Hi friends, it's Tim Villegas from the Maryland Coalition for inclusive education. And you've hit play on Chapter Five of inclusion stories, our five part podcast series that tells the stories of families, educators and school systems on their journey to full and authentic, inclusive education for each and every learner. If you haven't heard the other four chapters, please do. Of course, you're gonna do what you want, which is totally fine. I just want to make sure you get the context of this chapter. Because, frankly, there is going to be a lot of me in this one. When I started this podcast series, I had in my mind that I was going to show the world what a truly inclusive school was, I had very specific ideas of data points, and practices that must be present in order for a school to own this distinction. And what I've come to realize is that much like many things in life, it is not as clear cut and straightforward as we all would like it to be. To start us off, I need to take you back in time. Here. Step into my time machine. I know, I know, it's bigger on the inside. Okay. Are you ready? So background 2011 And mind you I was still a fairly new southerner. We had just moved to the Atlanta metro area in 2008. I was a teacher in a segregated special education classroom for students with severe and profound intellectual disabilities. Yeah, I don't like the name either. But that is what it was called. I was already getting the reputation of being the inclusion guy around my district. So when the Georgia Department of Education wanted to run a pilot inclusion program for students with intellectual disabilities, I was asked if I wanted to participate. And of course, I said, Yes, I mean, this was huge. Imagine the implications if this program was successful. That consultant was brought in to work with me during the pilot. And as we were figuring out which one of my students would be a good fit for the program. We settled on Damien, a boy with multiple disabilities, who loved being with his peers. One of the first memories I have of working with Damien's family was being on the phone with his mom and her imploring me that she didn't want her son to be left behind or forgotten about. And so I made it my mission to make sure that Damien was given access to everything that every other student had access to. Our journey started in first grade. And guess what happened? It was successful, even more successful than I thought it would be. Not a surprise if you've been paying attention throughout this series. I just want to pause here to say that Damien's inclusion was really only possible because he had a paraprofessional with him the entire time. And I think that's the only way the school or district allowed it to happen, because he had this level of support. Now, did he actually need it? Yes. But an unintended consequence of this success was that now it was message to the school in the district that inclusion really just meant a paraprofessional, implementing supports, that's not inclusion. But at the time, I thought it was, and so did a lot of other people. In 2011, our team went to the task Conference in Atlanta to present on the inclusion pilot, there was a proud moment. But as I look back on this experience, I realized that what we did was just for Damian, and while it benefited him, and all the students and staff that knew him, did it change the system that segregated him to my classroom in the first place? I mean, this was the point of the whole exercise. If it were up to my principal or district administrators, teachers would have to opt in to inclusive classrooms, and make sure everyone is happy, including the families before we did anything like this again, these are the conversations we were having inclusion, only if you want it. But for Damian, we continued, he was included for a larger portion of his day each year in second, third, fourth, and fifth grade. And by the time he was in fifth, he was included for over 80% of his day in general education. Overall, inclusion for him was successful, because we plan for it, and he got the support that we plan for at the end of the day. 2014 2015 school year as he was headed to middle school Damien received the Citizenship Award. Let's listen in here's a Kincaid Damien has exceeded expectations, including myself, not mine are pretty high. One of the first conversations I had with Damien's parents was about their concern that he would get stuck because of low expectations. And the tendency for people not to push Damien because they didn't know what he was capable of, was such strong advocates as parents, they are just as responsible for Damian success as he is. We start including Damian in general education in first grade for a portion of the day, and each subsequent year were more successful and increased the time. This year he spent most of the day in the Mrs. McGowan's fifth grade class. And we're happy to report that he has been a full participant in that classroom community. But also more importantly, he has been a full citizen here at Kincaid Elementary School. This success falls into Simpson Middle School, where he is slated to attend general education segments throughout his day to ensure that he continues not to get stuck. So with that in mind, it's my greatest pleasure to award Damien Boyd Jr. The Citizenship Award.