Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

The reason why children with Down Syndrome and similar "disabilities" tend to be kept separate in school is because our education system is catered to one way of learning. If a student learns in a different way, he or she is labeled as "disabled" and is kept separate from the kids who are thought to be smarter than them. I really like what Kliewer says at the bottom of the 5th page of the article,

                 "Schools have traditionally taken a narrow position when defining and judging student intellect. The presence of a thoughtful mind has been linked to patterns of behavioral and communicative conformity associated with competence in logical-mathematical thinking and linguistic skills. Assessments of how well a student conforms to expectations (measurements through which students come to be defined either as smart or as lacking intellect) tend to focus teacher attention on the child's adeptness at responding to classroom-based math and language tasks. These evaluative instruments supposedly measure either a student's understanding of a transmitted knowledge base (hence, a preexisting one) related to math and language, or the student's ability to discover the knowledge base through carefully contrived activities. "

         One part of the article described a classroom in which was a student who struggled with Down Syndrome. One of the things that enabled him to flourish creatively and intellectually was by making a play with the other children. The children wrote the play, memorized the lines, and created the scenery, costumes and props. I like what Kliewer describes of this idea for the children,

 "The Wild Thing production was not an add-on to a preexisting curriculum. It reflected Shayne's unique approach to building community through the process of learning. Within the web of activities, Shayne and her co-workers systematically developed opportunities for their students to engage with literacy and numeracy skills, problem-solving, and critical thinking processes, and interpersonal capacities. Though the children may not have been aware of it, learning was always of central concern."

This approach to inclusive teaching uses methods that all different types of learners can benefit from. The kids were having so much fun creating the play that they didn't even realize they were learning without the frustrations of sitting at a desk and memorizing facts.

Another quote I like from this article addresses mathematics education and how it teaches students to view the world: "Mathematics teachers report that students are nearly always searching for steps to take in solving the problem-"how to plug the numbers into the equation, how to follow the algorithm." The more closely the ordering of words in a problem parallels the order of symbols in the equation, the easier the problem is to solve and the more the students will like it. Seeing mathematics as a way of understanding the world, of illuminating a phenomenon, as a kind of conversation or enterprise into which even a young person can become meaningfully involved is a rare occurrence. And yet, how can genuine understanding ever begin to come about with such an attitude?"

What do we learn about the world when we are taught that there is a right and wrong to every answer? One way to think? "abled people" and "disabled people?" some interesting food for thought.

This is an article called "Why Mixing Student's With and Without Special Needs is a Good Idea.": http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/06/25/special-needs-inclusion-good-idea, on this page is a cute video about a girl named Tessa who has trouble with her focus and behavior at school. It starts out with her talking about how she doesn't like school, until she enrolls in an inclusive special education program, and then concludes that school is fun.


Here is a chart that better defines inclusion, compared to exclusion, integration, and segregation.