The Context: An Even Playing Field

Action Driven Education stands to empower children with disabilities. We believe that the vehicle to this empowerment comes through a diversity of educational opportunities and dignified respect and appreciation for individual differences. None of us are the same, and through this fact comes our collective strength. Our world needs to explore our biases, whether it’s learning bias in our classrooms or racial bias on our streets. At Action Driven Education, we are committed to empowering the individual differences that make us, us!

As I write this entry, June 1, 2020, the streets of our country are filled with protests. Voices demanding to be heard as they try to vocalize how discrimination is tearing their world apart. In my heart, I would like to believe that the policies, procedures, and practices that cause this discrimination weren’t intentional. However, my own experiences on a slightly different front tell me otherwise.

The Story: My Observations of Discrimination

As a special education teacher and administrator, I have seen discrimination firsthand. I’ve watched as policies, procedures, and practices marginalized children with disabilities. Unfortunately, I have conversed with people who believed that policies should be developed to prevent a child with a disability from becoming class valedictorian, that the use of accommodations and modifications, which are designed to empower a child around their disability, should prevent a child from being able to earn a grade higher than a “C,” or that a child with a disability shouldn’t be permitted to belong in their own public school.

As I reflect on the countless conversations of this nature in which I have participated, I have identified that, in every case, the general point of the discussion always boiled down to something being “fair” compared to another child or group of children. What a tough statement. It’s strangely ironic that “fairness” is what we are working toward, yet the argument against it is “fairness.” How is that even possible?

This puzzle is possible because we lose sight of the outcome. The outcome of education is supposed to be the “fair” opportunity for each child to acquire the knowledge and skills they will need to become an independent, happy, and productive member of our society. The outcome is NOT for a child to receive a higher “grade” or “advantage” over another so as to be able to compare one to another. In this comparison or drive for competition among one another, we create an environment where discrimination can flourish.

The Point: The Root of Discrimination

I’m not an expert on racism and can’t begin to grasp the scope and reach of the social change we need in order to make our society “fair” for everyone. However, given my experiences, I am confident that we need to reevaluate the intended outcomes of the policies, procedures, and practices our society has enacted in the name of “fairness.”

Be Action Driven: Things To Do

1. Watch the movie “The Best of Enemies” to explore how racism and segregation were impacted by a small act of kindness toward a child with a disability.
2. Explore the world in which you live and the areas of expertise you possess. Are there policies, practices, and procedures with which you’re most familiar that were designed to give one individual and advantage over the other in a competitive nature? If so, consider ways to change that by looking to adjust the outcome goal.
3. We can’t all be experts or always fully understand the challenges faced by others. However, we can use what we know best to explore and develop a better picture of those challenges. Discrimination is all around us, and in some ways, we may all be contributing. Consider your world and some differences that may lead to discrimination such as race, economic status, disability, sexual orientation, age, and others. What understanding can you gain by considering the world you know best? Apply your knowledge of the biases you may hold to world events so that you can develop a better understanding. Then, once you have done so, make a change in your world. Reduction in discrimination at any level changes all discrimination.

The Context: It’s Hard to Find Adaptations

Teachers of students with special needs spend a tremendous amount of time planning for the education they provide to their students. General and special education teachers alike spend countless hours of time brainstorming, planning, discussing, and implementing ways to support their students. I remember these days and recall the overwhelming feeling of responsibility as I researched and brainstormed to try to develop an appropriate way to support my students. As a special education teacher, I knew it was my job to develop these supports, and I relied heavily upon the opportunity to collaborate with my colleagues so that I didn’t feel so overwhelmed and alone. However, these opportunities don’t happen often in the fast-paced and time-starved world of education.

The Story: Individualization Takes Time!

