Click on the title for a session abstract.
This program will be updated on a regular basis as more information comes to hand
9:00 - 9:30 AM Registration
9:30 - 9:45 AM Welcome & announcements (Tim Loreman)
9:45-10:45 AM Keynote address.
Schools for citizenship: Raising learners to create the world we need and want. Michael Peterson10:45 – 11:15 AM - Coffee Break
11:15 AM – 12:15 PM - First session
Room Speaker Tegler Inclusive Post-Secondary Education: Lessons from 20 years of practice. Bruce Uditsky and Anne Hughson T104 Inclusion for Students with Very Severe Disabilities: What are we really talking about? Questions arising from a case study of a young adult with "severe multiple disabilities". Lynne Tamor G303 Authentic Human Learning Experiences: Inclusive Strategies for Gifted Students and for All Students. Andrew Johnson G307 Norwood School and Inner City Innovation. Heather Raymond 12:15 – 1:00 PM – Lunch
1:00 – 2:30 PM - World Café, Room: Tegler
Dialogue of conference participants regarding BELONGING AND INCLUSION. Facilitator/s: Dennis Bell2:30 – 2:50 PM – Break
2:50 – 3:50 PM – Second session
Room Speaker Tegler Universally designing writing experiences for all. Leyton Schnellert T104 Reconciling Inclusion and Educational Achievement. Dick Sobsey G303 Student Panel - Inclusion and the beginning teacher: Emerging views. Facilitated by Tim Loreman G307 "I want to go in the same doors as my friends!" Micah’s story of his inclusive education in elementary, middle, and high schools and NOW . . . in College. Micah Fialka - Feldman 4:00 – 5:00 PM - Third session
Room Speaker Tegler By understanding epistemological challenge we can create space and possibilities. Sigamoney Naicker T104 Walking and talking the road to trusting community. Michael Peterson and Tim Loreman G303 Actively Building Capacity for Diversity. Pat Maas and Bill Forman G307 An inclusive school: Barrhead Composite High School. Roger Manuel and Shannon Rentz 6:00 PM - Dinner at Highlands Golf Club
Before dinner speaker: The Heart’s Delight: Poetry and Pedagogy. Carl Leggo
After dinner speaker: Poems from a parent Janice Fialka
9:00 - 9:30 AM – Registration
9:30 - 9:45 AM – Welcome & announcements (Tim Loreman)
9:45 - 10:45 AM – Keynote address
The Dance of Partnership: Why do my feet hurt? Strengthening the parent-professional partnership. Janice Fialka10:45 – 11:15 AM – Coffee Break
11:15 – 12:15 – First session
Room Speaker Tegler Facilitating Inclusive Education and Comprehensive District Reform Through A Multi-District and Multi-Critical Friend Consortium. Diane Ryndak and Vicki Barnitt T104 Positive Behavior Supports for All Students: A School Wide Approach. Michael Delaney & Billie Jo Clausen G303 The Care and Rehabilitation of IEP's. Chris Horrocks 12:15 – 1:00 PM – Lunch
Lunch Meeting In Tegler: How you can be involved in the Whole Schooling Consortium. Michael Peterson (Coordinator WSC) facilitating. All welcome.1:00 – 2:30 PM - World Café
Room: Tegler. Dialogue of conference participants regarding CITIZENSHIP IN A NEW CENTURY. Facilitator/s: Dennis Bell, Wayne Ross, and Rich Gibson2:30 - 2:50 PM - Break
2:50 – 3:50 PM – Second session
Room Speaker Tegler Measuring school quality and inclusion. Judy Lupart, Jessica Whitley and Janine Odishaw T104 What Makes public school education Public School Education? David King G303 Citizenship for all in the literate community: Inclusion, significant disability, & the written word. Chris Kliewer G307 Leadership Today, facilitated by Sandra Mack 4:00 – 5:00 PM – Third session
Room Speaker Tegler Teaching for international understanding: A Whole School approach to global citizenship. Keith Samuelson T104 Making Inclusion Work in the Classroom: The Role of the Special Education Assistants Richard Laszlo G307 Parent panel - The parental journey to secure and maintain inclusive school placements. Facilitated by Paul Kohl 5:10 – 5:30 PM – Closing comments. (Tim Loreman)
World Cafe: Citizenship in a new century.
Denis Bell, Wayne Ross, and Rich Gibson
What is citizenship? And how does the notion of citizenship apply to relationships within school communities? The term "citizenship" has both legal and social meanings. In a legal since it defines rights and responsibilities in response to a person's attachment to a particular country. In the social sense, citizenship refers to the participation of people in their community. The relationships among people (as individuals and collectives) and between people and the state have been conceptualized differently across history and geographical spaces as particular social groups have had either more or less access to social rights and responsibilities. Class, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and ability intersect with conceptions of the person (role, status, legitimacy) and hence with citizenship. What do these conceptions have to do with our relationships within (and across) school communities and between school communities and the state?
Denis Bell is the Board President of the Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN) Edmonton. He has been involved in social and health services for over forty years in three Canadian provinces. His areas of involvement have included child welfare, young offenders, persons with disabilities, First Nations community development and palliative care. Management, counselling, training, teaching and consulting have been roles undertaken by Denis over the course of his career. He has a Masters Degree in Social Work from Carleton University and a Masters Degree in Public Administration for the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. PLAN Edmonton assists families to plan a safe and secure future for their relatives with a disability. It is one of nine Canadian affiliates of the Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network in British Columbia. Denis is the father of four children, the youngest of which has a developmental disability. He and his wife, Kathie, along with several other parents, are founding members of the PLAN Edmonton organization.
