Utah teens' achievements show that inclusion works

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

It would be easy to define 18-year-olds TJ Hancock (pictured) and Elise Thomas by their Down syndrome -- or by their enviable accomplishments.

TJ, whose friends call him "Teej," is a student body officer, manager of Jordan High's basketball team and president of the men's choir. Elise swims competitively for Skyline High School, volunteers at Red Butte Garden and is an accomplished skier.

But these talented teens aren't outliers, say their parents and teachers. They embody the culmination of a decades-old trend in special education known as inclusion, or mainstreaming, that education officials say has produced unexpected academic and social gains for countless students.

Instead of being segregated in magnate schools or resource classrooms, TJ and Elise were among Utah's first generation of special-needs learners to be mainstreamed starting in kindergarten.

They went to neighborhood schools, learning to count and blend consonants alongside their non-disabled peers, exceeding expectations and shattering stereotypes.

This spring they'll graduate from high school, proud members of the Class of 2010.

"The bar has been raised. We put kids in inclusive settings for social reasons, and they picked up more academics than we thought they would," said Christine Timothy, severe disabilities specialist at the Utah State Office of Education.

There are almost 3,200 intellectually disabled schoolchildren in Utah receiving special education services. Increasingly, it is expected that these children will attend mainstream schools.

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), passed in 1990 and amended in 2004, does not mandate inclusion. But it does require school districts to teach disabled children in the "least restrictive environment" possible.

Today, 52 percent of Utah's special-needs learners spend most of the school day in regular classrooms, up from 42 percent in 2004.

Graduation rates and test scores have followed a similar upward trajectory, said Timothy.

Technology has driven advances in learning aids and textbook publishers are now producing adaptive instructional materials. Testing instruments for measuring students' progress are also more sophisticated, Timothy said.

But some disabled-rights advocates say Utah has room for improvement.

Compared with other states, Utah has historically been in the bottom fourth for mainstreaming rates, said John McDonnell, a special education professor at the University of Utah.

"There are pockets of excellence," McDonnell said, citing Park City and South Sanpete school districts. But not all schools get it right, he said.

Timothy said mounting evidence shows mainstreamed students fare better as adults in terms of employability, wages and independence. But, she acknowledged, "you can't just dump special-education students in a regular class to fend for themselves."

Ideally, all general education teachers would be trained to work with special-needs students. More often, though, they're aided by para educators or peer tutors, said Heather Weiler, TJ's life skills coach at Jordan High.

Another strategy at Jordan High is co-teaching, in which a teacher familiar with the subject matter (math, English and science) pairs with a teacher who is trained to modify the curriculum.

Weiler, for example, team teaches TJ's drama class, helping him interpret scripts and articulate his lines. Another specialist in mainstream Algebra guides him through concepts of greater than, less than.

"You find ways for TJ to access the content," said Weiler, who says all students in the class benefit from having a second teacher in the room.

In addition, TJ receives "pull-out" tutoring and speech therapy.

With mainstreaming, there is no single recipe for success, said Weiler, who tailors schooling to 16 students' unique strengths.

But parents say mainstreaming does take support from the administration, teachers and a welcoming student body.

"You run into bumps. Not all of the teachers get it," said Elise's mom, Jane Thomas, who reserves special praise for Skyline High's swim team and coach Joe Pereira. "I mean, she could have been the water girl. This is a winning coach. But she practices and races with the rest of them."

Pereira said Elise is an "invaluable asset" to his team, and not just for the motivational talks she likes to give on bus rides to swim meets.

"No one is more competitive or works harder than Elise," he said.

Highly social, with an affinity for dance, music and sports, Elise is reading on a third-grade level.

Asked what she aspires to do after graduation, Elise said, "I want to go to college at the U. and swim with Joe." She also envisions getting married, having children and learning to drive.

More likely, Elise will enroll in a transitional program aimed at honing life skills and preparing her for the work force.

Tempering expectations is a challenge shared by TJ's mother, Sherry Hancock. TJ also dreams of college. He has settled on Utah State University, two hours away in Logan, and wants to live in the dorms, said Hancock. "He wants the whole college experience. He understands that's what you do after high school."

Hancock has explored enrolling TJ in classes closer to home at Salt Lake Community College, which she hopes helps fill the void left by TJ's high school friends.

"It's those kids at Jordan that have made high school such a wonderful experience," said Hancock. "They're the ones who voted him choir president. They're the ones who allow him to succeed and treat him as their equal."

Said TJ's locker mate, Nate Monson (pictured), who plays center for Jordan's basketball team: "You can't be sad when you're around TJ. He's amazing."