Resources for Teachers and Paraeducators

Beyond Communication Access Visit Site
Title Beyond communication access: Promoting learning of the general education curriculum by students with significant disabilities.
Author McSheehan, M., Sonnenmeier, R.M., Jorgensen, C.M., & Turner, K.
Publisher Topics in Language Disorders (2006)
Summary Descriptions of team member perceptions are reported regarding improvements in teaming practices, expectations for student learning, and student performance based on initial implementation of the Beyond Access Model.
URL journals.lww.com
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Title Signs of an Inclusive School: A Parent's Perspective on the Meaning and Value of Authentic Inclusion
Author Swedeen, B.
Publisher TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus (2009)
Summary Although increasing numbers of schools say they are adopting inclusive models of service delivery,
many students with significant disabilities continue to experience segregation and isolation
in school settings. This article, written from a parent's perspective, highlights a series of questions
that school leadership, educators, and families can ask themselves in reflecting on whether
their schools offer authentically inclusive experiences. Included are strategies and ideas that
schools have used with this parent's child to create and strengthen academically and socially inclusive
educational opportunities for all students.
URL PDF // 342 KB
Classroom-based versus pull-out intervention Download
Title Classroom-based versus pull-out intervention: An examination of the experimental evidence
Author McGinty, A.S., & Justice, L.M.
Publisher EBP Briefs (April 2006)
Summary A comparison of speech and language outcomes for preschool and early elementary students who received in classroom-based versus pull-out services.
File PDF // 152 KB
What Have We Learned About Creating Inclusive Elementary Schools? Download
Title Part of the Community: Strategies for Including Everyone
Chapter What Have We Learned About Creating Inclusive Elementary Schools?
Author Susan Shapiro-Barnard, Frank Sgambati, Beth Dixon, and Grace Nelson
Publisher Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. (2000)
Summary This book chapter describes what has been learned about creating inclusive elementary schools. It presents the perspectives of a university inclusive education consultant, a special educator/inclusion facilitator, a parent, and an inclusion consultant.
File PDF // 792 KB
Quick-Guides to Inclusion Visit Site
Title Quick-Guides to Inclusion: Ideas for Educating Students with Disabilities, 2nd Edition
Author Michael F. Giangreco & Mary Beth Doyle
Publisher Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company Inc. (2007)
Summary

