Each year, the TASH Conference strengthens the disability field by connecting attendees to innovative information and resources, facilitating connections between stakeholders within the disability movement, and helping attendees reignite their passion for an inclusive world. This year’s conference theme, “Gateway to Equity,” explores inclusive communities, schools, and workplaces that support people with disabilities, including those with complex support needs, in living a fair, just, and balanced life. Return to TASH website.
In a case study format, educational teams in an inclusive elementary school piloted a formal weekly planning process to design and deliver general education content at grade level to four students with extensive support needs in their age-appropriate general education classes. The process included each week a planning meeting of ?? hour or less between the educators; a week-to-week allocation of material and human resources to assure participation and learning; and assessment of successes from previous weeks to guide future planning. The process was examined using an appreciative inquiry qualitative methodology. The results reported in this session show how teams can plan, design, and deliver general education content such that equity is achieved, regardless of severity of disability. By the end of this session, participants will be able to: (a) describe an ongoing planning process between general and special educators, plus paraprofessionals, that results in higher levels of immersion, participation, and learning for students with extensive support needs in their general education classes (b) describe the implementation of effective and nonintrusive human and material supports that contribute to immersion, participation, and learning in students with extensive support needs in their general education classes; (c) design practical processes for assessing immersion, participation, and learning in students with extensive support needs in their general education classes, regardless of severity of disability; and (d) identify specific adaptations to the described planning and implementation processes to fit the teaching and learning contexts in which the presentation participants themselves have to work in their own lives.
