Florida teacher wins national award for inclusive education model

From the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida:

Teacher Kate Schau is so sure that children with disabilities learn better in regular classrooms she will do whatever it takes for them to succeed.

Kate Schau teaches disabled and nondisabled students in one first-grade classroom.

If they are hyperactive, they can chew gum. If they require regular physical therapy, the sessions can take place in the classroom.

A special education teacher at Bashaw Elementary School in Bradenton, Schau has been teaching children with disabilities for about 30 years. In the first-grade class she works with, children with Down syndrome, autism and other learning disabilities are taught alongside other students.

Last week, Schau's model of how to integrate special- needs children in elementary schools was selected as the best in the nation by the American Federation of Teachers. The award was part of Inclusive Schools Week, an annual event that highlights the work of schools that advocate for special-needs children to be included in regular classrooms.

It is an approach the 54-year-old veteran teacher passionately believes benefits all the students and enables those with learning disabilities to not miss out on a normal education.

"They might have a characteristic of a disability, but that's a secondary thing; they are people first," Schau said.

Integrated classrooms are not new but still only a small number of schools offer them for all grade levels.

About half of the students in the first-grade class that Schau works with are identified as special education students, meaning they have learning disabilities or behavioral problems like attention-deficit disorder.

To help those children, Schau and first-grade teacher Carolyn Thompson continually adapt the classroom.

Students who need quiet time can put on headphones to block out noise. Children who need to let off steam before they can resume learning can spend a few minutes jumping on a small trampoline.

The classroom has specially adapted chairs that give active children more room to wiggle. The lights are covered with pink sleeves to soften the lighting. Schau and Thompson even tape inner tubes to chairs so kids can kick away to their heart's content without disturbing others.

"They just need extra support and then they're successful in the classroom," Thompson said. "They're not going to be the strange kids over on the side that no one talks to."

Other students in the class serve as mentors and role models. Spending every day around children with disabilities makes them more accepting, Thompson said."They don't even see each other as special needs," she said. "Some of them form lasting friendships that go beyond the classroom."