Part 2 of our Inclusion Advice series
Systemic barriers to inclusion in schools
Part 1: Members share what inclusion in schools means for their children
Parents consistently experienced challenges in schools to find an understanding of inclusion among educators, administrators, and other staff.
“We were told the school in our village couldn’t accommodate our daughter due to her special needs. The school board wanted her to attend a Special Education Class in another town, 30 minutes away. We wanted our daughter to attend school with her siblings and her friends, in the community that she knew. The more the school board pushed back, the more determined we became.
“Unfortunately, in Northern Ontario there are no inclusive schools – not without a strong fight from the beginning until our children completed their education!”
“I thought we were going to find schools that practiced inclusive education as I knew it. But supports at high school were not systemic and depended highly on the school and the school principal. The school system was complex and hard to navigate for us, as well as any developmental services available. So learning and advocating became work to be done.”
“My son was considered a ‘behaviour problem’ and out of control. When I reached out for help and began to learn about his rights that were being violated and ignored, it lit a fire under me.”
“The two main things we wanted for our son happened only after the threat of the media – all “regular” classes, none segregated, and annualized funding.”
“When we were first looking at school for my son who has Autism, we were not comfortable with the segregated programs that were being offered by the preschools and the school board. It began more as a gut feeling…I knew we made the right decision to insist on an inclusive learning environment for our son.”
“We felt too much effort and time was put into IPRCs (Identification, Placement and Review Committees) in the early years. They spent many years trying to force us into a different placement. Once they realized we weren’t going to change our minds, the process became smoother.”
“It wasn’t worth the time trying to cooperate with the school board’s insistence of a placement in a segregated class. Those efforts didn’t help my daughter. I hated the fight to get her right to an inclusive education, and the legal action required, but it had to be done, so that was worth it.”
“For my son, they were never going to focus his IEP (Individual Education Plan) on his academics – it was always about his behaviour. If I managed to get a caring and understanding teaching team (teacher, educational assistant, learning support teacher and principal) that implemented appropriate accommodations for his sensory needs in the classroom, he would inevitably be able to learn. I am not suggesting that IEPs are not important, but sometimes you have to push it aside and just say to the teaching team, ‘How can we make this happen? What do you need? How can I help?’”
“I was overly patient with school staff who would not believe in our daughter. In hindsight, we should have requested a change ASAP. We were too afraid to address the issue. In the end, it caused our daughter valuable educational progress. She became discouraged and we were under too much stress.”
“When my son was in Grade 5, I was involved in organizing a project within our school board that focused on the value of assistive technology for students with disabilities. In my personal situation, where my son was involved, it was basically sabotaged by our principal and so he never benefitted from adapted technology while in the school system.”
“While reading instruction could have been integrated into an adapted curriculum in several of her classes, the teachers were simply not oriented to understand how to do that within their normal curriculum structure, and the Special Education consultants didn’t help either. My daughter would likely have been able to acquire some reading capability. When she didn’t start school until 12, and then only in what was termed a multi-handicapped class with no academic instruction of any kind, she completely missed out. Once she started high school, beginning reading instruction was not even considered.”
“I hate to say this, but families have to learn the system, because we found educators will not share valuable information and options, and they most certainly don’t always promote inclusion.”
Names have been changed to ensure privacy. Some responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity. We are grateful to the dedicated parents who shared their experiences and guidance with other families by participating in this survey.
