, who has worked in a strength - based approach to community development throughout North America, 'Asset Based Community Development' , shared with us in Toronto 2007 a number of very fresh innovative and deep approaches to change and facilitation. Check out: 24 Principles of Embodied Presence Practice outlined byArawana Hayashi (Pdf- 40 pages) Emodied Presence Practice (word doc short) Chris Johnson (dryden) and Lynn Turner, Educational The Big Red Bus (small word 42 kb file download) From The Siege of Beslan Emerges the New Beginnings of an Inclusive School. Joe Whittaker, University of Bolton Beslan was brought to world attention last year when, the succinctly named, School Number One was occupied by heavily armed hostage takers. More than1000 adults and children were held at gun point, surrounded by explosive devises, held without food or water, in the sweltering heat, for three days in the schools gymnasium. The siege ended after Russian Special Forces engaged in a fierce battle with the hostage takers resulting in the death of 344 civilians 172 of which were children. Read what happened to the disabled children and adults that emerged as a result of this nightmare and the wonderfully inclusive instinct that followed. (small 27 kb word file download) Imagination So often we have found people do not accept inclusion as possible simply because they have not seen it happening properly. Perhaps they have never seen pupils with certain impairments ever included. Many very well meaning people simply cannot imagine it either... Here Kathy from the US applies failure of imagination and abundance of imagination concepts to the inclusion of disabled children and adults. 'The Power of Imagination' (small pdf file) Copyright 2005 Kathie Snow, www.disabilityisnatural.com. Used with permission. Clip art from Adobe In-Design. If you would like a handout (PDF) of this article, please send your request, along with the title of the article ("The Power of Imagination") to: kathie@disabilityisnatural.com.Do not violate copyright laws---request permission before reproducing in any format: in printed publications, in chat rooms, on web sites, etc. Begin today. Imagine and it WILL be. Understand the logic of snoezelens? Are bright lights, perfumed air, coloured bubbles and soft music the answer to the “apartheid” that people who have been described as having physical/learning disabilities/difficulties have been subjected to in Education and Community Living? Is there any research to support their efficacy in special or mainstream settings? Perhaps great for special or mainstream staff or any pupil to relax in, but educational impact?? ..... (Ed.) Joe Whittaker and John Kenworthy, Bolton Institute for Higher Education UK Special Education is Not a Place: Avoiding Setting and withdrawal in Inclusive Schools Since the inception of inclusive schooling, teachers have worked hard to provide students with impairments access to both a typical education in the mainstream classroom and to the individual supports and services they need to find success in that classroom. In many classrooms, however, educators are stumped at how to do both resort to pulling students out of the classroom for short bits of instruction, or in some cases, for large periods of the school day. Lets use People First Language Impairment and disability: a world of difference Mole Chapman provides some really useful guidance around the vexed area of terminology. 'Disabled people use the term 'impairment' to talk about their medical condition or diagnosis or description of their functioning. On the other hand, 'disability' describes the social effects of impairment. 'Disability' is not a description of a personal characteristic. A disabled person is not a 'person with a disability' as the person does not own the disability in the way that you might be 'a person with brown hair'. Consequently, the opposite of 'disabled' is not 'able-bodied' or 'abled', but 'non-disabled' or 'enabled'. Understanding the critical difference between these two terms allows us to talk separately and clearly about: • a named individual = the person • impairment = their functioning • disability = society's barriers' So you might refer to a disabled child, not a child with disabilities...' Email Mole Chapman to receive your own free copy of 'Word Power - the art of respectful language' info@equalitytraining.co.uk Slow Inclusion Peter Bates a long time advocate of inclusion has done much to bring this dream to life among those working in Mental Health Services. Check out this lovely piece of work 'in praise of slow inclusion'. (small pdf. file) Other exellent papers and developments in the Mental Health world can be found on the National Development Team's web site www.ndt.org.uk Community Guides and Connectors We love this idea and often work with the idea in our training around challenging behaviour and inclusion. Recruiting well connected community members to link up with vulnearble or isolated individuals or families and to build circles of support or connection around them using their contacts but NO paid professionals or experts. A free 50 page book that describes one approach to this idea is available from the ABCD Institute and you can download it ..... Hidden Treasures:Building community connections by engaging the gifts of people on welfare, people with disabilities, people with mental illness, Circles of Support and Accountability for Sex Offenders Circles of Support and Accountability (link to their detailed manual of practice on-line) are an organisation in Toronto, Canada who are building circles of support around sex offenders. They were not formed to compete with existing service providers. They were formed to assist:
COSA originated to meet the unique needs of Sex Offenders, because no one else was stepping forward to do so. Trading Places : Kathie Snow discovers that educators would not like to trade places with pupils placed in special schools! The Assistive Technology Boogie : Click here for a musical and educational treat!! A brief but informative look at the role of technology in the lives of disabled people! Mentoring of Disabled Pupils by Disabled Adults: We love this idea and Trudi Clark a Children and Disability Support Assistant from Nottinghamshire is showing the way Using puppets to engage, motivate and make learning fun! : Sue Utley from Lambeth, London uses puppets to inspire us all!!