E. Wayne Ross is Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of British Columbia. A former secondary social studies teacher and day care worker, he has also taught at the State University of New York and the University of Louisville. He is interested in the influence of social and institutional contexts on teachers’ practice as well as the role of curriculum and teaching in building a democratic society in the face of antidemocratic impulses of greed, individualism, and intolerance. Wayne is a co-founder of The Rouge Forum and author/editor of ten books including: Defending Public Schools, Image and Education, and Democratic Social Education.
Positive Behavior Supports for All Students: A School Wide Approach.
Michael Delaney & Billie Jo Clausen
This practical presentation will provide an overview of a building-based model of positive behavior supports to build a safe and caring school community for all students. Participants will learn strategies for application in all schools (preschool-12) designed to meet the needs of all citizens (including staff) of the school community. The supports described will benefit the entire student body, from students who only need a school-wide discipline program, to students with challenging behavior who require a functional assessment and positive behavior support plan to be successful in school. This value giving presentation will interweave information about sharing power and control with students, including what power struggles are, and strategies to avoid them.
Michael J. Delaney, M.S., M.S., Sandy, Oregon, believes in and supports children with the most extreme behavior challenges and the entire spectrum of special education labels. Michael shares strategies, skills and resources daily as behavior consultant for Multnomah Education Service District, Portland, Oregon, serving 8 local school districts. Inclusive homes, schools and communities for all children through positive supports and team efforts has been his quest for many years, especially those children who express themselves through behavior challenges. Michael has spoken, provided technical assistance and support in many states to a wide variety of audiences (educators, parents, family members and interested others). He has long been part of the National Project for Positive Behavior Supports, along with his wife, Billie Jo.
Billie Jo Clausen, Sandy, Oregon, is an early childhood specialist who teaches an integrated preschool classroom at Shaver Elementary School, Parkrose School District, Portland, Oregon each morning, and provides supports to babies and their families who qualify for special education service each afternoon for Multnomah Early Childhood Program. She believes in inclusive homes, schools and communities and the power of positive supports via teaming. Michael and Billie Jo are advocates for practical supports to benefit all members of each family, classroom or student body as they have 6 children of their own and know that if it's not practical, it's not useful!!
The Dance of Partnership: Why do my feet hurt? Strengthening the parent-professional partnership.
Janice Fialka
This workshop is designed to assist participants to better understand the challenges of forming and maintaining partnerships between parents who have children with special needs and professionals who work with the children and families. Participants explore the unique dimensions which often complicate this working relationship and identify strategies which promote the partnership.
Poems from a parent
Janice Fialka
Janice will be reading several of her poems that speak about her experiences being a mother to Micah. Her readings are known to draw out the tears, express the fears, but also tell the story of community, hope, and possibility. She will read her poems for professionals on "Having to give bad news" and "Advice to Professionals who must 'conference cases'". She will also include poems her "Gift of Support Groups" and "The Label" which have been disseminated widely via parent and professionals publications. Janice will conclude with a reading of her newest poem inspired by her participation at the first ever Disability Pride Parade in Chicago in July 2004.
Janice Fialka is a nationally recognized author, lecturer, and trainer. She has presented in 25 states and in Canada for school districts, health care and human service agencies, parent groups, and national and state conferences on the topic of parent-professional partnership, inclusive education, and postsecondary education. In her partnership training "The Dance of Partnership: Why do my feet hurt?" she explores the unique dimensions which complicate the working relationships between parents and professionals and offers insights on ways to strengthen this working alliance. Janice speaks from her unique vantage point as a mother of a son with special needs and as an experienced social worker for over 30 years. She has published articles in Young Exceptional Children and has published two books, It Matters: Lessons from my son (which includes her much published "Advise to Professionals who must conference cases") and Do You Hear What I Hear? Parents and professionals working together for children with special needs (co-authored with Karen Mikus). Many of her poems and essays have been reprinted in numerous publications, newsletters, and text books. Ms. Fialka co-founded the Taylor Teen Health Center and has taught in the School of Social Work at Wayne State University. Currently she is a state-trainer with Michigan’s Early On Training and Technical Assistance, Part C of IDEA.
"I want to go in the same doors as my friends!" Micah’s story of his inclusive education in elementary, middle, and high schools and NOW . . . in College.
Micah Fialka - Feldman
Through the use of my Power Point and video clips I will tell the story of how I was fully included in elementary, middle, and high schools. I will talk how I was supported by paraeducators, peer tutors, Circle of Friends and modifications in my classroom. I will also show examples of the accommodations used in my classes. The video clips will show me participating on the cross country team, using assistive technology such as voice-to-text software and screen reader software and interviews with some of my teachers and peers. I will talk about learning to be an advocate and being involved on the National Board of Kids As Self Advocates (KASA), the National Youth Leadership Forum and the first ever Disability Pride Parade in Chicago in July 2004. These are important resources for people to know about. The best part of my presentation will be talking about going to college and what I am learning. I can talk about how I take tests and work with other students. My mother, Janice Fialka will help me with this part of the presentation because she can talk about what how other universities are creating opportunities for people with cognitive impairments to continue their learning on a college campus, while still being a public school student with an IEP. She will show a few slides about important things for everyone to know about college for kids with cognitive disabilities and how to help make this happen. I will answer questions and ask people what they think about my life. I like to help people think that anyone can go to college if they want to.