Now for the first time ever, the bestselling, teacher-trusted Quick-Guides to Inclusion are available in a single updated and revised volume--complete with 7 all-new Quick-Guides on today's hottest inclusion topics. This is a must for busy K-12 teachers who need fast, friendly and practical guidance on including students with disabilities in general education classrooms.
URL www.iodbookstore.org
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Title Why Not Community Based Instruction?
Author Carol Tashie and Mary Schuh
Publisher Institute on Disability, University of New Hampshire (1993)
Summary This newsletter article provides a rationale for not removing students with disabilities from the mainstream of high school general education instruction in order to teach them functional living skills. It provides several suggestions for how those skills can be taught in natural contexts in school and in community settings alongside nondisabled classmates.
File PDF // 580 KB
“Be Careful What You Wish for…”: Five Reasons to be Concerned About the Assignment of Individual Paraprofessionals Visit Site
Title “Be Careful What You Wish for…”: Five Reasons to be Concerned About the Assignment of Individual Paraprofessionals
Author Michael F. Giangreco, Susan Yuan, Barbara McKenzie, Patricia Cameron, and Janice Fialka
Publisher Teaching Exceptional Children (2005)
Summary This journal article summarizes the potential benefits of providing paraprofessional supports, discusses five research-based reasons why school personnel and parents should be concerned about the assignment of individual paraprofessionals, and offers a set of considerations to guide the assignment of paraprofessionals.
URL www.cec.sped.org
Supporting Students with Emotional Disabilities in General Education Classrooms Download
Title Part of the Community: Strategies for Including Everyone
Chapter Supporting Students with Emotional Disabilities in General Education Classrooms
Author Herb Lovett
Publisher Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. (2000)
Summary This book chapter describes how the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire worked with several school districts to develop and implement proactive strategies and supports for students identified as “seriously emotionally handicapped” to be members of general education classrooms.
File PDF // 976 KB
IMPACT 2003 – Inclusive Education Visit Site
Title IMPACT 2003 – Inclusive Education
Author Multiple authors of multiple articles
Publisher Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, 2003
Summary This newsletter issue presents articles on the rationale for inclusion, including students with the most significant disabilities, teaching to diversity in an age of high stakes testing, the leadership role of special education directors, collaborative teaming, middle and high school inclusion, and more.
URL ici.umn.edu
Social Justice Educational Leaders and Resistance: Toward a Theory of Social Justice Leadership Visit Site
Title Social Justice Educational Leaders and Resistance: Toward a Theory of Social Justice Leadership
Author George Theoharis
Publisher Educational Administration Quarterly (2007)
Summary This journal article describes the results of a qualitative study of school principals, describing: (a) how the principals enacted social justice, (b) the resistance they faced, and (c) the strategies they developed to sustain their social justice work.
URL eaq.sagepub.com
Oppressors or Emancipators: Critical Dispositions for Preparing Inclusive School Leaders Visit Site
Title Oppressors or Emancipators: Critical Dispositions for Preparing Inclusive School Leaders
Author George Theoharis and Julie N. Causton-Theoharis
Publisher Equity & Excellence in Education (2008)
Summary This journal article outlines the dispositions necessary for school leaders in order to develop and maintain inclusive educational services for all students.
URL www.informaworld.com
Creating an Inclusive School, 2nd Edition Visit Site
Title Voice of Inclusion: Everything About Bob Was Cool, Including the Cookies
Author Richard Villa
Publisher Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (1995)
Summary This book chapter features the remembrances of a university faculty member who worked with the Winooski Vermont school system to integrate one of the first students with multiple disabilities. Between Chapters 6 and 7 in Creating an Inclusive School, Second Edition.
URL www.ascd.org
The Least Dangerous Assumption: A Challenge to Create a New Paradigm. Download
Title The Least Dangerous Assumption: A Challenge to Create a New Paradigm.
Author Cheryl M. Jorgensen
Publisher Disability Solutions (2005)
Summary This article suggests that inclusive education will not be successful until people change their attitudes and assumptions about the competence of children and youth with disabilities. It suggests that the “least dangerous assumption” is to presume that all students can learn the general education curriculum in the general education classroom.
File PDF // 712 KB
Back Off! Visit Site
Title Back Off!
Publisher Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (2005)
Summary This brief article argues that assigning 1:1 paraprofessionals has negative unintended consequences for students with significant disabilities and suggests alternatives to this model of support delivery. Adapted from “Helping or hovering? Effects of instructional assistant proximity on students with disabilities.”
URL questia.com
Champions of Inclusion Download
Title Champions of Inclusion
Author William Henderson
Publisher International Journal of Whole Schooling (2007)
Summary All across the country, individuals are being recognized for successfully promoting inclusion in schools. The purpose of this article is to highlight some of the salient characteristics of the champions of inclusion.
File PDF // 128 KB
Graphic Organizers and Implications for Universal Design for Learning Visit Site
Title Graphic Organizers and Implications for Universal Design for Learning
Author Nicole Strangman, Tracey Hall, and Anne Meyer
Publisher National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum
Summary One way to make a curriculum more supportive of students and teachers is to incorporate graphic organizers. This paper examines the research on educational applications of graphic organizers in grades K-12 and explores points of intersection with Universal Design for Learning.
URL cast.org
Developing a Shared Understanding Visit Site
Title Developing a Shared Understanding: Paraeducator Supports for Students with Disabilities in General Education
Author Michael F. Giangreco, Eileen Cichoskikelly, Linda Backus, Susan Edelman, Priscilla Tucker, Steve Broder, and Christopher Cichoskikelly.
Publisher TASH, 1999
Summary This article describes the importance of all IEP team members developing a shared understanding about the role of the paraprofessional on the student’s educational team. It also describes some of the dangers in providing a 1:1 paraprofessional to a student with a significant disability and suggests alternatives for using that staff person in an expanded role for all students.
URL tash.org
Brookes Publishing Newsletter Archive: Integrating Occupational Therapy Into Early Childhood Classrooms Visit Site
Title Integrating Occupational Therapy Into Early Childhood Classrooms
Author Claire Cavallaro and Michele Haney
Publisher Brookes (2002)
Summary Dr. Pip Campbell is interviewed to discuss strategies for integrating OT into the classroom more effectively.
URL http://brookespublishing.com/email/archive/august02/august02EC3.htm
Meeting Agenda and Instructional Planning Download
Title Meeting Agenda and Instructional Planning
Author Cheryl M. Jorgensen, Michael McSheehan, and Rae Sonnenmeier
Publisher Institute on Disability, University of New Hampshire (2009)
Summary

This meeting agenda template provides a guide for educational team members to use when they meet to do instructional planning around the inclusion of a student with significant disabilities in a general education classroom.

