S11 E8 SENIA: Advocating for Inclusion in International Schools with Lori Boll
12:22PM Nov 9, 2023
Speakers:
Tim Villegas
Lori Boll
Keywords:
schools
inclusion
inclusive
senya
learn
conference
support
international
inclusive education
coursework
work
student
educators
disability
learners
sanya
organization
podcast
love
started
Hi friends I'm Tim Villegas from the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education and you are listening to think inclusive. Our podcast that brings you conversations about inclusive education and what inclusion looks like in the real world. Laurie bowl is an inclusive education leader with a personal connection to individuals with disabilities. Her son Brayden, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and an intellectual developmental delay, inspiring her to advocate for all children's education. Laurie has taught in international schools for over 25 years, and holds master's degrees in reading education and special education. She is the executive director of Sanya International and supports others on their professional development journeys. Her experience and personal connection help her make a meaningful difference in the lives of educators and learners. For this episode, Laurie discusses the importance of inclusion in education and how Cynthia supports educators in creating inclusive learning environments in international schools. Cynthia provides resources, conferences and coursework to educate parents, families and educators on best practices for inclusion. Senior also offers a membership program for schools and districts, as well as regional and local chapters world wide. This week, I'd like to highlight one of the sponsors for our narrative podcast series inclusion stories. The Thompson Policy Institute on Disability or TPI is a Chapman University Institute that works alongside the disability community to develop and improve equitable, accessible and nurturing learning and community environments for all. Through integrated research policy and practice. TPI embraces diversity and considers the intersections of disability race, language and socio economic status. TPI is involved in many research and project based collaborations and partnerships through various organizations and agencies that share its vision and goals. Learn more at chapman.edu/t p. Ai, we've got a great conversation for you today that will help all of us to think inclusive, make sure you stick around for the mystery question. And for free time this week. Dad jokes. We'll be back after a quick break.
Laurie ball Welcome to the thinking clue podcast.
Well, thanks. Thanks so much for having me.
So I think our audience would love to know about Senya. So could you tell us a little bit about your organization? Yeah,
yeah. So Sandia was started in 2002. We are an international nonprofit organization. We started in 2002, with a group of educators in Beijing, China, who felt very alone in their roles as learning support teachers in their schools. And so they met together to network and learn from one another. And they started providing some conferences and networking opportunities for everyone. The organization grew. And we're a worldwide international organization now. And we, our mission is to advocate for and provide resources for individuals with disabilities. And we do that through three pillars really that's learn, connect, and support. Would you like me to tell you about those pillars
I would love you to.
So our Learn pillar, we do that through conferences, virtual and in person conferences. coursework, we have what we call Senya Academy, and individuals can take coursework to become a level one certified teacher, under Senya. And then, of course, we have podcasts. In connect, we have membership program for both individuals and schools and school districts. And then we have 38 regional and local chapters worldwide. So people take Senya and they replicate it in their home country or city and hold many conferences and networking opportunities there. And then finally, in our support section, we have a sponsorship arm for organizations that share our mission and would like to provide resources for our members, as well as scholarships and awards. So we give out Oh, it was so far we've given out about $20,000 worth of awards, and that's in for student advocates. And that's to help them, you know, in whatever program they they go on to do, whether it's university or something else. And those are individuals with some sort of learning disability who have advocated for others. And then, for our teachers, we provide some scholarships to take some coursework, or come to our conference for free. So those are three arms. We're doing quite a bit, and we're quite busy over here. Yeah,
sounds like it. It sounds like it. So it's an it's an international nonprofit organizations, but it is based in the United States. Is that right? It is,
yes. I'm happened to be from Oregon. So our organization is registered here in Oregon.
Okay, and, and how is it different? Because it is an international organization. So you are supporting educators in schools around the around the globe? And educational systems across the world are certainly different from each other. Right? Yeah. So how, how do you differentiate support? I guess, is that how the local chapters have come about?
Yeah, pretty much. So we support generally international schools, and international schools are for people who head overseas and work for some sort of organization, it might be their embassy, it might be for a motor company, or an oil company really just depends. But you, if you were one of those people, you would need a place to send your child to school. And so our international schools take that that role on and they can be American schools, they can be international by nature and follow an international curriculum. They can be English schools, you know, from the UK or Australian. So there's all sorts of different kinds of international schools. And then, of course, we do have our local schools in their communities. And so let's say our Africa chapter right now, they support all the international schools in Africa, as well as local organizations who, or schools who want to join in so they'll hold many conferences or networking events, and then provide scholarships for the local schools to be able to attend.