Micah Fialka-Feldman. I am 20 years old. I am attending Oakland University in Michigan as a public school student (I have an IEP). I have some learning needs but I can do lots of thinks like sit-in on college classes and be a Board member of a national youth advocacy group called Kids as Self Advocates (KASA) (www.fvkasa.org) I am a good advocate for friends of mine. I was selected to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum (2002) and the Michigan Youth Leadership Forum (2001). I helped organize the first annual Disability Pride Parade in 2004 in Chicago. I graduated in June of 2004 from Michigan Partners in Policymaking. In high school, I received my Varsity Letter in Cross Country and was on the Homecoming Court. At Oakland University I am taking classes in sociology, political science, group communication, and computers as well as attending a reading lab. I will have an article in a new book published by AHEAD (www.ahead.org) about students with disabilities’ first year in college. I have had two articles published in Inclusion News (www.inclusion.com). I was selected to receive the Michigan CEC (Council on Exceptional Children) “Yes I Can” award for my self advocacy. I speak at many conferences, including, TASH, Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), International Parent to Parent, and at university classes. I have a great smile and I like speaking to groups!
School practice and social change: Critical democratic education and overcoming the crises of capitalism justice demands organization.
Rich Gibson and Wayne Ross
Schools are central to life in societies offering youth perpetual war and meaningless jobs. Educators encounter a larger struggle when confronting curricula and instruction regimentation through high-stakes examinations of class struggle for consciousness. This internationalist symposium offers diverse Humanist views, seeking organizational bases to change what is to what ought to be, to move from perpetual war, segregation, and inequality to an inclusive, caring society where all can be creative, by sharing. The contradictory role of schooling, that is, schools for soldiering and witless employees' false hope-- or schooling for critically conscious citizens seeking equality and democracy with genuine hope-- is central to this.
Rich Gibson of San Diego State now studies three related questions of pedagogy and social practice: (1) in societies increasingly regimented by demands for low cost productivity and perpetual war, how can we as teachers keep our ideals and still teach? (2) When oppression in schools and out is so abundantly obvious, and when it is clear that out of school oppression is related to in school oppression, why is it that servitude remains mainly voluntary? (3) Since a century of revolutionary change, much of it focused on changing minds following mass sacrifices during upheavals, clearly failed, what is it that we all need to know, and how do we need to come to know it, in order to lead reasonably free, creative, caring, connected lives?
E. Wayne Ross is Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of British Columbia. A former secondary social studies teacher and day care worker, he has also taught at the State University of New York and the University of Louisville. He is interested in the influence of social and institutional contexts on teachers’ practice as well as the role of curriculum and teaching in building a democratic society in the face of antidemocratic impulses of greed, individualism, and intolerance. Wayne is a co-founder of The Rouge Forum and author/editor of ten books including: Defending Public Schools, Image and Education, and Democratic Social Education.
The care and rehabilitation of IEPs.
Chris Horrocks
They were introduced with such optimism! Planning tools which would serve as a bridge between students and parents and schools. Vehicles through which teachers and parents could apply their skills with intent and focus. What has gone wrong? At best they have morphed into computer based auditing tools and at worst they seem to be more about educational optics. This session will provide a conversation about the foundations of personal planning, provide some planning suggestions which will breathe life into this old special ed institution and give some strategies on how to make sure the well chosen objectives find a home across curriculum on Monday and Tues and Wed and don't end up buried in a file cabinet.
Chris Horrocks is a Learning Support Teacher at Halls Prairie Elementary in Surrey British Columbia. He is also a half time faculty at Douglas College in the faculty of Child, Family and Community Studies in New Westminster , British Columbia as well as a sessional lecturer in inclusive education practice at the University of British Columbia in the Faculty of Educational Psychology and Special Education.
Authentic Human Learning Experiences: Inclusive Strategies for Gifted Students and for All Students.
Andrew Johnson
Authentic Human Learning Experiences (AHLE) can be used to meet the needs of highly creative and intellectually gifted students within a general education curriculum. They are also effective in meeting the needs of students with learning disabilities and students who are dealing with social and emotional issues. AHLE have eight characteristics. They (a) are opened-ended, (b) are meaningful, (c) connect with students' lives, (d) promote a greater understanding of self, (e) promote a greater understanding of others, (f) allow students to share their ideas, (g) recognize multiple ways of knowing, and (h) recognize and attend to multiple dimensions of self. This session will demonstrate a variety of simple and effective strategies that fall within the AHLE context.
Andrew Johnson is professor and chair of the Department of Educational Studies: Special Populations at Minnesota State University, Mankato in Mankato, Minnesota. He specializes in holistic education, spiritual intelligence, literacy instruction, strategies for the inclusive classroom, and gifted education. He is also Co-Director of the Center for Talent Development where he teaches courses related to gifted education. He worked for 9 years in the public schools as a second grade teacher and as a gifted education coordinator before moving into higher education. Currently, his areas of interest include spirituality in education, spiritual intelligence, action research, thinking skills, and academic and creative writing.
Citizenship for all in the literate community: Inclusion, significant disability, & the written word.
Chris Kliewer
Students with significant disabilities have largely been segregated from the literate communities of school. This session critically analyzes the assumptions that underlie this denial of opportunity and explores inclusive patterns of resistance that support literacy for all.
In the late 1980s, Chris Kliewer taught young children labeled with autism in a segregated school in Illinois before moving to Syracuse, NY, where he discovered inclusive education in the form of the Jowonio School, an early childhood center where all children learn together. After teaching at Jowonio for three years, Chris entered the doctoral program in Teaching & Leadership at Syracuse University. He worked closely with Professor Doug Biklen, his advisor, and began his ethnographic studies of early literacy. On graduating in 1995, Chris took his current position at the University of Northern Iowa where he has continued to research literacy development in inclusive early childhood programs. He is currently project director for a Federal Department of Education Research Grant on the development of early literacy skills in young children with significant disabilities in inclusive classrooms. His work has appeared in numerous of the most prestigious education journals including Harvard Educational Review, Exceptional Children, and The Teachers College Record. In addition to his research, Chris teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on school inclusion and literacy & disability.