Note: This planning form will be included in Jorgensen, C.M., McSheehan, M., & Sonnenmeier, R.M. (publication date 2009). The Beyond Access Model: Membership, participation, and learning for students with intellectual and other developmental disabilities in general education classrooms. Available for preorder at iodbookstore.org.

File Microsoft Word Document // 36 KB
Actions for Inclusion Download
Title Actions for Inclusion
Author The planning committee of the Parent/Self-Advocate Strand of the New England Inclusive Education Leadership Summit (CarolAnn Edscorn, Dan Habib, Anne Huff, Emily Huff, Keith Jones, Trey Latulippe and Linda Quintanilha) and Summit participants
Publisher Institute on Disability, University of New Hampshire (2009)
Summary A brainstormed list of actions for inclusive education.
File PDF // 68 KB
New England Inclusive Education Leadership Summit Guide Download
Title New England Inclusive Education Leadership Summit Guide
Author Institute on Disability, University of New Hampshire
Publisher Institute on Disability, University of New Hampshire (2009)
Summary Program from the New England Inclusive Education Leadership Summit on April 10, 2009. Includes conference schedule, strand descriptions, planning committee members, and research and online resources on inclusive education.
File PDF // 1.5 MB
MAPS: A plan for including all children in schools Visit Site
Title MAPS: A plan for including all children in schools
Author Kansas State Board of Education
Publisher Kansas State Board of Education (1992)
Summary The MAPS process can help families, professionals, and a special student’s peers find ways to fully include the student in school, in a classroom with classmates who are the same age. MAPS is different from some other planning tools because in it participants focus on what the student can do, instead of on his or her weakness.
URL www.circleofinclusion.org
MAPS Sample Agenda Download
Title MAPS Sample Agenda
Author Wood-Lewis Family
Publisher Wood-Lewis Family (2009)
Summary The MAPS process can help families, professionals, and a special student’s peers find ways to fully include the student in school, in a classroom with classmates who are the same age. MAPS is different from some other planning tools because in it participants focus on what the student can do, instead of on his or her weakness.
File PDF // 36 KB
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Making learning accessible and engaging for all students Download
Title Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Making learning accessible and engaging for all students
Author National Education Association
Publisher National Education Association (2009)
Summary In today’s dynamic, diverse classrooms, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) offers all educators and students an exciting opportunity to use strategies and technologies that bridge the gap in learner skills, interests, and needs.
File PDF // 128 KB
Summary of Research on Inclusive Education Download
Title Summary of Research on Inclusive Education
Author Cheryl M. Jorgensen
Publisher Institute on Disability
Summary A summary of studies showing the benefits of inclusive education.
File PDF // 92 KB
Parent Letter to Peers Download
Title Parent Letter to Peers
Author Wood-Lewis Family
Publisher Wood-Lewis Family (2006)
Summary A family’s start-of-school letter to the students and families in their son Ben’s class.
File PDF // 56 KB
I’m Tyler Visit Site
Title I’m Tyler
Author Tyler
Publisher imtyler.org
Summary “I’m Tyler...don’t be surprised” is a peek into a real kid’s life where people just like you have realized what a kid CAN do is much more important than what he can’t.
URL imtyler.org
A Parent’s Letter: Education Issues for Parents of Students with Developmental Disabilities Download
Title A Parent’s Letter: Education Issues for Parents of Students with Developmental Disabilities
Author Linda Quintanilha
Publisher The Clipboard, Monadnock Developmental Services (2008)
Summary A letter from a parent to her community members about the educational choices she has made for her daughter with autism.
File PDF // 80 KB
Creating Inclusive Schools Visit Site
Title Creating Inclusive Schools
Author Julie Causton-Theoharis and George Theoharis
Publisher The School Administrator (2008)
Summary An education for children with disabilities that, as one principal puts it, offers “nothing separate, no special spaces, no special teachers.”
URL aasa.org