And would you, I should have asked you at the beginning, but could you explain the what Scindia means like the acronym? Yeah, the
acronym is Special Education Network and inclusion Association. And from what we're learning through time is that special education is the terminology is on its way out. So we are hoping to morph into just Senya really focus on that inclusion piece?
How does send you a focus on inclusion and supporting inclusion for learners with disabilities across the globe? Yeah,
well, you know, we do it through educating parents, families and educators in in teaching them best practice basically, in supporting an inclusive environment. And so we really focus on that inclusive piece in our conferences, and in all of our coursework, on we also have the membership program for schools. And many schools are at the beginning phases of an inclusion journey, really. And so our goal is to support them through it. And so when they join as a member school, they can have q&a sessions with members of our board, they can join a private platform where people can ask questions and get policies from each other, and things like that. So we want to increase we want to create, excuse me, this, this network of schools who want to be more inclusive, and are working toward it, and we're there to support them through that.
And so through the network, the schools can really learn from each other as well. Right?
Exactly. And these can be schools in Africa, South America, Europe, Asia, wherever
Do you have or in your resources when you're talking about inclusion? Do you have a common or a shared definition or understanding of inclusion that you Do you want everyone to kind of group around?
You know, I don't think we have an official one. But we basically go with the understanding that all means all. And we educate the individuals who walk through our classroom door or our school door, and we are there for them. So that's pretty much what we go by. But it's not official. Right.
All right. But the expectation is that all means all. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So you are the executive director of the CEO. I'm sorry. Director. Yeah, the executive director. And I believe you had either been on the board or worked in Sanya before you became the director. Is that right?
Yeah. Yeah. So Sanyo was run by volunteers from 2002. When it began, up until 2019. We created our first board in 2011. And that's when I joined. And in 2019, is when we decided as a board that we could no longer do this as a as volunteers. I mean, then we're there were five or six of us at the time, and we were doing all of the work. And it was just overwhelming on top of teaching full time. So I, I took on the job as executive director. And since that time, we've been able to hire one other full time employee are Deputy Executive Director and one part time events manager.
This may be too I don't know, like a nonprofit question. So I apologize. But what was your main funding sources at donations?
No. So our main funding source for now, is it. We're self funding? So all of our conferences and our coursework and our membership programs, sponsorship, that's all. That's where our funding comes from. We would like to get into the grant game. But we just haven't gotten to that point yet. Gotcha.
Well, let's talk about the conference. You have an annual conference, right? Yeah. And it's virtual. But you also have in person conferences as well, correct? Yes, that's
correct. So in February this year, we had our in person conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. So that was a fantastic experience. It was our first time in Africa. And it just created an energy there that was really needed. And it was really exciting. The next year are in March, we'll be heading to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. So we're excited about that one as well. Wow, very cool. And our virtual conference, we have one every year, we started that, of course, during the pandemic. It was a big pivot for us. And we were supposed to have one in Manila and then another one in Korea. And those of course fell through so we pivoted to virtual and it's turned out to be a really great experience because more people are able to attend from schools and learn best practice. So it's pretty exciting this year is conferences called unifying voices of inclusion. And we aim to bring together educators, administrators, professionals, parents, students, and community members, and will share strategies and ideas for creating a more inclusive and equitable learning environment. So we have three keynote speakers this year. One is Jason R. De who is a Cambridge professor. And Jason did not speak until he was 11 years old. And he didn't learn to read until he was 18. So we'll get to hear a little bit about his story. We'll also get to hear from Emily Liddell who wrote demystifying disability. It was a really cool person. And she was on Sesame Street at one point.
