Inclusion Kinks

Getting into an inclusion setting in a New York City public school means having 2 children with special needs in a general ed setting. Along with the general ed teacher or teachers, a special ed teacher and a paraprofessional were provided. This was the kind of setting my daughter was in from first to sixth grade. It provided a whole host of opportunities to hone skills that were needed to move into decertification and becoming just "one" of the general ed students. But inclusion is not without its problems. One of the very first issues I have had to deal with is the attendance sheets. When she was a first grader, my daughter was asked from time to time to bring the folder that had the attendance sheets to the office. She brought to my attention the fact that her name was not on that sheet. It so bothered her that I had to question her special ed teacher about it. She explained that because inclusion is handled by District 75, the attendance for inclusion kids is taken separately by the special ed teacher. Other parents apparently noticed this too. There is no good way to explain this to the children. We don't understand why the attendance sheets cannot be done jointly and shared by both District 75 and the district the school belongs to. This separation of the attendance sheets does not serve the idea of inclusiveness well. It may probably be the source of other problems. One of the kids who graduated ahead of my daughter had his name omitted from the graduation program. His parents are very good friends of ours. When she relayed the story to us, we felt the pain as if it was happening to our own child. We were not exempt from a similar incident. When my daughter was in sixth grade, the kids all got t-shirts with their names as graduates printed on the back. My daughter's name was not printed on the shirts. This made my blood boil because it hurt her and made her feel less deserving despite her unbelievable achievements and efforts. It was actually a mistake that originated from not having her on the roster. The people in charge of the t-shirts did make an effort to correct their mistake. The solution was to print her t-shirt with her name at the bottom of the list, making her name much larger than the others. I applaud their effort. But think about it. This is not an ideal solution. The other kids' t-shirts will not have her name on it. This school displays one of the t-shirts for each graduating year on their wall and my daughter's name will not be on that one. I accepted this solution although I feel I should have taken a stronger stand about it. Another friend of ours has a son who just graduated from middle school. This is an artistic and talented young man who has put a lot of work into fulfilling all the academic requirements. Much to her shock and surprise, her son's yearbook did not contain his picture. Sure he is in the group picture. But what good is the yearbook if your individual picture is not in it. He graduated in June and she has been trying to get this resolved since before that. It is now October and, to this day, she has not heard about a solution. The yearbook is an important document that symbolizes a very significant turning point in a young person's life. This parent and her friends feel that the only acceptable solution is to specially print a yearbook with her son's picture in it. Our children's self-esteem is at stake when mistakes like this are made. I hope all schools make greater efforts at correcting these issues. Despite events like these, inclusion is still, in my opinion, one of the best educational settings available as an option to us. It just needs some tweaking. The kinks need to be fixed. Mr. Klein, are you listening?