Becoming a Community

First I would like to welcome you to the first of many blog posts on Smiling Hearts. The blog page will be used for activities and tasks that I complete each day in the field as well as researched and heart-felt blog posts.

For my placement this semester, I have returned to my old elementary school where I will be working with a grade 1/2 split class.

Yesterday I got a tour of the new addition that was built on for the creation of two Community Classrooms. The community classrooms are focused on children with Autism and working towards ensuring their absolute success in a school setting. Including the new rooms, this school has three community classrooms. To accommodate the needs of the specific children in the classroom, two methods called Integration and Reverse Integration were created and implemented.

Integration

The integration system is used when a child is in the community classroom for most of the day, however, when developmentally and academically appropriate, they will move into another classroom for certain subjects.

Reverse Integration

Reverse integration is used when one of the children functions at a high enough level to be placed in a home room classroom for the majority of the day, but during some subjects, they move back to their homeroom (which is one of the community classrooms). This system prepares the child for when s/he will be in a homeroom classroom for the full day. While the child is completing tasks independently, there is an EA (Educational Assistant) in the classroom in case help is needed.

I found this system interesting because when I was a student, we did not have this program and inclusion was not as prominent. When I attended this school, we had a Special Education class, and this is where the children with special needs or delays would be all day. I feel that this new terminology is much more inclusive and does not make the children or their families feel that there is something wrong, rather something special. By using the term community the school is fostering a sense of togetherness and ensuring that the child is included while being educated to best meet their needs.

This week was the first of many new learning experiences that I hope to encounter throughout this semester. I think that the Community Classroom initiative is crucial for the success of all students and hopefully will be implemented in all schools someday soon.

Thanks for reading!