Yeah. Emily. Yeah, Emily's fantastic. We love Emily. Yeah, so
cool. And then Emily Meadows who will speak about, she's an expert in, in supporting schools, international schools with LGBTQ plus rights and things and she's going to be focusing on neuro diversity and LGBTQ Oh,
I love that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's, that's fantastic. I'm so glad that there's so much intersectionality between different communities. And so that's, that's absolutely wonderful. So this virtual conference is open to everyone, I'm assuming
it is. Yeah. And, you know, because Senya is a nonprofit that our interest is not in making money, it's more spreading our mission, we offer really good discounts for larger groups. So for instance, a school district in Canada purchased a large group, and that's anyone 60 plus. So, you know, you can do a whole school district if we want, and ended up spending like $20 per person to come to the conference, because they just had to pay one flat fee for it. So it's not too expensive, and we hold the videos available for six months. So you can just keep coming back and watching video after video through time. Great, great. So what are some heads during a regular conference? Not most people, or most organizations are able to have that regular conference where you check in during the weekend. And we do have a conference weekend where we're networking and meeting each other through a conference platform. But because we're all from everywhere in the world, matching up time zones is nearer and nearer next to impossible.
Yeah, yeah. That's great. That's great. What are some of the the breakouts? In the conference? Like? Do you have like a list of topics that are also going to be available for people?
Yeah. So we have four strands. And our strands are leading and implementing inclusive systems, supporting the identity, diversity and accessibility of all learners, utilizing effective and practical strategies to support student behavior and academic learning, and amplifying the voices of community members. So for that final strand, we'll we'll be having panel discussions with parents, students, heads of schools, and then just one collaborative team in international school and how they work together to hear everyone's voice. Mm hmm. And I believe you'll be presenting at our conference.
I will. I will.
We're quite excited about that. Yeah.
So So am I, and you're going to make sure we have all the links in the promotional material for everyone. And the conferences in November.
Yeah, November 17, through 19th. But again, for six months after,
right. And we'll make sure that this airs before the conference. Because we're recording this and, you know, the magic of editing. Yeah. I would love to know why. Inclusion is important to you. You know, you, you work for an organization, that champions inclusion, but but why is inclusion? Important to Laurie? Yes. Well,
thanks for asking that. You know, back when I first started teaching in Saudi Arabia, that was our first, our, yeah, our first overseas post, and I was teaching fourth grade, and I had a student, and she was not achieving at the same level as her peers. And somebody told me magically that she was two years behind her grade level peers. This is way back in the early 90s. There was no really way of knowing that. We didn't use assessment data like we do now. And so they kicked her out of the school. They said, We don't have a place for her at this school. There's, there's, she just can't be part of it. And that just, it broke me. And I just couldn't understand why that this was. Okay. So from that time, I was always interested in supporting more learners. And what I learned to do during that time was not tell any that my school vet student was not meeting grade level expectations. And I just worked and worked to ensure that they were progressing. So fast forward to 1999 My son was born. And a few years after that, we realized that he was not developing as As his peers were, and so we ended up traveling back to the US and getting him early intervention. Now, my son, his name is Braden, he has been diagnosed with autism and intellectual developmental delay, he is nonverbal. And he never, in our history of living overseas, was able to attend school and an international school. And, you know, to me, that's just not okay. You know, schools have this way of saying, well, we want to be preeminent international schools, we want our kids to go to Ivy League's these prestigious universities. But what they don't realize is that they can make that happen, and be inclusive as well. And so I just made it my goal to ensure that schools are inclusive. Now, I did not start Senya. And I owe Senya, to the group of individuals that started it way back when and had that vision. And we still have one of our female founders, Tanya Farrell, she's on our board. She's the chairperson. So that's why it's important to me. Yeah.
No, thank you for sharing that, in your story brings up you know, in the United States, we have the law. We have Ida. And so we have an educational mandate to educate learners with disabilities, including disability, significant disabilities. But there isn't a law internationally. I mean, there's the UN Charter, which I know that a lot of countries try to follow. Right. But there's there doesn't seem to be any protections. So what kinds of are there any protections internationally?
It depends on the country. And, for instance, in Brazil, there are laws that the international schools must follow, and they do follow them. For many schools, there are laws, but international schools do not have to follow. And so for like, I know, I can only speak really from the American School point of view, many of those function using financial grants from the embassy, and the embassy will provide guidance and best practice, but it's not involved in the day to day policies. And so they can say we want inclusion, but it's not often implemented or followed up on. So yeah, there are protections in general.
I think this is right. The I believe Italy, doesn't Italy. Is an educational system. Are they more inclusive than they
are? They don't even call it special needs. They call it the way they call it special rights. They have a very inclusive, just community. Yeah.