Parent Panel: The parental journey to secure and maintain inclusive school placements.
Panel: Jan Pydde, Wendy Sauvé and Lori Almberg
Facilitator: Paul Kohl
This session will be a panel of parents of students with developmental disabilities and will be moderated by, Paul Kohl, a community advocate for inclusive education. The panel members have been active in advocating for their children to secure and maintain inclusive school placements. The parents have also supported other families and organizations in achieving this goal. The panelists will share their parent advocacy stories. Topics covered will include overcoming barriers experienced in securing inclusion and how they worked with schools over the years to support their child's programming. They will conclude with what they see school staff need to consider when developing a positive relationship with parents.
Paul Kohl brings with him 25 years of work experience with children and adults with disabilities and 15 years as a volunteer community advocate supporting families who want to secure inclusive school placements for their children. Paul’s volunteer activities in the area of inclusive education includes: being on the board of Community Options, an organization well known for its work in promoting inclusive early childhood education; adult advisor with Gateway Association for Community Living Youth Group; is on the Steering Committee of the Edmonton Regional Coalition for Inclusive Education; and sits on the Inclusion Working Group which Edmonton Public Schools created this year.Paul presently works for the Office of the Public Guardian in the role of Public Guardian Representative.
Making Inclusion Work in the Classroom: The Role of the Special Education Assistants
Richard Laszlo
Special Education Assistants (SEA) work in regular schools with students who need extra support to complete the curriculum and their individual education plans. With the increasing number of students who have different learning styles, needs and paces, and who are included in regular classrooms, the role of special education assistants have become very complex and crucial. They support students, teachers and parents, they mediate and facilitate among them, they take an active part in putting into practice the IEP of the students they work with, as well as they provide important insights and feedback for those - teachers, resource teachers and other professionals - who design the educational goals and strategies for the students. In the session, I would like to focus on a few important aspects of the work of these assistants, aspects that are critical for they can best contribute to the effective inclusion of students with special needs in the classroom and school community. Such areas are the following: The ongoing collaborative planning between classroom teacher and the SEA; the negotiation of roles and responsibilities with the classroom teacher and administration; the facilitation of relationship between the teacher and labeled students; and the facilitation of relationships between students with special needs and their peers by supporting all students.
My name is Richard Laszlo and I am a PhD student in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. I have worked for several years with children and youth with various disabilities in and out of school as caregiver, special education assistant and volunteer. My research and professional interests revolve around the issues and dilemmas of the inclusion of students who have special needs in regular education classrooms; and the roles, skills and agency of teachers and special education assistants need to have in order to create authentic and effective inclusive learning communities.
The Heart’s Delight: Poetry and Pedagogy.
Carl Leggo
I live in the world as a poet. The word poetry is derived from the Greek poiein, to make. As a teacher and researcher I am a poet or maker. I do not stand outside experience and observe experience like a video camera recording an objective reality. Instead I seek to enter lived experiences with an imaginative openness to the people and activities and dynamics at work and play. I seek to make a story in collaborative dialogue with others, always aware that the story is one of many stories, one of many versions of the story. My contention is that we need to compose and tell our stories as creative ways of growing in humanness. We need to question our understanding of who we are in the world. We need opportunities to consider other versions of identity. This is ultimately a pedagogic work, the work of growing in wisdom through education, learning, research, and writing.
In my autobiographical and poetic writing, I am not writing only the personal; I am always writing the personal as part of the warp and weft of the public, professional, political, and pedagogic. In all my writing I am seeking both communication and communion. I am always seeking readers who will attend to my words with a willingness, even eagerness, to join in conversation. We are always writing ourselves as a way to know ourselves and our relationships with others. What is needed in order to create communion is communication, including a practice of testimony, and self-reflexive investigation, and dialogue.
I will present autobiographical poetry and ruminations as a part of my continuing effort to compose hopeful and heartful ways for examining conceptions and experiences of human becoming.
Carl Leggo is a poet and associate professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia where he teaches courses in writing and narrative research. His poetry and fiction and scholarly essays have been published in many journals in North America and around the world. He is the author of two collections of poems, titled Growing Up Perpendicular on the Side of a Hill and View from My Mother’s House (both published by Killick Press, St. John’s), as well as a book about reading and teaching poetry, titled Teaching to Wonder: Responding to Poetry in the Secondary Classroom (Pacific Educational Press, Vancouver). When not teaching or writing, he likes biking, running, and walking on the dike in Steveston, British Columbia where he lives joyfully with his wife Lana.
Student panel: Inclusion and the beginning teacher: Emerging views.
Panel: Charlene Assenheimer, Brianne Wheeler, Amy Hiew, Dan Meunier, Aya Furosawa, Rachel McOuat
Facilitator: Tim Loreman
This session will be a panel of six Education students from Concordia University College of Alberta. They will discuss their views, concerns, and hopes for inclusive education as they embark on their careers. The input of the panel will be contextualised using some recent research conducted on Concordia students in an attempt to ascertain their attitudes and perceived competencies for teaching in an inclusive environment.