OFSTED name Circle of Adults process as an example of outstanding Practice: Example of outstanding practice You don’t often get staff meetings like this! The outreach support team invited adults who had contact with the (OFSTED Report on Dacorum Education Support Centre April 2004) Quick step by step guide to Circles of Adults Boyz 2 Men...featured in TES Check out this wonderful ongoing piece of work in an inner city primary school.This OFSTED praised work shows the powerful use of drama, art and music in the meeting of emotional needs.For a fuller description click here.
Creative Partnerships works to give school children
in areas throughout PRUs. Are they good or bad? Check out the arguments in this paper by Colin Newton and Derek WIlson which draws upon DfES policies as well as research.
The Long View. We must take the long view in our planning for complex individuals however young they are. ‘What do you want to be when you grow up’?
Check out Colin and Derek's thinking on this....
Revolutionary common sense!! Check out some great articles from Disability is Natural "Disability is a natural part of the human experience." When we internalize this belief and merge it with our common sense, we'll create a new paradigm of disability. People with disabilities aren't broken, and they don't need to be fixed. When we change the way we think, speak, and behave-instead of trying to change people with disabilities-the world will change before our eyes. We particularly like the article entitiled: Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal
Check out Philip Awofesobi's rap . This remarkable young man has been employed as a Learning Mentor by the Nottingham City LEA's Achievement Team. He has spent most of his life looked after in Public Care. He has been there. He turns out to be great at including adolescent young men living in Community Homes, supporting their communication and reattendance at school.He is also a great trainer and friend of Inclusiove Solutions! Read more about Philip in 'INclusion Now' Vol 5, available from Alliance for Inclusive Education
Childrens attitudes towards Inclusion This is the result of very recent 2002 unpublished research. Worth a read, by Rachel Watson.
Or try out this piece of work by Colin Newton, one of the co-founders of Inclusive Solutions entitled Circles of Adults.This is a rich approach to encouraging teachers to mutually support each other with in depth problem solving and emotional insights.It works even better with graphic facilitation and synthesis as we have been discovering. Speak to us for details.We are currently rewriting this paper...feel free to feedback to us.We are providing training to model this approach.(see Training button)
Howard Zehr's and Belinda's wonderful paradigm for exploring how restorative your attitude to behaviour is, has to be worth a look! ''This is a paper about to be published on the role of 'Teams
for Inclusion' What about a bit of blowing our own trumpets? The bugle and its five notes provides a fascinating metaphor. Simple but powerful. Does it work for you? Are educational psychologists true allies for inclusion or part of the problem? Check out: Educational Psychologists: Barriers or Allies for inclusion? A View from the UK. The
pupils need listening to as much as the adults if change is ever
to occur. On this theme read Gerv Leyden's :
'Ask the Kids!' Pupils in public care are at such risk of exclusion. Listen to this heartwarming story of a circle of friends in action from Jackie Dearden. A circle of friends for a child in public care We welcome feedback, additions and stories to develop this publication in progress: A Facilitators Handbook Please download, use and feedback on the value of this new publication in development.
Check out this ground breaking and deeply challenging concept: The least dangerous assumption! (Tashie and Rossetti)Your thinking and practice around those labelled with the most severe disabilities will never be the same when you take these ideas on board. The paper is very short but very powerful!! READ THIS IF NOTHING ELSE TODAY! Putting this idea into practice will require radical thinking and action. Check out this American paper as you wonder what will teams need to really develop inclusion for pupils where communication is a major issue? Communication
and Learning:Creating Systems of Support for Students with
Significant Disabilities One offering will be of great interest to inclusive educational psychologists as it maps the story of educational psychologists work. Read this excellent paper by Peter Hick, educational psychologist from Oldham as he examines the work of educational psychologists as 'critical friends' supporting schools with inclusive education. Ask how, not whether to include!!We like this question too... DAYS
Philip Larkin
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