Today I witnessed a barrier to inclusion. I've witnessed this painful barrier that leaves a child feeling left out and sad before. We've talked about making change and tried some strategies to that effect, but the steps in that direction have been difficult. Yet we can't allow this barrier to continue. What must we do?
First, we have to meet with PTO leaders and leaders of special education and other special programs to discuss the events where exclusion occurs early in the year.
Next, we have to make a plan with family members with regard to finding ways to create access to events that some children are distanced from, events that families and children want to be apart of, but because of transportation, language barriers, and other factors, they are excluded.
Then we have to divvy up the plan so that everyone has responsibility to make sure the plan works, and then we have to follow through with the plan.
This sounds simple, but in reality, this requires a lot of ground-up advocacy and work, the kind of work that is often easily overlooked by those who don't have regular connections to students, their inclusion, and their feelings. Onward.