Tim Loreman trained as an elementary teacher at Monash University in Australia prior to receiving a Graduate Diploma of Education and a Masters of Education degree in the areas of special education and integration from Deakin University in Melbourne. His PhD (Monash) dissertation focused on regular classroom inclusion of students with moderate to severe disabilities, with a wider application to teaching diverse learners in general. He has taught in a variety of special and regular classroom settings in both Australia and Canada, and held a tenured position in the Faculty of Education at Monash University until returning to Canada in 2003. Tim is currently Assistant Professor of Education at Concordia University College of Alberta in Canada. Tim's professional interests include educational psychology and elementary education, and his research and publications have been focused largely on the subject of inclusion. Tim's first co-authored book 'Inclusive Education: A practical guide to supporting diversity in the classroom' was published internationally in October 2004.
Measuring school quality and inclusion.
Judy Lupart, Jessica Whitley and Janine Odishaw
Although the philosophy of inclusive education has been widely promoted in Canadian schools, inclusive education practice has been far from the ideal in a majority of them. Policies and school organization systems that conflict, lack of teacher preparation and support, and different understanding and knowledge about inclusion are but a few of the barriers associated with ineffectual inclusive education practices. Creating customized learning environment in schools requires an integrated, collaborative partnership between educators, parents, and students. The common goal is that every child has the right to learn in the neighbourhood school and to be supported in their learning development to the fullest extent possible. Before schools can develop plans for improving school quality and inclusion, it is important to know where the school strengths and challenges lie.
To this end a series of surveys were designed to capture key elements of effective educational practice as identified by the Calgary Board of Education’s School Quality Review. Specifically, the primary themes include School Culture, Safety and Security, School Development, Student Entitlement, and Learning and Teaching. The Diversity, Individual Development, Differentiation surveys (DIDDs) were administered to five participant groups (i.e., administrators, teachers, support staff, parents, students), in three elementary level schools to derive a baseline profile of the school learning community. This presentation will provide an overview of the research framework, development of the surveys, results, and implications.
Judy L. Lupart is a Professor and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Special Education, beginning January 2003, in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta. She has served as the founding Director of the University of Calgary Centre for Gifted Education, and the founding Editor of the journal Exceptionality Education Canada. Her research, publication and teaching interests include inclusive education and school transformation; cognition, transfer and educational applications; learning disabilities, giftedness and at-risk learners; and girls, women and achievement. She is currently involved in four major research projects on (1) inclusion across the lifespan, (2) mentoring young girls in science and (3) gifted and G/LD and literacy (4) At-risk students in transition from grade 6 to 7.
Janine Odishaw is currently a PhD student in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta. Prior to commencing her graduate work, Janine taught adolescents with special needs and worked in the community in the area of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). She has presented to various schools and university classes on topics including adolescent development, behaviour management, and FASD. Most recently, Janine has been involved in the development of a FASD prevention curriculum.
Jessica Whitley is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta. Her background includes teaching students with special needs, particularly those with ADHD. She is studying with Dr. Judy Lupart in the area of Inclusive Education and is currently creating a model of achievement for students with learning disabilities for her dissertation. Her research interests include school reform, effective inclusive practices and students at-risk.
Actively Building Capacity for Diversity.
Pat Maas and Bill Forman
Using a jointly developed inventory for inclusive schools, this workshop will share the experiences of one school that is actively engaged with a project that has helped to build and maintain an especially inclusive learning community. Many of the lessons learned along the way will be shared as well as the success stories of individual students. This collaboration between a not-for-profit agency, The Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) differentiated teaching and learning team and Calgary Board of Education Area V schools, is a unique and fruitful model.
Pat Maas has been involved with the DDRC Inclusive Schools Initiative for 6 years now, working at all levels of the school system. Her background includes training in environmental design, 12 years as a teacher in the Halton Board of Education in Ontario and 3 years as a curriculum coordinator for the same Board. Pat is skilled in the use of a broad range of instructional strategies including cooperative group learning. She understands differentiated teaching practice and has strong curriculum writing and facilitation skills. Pat also has years of experience working to reach unique learners in inclusive settings in the school system, including youth at risk of drop out or exclusion and youth with a variety of physical and/or developmental disabilities.
An Inclusive School: Barrhead Composite High School.
Roger Manuel and Shannon Rentz
Barrhead Composite High School is a Grade 7-12 school of approximately 870 students. The school has no IOP classes or exclusive special education classes, yet provides programs for 34+ Severe Funded Students who represent the full range of disabilities. In addition the school has approximately 190 mild and moderate students. How has this been achieved? How does it work? What are the successes and challenges for this unique inclusive school environment? Curious? This session will answer these questions through video, anecdote and other data how all student needs are met within an inclusive context. The presentation will offer practical, realistic and honest insights into who does IPP's, maintains and monitors programs and transitions. The roles and responsibilities of program assistants. Teacher involvement and responsibility. The importance of communication. Who makes decisions for and about students? How do we prevent dependency? What are the barriers (personal, institutional, societal and familial) that prevent growth away from dependence? How are curricular goals met, modified or adapted? What is essential to student success? Independence and responsibility is a goal for all students. We believe in the following guiding principles:
Shannon Rentz is a program assistant with many years of in-class experience with a wide variety of student needs in both Junior and Senior High. Shannon has her Teacher Assistant Certificate from Grant McEwan. Shannon is presently the Assistant Student Support Services Co-ordinator at Barrhead Composite High School.
Roger Manuel is presently the Student Support Services Co-ordinator at Barrhead Composite High School. Roger has taught for many years in both Elementary and High School as a regular classroom teacher. Roger has his Masters in Education from Lethbridge University.
Roger and Shannon are both strong advocates for inclusion and both have their feet planted firmly within the regular classroom.
