I had a discussion the other day with inclusion advocate Lou Brown about what success looks like for students with intellectual disabilities. He said that, ultimately, success is about outcomes.
So, what produces the best outcomes? Is it inclusion or segregation that gives students the best chance to live, work, and play in an integrated society?
THE STORY OF SALLY AND REGINA, THE SMITH TWINS
To answer these questions, Mr. Brown shared a fable with me. Here’s what he told me:
Mrs. and Mr. Smith had twin girls, one named Sally and the other, Regina. The twins were not hitting their developmental milestones as they grew older, so the Smiths had the girls tested. The results showed that each twin had an intellectual disability.
Subsequently, the Smiths divorced. Each parent gained custody of a daughter and raised her as they saw fit. Sally went with Mr. Smith, and Regina went with Mrs. Smith.
SALLY AND THE SELF-CONTAINED CLASSROOM
Mr. Smith wanted Sally to attend a public special needs preschool program seven miles from her home. After preschool, Sally stayed at the school to attend a multi-grade segregated special education classroom, with students ranging from kindergarten through 5th grade. Her neighborhood school, which was one mile away from her house, didn’t have this kind of specialized program.
Every day, a special education bus took Sally and other students with disabilities from their home to school and back. At school, Sally spent her entire school day, along with recess and lunch, with the same set of classmates with disabilities, a special education teacher, a paraprofessional, and related services providers.
None of the teachers, paraprofessionals, or therapists who worked with Sally had a meaningful understanding of grade-level content. Through middle and high school, Sally stayed in a segregated classroom for students with intellectual disabilities, only interacting with peers during music, art, or PE when it was feasible in the general education schedule.
Before her last year of school, her transition team met to consider her options. The team concluded that Sally required extensive support throughout her day to meet her needs.
When she aged out of her special education program, Sally went to a sheltered workshop about ten miles from her home. A van came to her house and brought her to and from the workshop every day. At the workshop, she participated in aerobics, ceramics, lunch, breaks, and all other aspects of her day program with her disabled cohorts. Occasionally, she and her group went to the Y, a bowling alley, and the nearest enclosed shopping mall.
Sally does little for herself. She is continuously supervised by people who are paid to be with and to do things for her. She interacts almost exclusively with disabled adults, family members, and paid support staff. Her experiences are limited. Sally is underachieving—she produces very little meaningful work, and she does not express a work ethic. She is capable of so much more.
REGINA AND THE INTEGRATED CLASSROOM
Now, consider the drastically different outcome that Mrs. Smith arranged for Regina. At age three, Regina enrolled in the early childhood program operated by her faith community blocks from her home. She was the only child with an intellectual disability who attended.