Judy was an incredibly dedicated fifth-grade teacher. During my first few years as a learning support teacher, I had the opportunity to co-teach math with Judy. The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act had just been reauthorized, emphasizing the inclusion of all students in the general education classroom. Judy and I, along with the other teachers in the school, were up to the challenge! It felt like a daily occurrence where I would be asked: “What are we going to do with Billy?” Except, it wasn’t really “Billy”; just replace “Billy” with the name of any student. Ironically, this question would be my career’s most frequently asked question. Judy knew that it was helpful to me to talk to her as I brainstormed the answer to this question; therefore, we would call each other almost nightly. I’m sure today it would be an entertaining meme if someone had made a video of me each night standing at my kitchen sink, scrubbing dishes, with my microphone and headphone headset on my head, squeezing every last minute of my day to the max! It took time, obviously, but we always developed a solution! There had to be a better way!

The Point: Accomods Empowers Efficient Solutions

This is why we’ve developed Accomods by Action Driven Education. It’s my goal to become a digital partner for every teacher, general or special education, who’s working to develop appropriate, individualized learning environments for their students. I’ll write more about how I’m working to do this in future entries, but to start, I’d like to share the template we use for every accommodation and modification we develop. Accomods is designed to quickly put potential ideas on the table, provide the details that are necessary to determine if they are appropriate for “Billy,” then assist with implementation.

We’ve included hundreds of detailed adaptations in Accomods like the one below to support you from development through implementation. We want to work with you – so you have time to work with your students!

The Context: A Child Dependent Upon an Adaptation

“I need to go have my test read to me, Mrs. Zinn,” Sophie said as she walked toward the door. Mrs. Zinn knows that this accommodation is in Sophie’s IEP, but it feels like she relies too heavily upon it. She’s in eleventh grade now and has had her tests read to her since the fourth grade. Mrs. Zinn knows that Sophie doesn’t seem to engage with instruction, and when asked about it, Sophie always tells her that it doesn’t matter because she passes her tests, so it’s ok. It seems like she could be doing more on her own.

The Story: Find the Right Tool for the Job

For my twelfth birthday, my parents bought me a small red toolbox. Inside was a hammer, an adjustable wrench, a tape measure, a pair of pliers, and two screwdrivers. I was so excited to use them that I ran around the house for weeks, looking for things to fix. I tightened the doorknob that rattled, tapped in that nail that stuck out of the door trim, and turned the loose bolt on the lawnmower deck. I was a legit construction worker, and I loved it! As it happened, my father was planning to build a garage that year, so I would get many opportunities to use the tools and learn through practice to be very good with them. One day I bent a nail in the corner, and I couldn’t get the hammer claw over it to pull it out. Dad showed me to use a catclaw tool to pull it out; huh, the hammer wasn’t the best tool for that job. Then, when we were hanging drywall, I was driving in nails, and my dad told me to stop using my hammer and to use his special hammer, which had dimples in the head of it that made a unique pattern in the drywall. Dad explained that the regular hammer didn’t work as well for drywall because that dimple pattern made a good place for the compound to stick. Long story made short, I quickly learned that if I were to become a legit carpenter, I would need more tools. My hammer was ok, and, for the most part, it got the job done. However, as it turned out, there were numerous times when it was not the best tool for the job!

The Point: Use the Right Adaptation

As teachers of students with special needs, we too often reach for the “hammer”. We tend to reuse the same accommodations and modifications repeatedly, even when there are better tools for the job. This isn’t necessarily our fault. In our busy jobs, we tend to do what we know has worked in the past. The problem is that we don’t necessarily see that there’s a better tool, there’s a tool that will empower the student, or that the student has changed and is ready for a different level of support. Accommodations and modifications are the tools for effective inclusion. Like a carpenter, the more tools we know how to use, the more successful we will become at our jobs. Likewise, our students will become more successful.

Be Action Driven: Things To Do

1. Review your IEP’s. Do they all include the same accommodations and modifications? If so, consider other ways you can meet the student’s needs.
   • Accomods provides development and implementation guidance for hundreds of accommodations and modifications designed to support the student past their needs to reach high achievement expectations.
2. Consider the following statement: Accommodations and modifications are selected based on the child’s strengths, needs, and degree of need. Think of a child who struggles to read fluently. What accommodations and modifications can you name to support a child with a reading fluency need? How does this list change as you consider the degree of need (a fourth-grader with a reading fluency rate of 25 versus 50 words per minute)? What about a child whose strength includes “enjoys working with peers” versus “works well independently”?
   • Our asynchronous course “Tools For Effective Inclusion” provides a blueprint for how to select a “just-right” adaptation, and Accomods gathers information related to strengths, needs, and degree of need in order to sort and filter through hundreds of accommodations and modifications to prepare a student-specific list of suggested supports for IEP teams to consider.