By understanding epistemological challenge we can create space and possibilities.
Sigamoney Naicker
Epistemological roots of theories pose the most serious challenge to the practice of inclusive education. Real transformation must take on board the historical development of special education theory and practices. Administrators, academics and practitioners often assume that the common sense experiences that currently dominate thinking and practices have conservative roots. Only when we are able to unpack this paradigm and its impact on teaching learning to we create space and possibilities for inclusive education.
Sigamoney Naicker is currently Director Inclusive Education in South Africa. He also served on the National Commission for Special Education Needs and Education Support Services in South Africa that shaped the development of Education White Paper 6 On Special Education Needs: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. Prior to this he worked as a teacher, academic at university, and headed up learning support at a provincial level.
Linking Standards to Citizenship: Making accessible the obligations of citizenship to Empower, Build Community and Include All.
Thomas Neuville
A good school is an inclusive school!! And more. If we are to be effective advocates for inclusive education, we also must address all issues of effective schooling and teaching practice, responding to the expectations for higher standards for all students. In this session, we will share a citizenship action approach to effective schooling in which inclusive citizen action processes are at the center. We will discuss how these practices form the basis for school improvement and invite participants to join an international network using these strategies. Participants will develop a collaborative plan for their personal use.
Thomas Neuville is an Associate Professor of Education at Millersville University in Millersville, PA. He has more than twenty-five years experience in community and organizational development. As a consultant he is engaged in strategizing, organizing, and creating values-based organizational systems that thrive in rapidly changing business cultures. Dr. Neuville is the former CEO & President of the Resource Exchange in Colorado Springs, the Denver Independent Living Center, the CASSP Institute in Harrisburg, PA., and the Commonwealth Institute in Harrisburg PA. All organizations are non-profit groups dedicated to excellence in the building of strong communities. Dr. Neuville has worked extensively in the area of organizational and community opportunities for sustainable systems. He also owned and operated socially responsible businesses. Dr. Neuville holds a Bachelors degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and has a Ph.D. in Human Resource and Education from Colorado State University.
Schools for citizenship: Raising learners to create the world we need and want.
Michael Peterson
What is the purpose of school? How should schools and teachers in them structure their work? Whole Schooling posits that the purpose of schools is to create citizens who can solve problems, create better communities, and engage in important adult roles – parent and family member, community leader, professional, worker, citizen. To help children become the problems solvers in the 20th century and in a world filled with both danger and opportunity, educators, parents, and community members must partner to build cultures in schools where children feel they belong, are safe to risk, are supported in learning at their own levels of challenge, and engage in a true community of learners. The Six Principles of Whole Schooling provide a framework and comprehensive set of practices for building such a school. We will explore these ideas, understand how inclusive education and such exemplary educational practices are mutually dependent. We will see inclusive education as a part of Whole Schooling in real classrooms and discuss how parents and educators together may work to create such effective schools.
Michael Peterson has been Professor in the College of Education, Teacher Education at Wayne State University since 1994 where he teaches courses related to inclusive teaching and transition from school to adult life. From 1988 to 1994 he directed the Developmental Disabilities Institute and co-directed the Michigan Inclusive Education Project, a statewide program to provide training and technical assistance to schools to facilitate movement towards inclusive education. He has more than 30 years experience in wide range of settings and programs working with children and adults with disabilities. He has worked in urban and rural programs and direct teaching experience with both elementary and secondary age students with disabilities. Michael co-founded and coordinate the Whole Schooling Consortium.
Walking and talking the road to trusting community.
Michael Peterson and Tim Loreman
Bringing students with behavior challenges into full school and classroom community membership is in many ways one of the ‘final frontiers’ for advocates of inclusive learning. What are the options for supporting classrooms and children where behavioral challenges exist? The traditional approach has been to segregate these children until their behavior improves. This has occurred within classrooms through ‘time out’ for some children, or through the complete removal of these children from regular school classes into more restrictive placements. This presentation discusses the notion of classroom community building as an alternative to segregating children with behavioral challenges, and provides a pragmatic model for implementing this approach in an inclusive classroom.
Michael Peterson has been Professor in the College of Education, Teacher Education at Wayne State University since 1994 where he teaches courses related to inclusive teaching and transition from school to adult life. From 1988 to 1994 he directed the Developmental Disabilities Institute and co-directed the Michigan Inclusive Education Project, a statewide program to provide training and technical assistance to schools to facilitate movement towards inclusive education. He has more than 30 years experience in wide range of settings and programs working with children and adults with disabilities. He has worked in urban and rural programs and direct teaching experience with both elementary and secondary age students with disabilities. Michael co-founded and coordinate the Whole Schooling Consortium.
Tim Loreman trained as an elementary teacher at Monash University in Australia prior to receiving a Graduate Diploma of Education and a Masters of Education degree in the areas of special education and integration from Deakin University in Melbourne. His PhD (Monash) dissertation focused on regular classroom inclusion of students with moderate to severe disabilities, with a wider application to teaching diverse learners in general. He has taught in a variety of special and regular classroom settings in both Australia and Canada, and held a tenured position in the Faculty of Education at Monash University until returning to Canada in 2003. Tim is currently Assistant Professor of Education at Concordia University College of Alberta in Canada. Tim's professional interests include educational psychology and elementary education, and his research and publications have been focused largely on the subject of inclusion. Tim's first co-authored book 'Inclusive Education: A practical guide to supporting diversity in the classroom' was published internationally in October 2004.
Norwood School and Inner City Innovation.
