About the Author
Rachel Janney has worked with children and adults with disabilities in a number of capacities, including special education teacher, camp counselor, educational consultant, and researcher. She received her master's degree from Syracuse University and her doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Janney now teaches courses in special education, supervises student teachers, and coordinates the undergraduate program in special education at RadfordUniversity. She also serves as Co-director of the Training and Technical Assistance Center (T/TAC) for Professionals Serving Individuals with Disabilities at Radford University. The T/TAC, part of a statewide technical assistance network that is funded by the Virginia Department of Education, provides a variety of services and resources to special education teams in school divisions throughout southwest Virginia.
REVIEW1 ...clear, understandable practical information for practitioners who wish to be more than caretakers for their included charges.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Common Goals and Values
Excerpted from Chapter 1 of Teachers' Guides to Inclusive Practices: Modifying Schoolwork, by Rachel Janney, Ph.D., & Martha E. Snell, Ph.D., with invited contributors
Copyright © 2000 Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
The decisions we make about modifications [of schoolwork] depend on our beliefs and values regarding the purpose of education and the benefits of belonging. It may be impossible for a team to agree on the acceptability of curricular and instruction adaptations unless team members agree on certain values, because values become the criteria used to evaluate decisions. For example, the content of this booklet is founded on the belief that all students should have the opportunity to attend school together and to be treated as full and equal members of their classroom groups and communities. In addition, the practices described in this booklet reflect a belief that adaptations should meet the criteria of facilitating both social and instructional participation and of being "only as special as necessary."
The most effective adaptations are designed to facilitate both social and instructional participation in class activities. That is, learning activities can and should be designed so that students with varying abilities work together within shared activities. One goal of inclusive education is for students with IEPs to be full members of their classes and schools and to participate in the ongoing social life of the class. Another goal is for students to achieve academic and functional competence at whatever level is suitable for them. That is, although it is important for all students to be included with peers in their age group for social purposes, just being present or being included for "socialization" is not enough. It is also important that students make progress toward specific learning goals, whether those goals involve social, academic, motoric, or personal aspects of education.
Therefore, adaptations are ideally designed not only to keep the student busy or present with classmates but also to enable the student to practice and master relevant instructional goals. Students' goals will range from being slightly different to being vastly different from their classmates' curriculum goals. The adaptations designed for students with very different curriculum goals should enable them to take an active part in instructional activities, even if their participation is designed to achieve a different learning outcome than that of their classmates. Teachers may sometimes find themselves questioning the value of adapting an activity that seems to be distant from the functional skill needs of a student with a severe disability; however, they should remember that functionality is only one criterion for selecting IEP goals and objectives. Other valid criteria for selecting learning outcomes include student or family preference, age appropriateness, and the opportunity to increase the student's social participation and interaction. As Kenna Colley, a special education consulting teacher, noted, "Sometimes, the activity should be adapted because it is necessary to the student, even if it does not seem very relevant to the adults" (personal communication, September 10, 1997). The two priorities - social and instructional participation - need to be balanced. At times, teachers may have to make a choice to emphasize one or the other for a particular activity; though, they can also continue to try to figure out how to move closer to accomplishing both.