Yes, yeah. So okay, that's so I think I'm remembering that right. Are you aware of if that, like spills over into the international schools in Italy? Or is?
I don't I can't answer that question. No, I am not aware.
Yeah. Okay. Just wondering. Another thing I was thinking about when you were telling your story was about the just like an attitude and mindset issue. That fruit, I'm gonna get it wrong. But what you said about how there there is this misconception that, well, if we include learners in not only in schools, but in the same classrooms as everyone else learns with disabilities in the same classrooms as typically developing kids, that it's going to somehow bring down the really high achieving students, you know, they're not going to be able to go to like what you said the Ivy League schools or, or whatever. You know, like, how can we as you know, proponents and champions for inclusion. How do you frame that when you talk to people who may have that mindset?
Yeah, it's tough. It's changing minds and hearts. That's part of what we do. Was it it's that education piece, right and, and just helping them understand that it's actually beneficial for individuals to experience all members of the community. And then this is what society is. It's a little side story, once I was giving a presentation to a high school group at one of my previous international schools about autism, and one of the students stood up and said, I have never heard about this before. And, and why, you know, she was so upset, she said, This is not fair. I feel like I've missed out on education, because I don't have access to individuals like this at my school. And so she just said it, right? A student. And so I like to share her story, I like to have her share her story to heads of schools, so they can see that, you know, here is the student on her way to some brilliant university that we've decided is brilliant. And, you know, she knows, she knows that in order to be a citizen of this world, we need to be able to interact with everyone. So
that's great. I yeah, I love that. What do you want educators to know about Cynthia, but also just as a person who has the pulse of just the international community about inclusion? What should educators know?
Ah, yeah, it's a big question. Well, educators should know about Universal Design for Learning. And that when we implement strategies and programs for our highest needs learners, it ends up benefiting all. And so I would hope that they could have an opportunity to learn more about that, and about the structures and interventions that we put in place. I would like schools mission statements to reflect the need to be inclusive. And, and if they do already have that in their mission, then they need to live it. There's a lot of schools out there that say, you know, we, we want all of our students to become lifelong learners, and biloba, well, you don't want all of you don't want all students to be lifelong learners, you only want those that, you know, learn in the ways that we've deemed somehow the way that you need to learn, right. And so I want all international schools to adopt that theory of all means all and any student that walks through the door, we owe it to them to educate them, and we owe it to their schoolmates as well, to be inclusive.
Yeah. Do you have any stories of school international schools that have maybe not been as inclusive and have made a decision to move towards inclusive practices?
Yeah, actually, there's a school in Cook de la, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Africa. They, you know, they've had some learning support programs in place, mostly working with mild, you know, what, what's considered mild needs. And so they have come on board, and they've had like five people from their school, take our coursework. And then once they all got together, they actually approached the their school principal, their elementary school principal, and said, we don't just want to take this because that's not going to make a difference. We want the whole school to take it. So their whole school is going to spend all of next year taking our coursework and be level one certified educators through Sanya. So they'll all learn, you know, multi tiered system of support universal design for learning how to deal with behaviors when when they occur, and, and they mind they attitude towards a student who is having behaviors. So everyone's on the same page. And there'll be because of that they're becoming a much more inclusive school. And they're looking at their admissions policies, and rethinking through that, and possibly building an intensive needs wells hire support level program in their schools. So in their school, so Oh,
I'm excited about that. That. That's exciting that Yeah. Yeah. That's great. So it sounds like if there is a school that wants to make a change, and going through the coursework, there's some sort of certification that they can receive, right?
That's correct. Yeah. Right now, it's a level one certification program. We also just started a teaching assistant certification program. So I don't know about the US but in, in international schools, there's not often an opportunity for teacher assistants to grow professionally. So we've designed a set of classes just for them. And then we'll be moving into his level two certification program starting in January of 2024. So
awesome. Yeah. Well, that's, that's great, keep growing, keep growing and then spreading the word.
One more big news is that in most likely January, we'll be starting our accreditation program for international schools who want to go through a Senya accreditation for inclusion.
Oh, no. So more of them's level.
Yes, systems level so we can support the school in their process.
Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah,
we're excited about that. So well,
is there anything else that you can think of that you'd want listeners to walk away from this conversation with?
You know, I think, just get to know us. Hop on our website. And if you need anything, I'm here. So email me. I love to meet new people who are involved in inclusion and network some
more, so. Well, fantastic. Thank you so much for your work in the the international community being a champion for inclusion. Well, thank
you, Tim.
Stay tuned for the mystery question right after this break.
Here we go. So the mystery question is what what is one thing people buy? that you think is a total waste of money? I'm sorry, I'm they're usually not controversial.
Okay, okay. We're gonna go first. Oh, well, okay. I really have to think about a think about it. What's it? What's one thing people buy that you think is a total waste of money? I don't know. It's gonna make me sound so judgy. But like, we don't, we don't buy like super fancy clothes. Yeah. You know, in fact, like, we go to the thrift store, usually to buy clothes and stuff. And, like, I'm so like, if you buy if you buy fancy stuff, it's totally fine. Like, I'm not. Yeah. But I think that, I think that for us, like we that's one thing we choose not to spend money on. Like we'd rather spend money on, like, trips and experiences. And like, you know, like, for instance, we're going on a, we're going on this road trip. My family and I have got, you know, my wife and three kids, and we're driving to Vancouver, and back from Atlanta. So it's, it's long, it's like, a half weeks. And you know, that it's not cheap to do that. But we'd much rather spend the money on that, then, you know, buy designer clothes and things like that. So
well, I'm with you, actually, my mind went to like, really expensive makeup and hair products, because that's just not who I am. But when you talked about your your travel, it reminded me that the whole time we were living internationally, we never really bought Christmas gifts. And we would just spend it on experiences instead. So we always went on really fun trips, and just spent our money on that. So I don't think people spending money on Christmas gifts is a waste.
Right? I know. For me, we both qualified the question, which is totally fine. There's no rules in the mystery question. So I love that. Laurie, both. Thank you so much for being on the think inclusive podcast. We really appreciate it. Thank
you Tim for having me. I really love being here.
that time means it's free time. And this week, I'm going to go a little bit more on the fun side. As many of you know, I am a dad. And just like other dads, I love a good dad joke. Now there's an Instagram slash threads handle. I follow called dad says jokes. And there are some that really made me laugh, and hopefully, they will make you laugh too. Okay, let me pull up my phone here. And I'm going to read them to you. Dad says chokes Here we go. My wife just told me to put the toilet seat down. I don't know why I was carrying it around in the first place.
Did you hear what happened to the wind car? It wouldn't go. I
picked up a hitchhiker last night. He asked, How do you know that I'm not a serial killer replied, the chances of two serial killers in one car is astronomical. I arrived early to the restaurant and the manager said Do you mind waiting a bit? I said no. Good. He said take these drinks to table nine. Did you know that 10 plus 10 and 11 plus 11 are the same thing. Because 10 plus 10 is 20 and 11 plus 11 is 22. Every morning I announced to my family that I'm going jogging but then I don't it's a running joke. My kids put together a PowerPoint presentation explaining why we should go to the waterpark. It has several slides you know what they say about cold spaghetti. Those who forget the pasta are doomed to repeat it. I used to run a dating service for chickens, but I was struggling to make ends meet. Okay, this last one, I decided to play golf with my friend. On the third hole. He said, Let's make this interesting. So we stopped playing golf. Okay, that's it for free time this week. For more information about inclusive education or to learn how you can partner with MCIE on school transformation or professional learning opportunities. Visit MCIE.org Thanks again to the Thompson Policy Institute on Disability for being one of our amazing sponsors for inclusion stories. We could have not done this project without you. Love thinking cluesive Here are a few ways to let us know. Rate us on Spotify or leave us a review on Apple podcasts. Become a patron like these fine people. thank you to Aaron P. Jared T joiner a, Kathy B Mark C. Gabby M. Kathleen T and Paula W. We appreciate your continued support of thinking inclusive. Just an FYI no bonus episode this week for patrons but we are working on some extra content I think you'll enjoy including a recommended reading list of books on inclusive education. So watch out for that same thinking. cluesive is written, edited, designed and mixed and mastered by me to be Original Music by miles credit. Additional music from melody. Thanks for your time and attention and remember, inclusion always works.