Heather Raymond
The presentation will focus on Norwood School’s as a member of the Edmonton Public Schools’ City Centre Education Project. In light of the variables the school faces in meeting all its students’ needs the school principal will share how the collective of CCEP has helped to shape a school where all children are welcomed, educated and assisted to achieve in an inclusive school.
Heather Raymond completed her doctorate at the University of Alberta in 2002. Her topic was inclusive education and the narrative of parents when they seek inclusion for their children with developmental disabilities. Dr. Raymond has presented papers, workshops and taught university courses on the topic of inclusive education in Canada, the U.S.A., Mexico, U.K. and Australia. Dr. Raymond has been a public school educator for 24 years. Her 24 year teaching career began in the field of special education and has included teaching in many diverse settings which include teaching special education grades 1 to 9, kindergarten, grades 1 to 3, Junior High and in the Caraway program. She has worked for 7 years in the inner city first as assistant principal at McCauley Elementary Junior High School and presently as the principal of Norwood School. Her work at Norwood School reflects her desire to create communities that meet the needs of all children ensuring they have the resources to grow up to be healthy contributing citizens.
Facilitating Inclusive Education and Comprehensive District Reform Through A Multi-District and Multi-Critical Friend Consortium.
Diane Lea Ryndak & Vicki Barnitt
Inclusive education for students with severe disabilities does not develop in a vacuum. Rather, inclusive education must develop for all students (i.e., those with and without disabilities; those from high and low SES families; those from majority and minority backgrounds) simultaneously, within a learning community that (a) respects and honors each individual student; (b) approaches system-wide reform in a proactive systematic manner; (c) uses research-based strategies both for facilitating reform and providing inclusive educational services; and (d) involves all constituents in the reform process. This session will describe a multi-district and multi-critical friend consortium focused on facilitating and evaluating the effects of sustainable district reform that incorporates inclusive education for all students, including those with severe disabilities. The presentation will include both the process and procedures used by the consortium members, as well as processes and procedures used in each of the districts to facilitate change at the district level, school level, and education team level. Finally, this session will incorporate information on the effects that reform efforts are having on students with and without disabilities.
Diane Lea Ryndak is an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Florida. At the University she (a) teaches courses related to curriculum and instruction for students with moderate to profound disabilities; (b) directs a project that supports a multi-university consortium to develop and deliver statewide courses leading to the severe endorsement; (c) works with school districts as they develop services for students with severe disabilities in general education settings in their own neighborhood schools; (d) collaborates with the multi-district and multi-critical friend consortium to facilitate and evaluate systemic school reform efforts. In addition, Dr. Ryndak is an author and co-author of numerous articles and books related to inclusive education, is an Associate Editor for Research and Practices for Persons with Severe Disabilities, is on editorial boards for several other professional journals, and has been an expert witness in due process hearings and class action court cases related to least restrictive environment and educational services for students with severe disabilities. She recently completed a Fulbright Research Award in Poland, where she studied and assisted with efforts to transform Poland’s educational services for students with severe disabilities from segregated to inclusive settings. This work continues in Poland, where Dr. Ryndak participates in activities periodically through the year.
Vick Barnitt has devoted her 24 year education career to making the world a better place for children with disabilities and their families. After a decade of teaching and providing job placement services for students with disabilities, she earned a Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling at the University of South Florida. In 1994, Vicki became one of the founding members of the Florida Inclusion Network (FIN). Currently in its tenth year, the mission of FIN is to provide support and assistance to educators and families as they promote, develop, and implement inclusive opportunities for all children with disabilities in our schools and communities. Vicki currently serves FIN as the statewide Coordinator for Product Development, creating products and training programs to assist families and educators as they work together to expand and successfully implement inclusive programs. While working with FIN, her greatest reward has been witnessing the improved quality of life for children with disabilities and their families as they become valued and complete members of each classroom, school, and community. Vicki is inspired by all who work tirelessly to make a difference in the lives of children and adults with disabilities!
Teaching for international understanding: A Whole School approach to global citizenship.
Keith Samuelson
This session will focus on the "Teaching for Understanding" framework developed at Harvard's "Project Zero" as a means of nurturing the necessary empathy to inspire young people to become effective advocates for human rights and international development issues. Participants will share strategies which connect the English curriculum to student activism for the purpose of promoting international understanding and empowering citizens for democracy.
Keith Samuelson is the Global Educator Co-ordinator at Prince of Wales Collegiate in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Keith has been a teacher, administrator and program co-ordinator for twenty-five years. His deep interest in human rights, international development and global citizenship has been the subject of many articles and presentations at national and international conferences. He has studied at Harvard and McGill Universities and participated in professional development activities in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. This past summer Keith represented Canada as a participant in the Keizai Koho Fellowship Tour of Japan. He is currently the co-ordinator of "The Newfoundland and Labrador Global Education Centre", a Global Classroom Initiative sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency. His presentation will focus on fostering international understanding by developing partnerships within the community, across the country and around the world.
Universally designing writing experiences for all.
Leyton Schnellert
When our goal is to create classrooms where we focus on excellence for all, we need to seek out instructional frameworks that are inclusive in nature. Universal Design for Learning is a way of thinking about teaching strategies and planning that involves planning for the diversity of one's class from 'get go' rather than trying to retrofit lessons that don't meet the needs of all. Leyton will explain and model the principles of universal design as they apply to grade 3-8 writing classrooms.
Leyton Schellert is a Teacher Consultant in Richmond, BC and works with entire schools staffs and study groups exploring assessment and instruction methods that create meaningful and engaging learning experiences for all students. He also works part-time for Simon Fraser University where he supports teachers completing Graduate Diplomas in the areas of Special Education, Diversity and Literacy.