The Context: It’s Easy to Forget

I’m one of those busy guys who likes always being involved in something…everything…all the time! My drive to be busy is complicated by the fact that I also have a somewhat forgetful personality. This combination tends to make it that I regularly forget to complete tasks that I had sincerely planned to complete, which drives my wife nuts!

As a K-12 public school employee, I watched students grow up with this challenge. It’s probably no surprise that these kids, be they forgetful, lack organization, lack support, or whatever, tend to have low grades, fail to participate in many activities, and, all too frequently, become children who are often punished for failing to complete activities. Many of these students end up hating school and frequently become that “troublemaker” to defend themselves because they forgot!

The Story: A Simple Reminder

One fall day, when I was in my 20s, I was taught a trick that I use to this day. I was working with the local handyman, Bill. Bill was a coal miner who retired and became a tinkerer, working on cars, tractors, and other stuff to keep himself busy. He was an older guy with years of experience and a larger-than-life personality who wasn’t afraid to call me out whenever appropriate. I appreciated this and he knew it! We were leaving his shop, which was an abandoned water reservoir that had previously served as the water supply for the local town, when he closed the giant sliding door, locked it, and then grabbed a large metal bar, leaning it against the door. “What’s the bar for Bill?” I asked. “It’s to remind me tomorrow that I need to take a load of firewood over to my neighbor,” he replied. Interesting…a metal bar…reminded him to take firewood…to the neighbor. “I don’t know how you college-educated people remember things, but that works for me.” I smiled and took that nugget of information with me. Now, twenty years later, when I need to remember to drop the garbage off at the curb Monday morning without hauling it with me to work in the bed of my truck, I put a pen on my dashboard in the evening when I load the garbage. That pen has never once failed to remind me to drop off the garbage!

The Point: Organization Should Work for the Child

Far too often we develop organizational systems that don’t serve the students. Sometimes we need to support these systems in different ways. Bill helped me to see that some kids may just need a physical cue that serves as a reminder. Consider the student who regularly fails to complete assignments, return signed papers, or finish other activities, demonstrating the inability to remember tasks. Could a cue-based reminder system help? Perhaps the cue is a small token that they place in their pocket, a Round Tuit, reminding them each time they touch it that they need to complete a task. Tie a string around your finger and don’t forget!

Be Action Driven: Things To Do

1. Don’t do it for them – We must work beside a student, helping them develop a method to organize and remember tasks. When a student is a poor reader, we write goals and teach them so they develop reading skills. This same mindset needs to be adopted when a student struggles with organization and remembering to complete tasks. We need to teach them, developing their skills so they are able to be independent. It’s always worth the time to teach!
2. Presume the positive – Far too often, especially with older children, we assume that they didn’t complete an assignment due to some defiant act when it is totally possible that it has more to do with a forgetful nature. By presuming the positive, we can turn things around for this student and help them to develop a system that works for them.
3. Consider supporting a student with B59 – Use a cue-based reminder system to support the student’s ability to complete tasks. If a student is struggling to complete tasks, find a way to support them past their need so they are able to find and experience success.

The Story: A Frustrated Teacher

Mrs. Williams shuffled into the office in an obvious state of frustration. As a special education teacher, her “to-do” list was a mile long, and it was one of those days where it only seemed to be getting longer. She’s a great team player and understands that her general education colleagues also have long lists that never end, but everyone gets to that point where they feel like they can’t handle it anymore. “Whose job is it to modify these math tests?” she asked in a clearly frustrated voice. “I have an IEP this afternoon, and now Ms. Miller just handed me this test to adapt for tomorrow!” Her question was rhetorical, but she just had to get it off her chest, or was it?

