Blog Post #2: Jessica Tomic

The efforts made by schools and educators to promote acceptance and social integration of children with disabilities, or ELN, in our schools, communities, and our society have certainly not gone unnoticed throughout the years, but still remain unrefined.  The fourth principle of IDEA, Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), grants access to and educates students with disabilities “in the general education curriculum and will participate in other general education activities” (Graf & Jimenez, 2008, p. 21).  I do believe that utilizing the LRE can promote social integration among students with ELN and students without disabilities, if correctly designed.  Although inclusion is presumed to be the least restrictive environment for students with ELN, I do feel as though the situation is unique to each student.  In the video provided by Dr. Dove, Jim Johnson, a head basketball coach, provided an autistic student, Jason McElwain, with the opportunity to play for team.  Too often are students with ELN given opportunities to join sports, clubs or other activities, but aren’t invited to participate.  Instead, students with ELN may be given assistant or manager like positions.  Nonetheless, Jason was given the opportunity to play and he flourished.  Although highly publicized, movies like Radio and The Blind Side are extremely reminiscent of the efforts made by schools, educators, coaches and families throughout the decades to promote acceptance and social integration of students with disabilities or learning needs in our schools, communities, and our society.

With the position I currently I have, middle school students, disabled or nondisabled, struggle to find acceptance among peers and adults, even themselves.  In our online program, we first strive to model acceptance and support for all students.  We begin with acknowledging that “we’re all here for a reason.” Each student was placed in the online program for a reason, including choice, behavioral issues, retention, open enrollment gaps, truancy, or medical reasons.  As tutors, we offer acceptance and support to students who continue through the program, whether their plans are to return to building classroom or continue in online courses.  Students with exceptional learning needs (ELN) who have enrolled in the program often feel isolated, depending on their social skills.  To promote the acceptance and social integration of students with ELN in our program, we like to encourage all students in to create a goal for everyone to work toward.  Students work together throughout the week to complete this goal, earn student of the week, and additional incentives.  We also use Drund, a social network for our school, which, like any social media, connects users among a platform. Students, parents, and staff members in our program post on our page to connect and promote social integration among everyone.