Reconciling inclusion and educational achievement.
Dick Sobsey
There is widespread agreement on the idea that our schools should be excellent, but there is no simple agreement on what excellence actually is. The idea that educational excellence can be defined or measured by achievement test scores is based on an old 20th century, industrial-model view as schools as factories of learning in which assembly lines mass produced achievement and output was measured in test scores.
Excellence can no longer be defined as a narrow uni-dimensional quality. Excellent schools are those that respond differentially to the needs of individual students and differing communities. This does not mean that academic achievement is unimportant. It is ONE of many things that can be important for many, probably most students. When it is a priority, it is not achieved by exclusion and segregation.
Dick Sobsey is Director of the JP Das Developmental Disabilities Centre at the University of Alberta. He is a Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and in the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre. He has worked with children and adults with developmental disabilities since 1968 He has published more than 200 books, chapters and articles related to people with disabilities and has given well over 500 presentations on disability-related topics. He lives in Edmonton with his family, including a 14-year-old son with severe developmental disabilities who is fully included in his community school.
Inclusion for Students with Very Severe Disabilities: What are we really talking about? Questions arising from a case study of a young adult with "severe multiple disabilities".
Lynne Tamor
Using a case study of a young man with multiple disabilities as a foundation, this session will explore the true meaning of “inclusion” (both in and out of school, now and in adult life) for people with severe cognitive impairments. The young man in question has been “fully included” since kindergarten, but the meaning of that term is becoming increasingly problematic. As this question is explored within the context of secondary school and transition planning, the implications for all students at the secondary level and for Whole Schools at the secondary level can be viewed through a new lens.
Lynne Tamor holds a doctorate in Reading and Language Development from the University of California at Berkeley, and began her professional career with research interests in the development of literacy, with particular attention to individual differences in both the overall learning process and moment-to-moment cognitive processes. Her two children broadened and changed her focus a great deal: her daughter is “severely gifted” and challenged conventional educational practices throughout her entire K-12 career, while her son has “severe multiple disabilities” and has presented a very different (in some ways) set of challenges to the same educational system. Lynne became an organizing member of the fledgling Whole Schooling Consortium, and has since devoted most of her professional time, as well as much personal time, to building and articulating the framework for school renewal called Whole Schooling. At present, she is a part-time faculty member at Wayne State University, a private educational consultant, and a member of advocacy groups including the Michigan Developmental Disabilities Council, the Oakland Special Education Parent Advisory Committee, the Oakland Positive Behavior Support Council, the Arc of Oakland County Board of Trustees, and the Michigan Network for Inclusive Schooling.
Inclusive Post-Secondary Education: Lessons from 20 years of practice.
Bruce Uditsky and Anne Hughson
Inclusive post-secondary education challenges the very presumed nature of developmental disabilities when these students participate in every aspect of university and college life, complete university and college work to varying degrees, form relationships with professors, instructors and non-disabled peers and follow their dreams. Students with developmental disabilities have been fully and successfully included in courses in almost every faculty and department of the two major universities in Alberta. We will share the results of new qualitative research on the experiences of university and college students with developmental disabilities as told in their own words. In addition we will share the impact of inclusion on professors and instructors and how they have been transformed by their voluntary commitment to create inclusive classroom environments.
Bruce Uditsky, M.Ed., is currently the Executive Director of the Alberta Association for Community Living (AACL). Bruce has been invited to speak and consult on a wide variety of disability practice and research issues in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Australia and Europe. Bruce is also the author of numerous writings on community inclusion and social justice.
Anne Hughson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Calgary and a Chartered Psychologist. Anne has an extensive background in working directly with families and individuals with development disabilities, in particular in addressing issues of abuse and sexual assault. She is a recipient of the Faculty of Education Excellence in Teaching Award and the author and co-author of a number of texts and many chapters and articles on a wide range of disability-related subjects. She has lectured and taught in many countries. As a researcher in disability studies and a teacher in program evaluation her work is grounded in the lived experiences of people with developmental disabilities and their families.
Sandra Mack
Leadership Today is an organization that helps individuals with developmental disabilities to become leaders and teachers in their communities and make decisions based on their goals. It does so by offering training courses about self-advocacy, rights and responsibilities, decision-making, problem-solving and how boards and committees work. Students also learn how to facilitate a course or workshop, including how to set objectives, make presentations, use different training aids and deal with problem situations. Since its beginning 9 years ago Leadership Today has provided training and mentoring to over 600 individuals, many of whom are now in leadership roles in the community and/or have become successful self-advocates. Sandra Mack, Executive Director of the organization, believes that the program is particularly effective in helping graduates to make their contributions as citizens.
What Makes public school education Public School Education?
David King
The characteristics that make public school education essentially public are not that it is publicly funded, or regulated, or the beneficiary of compulsory attendance laws. Public school education is inclusive, as a matter of conviction, and it is an intentional model of a civil democratic community. Public school education is about both the student and the community – simultaneously and equally. Public school education is about relationships, and tension: independence and interdependence. Public school education is about believing in both the individual and the public.
David King has been Executive Director of the Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta for more than 15 years. Prior to that (1971 – 1986) he was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Minister of Education (1979 – 1986), and Minister of Technology, Research, and Telecommunications. During his time as Minister of Education, Mr. King introduced the Designated Community School Program, program funding for Native Education, the Provincial Diploma Exams and Provincial Achievement Tests, the Council on Alberta Teaching Standards, and elected trustees for the Northland School Division, as well as other initiatives. Mr. King is married to one of the five best grade one teachers in North America: they have three sons and six grandchildren.