The Context: A New Solution to an Old Problem

The answer to this question is actually rooted in the problem itself, so, to solve it, we need to look back into our typical procedures for how we engage team members in developing an IEP. The IEP process requires the involvement of, among others, parents, special education teachers, and general education teachers. You can picture a typical IEP meeting. The team sits down and introduces everyone. The general education teacher representative shares of their experience with the student in the classroom and talks about how the child is doing in class. All of the student’s other teachers have given input on a form sent around before the meeting. This input is included in the present levels. Then the team begins discussing the rest of the IEP. When it comes time for goals, program modifications, supplementary aids and services, and specially designed instruction, the team often looks to the special education teacher to present solutions. This process meets the requirement of the law and an IEP is developed. The argument can be easily made that, since the special education teacher developed the supplementary aids and program modifications, they should be responsible for its implementation.

Learning environments are as diverse as the individuals who may be involved at any given minute and should be treated this way. The IEP form itself gives a nod to this fact; the Special Education/Related Services/Supplementary Aids/Program Modification section of the IEP clearly requires teams to consider the “location, frequency, and duration” of all supports. Why would this be necessary if the answers are “everywhere, every time, and always”? Strengths, needs, SDI, supplementary aids, and etc. are all designed to consider the child in each environment they will experience. So, if this is true, then we need to revisit our practices.

The Point: Individualization is the Solution

Ms. Miller teaches math. She has particular methods and practices she uses to teach her students. Each student who participates in her classroom will use certain skills and may display a need that is unique because of these practices and methods. As a result, a need may not present itself as a problem in her class versus the history class down the hall. Likewise, the solution for when a need is displayed may also be different. This unique blend of challenges and solutions is why students with special needs may struggle in one math class and perform well in the next. Because of this, all teachers are supposed to give meaningful input into the IEP. What learning/behavioral/etc. needs is the student demonstrating in each unique class or environment, and how can we support them around each challenge so that they can learn and demonstrate their learning? In other words, we need to empower general education teachers with the ability to develop and deliver appropriate support to students in each unique setting. (We address the development of appropriate support in our “Grab the Hammer” – The Tools to Effective Inclusion post.)

Action Driven Education has developed Accomods to provide an efficient means to empower general and special education teachers with this capacity. However, Accomods aren’t the only way to achieve this outcome. Special education teachers should support their general education colleagues with the idea that they control their learning environment. When a student struggles in the classroom, that isn’t necessarily telling the teacher that their environment isn’t effective; just that it isn’t effectively supporting that particular student around their need. Through conversation and problem-solving activities, special education teachers can support their colleagues as they work to understand what aspect of the environment is causing the challenge and then develop solutions around them. These solutions are then unique to that teacher’s learning environment.

The Story Continues: Empower Others

Mrs. Williams is walking down the hall when Ms. Miller pokes her head out of the door saying, “what are we going to do with Billy…?” Mrs. Williams responds, “I’m not sure; let’s talk about what you’re seeing in your classroom.” The team then discusses the challenges Billy is facing in Ms. Miller’s classroom, developing unique solutions for the situation. Because Ms. Miller meaningfully participated in the development of the solution for her classroom, she recognizes that she owns the responsibility for implementation; besides, it’s her goal to effectively teach mathematics to every child. Mrs. Williams gathers the specifics on the solution; “If this solution doesn’t seem to be helping Billy past his challenge, let me know and we can develop other ideas. I’ll do a quick revision to Billy’s IEP to reflect this modification.”

Be Action Driven: Things To Do

1. Consider your school practices. Are general education teachers empowered with the ability to develop meaningful solutions to the challenges they see happening in their classrooms? Every teacher wants to feel like they can teach every child that walks into their classroom. By helping them to understand that the tools for successful inclusion are accommodations and modification, we empower them to do exactly that. Consider practices that discourage general education teachers from developing these solutions. How can we change them?
2. How many accommodations and modifications can your team effectively develop to support each unique situation? Consider professional development for teachers designed to develop this capacity. Also, Accomods by Action Driven Education is designed to efficiently support teachers as they develop meaningful inclusive settings for their students.
3. Think like a facilitator. It is human nature to want to be effective and overcome challenges. We aren’t always doing a favor when we “just do it”. Far more often, we are more effective when we facilitate the development of ability in others. Consider your practices. Are you facilitating?